[WarriorAnt]

James Brown 

[size=1.7em] Live at the Apollo 1962 [Live][/size]

 

[WarriorAnt]

 

[WarriorAnt]

Shulman,  In Search of a Meaningful Moment

 

[tusk]

Pink Floyd: The division bell
Call me weird but it's my favorite Pink Floyd album. I love it from the scratchy start to the dueling guitar end.
  
Phillip Glass: The Hours OST
Magnificent from beginning to end. 
 
Nujabes: Metaphorical Music

Hydeout Productions: 2nd Collection (Nujabes Produced)
Nujabes is the master and all of his stuff is amazing, but these two are his most complete albums I feel. 

 

[youngngray]

 
I'm gonna have to go ahead and post Type O Negative - Dead Again

 

[rehabitat]

Another reiteration from me, in colour
 

 
p.s. I would love to hear it if anyone has any bootlegs of this band 

 

[rehabitat]

I thought long and hard about this one, and I 'm adding it to my list
 

 
It's the only album of Tom's that I can say is pretty much entirely flawless (LOL!!!) in it's intent and execution.  Not for everyone though.  Come to think of it, none of Tom's are.

 

[rehabitat]

Lastly I was reflecting today on seminal 'albums' in the last well whenever, and in terms of the last decades I can't imagine 'album' was really a concept before the Fifties.  So I imagined after a while that the following albums would be the seminal album of each of the last five decades of the Twentieth Century.  To be honest, I don't really have enough perspective on the noughties to offer any opinion of a seminally representative album.  As far as I can tell, 'popular music' is becoming more homogeneous and recycled as time progresses and the last decade hasn't offered anything significant outside of the underground musical world (popular music is so diffuse these days anyway, thanks to the internezz  One day I'll pull my head out of the sand and look back.
 
Anyway the following represent for me the seminal album for it's respective decade in the latter half of the 20thC, which is to say, in terms of 'western' culture, the popular musical work that was the best reflection of it's time.  Whether or not each album is flawless is not the point, and OT 

 
 
Maybe these albums are simply the most popular of their time, but doesn't that say something?  I'm interested in comments and alternative opinions.
 
Kind Of Blue
Sgt Peppers (or some other Beatles album)
Dark Side Of The Moon
Thriller
Nevermind
 
 

 

[TSIG]

I'd have to say "Echoes Silence, Patience, and Grace" from the Foo Fighters.  Every single track is phenominal.  From mild, calm, gorgeous acoustics, to headbanging metal, it's simply delicious.

 

[wberghofer]

Perfect for me as whole albums, from the very first moment to the last fading note:
 
Tori Amos: Little earthquakes
Bob Dylan: Blood on the tracks
Bod Dylan: Desire
Marianne Faithfull: Easy come, easy go
Grateful Dead: American beauty
Abbey Lincoln: Abbey sings Abbey
Joni Mitchell: Blue
Madeleine Peyroux: Dreamland
Rebecca Pidgeon: The raven
Lucinda Williams: Car wheels on a gravel road
 
(in alphabetical order)

 
Werner.

 

[Sordel]

Quote:

 
Anyway the following represent for me the seminal album for it's respective decade in the latter half of the 20thC, which is to say, in terms of 'western' culture, the popular musical work that was the best reflection of it's time.  Whether or not each album is flawless is not the point, and OT 

 
Maybe these albums are simply the most popular of their time, but doesn't that say something?  I'm interested in comments and alternative opinions.
 
Kind Of Blue
Sgt Peppers (or some other Beatles album)
Dark Side Of The Moon
Thriller
Nevermind
 
 

I wouldn't disagree with your calling any of these "seminal" (well, maybe Thriller) but you get more than one seminal album per decade and a lot of the albums that are seminal were failures. In fact, seminal is most often used of albums such as Trout Mask Replica that were not commercially successful. (In their day, that is: I'm guessing that TMR has made back its recording and pressing costs by now!) Also, seminal albums are often very flawed: they are more important for what they inspire than for what they are. I just can't take Nevermind seriously as a flawless album, but that doesn't mean it isn't very important. So, three very different concepts I'd say: popular, flawless, seminal.
 

 

[attenuated 3db]

I don't know if I'd consider them "flawless," but I remember when I began buying vinyl record albums for three dollars each at age 16 as the "concept album" studio motif was coming into vogue.  These two albums tell a narrative single story, from first cut to last, and the storytelling does not flag substantially in the process:
 

 
"Tommy" - The Who  
 

 
"Aqualung" - Jethro Tull

 

[MrQ]

 

[LugBug1]

 
Quote:

Lastly I was reflecting today on seminal 'albums' in the last well whenever, and in terms of the last decades I can't imagine 'album' was really a concept before the Fifties.  So I imagined after a while that the following albums would be the seminal album of each of the last five decades of the Twentieth Century.  To be honest, I don't really have enough perspective on the noughties to offer any opinion of a seminally representative album.  As far as I can tell, 'popular music' is becoming more homogeneous and recycled as time progresses and the last decade hasn't offered anything significant outside of the underground musical world (popular music is so diffuse these days anyway, thanks to the internezz  One day I'll pull my head out of the sand and look back.
 
Anyway the following represent for me the seminal album for it's respective decade in the latter half of the 20thC, which is to say, in terms of 'western' culture, the popular musical work that was the best reflection of it's time.  Whether or not each album is flawless is not the point, and OT 

 
Maybe these albums are simply the most popular of their time, but doesn't that say something?  I'm interested in comments and alternative opinions.
 
Kind Of Blue
Sgt Peppers (or some other Beatles album)
Dark Side Of The Moon
Thriller
Nevermind
 
 

Good post and a nice twist to this thread. The problem with "seminal" lies in the respected genre of music they are in... KOB as we know changed the direction of jazz but didnt really affect pop music as a whole, therefore I would say it was seminal only for Jazz. "Nevermind", also had a huge influence on the next generation of rock bands. Both DSOTM and Thriller are great albums, but I would say thats all that they are, I wouldn't necessarily say they changed the direction of pop music, just the same as an album like "Bat out of Hell"? or Exile on Main St. Sgt Peppers is probably the only one that I would say had a huge effect on popular music as a whole, both in culture and the opening of new doors for every band. I would also add both "Pet Sounds" and "NMTB" as huge music changers. All albums mentioned are definately a good reflection of the time though. Having said all of that, pop music is still sooooo young in the history of Western music, and so to split it into all of these little catorgories is also a bit finicky of me. So in 100 years from now, I'm guessing only St Peppers will be celebrated from your list.  
 
Just to add more for the nineties, bands like The Stone Roses and Radiohead have had a huge influence over pop music as a whole. Unfortunately the noughties seems to have been the decade of TV music with the X factor and bad MTV RnB (rythmn and bass!!!!) and even the so called hardcore punk and metal bands seem to be cleverly marketed now... I bet they all drink milk and are in bed by ten wif ther fake tattoos!! (sorry just a rant)   

 

[LugBug1]

IMO the greatest pop release of the last thirty years.
 

 
 
It's such a heartfelt bunch of songs that empathizes with anyone who hates their job and the government and feels controlled and helpless. This is ofcourse nothing new. But Radiohead put it in words and music that in 1997 seemed like a revelation for anyone that was an outsider. (and we all are!) A beautiful and important record.