If there's one thing you should know about me, it's probably this: I am a pretentious fuck. And as such, I'm really inclined to big ideas - ambition, concept, sprawl. So it stands to reason I love the double album a good deal. While I think most would rather have one disk of excellent material, I'd rather have that same material stretched out over two disks even if the stuff in between is a notch down. Hard to explain I guess. So, here's to the discussion of double (and triple) albums. We'll define them as albums which require more than one unit of the standard format of the time of its release, since a lot of the older (shorter) double albums can fit on one disk today. Favorites of mine:

Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland
Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti
Stevie Wonder - Songs In The Key Of Life
Bob Dylan - Blonde On Blonde
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
Godspeed You Black Emperor! - Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven
The Rolling Stones - Exile On Main St.
George Harrison - All Things Must Pass
The Clash - London Calling (just to make an even 10)

In probably that order. Questions/comments? Yes please!

I'm a bit pretentious myself, but I don't normally love double albums. That said, here are ten that I do love, but didn't see on your excellent list:

The Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime
Husker Du - Zen Arcade & Warehouse: Songs and Stories
Talking Heads - The Name of this Band
Polvo - Exploded Drawing
The Who - Quadrophenia
Prince - Sign 'O' the Times
XTC - English Settlement
Todd Rungren - Something/Anything
Can - Tago Mago

You both forgot The Beatles' self-titled album (White Album,) that one's all right.

I can't speak for Naz, but I didn't foget that one-- least favorite Beatles' album (and I love the Beatles). I did, however, forget, Being There.

Would it be too obvious if I said The Wall? Too late, I already did.

Does Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II count as a double album?

I honestly don't know whether most older albums are double or single, because they usually fit on one CD.

quote:

Originally posted by wilsonna:
Does Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II count as a double album?

I personally wouldn't count it, but it's your own damn list, so you can do what you want with it. Semantic arguments are always the most boring ones around here anyways.

That hasn't been mentioned yet:

Bruce Springsteen -The River
Elton John -Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
James Brown -Hell
Derek & the Dominos -Layla
Hawkwind -Space Ritual

quote:

Originally posted by Maximum Jack:
I can't speak for Naz, but I didn't foget that one-- least favorite Beatles' album (and I love the Beatles). I did, however, forget, Being There.

I have to aggressively disagree with you ranking the White Album/self-titled/whatever as the Beatles worst. It's easily my favourite Beatles album. Its ambition, ideas, variety, invention, ability to surprise even on the hundredth listen, and just plain old damned-good songs, for me, set it apart in the Beatles catalogue.

Even though The Beatles more or less wrote this album seperately, collaborating less than at any time previously in their career, despite themselves it's clear that they were all on the exact same plane creatively. I think it's an astonishing record.

I whole-heartedly agree with you!

quote:

Originally posted by Borachon:

quote:

Originally posted by Maximum Jack:
I can't speak for Naz, but I didn't foget that one-- least favorite Beatles' album (and I love the Beatles). I did, however, forget, Being There.

I have to aggressively disagree with you ranking the White Album/self-titled/whatever as the Beatles worst. It's easily my favourite Beatles album. Its ambition, ideas, variety, invention, ability to surprise even on the hundredth listen, and just plain old damned-good songs, for me, set it apart in the Beatles catalogue.

Even though The Beatles more or less wrote this album seperately, collaborating less than at any time previously in their career, despite themselves it's clear that they were all on the exact same plane creatively. I think it's an astonishing record.

You did it! I've changed my mind!!

quote:

Originally posted by Maximum Jack:

You did it! I've changed my mind!!

I thought you would.

quote:

Originally posted by crazed:
Derek & the Dominos -Layla

Good call, this has to be my favourit double album.

On The Beatles front, I like The White Album, but I don't think it stands up with the rest of their later work (post Rubber Soul/Revolver). Its got some good songs but I do find there's some tracks that let it down. Maybe I just expect too much from them?

Other doubles I like that are yet to be mentioned:

Trout Mask Replica - Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band
Agharta - Miles Davis (shamefully though I'm yet to hear Pangaea)
Live at Filmore East - The Allman Brothers Band
Tommy - The Who
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below - OutKast

Oh I'm so glad this finally got goin'!

I knew a lot of these would come up sooner or later:

Prince - Sign 'O' The Times; I wanted to like this, really really I did! But I just couldn't. Maybe in my build-up of the double album mythos and all that I made it something it wasn't before I listened.

The Beatles - The Beatles [The White Album]; Sadly I haven't heard it in its entirety yet It's been a strange few months for me musically, and for personal reasons I couldn't prioritize it for a while (but I can get it soon now.) I love the bits I've heard so far.

