Yeah....I never saw this thread....good call Jesse and great to see you back!
These probably have been mentioned......but I will put my 2 cents in:
Thin Lizzy-Classic Lineup with Robertson and Gorham...for me that was the best lineup Lizzy ever had and produced their best albums. The ones after Robertson were still great though.
Iron Maiden with Smith and Dickinson. I love the Di' Anno era and 'Killers' is one of my favorite Maiden albums, but so is 'Piece Of Mind' and 'Powerslave'. I also think the Smith/DI'Anno era is better than the original recording lineup with Dennis Stratton
Judas Priest with Les Binks on drums is my favorite era of Priest. 'Stained Class', 'Hell Bend For Leather' and 'Unleashed In The East' is as good as it gets. Some may argue the Dave Holland era starting with 'British Steel' through 'Ram it Down'. Great era as well and 'Defenders Of The Faith' is one of my all time favorite Priest albums.
Ozzy Osbourne with Jake E Lee. I will probably catch flack for this but I preferred the Jake era over the Rhoads era.
Deep Purple Mark II with Gillan and Glover. It's hard to argue against albums like 'Machine Head' 'In Rock' and 'Perfect Strangers'. Best era of Purple
Helloween with Micheal Kiske. I love the original 4 piece with Hansen on vocals but the Kiske era with those first two Keepers albums rule
Fates Warning with Frank Aresti on guitar...either with John Arch on vocals or Ray Alder. 'Awaken The Guardian' is my favorite FW album.....but 'No Exit' and 'Perfect Symmetry' are amazing albums....regardless...the band was better with Aresti because of his guitar playing AND songwriting.
UFO with Michael Schenker....no need to really explain this....
MSG with Graham Bonnet.....my favorite MSG album is 'Assault Attack'...and that album is a desert Island disc. It's a shame Graham only did one album with MSG