Which albums still seem "fresh" to you?
 

You know that feeling when you listen to an album for the first time? The uncertainty of where the music is going next, the surprise at a key change, the chills when the drums come in…. Which albums, if any, retain that feeling no matter how many times you've heard them? The only ones I can think of from my limited exploration of music are Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon, the Eagles' Hotel California, and Brian Wilson's version of SMiLE.

Ornette Coleman's "Shape of Jazz to Come," Mr. Bungle's s/t, This Heat's discography, Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band's "Trout Mask Replica," and Fifty Foot Hose's "Cauldron" come to mind.

The only album that feels fresh for me every time is Leviathan by Mastodon.

Mainly because it is a concept album and they seem to encourage multiple listens.

It tells the Moby-Dick story and it does it very well.

snoop dogg-Bad 4 me still smells like purple weed and candy

Florence and the Machine - Lungs
Sage Francis - Human the Death Dance/A Healthy Distrust
Wu-tang Clan - 36 Chambers

These 4 albums come to mind. I've listened to each 50+ times and they just never get old.

pg.lost - Key
Elliott Smith - XO
Reinxeed - 1912
Avenged Sevenfold - Hail To The King
Tool - 10,000 Days

Those few come to mind because whenever I listen to them, it's honestly like the first time I heard them.

Origa - Era of Queens. Never gets old.

All albums get overly familiar if I've listened to them too many times. The only things that truly still sound fresh to me are things I haven't been listening to for very long. That's not a flaw in the album, it's the way it is with things. To use the examples of Dark Side of the Moon and Hotel California from the OP: I've been listening to both those albums for about a third of a century. How can anything remain fresh that long?

Several albums by Can.
I also second Frownland's mention of This Heat.

Fresh is how a lot of people describe albums they feel are timeless, or just that good. But I think fresh is the wrong term to use, but that's just me. In my mind, there a just albums that I can revisit over and over, yet the charm or quality of those albums still stand out to me. Good luck finding a lot of music these days that can do that for you. Bunch of morons getting record deals anymore...

Give me hash over my list, I don't give a hoot. I like what I like.

Bush - any of their albums, I still say you've got them all wrong Urban
Simon Says - Shut Your Breath (a little nu-metal for you all, because good nu-metal exists...)
Katatonia - The Great Cold Distance (In The White is a beautifully composed song), also their Viva Emptiness album...
Incubus - Make Yourself
Filter - Short Bus
Deftones - White Pony
Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile
A Perfect Circle -Mer De Noms
Karnivool - Sound Awake
Tool - Aenima, Lateralus

I need to go look through my music library for more...

IMO:

Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and The Sinner Lady
The Clash - London Calling
Captain Beefheart - Trout Mask Replica

The Mahavishnu Orchestra - The Inner Mounting Flame

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...albumcover.jpg

Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
XTC - Mummer
Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind
The Beatles - Revolver
NWA - Straight Outta Compton
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Led Zeppelin - III
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
Throbbing Gristle - 20 Jazz Funk Greats
Bill Nelson - Quit Dreaming and Get on the Beam
Renaldo & The Loaf - Arabic Yodeling
Frank Sinatra - Close to You and More

...Just to name a few

Just listened to Birds of Fire the other day. That band was my first exposure to what uber musicians can do with heavy music.

As always, Janszoon tells it like it is. Play anything enough times and it´s going to lose its freshness for you - unless you have the three-second memory of a goldfish.
For me, couple of albums that have retained their impact over many years, or that occasionally reveal an un-noticed detail, might be these:-

Frownland´s favourite: Troutmask
Fripp & Eno´s No Pussyfooting
Nick Drake´s Bryter Layter
Allman Brother´s Eat A Peach
Floyd´s Atom Heart Mother
Soft Machine´s Third
Van Morrison´s Astral Weeks

These win some kind of longevity prize because I´ve listened to them ever since their release. There are some other albums I regularly return to, Afro-Celtic Sound System´s Sound Magic for instance, but I´ve only been listening to that for twenty years - way too soon to decide how fresh it might remain!

You know what surprised me recently? How fresh some old New Jack Swing sounds nowadays. In some respects that's some of the most dated music ever. But the production approach is so different from what you hear nowadays in pop music that I actually feel a little surprised when, for instance, Boyz II Men have that little vocal breakdown in a song like Motownphilly.

Maybe I'm just getting old, though. Highly plausible.

Anyway, I should probably list some albums:

I agree about:
SMiLE by Brian Wilson (and the more recent Beach Boys release is worth checking out, as well.)
Astral Weeks, too. That's sort of the go-to album for a topic like this.
London Calling by the Clash

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel
Icky Thump by The White Stripes - there's one I wasn't so sure about when it came out, but that I really came around to over time.
Abbey Road by The Beatles. Pretty much the definition of a great rock album.

There're probably hundreds of records I could list with a straight face. So, naturally, I can't think of any other examples. D'oh!

The Microphones - The Glow Pt. 2

Listened to it over 50 times and still keeps getting better.

Boyz II Men are one of the great vocal bands of all time in my opinion. as someone mentioned in an earlier post, most/R&B funk music is uplifting and has a good vibe to it, so I could see why it would stay fresh through the years.

