Jerome Wrote:I don't know if I can really answer that properly but here goes. A masterpiece is one that contains the following - all the songs are well written with lyrics that make me think, there are highs and lows in the music, fast & slow, loud & soft, raw & sophisticated, and they are not written to a formula i.e. they have unexpected twists and turns, things you would not expect. The material does not conform to the normal 3 minute rule just to please people - the piece(s) lasts as long as they should without becoming boring. The production is not the be all and end all - many classics are done with basic equipment and the rough first 'take' is normally the best. But the one thing I look for is the structure of the track. Once I have heard it and I end up thinking - that was a great riff or a great sequence or an unusual blend of instruments or some real ingenuity in the way it's put together then that makes it a classic. When I hear some or all all of these things on every single track of an album in one form or another - then it's a masterpiece. Just my opinion.

Some albums I regard as masterpieces

Who's Next
Dark Side of the Moon (WYWH is actually my favourite but for different reasons)
Automatic for the People (never mind the hits, just listen to 'Find the River')
Heavy Horses (pure genius - especially lyrics)
August and Everything After (angst turned into an artform)
Harvest (one minute it's rock, then it's folk, then it's classical)

Just a small selection - there are more but that's it for now.......