What's more important for an album...

[mizzl]

... all the songs being pretty good or having some very good songs and some lesser songs on it?

[Seventh Son]

All songs being very good 

[ariich]

Either can work, although I think I'd tend to prefer half great and half average to all pretty good.

[Arcaeus]

I prefer consistency and a solid flow to a few standout tracks.

[Pirate]

A few awesome tracks will do me just fine. Case in point - all of POS's albums.

[Zantera]

For me, it isn't about all songs being great, it's more about how the album actually floats.
There are albums that has pretty much only awesome songs, but i think isn't as awesome as an album (In Absentia for example), meanwhile there's albums where the whole flow is just amazing, which creates a perfect album.

[King Postwhore]

I teand to be disapointed when an album only has 1 or 2 standout songs.  I tend to play it less.

[sneakyblueberry]

I teand to be disapointed when an album only has 1 or 2 standout songs.  I tend to play it less.

I'm with king on this one.  Unless the standout tracks are really, really good I won't even pick that album up again.

[yorost]

I prefer consistency and a solid flow to a few standout tracks.

This

[Fluffy Lothario]

After the first year or so of listening to an album, apart from on occasional full album plays, I'll just play the highlights of the album. So it's more important to me that an album has three to six amazing tracks than being very good the whole way.

Of course, if an album is amazing the whole way, or almost the whole way, all the better.

[skydivingninja]

I'm with Fluffy, 3/4 great tracks and other good tracks are the way to go, though an album full of great songs is definitely preferred.

[Sigz]

Obviously you want as many songs as possible to be amazing, but I think I'd prefer having some standouts and some good one with great flow to an album with all awesome songs but shit flow.

[UnutterableSquid]

I prefer consistency and a solid flow to a few standout tracks.

QFT

Also, if I wanted to listen to 1-2 good songs, I would listen to 1-2 good songs.

If I wanted to listen to a good album, I would listen to a good album.

What a twist! 

[ZKX-2099]

I like when all songs are perfect like with City Of Evil and The Great Misdirect.

[Sigz]

I like when all songs are perfect

The Great Misdirect.

lol

[ZKX-2099]

Am I not allowed to voice my own opinions here or something without being mocked?

[Arcaeus]

You're learning fast.

[Sigz]

Don't take it too personally or seriously. We all give each other shit over our shitty opinions, it doesn't mean you're being mocked as a person or anything.

[UnutterableSquid]

Don't take it too personally or seriously. We all give each other shit over our shitty opinions, it doesn't mean you're being mocked as a person or anything.

I resent that statement.

[Sigz]

You would.

[FiberglassMoon]

It's gotta have more consistent tracks to be a great album for me.  Otherwise I end up just skipping the lesser songs and just listening to the great ones, which greatly takes away from the album.

Scenes is my favorite album ever, but it doesn't really have many great stand out songs, but as a whole album it's a masterpiece

[setrataeso]

It really depends.
There is certainly no secret formula for the perfect album.
Frankly, if an album has all great songs, then there is no question that it's a great album. But, the consistency vs. high-highs/low-lows album debate can go either way.

Take Rush for example:
Now, I prefer Test for Echo over Counterparts (which is already a pretty frowned upon opinion...) I would say T4E has higher highs, what with Driven, Time and Motion, Test for Echo, Resist, etc. But, it also has more frequent lows (although none quite match the shittiness of Double Agent) with Dog Years, Carve Away the Stone, and The Colour of Right.
Counterparts has, for the most part, a pretty solid selection of songs (Leave That Thing Alone, Cut to the Chase, Between Sun & Moon) and a few great songs (Alien Shore, Nobody's Hero), but no songs stand out on the album like they do on T4E for me.

On the other hand, the opposite is true for a band like Symphony X.
The Odyssey has higher highs (The Odyssey) and lower lows (Incantations of the Apprentice) than an album like Twilight in Olympus, which is overall a far more consistent album, but I prefer TiO.

In short, I have no preference, and there is certainly no formula to make a good album other than make every song great.

[Jakartabassplayer]

doesn't really matter to me.
as long as their are a few good tracks on it

[AwakeFromOctavarium]

Concept album.

On a serious note, Blackwater Park is a great example of how an album should be for me. Consistent flow of atmosphere and emotion. I don't mind probably 1/4 of filler, but it's obviously better without fillers.

V: The New Mythology Suite is a perfect album.

[Sintheros]

Normally I'd say all good, but Coheed and Cambria gives me an interesting contradiction.

SSTB has Time Consumer.
IKS has IKS, The Crowing, TL&TG, and 21:13
GA1 has Welcome Home and the two Apollos
GA2 has NWFT and Mother Superior
YOTBR's standout track is Hush, a bonus track that few people will hear and a song they'll probably never play live, and it bothers me.

[tri.ad]

Consistency is the key for me.