One song in particular I think it's still just as innovative today as it was in 1973, is the single Showdown, by the Electric Light Orchestra.

Can- Tago Mago/Ege Bamyasi/Future Days
Shellac- Terraform
Tool- Ænema
Grizzly Bear- Yellow House
Radiohead- Kid A
The Flaming Lips- The Soft Bulletin
John Coltrane- Blue Train
MF DOOM- Operation: Doomsday
Sigur Ros- ( )
Jesu- Silver EP
Wilco- Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Tyler, the Creator- WOLF
Stereolab- Emperor Tomato Ketchup
Joy Division- Closer
Queens Of The Stone Age- Like Clockwork
Primus- Pork Soda
Autechtre- Cornfield/Amber
Tim Hecker- Virgins
Weezer- Blue Album
Gorillaz- Plastic Beach
Andrew Jackson Jihad- Knife Man
Opeth- Heritage
Alice In Chains- S/T
Scale The Summit- The Collective

Yes, Machine, I thought of mentioning Can or maybe Faust because that raw, unadorned quality retains its immediacy well. Didn´t put them on my list because I´m a very recent convert to their music, so it really is still fresh to me.

kriswright, I hear so many mentions of that Neutral Milk Hotel album that I might check it out. I wonder what I should expect from it ?

In The Aeroplane Over The Sea is a very very good record maybe even great, but I left it off my list because I just recently discovered it. It's lo-fi yet perfectionist, it's simple on the surface yet very detailed and intricate if you look deeper, the singing is nasally yet beautiful, and some of his lyrics are deceptively surreal.

At The Drive-In - Relationship of Command
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
The Gaslight Anthem - The 59' Sound
Andrew Jackson Jihad - Knife Man
Blur - Think Tank
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
The Menzingers - On The Impossible Past

Knife Man is a kickass album!

I'd say it's a songwriting-driven album, so think more of the pleasures of listening to a great Bob Dylan album rather than something more musically technical like jazz or something. The lyrics are oblique, personal and there are references to Anne Frank weaved through many of the songs. The 90s, of course, were full of bad REM/Nirvana copycats who tried and failed with oblique lyrics (I think of Bush's hilarious line "Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow") but Neutral Milk Hotel gets the formula right. I can't always tell you what they're talking about on this record, but the imagery is strong and the juxtaposition of ideas works. But it's definitely one of those you actively listen to. It's not really a "clean the house to this" record.

When I think of the sound of that record, I think guitar chords and sloppy trombone. So, uhm, be in the mood to hear some sloppy trombone, I guess.

That said, I wouldn't go in with too many preconceived notions. It's a record that gets discussed a lot nowadays as a sort of overlooked masterpiece. Now, it probably was an overlooked masterpiece, but I think saying that puts a lot of pressure on the album to be BIG when it's really better as a small, personal album. If that makes sense.

That said, I came to it late, after the hype had already built for it, and I was somewhat skeptical. I was actively listening to music the year it came out and I don't remember anyone talking about this album. But it still won me over. So... yeah, I'd say just give it a listen and see if it could do the same for you.

Can – Tago Mago
Robert Wyatt – Rock Bottom
Eno/Byrne – My Life In The Bush of Ghosts
Miles Davis – Bitches Brew
Sly & The Family Stone – There’s a Riot Goin’ On
Roxy Music – For Your Pleasure
Television – Marquee Moon
Brian Eno – Here Come The Warm Jets
Love – Da Capo
Silver Apples – Silver Apples / Contact

Faith No More - Angel Dust

For whatever reason, I have amnesia on this album. Though I've listened to it a thousand times or more, if you go "what does Little Victory sound like?", I don't have a clue and I'm that way on like 2/3rds the songs. I guess that's why it's my favorite album of all times - my brain can't process it properly so it never gets old.

And that doesn't apply to any other FNM album.

The Shape Of Punk To Come by Refused - still as hard-hitting, well-produced, and unique as it was 16 years ago.

Thanks for the descriptions, guys; it all sounded good to me, so I was intrigued enough to find the album on YouTube. In fact I´ve just started listening to it now, and have paused about half-way through to write this message. What a wonderful, surprising album ! I was convinced after just two and a half tracks; at last, after a rather dry patch musically, I have something new to get excited about ! Thanks very much for the recommendation.

^ Yes, makes sense to me, but don´t worry - your hype didn´t spoil the initial impact for me at all. As you suggest, "masterpiece" is a rather loaded, hard-to-live-down label, and this album sounds more humble, perhaps.

More than Dylan, my first comparison would´ve been with Syd Barrett, I think. Probably you are famiiar with his solo albums; he´s good on the oblique lyrics - but no "sloppy trombone" I´m afraid!

So, back on topic with stay-fresh albums, let´s add:-

Syd Barrett - The Madcap Laughs
Kraftwerk - Autobahn

I'll have to check that album out, then.

The Idiot by Iggy Pop. I've been listening to it for at least 5 years and it still sends shivers down my spine

^ Great ! I´d be interested to know what you think of it, PS.