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All killer, no filler

arXter

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this isn't so much a discussion about "filler" tracks but on albums where just about every song hit the right note for you.

i hardly ever come across such a record, especially in the pop realm.

looking for some thoughts, lists, suggestions?
 
When it comes to Stevie and MJ, I can listen to pretty much any Stevie album from Talking Book onwards (with the exception being Secret Life Of Plants) and any album by MJ from Off The Wall onwards without skipping a track. I have grown appreciation for tracks I skipped over for weeks, months and even years. Just recently I have begun digging Speed Demon, for instance.

Outside of those artists, I think Get Lifted by John Legend is an album that I won't skip over anything, and Once Again took longer, but eventually struck the same chord with me.

Ledisi's Lost And Found is the most recent of the bunch that I just put on and am amazed at how I can coast through the album without the desire to hit the skip button.

Common's "Finding Forever" I think was a very good album and I haven't gave it a good listen in a while, but I think I would put it in this category as well.

Sorry about recommendations, as I'm sure you've heard all this stuff with Ledisi maybe being the exception, but if you've yet to pick up that album, I strongly suggest finding it and giving it a listen.
 
Superstition said:
Common's "Finding Forever" I think was a very good album and I haven't gave it a good listen in a while, but I think I would put it in this category as well.
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Common's previous albums, Electric Circus and especially Like Water For Chocolate, i can firmly put on an 'all killer no filler' list - mainly down to the production.

definitely can't say the same about MJ (not that i'm saying he has any "fillers"), and Stevie's exceptions for me are his 'classics' if you like (though not all of them). still genius through and through however. but i really tried hard not to convince myself otherwise with a lot of my favourite artists, nor go into denial or something about trying hard to "get" a certain piece. sometimes some tracks just simple don't do it for us.

and i checked out Ledisi after your numerous plugging of her around here =P, but never really dug the material.

though a similar artist, who i consider the most underrated soulstress of this millennium, is Sy Smith who just came out with some awe-inspiring material that had me hooked for months on end. i'll up a few of my favs from her in your soul thread.
 
Yeah, if something doesn't click with you, it just doesn't click. Although I try to never write anything off because as I mentioned, stuff sometimes just creeps up on me and I really start digging a track for no particular outward reason.

Shame you don't care about Ledisi. But I'm glad you gave her the time, I'm going to check out Winehouse today in return and will report back within a couple days.

Luther Vandross' final album "Dance With My Father" really grabbed a hold of me. I bought it on the fly while on break from work. I was pulling a double, and on break I walked across the street to an overpriced store and plunked down the money for it. Took a listen to it and it drew me in, and I think there's only about one song on there that I really don't go out of my way to listen to (They Said You Needed Me). I don't think its a coincidence it was one of his most successful albums. I think its a shame he had a stroke right around the same time, as I think it may give people the idea that it had a lot to do with the success of it when it was, in fact, just a really good and slickly produced album. Perhaps this is the only album I can think of that I would maybe come close to putting in this category where I'm not biased toward the artist.
 
Coldplay - Viva la Vida - no filler track IMO. Every song is put so carefully and the album blends perfectly together, creating a feeling of a story being told. Amazing album.

I must say that rarely do I find an album to be with no filler tracks - at least one or two - but that is all subjective.
 
arXter said:
this isn't so much a discussion about "filler" tracks but on albums where just about every song hit the right note for you.

i hardly ever come across such a record, especially in the pop realm.

looking for some thoughts, lists, suggestions?
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fine line though.... no filler, but same bland-ness throughout, lol.

playing it safe?? maybe.
 
John Mayer's Continuum was all killer for me. Every track had it's identity with one cover song. I listened to every single song with a different approach. It's some of his best work, if not his actual best.

I really think Q-Tip's The Renaissance is a great album and mostly killer. I don't know his past works, but I can't get enough of this album yet and still dig it.



Oh, and when I saw the title of the thread, one album came into mind for me. Def. not all killer, but it was my first real hard alt. rock cd, lol!
1182374504_sum41_allkillernofiller.jpg
 
giddyup87 said:
fine line though.... no filler, but same bland-ness throughout, lol.

playing it safe?? maybe.
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great point, i guess with variety there's bound to be something that won't resonate with you.


