One of the best selling albums of all time is Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Its sold over 40 million copies worldwide, and is truely an outstanding piece of music.
But what makes it so good is how it flows together as one long song. Its pretty hard to just listen to one song on the album without missing out on the whole experience. Only the hit single 'Money' really stands out on its own. Its just one of those albums that for 45 mins or so, you can just sit back and listen to a winding journey, with its many themes of human experiences - longing, greed, birth, ageing and mental illness. The perfect example of this flow is between Breathe and Speak to Me - its really like one song (many people often credit it as being one song too). If you try listening to just one of those two on its own, you are missing out on the full experience.
Even the album ending feels like you have just been listening to a masterpiece, reaching its climax and sounding like the curtain going down on the show.
In my opinion, there are very few great albums with songs that flow this well together. Other albums that try and achieve this are OK Computer by Radiohead (another critically acclaimed album, and one of my favorites), and the wonderful Astral Weeks album by Van Morrison.
What are your thoughts on albums like this that 'flow' together into a musical experience?