I'm actually really surprised that BM has scored 3 of the 8 albums 7+..........
I am too a bit, but on the other hand I think it makes sense.
To one who loves New Wave and early 80s post-punk, RIL is essential to own in one's collection. To those who love Dylan, who is such an important artist he transcends music, BIABH is essential. If we had a lot of folks responding here who loved soul, AN would be higher and considered essential. BC may not be "essential" to fans of classic rock, but it's probably only a notch below that.
I don't think any of the rest of the records are "essential" to a fan of a genre, and are really only essential if you own everything else by that artist -- but as I said, Dylan transcends that like The Beatles or Stones would -- he's a genre unto himself!
To your point, though -- what record that you love would you rate 10 of 10 do you think? Looking at my own criteria as divulged through my vote, I can only think of 20-25 records that would qualify (that I know of -- maybe we'll uncover one I haven't heard that will qualify). That means I think every song is at a minimum really good, and most all are great and at least one is on my list of favo(u)rite-ever songs.
That's a small subset -- especially when you consider that "Loser" is one of my top 20 favo(u)rite songs ever and I gave the whole record a very low score.