IvoryKeys said:
I really think Q-Tip's The Renaissance is a great album and mostly killer. I don't know his past works, but I can't get enough of this album yet and still dig it.
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i'd agree with that. his previous solo release was also on a similar level, and the music was a very unique blend. tops.
 
It's also like... what do we define as "filler"... is it a track that isn't as good as the rest of the tracks on an album? Or is it tracks that didn't become singles?
The paradox in fillers is that an album that doesn't have fillers could be an indication that the tracks all sound the same, are equally bad - or good.

I hardly ever hear fillers on movie scores, why? Because most movie score is like a long song. I mean some parts catch you more than other but it's a thin red line that makes it impossible for you to define some parts of the score as a filler. Then there's the thing that all parts of a score serve a purpose to the actual movie. The paint a picture with music, the movie is the thin red line they follow while making the score.

If we look at Justin's "Justified" album there were 2 tracks (Still On My Brain & Never Again) that I could consider as fillers. Why? Because they didn't fit the taste to the other tracks on the album and because I couldn't hear them as singles. Still I think they're good songs, but they doesn't "taste" the same as the other tracks.
It's kind of like, if The Neptunes tracks was the meat in the hamburger, I mean there are no hamburgers without the ham... then the Timbaland tracks was the bun. And those other tracks was the cucumber, you know stuff you often throw away because it's "too much".

Sometimes I can feel that they destroy albums with having too many tracks on them, just throw away what don't fit in. I mean, Thriller had 9 tracks, Off The Wall had 10 tracks - You don't have to have 14-15 tracks on an album.

But I guess, even if an album had 6-7 tracks, we'd still find that cucumber to throw away from the dinner.
 
Steely Dan ~ Aja
The Time ~ What Time Is It?
Minnie Riperton ~ Perfect Angel
The Jacksons ~ Destiny
Gap Band ~ Gap Band III
Duran Duran ~ Seven And The Ragged Tiger
Beatles ~ Revolver
Stevie Wonder ~ Hotter Than July
En Vogue ~ Born To Sing
Madonna ~ Bedtime Stories
The O'Jays ~ So Full Of Love
Tears For Fears ~ Songs From The Big Chair (although I like the remix of Mother's Talk better than the album version, but I like it too.)

There's lots of albums where I like every song, although they're mostly older records where they weren't trying to fill 80 minutes of a CD, lol.
 
Oh yeah, I can definitely, definitely, definitely sit through The Jacksons "Triumph" all the way with no issue at all, I love every song on that album. No filler at all. Definitely on this list for me.
 
ohh yeah Triumph for sure. i can't mention Off The Wall or Thriller without mentioning Triumph. in many ways, it's a bit of a sister album to Off The Wall...and in listening to it, you can really feel Mike growing as an artist. his vocal style, his ad libs, his song writing, but especially those vocals...STELLAR!

... though can't say it was all "killer".
 
Europe - The Final Countdown
Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet
Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP
 
Madonna Ray of Light, I love the whole vibe off that album. Oh and definetly her Bedtime Stories album...now I can't believe how underrated that is. Her most urban/soulful lp in her catalouge.

Brandy Full Moon, I loved the consistency of the whole album, and Darkchild did his thang on there. Could be her best album.

Mary J Blige - My Life, Mary.

Faith Evans - Faithfully.

I'll think of more.
 
Brand New Heavies ~ Brother Sister
Prince ~ Controversy
Run DMC ~ Raising Hell
Johnnie Taylor ~ Eargasm
 
TillitsGone said:
Madonna Ray of Light, I love the whole vibe off that album. Oh and definetly her Bedtime Stories album...now I can't believe how underrated that is. Her most urban/soulful lp in her catalouge.
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yeah she really brought out the big guns in the Untouchables (Nellee Hooper, Dave Jam Hall), Dallas Austin, Bjork(!) and Babyface (though he isn't exactly a shocker). but the last time i heard that album i was in a really messed up uppity state of mind on music. i need to check it out again with a more open mind.
 
dangerous_88 said:
Coldplay - Viva la Vida - no filler track IMO. Every song is put so carefully and the album blends perfectly together, creating a feeling of a story being told. Amazing album.
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In total agreement:D

Also: The Killers' first album (Hot Fuss). I also tend to love everything on Katie Melua's albums although I'm aware a lot of people can apparently not stand the woman. With Michael I would say Dangerous and Thriller come to the closest to perfection for me:)
 
On Chante' Moore's first 2 albums, all of the songs are great.
 
