Purple Rain in particular is such a spectacular album that it truly astounds me that no one remembered it so far (including myself), and it really deserves inclusion here more than most albums I can think of.
I missed this thread earlier, somehow (it's not in TV & Media, maybe). A lot of great albums have been mentioned. Even though it might not always be to my taste, there are certain albums where you can just feel that everything came together right. The artists, the material, the production, the mood of the time. As a teenager I would never have listened to Purple Rain because Prince's exaggerated sensuality seemed phony and put me off. I was very judgmental, then, about "authenticity." But how can you argue with an album like that? Prince is a genius entertainer and that album goes from strength to strength.
Synchronicity might be better remembered by people who were in their teens and 20's in the 80's...but is still an awesome album, with the possible exception of maybe one song.
Let me guess, "Mother"? I got that album as a cassette (released on chrome tape, no less!) from my sister for Christmas one year and wore it out. It made me go back to the older Police records, which I had been a little too young for, and
Synchronicity soon became my least favorite Police album. But, again, that record came along just at the time when the large audience was ready for more "sophisticated" (for want of a better term) sounding pop-rock and side 2 of that recording knocked it out of the park. One of my friends from a churchier family was not allowed to listen to it because "Wrapped Around Your Finger" mentions Mephistopheles and Scylla and Charybdis (pagan monsters, his dad said).
And in a third direction, Lou Reed's Rock 'n' Roll Animal.
Live albums often have a harder time getting to "universal consensus" about their greatness, but that is surely one of the all-time greats. I can always listen to that album, though personally I like
Live in Italy better because I'm a big Quine fan, but "Animal" is no doubt "greater" because of its place in the times. Other live albums I'd put in the near-perfect category are James Brown
Live at the Apollo, Johnny Cash
Live at Folsom Prison, The Who
Live at Leeds, Dylan/The Band
Before the Flood, Neil Young
Live Rust and the Stones
Get Yer Ya-Yas Out.
A few more that haven't been mentioned (that I've noticed):
Talking Heads,
Remain In Light: The Heads, Brian Eno and African pop music came together in an incredible album without a wasted note, let alone wasted track. The first side is an incredible, transporting groove, the second side kicks off with the instantly classic "Once In a Lifetime" and follows through some experimental-ish tracks that really work to the audio-implosion-sound of "The Overload."
The Rolling Stones,
Let It Bleed: Critics usually put
Exile On Main Street as the greatest Stones album, and it may be. But
Let It Bleed, from the bleak and spooky "Gimme Shelter" to the somehow resilient downer "You Can't Always Get What You Want" is a real masterpiece. Brian's contributions were all but ended, but Keith comes on strong on this record, including his first and possibly most evocative lead vocal and and the rhythm guitar powerhouse "Monkey Man."
Television,
Marquee Moon: Not the most famous members of the '70s NY punk scene, Television made one of the greatest two-guitar albums ever. Not a bad song, not a clinker of a solo, not a wasted chord.
Warren Zevon: While LA was still seen as a laid-back paradise for rock stars like the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac, along came this classically trained prodigy who set his sights on the city's phonies, addicts, has-beens and failures. And the stars got in line to guest on the record. Way ahead of its time.
I could go on but I guess that's long enough.
--Justin
Even in the dark of a movie theatre (and admittedly under the influence of a particular drug which shall remain nameless) I blushed toward the end. 