Pink Floyd - The Wall; I knew I'd find this mind-blowingly incredible or really mediocre, and guess where I came down on The fragments holding the longer bits together don't work, and it may sound backward, but sleep enhances my musical experience, if I can pass out you're pretty much guaranteed my love. Well I passed out and The Wall still didn't get it. Should say something.

Bruce Springsteen - The River; probably the least impressive album I've heard from Springsteen (about his first eight...?) Didn't seem to have the thematic unity of Born To Run, Born In The U.S.A., Nebraska, WI&E-Street Shuffle...all his really great statements. A sprawl of run of the mill stuff for Springsteen I thought.

Captain Beefheart And His Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica; I thought hard about listening to this recently, but due to said esoteric prioritizing it didn't make the cut. I like Frownland kind of a lot, I'll probably give the whole thing a try soon.

OutKast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below; Only got Stankonia so far, but I think I'm pretty obligated to the band to get everything they ever made. I had a dream once where I saw Andre 3000 on the street and gave him a big hug. True story.

The rest; Hadn't given much thought to. Most of the really big ones I've finally knocked out so I'll be looking to keep finding fresh big ideas. Just heard Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness yesterday morning...s'probably a good solid 11th.

Hm...does an album that comes with a bonus disc of otherwise unreleased stuff (like New Pornographer's Challengers - with the B-Sides disc - because I love the album and what I've heard of the B-Sides so far) count as a "double album"?

No. A true double album is all recorded at the same time (for the most part!!) A Bonus Disc is a Bonus Disc. TMBG just put out two, and the second is unreleased (unless you recorded all their podcasts), but it's not a true double album.

I don't mean to be a wet blanket - I think the albums mentioned are good, but I generally think double albums tend to be overrated. I prefer Goo to Daydream Nation, Are You Experienced? to Electric Ladyland, Highway 61 Revisited to Blonde On Blonde, Let Love In to Abbottoir Blues/Lyre Of Orpheus, Sticky Fingers to Exile On Main St., Yankee Hotel Foxtrot to Being There, Appetite For Destruction to Use Your Illusion (duh!), Nebraska to The River, etc. yet in most "Top Albums of all time" lists, it's the double albums that get a higher ranking.
I said to a friend half-facetiously, "All albums should be no longer than 45 minutes" and he said, "That's being restrictive." But, I mean, I just think that most double (or long) albums could have been better if they were edited.

Basically, what I'm saying is that I'm not a double album kind of guy.

quote:

Originally posted by Nhazghaal:

Pink Floyd - The Wall; I knew I'd find this mind-blowingly incredible or really mediocre, and guess where I came down on The fragments holding the longer bits together don't work, and it may sound backward, but sleep enhances my musical experience, if I can pass out you're pretty much guaranteed my love. Well I passed out and The Wall still didn't get it. Should say something.

I like The Wall, but by "side 4", it does get a little long-winded. If they'd stopped after "Comfortably Numb" it would've been better. "Run Like Hell" is the only song on the forth side anyone cares about anyway, and they could've easily swapped that for one of the three parts to "Another Brick in the Wall".

quote:

Originally posted by Stocky:
I don't mean to be a wet blanket - I think the albums mentioned are good, but I generally think double albums tend to be overrated. I prefer Goo to Daydream Nation, Are You Experienced? to Electric Ladyland, Highway 61 Revisited to Blonde On Blonde, Let Love In to Abbottoir Blues/Lyre Of Orpheus, Sticky Fingers to Exile On Main St., Yankee Hotel Foxtrot to Being There, Appetite For Destruction to Use Your Illusion (duh!), Nebraska to The River, etc. yet in most "Top Albums of all time" lists, it's the double albums that get a higher ranking.
I said to a friend half-facetiously, "All albums should be no longer than 45 minutes" and he said, "That's being restrictive." But, I mean, I just think that most double (or long) albums could have been better if they were edited.

Basically, what I'm saying is that I'm not a double album kind of guy.

Yeah, which is kind of what I meant. I think all my friends would agree with you, and I kind of thought most people who weren't really pretentious critics would too (though I'm glad it hasn't played out so much like that everyone! ) For me it's like...and this will sound really vapid. But before I hear an album (like Sign 'O' The Times) I can look at the cover art and the song titles and the album title and whatever else I know about it, comments from people that love it or details going into the making...and I can kind of get a picture before I hear it. A lot of the time it comes out entirely differently than that picture I had and that's why I'm disappointed, but then time passes and I learn to accept it on the terms it should be accepted and it really grows. Or, it comes pretty close to that picture and that's when I worship it to the point of borderline fellatio. But no matter how good no album has lived up to that picture, I think I'm expecting things music can't give me, it's just the desire to fulfill that image. But next time it happens, I can stop myself from pursuing it and have an unnatural love for an album I've never heard! Such is the power of imagination I guess.