Most albums tend to have "hits" and the rest of the album tends to be crap on toast. Which albums can you think of that even have great fillers? Here are the first ones that come to mind...

Madonna (debut album) - Evey track imo was the bomb. "I know it" & "Think of me" could have even been hits too.

Guns N' Roses (Appetite for destruction) - I think every track rocks! "Mr Brownstone", "Rocket Queen", "My Michelle", etc.

Shalamar (Heartbreak) - "Dancing in the sheets" was the big hit but this whole album is classic and catchy as hell!

Keith Sweat (Make it last forever)

Alicia Keys - (Songs in A Minor)

Michael Jackson - Thriller

Prince - Both 1999 and Purple Rain (and for that matter, Sign O' The Times too.)

R.E.M. - Automatic For The People

U2 - Both The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby

Christina Aguilera - Stripped

Janet Jackson - Both Rhythm Nation 1814 and janet.

Kanye West - Graduation

728huey said:

Michael Jackson - Thriller

Prince - Both 1999 and Purple Rain (and for that matter, Sign O' The Times too.)

R.E.M. - Automatic For The People

U2 - Both The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby

Christina Aguilera - Stripped

Janet Jackson - Both Rhythm Nation 1814 and janet.

Kanye West - Graduation

Thriller most definitely. That whole album have produced hit singles. Same goes for 1999! I have to think of some more.

Maybe Faith by George Michaels but i'm not too crazy about a couple of tracks on there.

Live Throwing Copper

Faith No More The Real Thing

Liz Phair Exile in Guyville

Marilyn Manson Antichrist Superstar

And I totally agree on these:

Michael Jackson Thriller

Prince Purple Rain & 1999

dancerella said:

Most albums tend to have "hits" and the rest of the album tends to be crap on toast.

Really?

novabrkr said:

dancerella said:

Most albums tend to have "hits" and the rest of the album tends to be crap on toast.

Really?

you don't agree? especially in this day and age?!

Elton John, Elton John, even "First episode at Hienton" and "No shoe strings on Louise" are remarkable. "The Greatest Discovery" is actually believable too, the dull lyrics are bought to life by the lively strings.

Are You Experienced by the Jimi Hendrix experience, no one could ever say "I don't live today" is filler.

dancerella said:

novabrkr said:

Really?

you don't agree? especially in this day and age?!

No, I don't agree at all.

On most records that I've bought over the years that's not the case. Usually the songs that have been "hits" (or written with a "hit" in mind) haven't even been the best songs on the record. Usually artists try to have a decent balance of more accessible material and the stuff that interests them more as musicians and artists. That's what usually constitutes a good listening experience.

Even on the records that you mention yourself - say, "Appetite for Destruction" - some of the most popular tracks are the most cringe-worthy ones to me.

What you are describing might apply to contemporary pop / R&B artists, but why should the entire music spectrum judged by those standards? I also find the expression you are using, "great filler", a bit strange. A good piece of music is a good piece of music, so there's no need to call it a "filler".

I agree that "great filler" is a weird expression and it's much better to say "albums where you like most/all songs". However, I also agree that mainstream albums can be described via the hit/filler ratio, which is one big reason why only singles sell these days and album tracks are largely ignored.

Not sure what my choices would be, I wouldn't say Madonna's first 3 albums at all, "I Know It" or "Think Of Me" are prime examples of bad filler songs (in fact the Celebration compilation totally kills the purpose of ever giving the debut a spin again). Probably Like A Prayer & American Life are the only ones I could put in this category.

To me not even the "great" Janet albums are free from the crap, I'd love to say RN1814 is an exception, but the closing track instantly kills that. TVR fares better but still not perfect.

In fact, when it comes to pop albums I think it's kinda unlikely one would have a long list of mainstream albums where every song is loved. If they do, it's reasons like his first purchase, the first music he liked, remembering old days etc... Purple Rain or Thriller would be borderline cases, alongside Parade & Off The Wall, plus David Bowie's Low, but in this day and age I just prefer to weed out the crap and only focus on the truly great songs, even Jagged Little Pill, which is an often cited album in discussions like this, I do think the 5 singles stand above the rest and "Perfect" or "Mary Jane" are weak.

novabrkr said:

dancerella said:

you don't agree? especially in this day and age?!

No, I don't agree at all.

On most records that I've bought over the years that's not the case. Usually the songs that have been "hits" (or written with a "hit" in mind) haven't even been the best songs on the record. Usually artists try to have a decent balance of more accessible material and the stuff that interests them more as musicians and artists. That's what usually constitutes a good listening experience.

Even on the records that you mention yourself - say, "Appetite for Destruction" - some of the most popular tracks are the most cringe-worthy ones to me.

