Albums with no fillers whatsoever (or at least that what you think)

Stelly Dan - Aja

Portishead - Dummy
Metallica - Master of Puppets

q : are we not men ? a : we are devo

Mr. Bungle - California

Illmatic

i love to listen to a solid album that just flows really well and is the perfect length. about 10 tracks and 35 minutes makes a nice listen for me.

blue album - weezer
future days - can
it was hot we stayed in the water - the microphones
letting off the happiness - bright eyes

depeche mode - violator

regarding devo: Shrivel Up (for me)

Illmatic and Violator seconded.

Carcass - Heartwork

xtc Skylarking

portishead s/t

there are too many. i would be here all day. what, you think i've got all day?

All albums have fillers.

you are very generous towards music

xpost

http://image.made-in-china.com/2f0j00aCMTBfvPsDoG/Horizontal-Sausage-Filler-Painting-.jpg

Marquee Moon
Let It Bleed
first two New York Dolls (yes, both of 'em, dammit)

Hunky Dory

Yes - Close to the Edge

Wouldn't know where to begin. I'd have a hard time naming an album where there aren't one or two songs I like significantly less than the rest of the album, but I don't think of those songs as filler; they're of a piece with the rest of the album, and I'm sure the artist doesn't think of them as filler. (Example: "The Losing End" on Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere.)

Can anyone think of a double album with no filler? I can't.

^bitches brew^

Boston's first album

xp: xtc - english settlement is the closest thing i've got

Artist I Like - Good Album
Other Artist I Like - Also Good Album

Double Nickels on the Dime—a double album for which the idea of "filler" is not particularly useful or helpful—every song is an integral part of the album, organic unity of form is achieved thru the band's singleminded commitment to beating husker du at their own game—at the same time, even the best songs feel like they were crapped out (literally, in a bathroom) during a pit stop en route from point A to beer B

if only all eyez on me had the real 'california love' instead of that less-energetic remix we might be talking

Yellow Magic Orchestra - BGM
Pet Shop Boys - Please
ABBA - The Visitors
Drexciya - Neptune's Lair
Aphex Twin - ...I Care Because You Do
ABC - Lexicon of Love
Human League - Travelogue

Doubles are different. There's probably filler on Blonde on Blonde; I'd have to think about it. There's definitely filler on the [/i]White Album[/i].

I have a theory that sometimes songs become filler on double albums that they wouldn't otherwise -- like, you wouldn't think of them that way on a standard length album, but on one that's really long you get impatient and try to find the weakest link more than you normally would. That said, there are plenty of double albums (Double Nickels, Daydream Nation, Sign O The Times), where I don't think of anything as filler.

there are too many. i would be here all day. what, you think i've got all day?

OTM

Orbital - Brown, Snivilization, In Sides, The Middle of Nowhere

Prince-Dirty Mind
Scott Walker-Scott 4
Pet Shop Boys-Actually

pink floyd - animals

Denim-Back In Denim
Bombers-Bombers II
Elvis Costello-This Year's Model

Underworld - Second Toughest in the Infants

weezer - the green album

New Pornographers - The Electric Version

I was gonna post that - no shit! - until I realized that I had deleted the Dan Bejar tracks from my itunes.

still a solid fucking album though.

Those are probably Dan's best NP songs!

Those are probably Dan's best NP songs!

― Tub Girl Time Machine (Phil D.), Friday, 12 November 2010 21:19 (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

'Raw Power' - Iggy & The Stooges

Scritti Politti - Cupid and Psyche '85

The Avalanches - Since I Left You

Illmatic seconded, that was my first thought when I saw the thread title.

Talk Talk - Laughing Stock
Stevie Wonder - Innervisions
R.E.M. - Murmur

It does get you thinking about what constitutes filler though - I can't think of any album where I like all the songs equally but actual filler.. For me it'd have to be either something a bit novelty-ish/tossed off (e.g. 'Cripple Creek Ferry' on After The Gold Rush, one of my favourite albums of all time), or a sort of 'duplicate' track, something where another song on the same album accomplishes the same thing more successfully, if that makes sense.

Wire - Pink Flag

The Eels - Beautiful Freak

Or obviously a track I just dislike altogether (xxpost).

R.E.M. - Murmur:

we walk?

murmur is a good choice. it's one of the default responses for a topic such as this.

new gold dream (81 blah blah blah) by simple minds is another one that instantly springs to mind.

and actually, i was listening to secret treaties by blue oyster cult earlier today and i decided that i think every track is great. kinda strange given that i've heard it described as "wildly erratic and patchy" or somesuch.

but yeah, there are tons of these albums. i wonder if the criteria is that the albums be of an even strong quality or whether varying degrees of good still counts?

and 'we walk' is fucking sweet.

"Secret Treaties" OTM

Even the reissue with the bonus tracks, all the bonus tracks are perfect too.

word.

Bauhaus - The Sky's Gone Out

we walk?

I honestly really like 'We Walk', the melody's great.

In Utero

technique

Alien Lanes

You Am I - Hi Fi Way
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds- Henry's Dream
Pearl Jam - No Code
Iron Maiden - Number of the Beast
Willie Nelson - Red Headed Stranger
Drive By Truckers - Southern Rock Opera, also Dirty South

Debut albums tend to be good this way -- tight, no-filler mission statements. I'd add first albums by the Specials, Laurie Anderson, King Crimson, and the B-52s.

