on albums that just have one great song after another

I’ve posted about this topic before, but just thought of an addition to it.

Somewhere, a few years ago, I read an interview with Kurt Cobain in which he said that when he was young, the albums he loved were the ones that featured one great song after another with no letup. The example he gave that I remembered was AC-DC’s Back in Black, an interesting example for me because I utterly loathed that album when it was new and being played every day by the most obnoxious people in my high school.

And I still dislike the genre of screaming and screeching metal music. But I have to admit that Cobain had a point about that album. Every song on it has the charisma of a hit song; no filler. (I think perhaps the most important intellectual ability is being able to appreciate things that you don’t like. Otherwise, you’re just another dogmatic zealot who confuses quality with the agreeable.)

What other albums fit that category? It’s partly a matter of taste, of course. But many people would put the Sgt. Pepper’s album on the list as an obvious case (though I know some people, not including me, who can’t bear George Harrison’s long sitar piece).

I think both of Jimi Hendrix’s first two albums meet that standard. Some Bob Marley albums. My personal dark horse choice is MC Solaar’s Prose Combat, which I think could be appreciated even people (and they are legion) who cannot stand hip-hop in any form at all.

You can make your own list. But I just thought of one that absolutely must go on the list: the original Brecht/Weill recording of The Threepenny Opera. Wall-to-wall classics. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TF_jtz0kP9s