What you are describing might apply to contemporary pop / R&B artists, but why should the entire music spectrum judged by those standards? I also find the expression you are using, "great filler", a bit strange. A good piece of music is a good piece of music, so there's no need to call it a "filler".

i have to agree with you. i wanted to post a list of albums that i consider to be completely

'filler' free but then i realised those would be far too many indeed.

beyond the whole universe of 'classic' albums from the 60s, 70s and 80s, by people who

crafted albums out of a serious musical drive, people like joni, stevie, the stones, bowie,

the beatles, young, dylan to the jazz greats to perfect pop albums by people like madonna,

the pet shop boys, U2, etc etc etc there is also the whole 'new' generation of people who

don't sit down to write 2 hits songs and then buy another 8 so so songs from so so people

just to fill a disc.

people like sufjan stevens, bat for lashes, beck, radiohead, most bjork etc etc etc etc etc.

there are simply too many to mention.

but from my experience, the most filler was put onto albums in the mid to late 90s and it

was a rather short lived trends and only in certain fields, like fluffy top 40 rnb and lots of

silly boy or girl bands of manufactured pop.

but even those seem to have wisened up recently and aim to fill albums with better and

stronger material instead of building an album around 2 strong songs.

besides, in a 'singles' market, what need is there to just slap 10 mediocre songs onto a

disc and have a release out there (which used to be done to cash in on the success of

a single) when no one is buying these albums anyway?

some of the strongest, most complete and wonderfull, filler free albums since the mid 70s

have been released this decade, since about 2006. it seems people are moving further

and further away from just fluffing an album out with crap.

^But that's the thing, it's now a lose-lose situation. In the past people used the album to cash in on the single so they didn't need to put effort in the "fillers", they still sold a lot (and you're being very generous, there are way too many examples in the 90s, especially by female artists), but these days people are not buying enough albums to justify the creativity of going further than making 1-4 hits. The vast majority of the album tracks are ignored today, most people don't even know they exist. So why bother at all, with the need of paying all those people involved in them? Some young acts already reverted to release only 8-9 songs at a time and half of them are singles, so it's cheaper. There are still some acts who can afford to make albums and not sell much, but for a new artist, it's almost impossible, unless they are like Janelle Monae who still go through with it and don't seem to be bothered that they don't make a dent on the charts.

Guns n Roses - Appetite

Van Halen - I, II, Women & Children First, Fair Warning, possibly Diver Down, 1984

Prince - Purple Rain, 1999

U2 - Achtung Baby

Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream

Cheap Trick - Heaven Tonight

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UptownCitizen said:

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really? Billy Ray martin? i didn't even know she had an album. I adore her "your loving arms", but thought she just had one cool song.

robertlove said:

really? Billy Ray martin? i didn't even know she had an album. I adore her "your loving arms", but thought she just had one cool song.

Please do yourself a favor, head on over to her spot on iTunes and treat yourself to Deadline For My Memories, 18 Carat Garbage and/or the gorgeous EP Four Ambient Tales (an absolute gem). She's also about to release a project called The Opiates and a new solo album later this year; find out more from her site (with free downloads) and straight from the diva he...on Twitter.

I obviously like her a bit, ya think?

UptownCitizen said:

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Sublime from start to finish.

Being a Chakaholic may make me come across more biased, but that is ONE album I couldn't find fault in and I'm not even a fan of how Arif Mardin handled Chaka(or didn't, for that matter).

The Deele - Street Beat

Mazarati LP

These immediately come to mind. Every track is perfection to me.

dancerella said:

novabrkr said:

Really?

you don't agree? especially in this day and age?!

I agree it's like that in this day and age, but it wasn't like that in the past.

This is mainly for two reasons:

1. The level of musicianship is way below what it was in the '60s and '70s; and

2. The "album" is almost a dead art form, having been replaced by a slow trickle of iTunes releases.

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UptownCitizen said:

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Flawless album!

minneapolisFunq said:

Mazarati LP

Are you sure, that whole album is filler

Huggiebear said:

minneapolisFunq said:

Mazarati LP

Are you sure, that whole album is filler

Come off it.

The Mazarati album is one of the finest examples of the Minneapolis Sound. A great album.

The only song that comes near to filler is Lonely Girl on Bourbon Street.

[Edited 9/12/10 0:21am]

i dont agree with the premise of the thread so for this reason......i'm out !...

"Great filler" sounds like an oxymoron to me

In any case, there are many great albums with no dull tracks on them. Here's a couple off the top of my head,

Ace Spectrum - Inner Spectrum

The Spinners - Mighty Love

... and so on.

[Edited 9/12/10 1:02am]

Romeoblu said:

The Mazarati album is one of the finest examples of the Minneapolis Sound. A great album.

Perhaps I should give it a spin sometime then. I've had it for ages but never played it

LoveIsTheMessage said:

Romeoblu said:

The Mazarati album is one of the finest examples of the Minneapolis Sound. A great album.

Perhaps I should give it a spin sometime then. I've had it for ages but never played it

Play it and let us know what you think.

MJ's Dangerous, seriously? It's so often mentioned when the subject is how labels and artists seemed to be forced to fill in an entire CD when the format exploded. It could have been a near-perfect album had it only included 9 tracks...

This thread should have been called 'Albums that are great start to finish'. If they are, there's no filler.

edit: I decided it's a classic

[Edited 9/12/10 10:25am]