Also: E. Costello Get Happy!!; The Band s/t; Eno's four vocal albums in the 1970s; R&L Thompson, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight; Material, Memory Serves

no filler on no code? very interesting.

the Who, Live At Leeds
The Clash (US version)
Funkadelic, Maggot Brain
Green's incomparable debut album
Jimi Hendrix Experience, Are You Experienced?
Miles Davis, Get Up With It

The Bends

I love filler. A good album, like a good sausage, needs some cheap breadcrumbs and fat to bring out the meat and seasoning flavours. Aren't the ambient tracks on Another Green World, beautiful and memorable as they are, kind of the definition of perfect filler? They are to me, and that's one of my favourite ever records.

Trying to think of a pun on Thriller, but I'd forgotten about "The Girl is Mine".

Ween - Chocolate and Cheese
Ween - The Mollusk

Live at Leeds -- I always considered "Magic Bus" filler, even on the original 6-song version of the album.

Is Exile on Main Street considered a double album? To me, it has no filler.

Drive By Truckers - Southern Rock Opera

You like the Rob Malone songs on SRO??

Pretty much every album I've heard has the ol filler, even my favs. Maybe Isn't Anything and the Menomena album Friend and Foe

Possibly The Mordern Dance too.

Synchronicity (though it took years for "Mother" not to be filler).

Nebraska

i don't think 'mother' could ever count as filler -- it is actively . . . something

Pretty sure there's some filler on FMac's Tusk, but even those tracks are better than 99.99% of recorded music, so...

I often end up liking the filler in the end. It's usually more representative of the sound of the band than the big lead single for one thing. Been listening to side two of Nevermind a lot lately, for example.

Fun House

Disco Inferno - In Debt

Hawkwind - Space Ritual

billstevejim, I love the bends, one of my fav albums of all time featuring many flawless tracks...but no filler? i'd prob put "bones" and maybe "sulk" in that category.

kid a however is 100% filler-free.

Big Star - Radio City

Steely Dan - Pretzel Logic
New York Dolls - New York Dolls
Randy Newman - 12 Songs
Dusty Springfield - Dusty In Memphis
Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited
Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed (even Country Honk fits right in)

many xposts: Airport, yeah Malone's songs were big sore thumbs when I first heard the album, but now they don't bother me. I see your point though. I wonder sometimes what it would have been like with Isbell instead of Malone. Triple album, lol.

Al Green - Call Me
Bowie - Station to Station
Donald Fagen - The Nightfly
King Sunny Ade - Juju Music

Good call on those four Alfred.

craziest thing... i was going to suggest radio city myself. then i remembered 'morpha too', which i love incidentally. but it's vaguely filler no?

Curtis Mayfield - Superfly

A much more interesting question would be long/double+ albums with no filler whatsoever imo.

None exists.

Was briefly addressed upthread.

Sign 'o' The Times comes closest.

Most of my picks have been ten tracks or fewer. Quality control is very important.

Whiney OTM upthread. I can't seem to find any filler on "Skylarking". Also not on "Odessey & Oracle".

Orbital - Brown, Snivilization, In Sides, The Middle of Nowhere

"In Sides" comes close. The others have plenty of filler. The brown one I tend to skip the beginning and start with "Lush".

Tim Hardin 2

MBV - Loveless
Aphex Twin - Richard D. James Album
Flaming Lips - Soft Bulletin

usually applies for most concept albums, I think. Disregarding interludes.

"MBV - Loveless"

Touched?

I was playing "High land hard rain" Aztec Camera, and hmmm... Just about qualifies.

Selected Ambient Works Vol.II.
Unknown Pleasures and Closer

JD are a no filler band on studio releases imo.

Ice T - "Power" and "The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech... Just Watch What You Say"

sly & the family stone -- stand!
van morrison -- astral weeks ('the way young lovers do' is different from the other tracks, but i could never think of it as 'filler')
sleater-kinney -- one beat
miles davis -- in a silent way
dylan -- blood on the tracks

dylan -- blood on the tracks

I always skip "Meet Me In The Morning".

I'll add 10,000 Maniacs, In My Tribe.

Discussing Blur - don't think there's any filler on Parklife. Sure, you've got cheeky interludes, but these are much loved. Think only London Loves comes close to being a bit dull, but it's certainly not a bad song.

Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie

Now is this a double album with no filler? I generally listen to it in whole sides and don't skip songs very often. I even like all the daft nursery rhyme music on the last side.

Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
Spiritualized - LAGWAFIS (fire away!)

I'm trying to think of bad tracks on Music For A Jilted Generation.

second punk track on Parklife is filler imo.

Spiritualized - LAGWAFIS (fire away!)

fire away? i think a lot of ppl here would agree with you—myself included

Pillbox - do you mean Bank Holiday or Jubilee?

I'm Wide Awake It's Morning. Even the spoken word bit feels essential.

"Spiritualized - LAGWAFIS (fire away!)

fire away? i think a lot of ppl here would agree with you—myself included

― solitary posts that effortlessly summarize the spirit of ilxor (ilxor"

That's good to know. For some reason I have the impression that a lot of people think this album is a bit too much. But maybe that's really related to what came after the record..

Jubilee - xp to dl

I take it back, tho, b/c my addled memory had swapped it for, I believe, one of the punk tunes on MLIR. I actually like Jubilee & basically agree that all the 'lesser' tracks on Parklife serve a valuable structural purpose.

But maybe that's really related to what came after the record..

my favorite Spz album is actually Let It Come Down—probably in the minority on that one, though!

Jason Collett - Idols of Exile

Meat Puppets - Up On The Sun
(It's almost perfectly sequenced, too.)

Nick Drake - Pink Moon

aaliyah s/t

silver jews - the natural bridge