There has never been a good double album. And yes, Reply Guy, that includes the famous example you were about to post in response. It would have been better as one killer disc.
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It's certainly a compelling argument. I do think there's a lot of filler on there, though. And I can't help thinking it would be a better album with anyone other than Billy singing...
I don't think there's much filler. Only arguement against it imo is that it's really a quadruple album compared to the double albums of the 60s and 70s.
I'm going with Iron Maiden's Live after Death as the example that proves OP wrong, noting also that others have also suggested live albums. But there are also studio albums that are not only good, but great.
I don't think we can count live albums, the longer the better, normally. Lynyrd Skynyrd's One More From The Road is another great double live album. And Springsteen's Live 1975-1985 was 5 discs on vinyl, and brilliant.
Technically, Kate Bush's 1985 masterpiece 'Hounds of Love' is actually a double album - despite being on a single disc. Why? Because its B-side (if you will) 'The Ninth Wave' is a concept album about a woman shipwrecked at sea who's trying to remain lucid and alive until rescue workers find her.
Ha ha! As much as I adore the first half of this, there’s definitely a drop off towards the end (same situation for Jesus Christ Superstar, which is also absurdly front loaded)
Listened to Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness this morning and it's over two hours long. I'm not saying it's good or bad but it's just too much to take on. Albums often only become truly lovely when they've bedded in and you've heard them 10 times - just too much work up top when it's this long
This is probably my favourite album of all time, but it's largely because I got in my teens when CDs cost several hours' wages so I only had a few of them. I think if I'd first heard it in the streaming era I'd have never given it the time it needs.
Kids nowadays would simply be unable to appreciate the nuance inherent in Porcelina Of The Vast Oceans that only comes from having to listen to it because you can't be bothered to get up and press skip on your cd player.
Yeah my argument isn't that a double LP can't be good, but that it's a difficult format to engage with. Likewise can a three and a half hour movie be good? Of course, but also, do I want to a watch a random one tonight? No. How about tomorrow? Also no.
If I have the chance to sit in a dark cinema and watch 4 hours of almost anything and not have to worry about everything else I have to do, fuck it, I'm going.
In my head canon it's a double LP with a bonus LP, which ties in with some of the first pressing hype stickers. I'm sure at least one of the hi-res digital remasters just didn't bother with Apple Jam.
Personally I burnt myself a new CD with just the double LP on - fits on one disc, no fat on it.
You could lose a lot of the more instrumental stuff and it wouldn't hurt the album, as much as I love it. The Great Below stays exactly where it is, though.
I read an interview where he was complaining about how the CD version was unlistenable because of the mastering or something. Yeah Lou, THAT's the problem.
Cheap Trick Live at Buddakan is better in the two disc expanded format than the original single disc version. I think it took 15 additional years to get the version with all of the songs released.
This is more about the limitations of vinyl as a medium than anything else.
And most other physical formats come to think of it.
But more obviously vinyl because it sounds shoddy and can't hold a decent amount of content.
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Any time the white album is mentioned it reminds me of this🤣
Perhaps the most famous example of someone trying to make it a single LP and saying "nope, not right, not enough"
The Ties That Bind works much better imho.
But I could easily lose I Wanna Marry You and Crush On You... but there's plenty of outtakes and B-sides to take their place. Be True and Roulette.
I prefer it anyway 🤷
That's the unsung gem of the album, whichever version you prefer
But yeah.
Personally I burnt myself a new CD with just the double LP on - fits on one disc, no fat on it.
Joe's Garage.
And, while Side 4 of the vinyl isn't to everyone's taste, Side 3 is absolutely essential. Couldn't be done on 1 disc.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv74G1MDEKE
It’s a GREAT double album.
And most other physical formats come to think of it.
But more obviously vinyl because it sounds shoddy and can't hold a decent amount of content.