I think Get In Touch With Yourself by Swing Out Sister is all good, but I think most of their albums are strong.
 
Astral Weeks - Van Morrison

Blood on the Tracks - Bob Dylan

Blonde on Blonde - Bob Dylan

The Boatman's Call - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Grace - Jeff Buckley

Little Earthquakes - Tori Amos

I Am a Bird Now - Antony and the Johnsons

I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning - Bright Eyes

O - Damien Rice

and I wish I could honestly name a Smiths album or a Cure album personally there's always one song I skip on each... even if I think they're masterpieces.

(btw, I made this list w/o MJ on puropse)

edit: I guess I'll add Purple Rain to this list as well, and Elephant by the White Stripes. I go through them from start to finish as well.
 
MJ-Off The Wall, Thriller, & Bad
Janet-Rhythm Nation 1814, Control, The Velvet Rope
Prince-Purple Rain
TLC-CrazySexyCool
Kanye West-The College Dropout, Late Registration, Graduation
Maxwell-Now, BLACKsummers'night
D'Angelo-Brown Sugar & VooDoo
Erykah Badu-Baduism & Mama's Gun
Lauryn Hill-The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
The Fugees-The Score
Marvin Gaye-What's Going On
Beyonce'-Dangerously In Love
Alicia Keys-Songs In A Minor
Stevie Wonder-Songs In the Key of Life
 
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Do you mean to include compilation works as well. Or is this for only actual studio albums?
 
IvoryKeys said:
John Mayer's Continuum was all killer for me. Every track had it's identity with one cover song. I listened to every single song with a different approach. It's some of his best work, if not his actual best.

I really think Q-Tip's The Renaissance is a great album and mostly killer. I don't know his past works, but I can't get enough of this album yet and still dig it.



Oh, and when I saw the title of the thread, one album came into mind for me. Def. not all killer, but it was my first real hard alt. rock cd, lol!
1182374504_sum41_allkillernofiller.jpg
Click to expand...

I loved Q-Tip's The Renaissance..that was like the best hip hop album of 2008 imo..
 
Michael Jackson - HIStory Dangerous & BAD
Kanye West - College Dropout & Late Registration
Nas - Illmatic
Eminem - Marshall Mathers LP
Coldplay - Viva La Vida
Lupe Fiasco - The Cool
Jay Z - The Blueprint
 
Off The Wall, Thriller, Bad and Dangerous for me...can't think of anything else.
 
Superstition said:
When it comes to Stevie and MJ, I can listen to pretty much any Stevie album from Talking Book onwards (with the exception being Secret Life Of Plants) and any album by MJ from Off The Wall onwards without skipping a track. I have grown appreciation for tracks I skipped over for weeks, months and even years. Just recently I have begun digging Speed Demon, for instance.

Outside of those artists, I think Get Lifted by John Legend is an album that I won't skip over anything, and Once Again took longer, but eventually struck the same chord with me.

Ledisi's Lost And Found is the most recent of the bunch that I just put on and am amazed at how I can coast through the album without the desire to hit the skip button.

Common's "Finding Forever" I think was a very good album and I haven't gave it a good listen in a while, but I think I would put it in this category as well.

Sorry about recommendations, as I'm sure you've heard all this stuff with Ledisi maybe being the exception, but if you've yet to pick up that album, I strongly suggest finding it and giving it a listen.
Click to expand...

Hey, im exactly the same as you! There are tracks on The Jacksons album Triumph which I used to skip but now I love. Time Waits For No One for example.

One example I can give is Take Thats album 'Beautiful World'.

Oh and Craig Davids album 'Trust Me'
 
Pretty much all of Queen's albums besides Hot Space all of MJ's solo albums for definete

and 3 of Def Leppard's albums being Pyromania, Hysteria and the recent one Songs from the Sparkle Lounge
 
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