Double albums that do and don't work.

[Rich]

54 minutes ago, spectoremg said:

Says who?

Says the whole of the mod and admin team. Will that do you?

[alexa3020]

43 minutes ago, Nail Soup said:

Works: Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band...... fantastic album.

 

Doesnt work: I think generally not good, but a good representative example mot coming to mind

If you like that album, this is pretty interesting.

In all honesty, with a few exceptions, it’s a bit much for me. Clear spot however..

[Lozz196]

3 hours ago, Daz39 said:

Use your Illusion : 1 album of great songs spread across 2 discs

Def, really could have been a great follow up to Appetite.

2 hours ago, BigRedX said:

Contenders for terrible ones IMO are both by The Clash - "London Calling" with only 2 decent tracks and "Sandinista" which doesn't have any.

 

Agree, The Clash were a strange band, capable of both brilliant tracks and awful ones.

[Old Man Riva]

Ones that work;

Sign o’ the Times - Prince 

Welcome to the Pleasuredome - Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Sheik Yerbouti - Frank Zappa

[davepb24]

Just now, Lozz196 said:

 

Agree, The Clash were a strange band, capable of both brilliant tracks and awful ones.

Bizarrely I think the only non-live non-compilation multi-disc albums I have are London Calling (but only on CD!) and Sandinista... which I do have on original vinyl, was actually one of the first albums I ever owned 🙂 apart from side 1 which does have a couple of decent tracks I'm not sure any of the rest of it has seen the turntable more than twice in 40 years!

[P-Belly Evans]

11 minutes ago, Old Man Riva said:

Ones that work;

Sign o’ the Times - Prince 

Welcome to the Pleasuredome - Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Sheik Yerbouti - Frank Zappa

Oooooh Sign of The Times... what a record. However, I must (at the risk of the wrath of the OP) say that the live DVD (which my wife imported on Blu Ray from Australia for one of my birthdays❤️) is perhaps one of my favourite musical experiences of all time.....

 

In fact I am going to put it on in a bit.... HOUSEQUAKE.... 

Edited October 9, 2020 by P-Belly Evans

[paul_5]

5 minutes ago, Old Man Riva said:

Ones that work;

Sign o’ the Times - Prince 

Welcome to the Pleasuredome - Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Sheik Yerbouti - Frank Zappa

Yes!

 

Yes!

 

Yes!

[paul_5]

Muse - The Resistance (well, it came on 2 pieces of vinyl).

[P-Belly Evans]

12 minutes ago, paul_5 said:

Yes!

 

Yes!

 

Yes!

Aaaah. Here we go. Comedy disco lights compulsory... 

[peteb]

5 hours ago, spectoremg said:

Physical Graffiti - brilliant, but around a quarter of it is old outtakes - bit of a swizz. 

 

 

 

Originally it was supposed to be a single album but they weren't prepared to edit down any of the tracks on the original playlist so that it would fit on a vinyl record. They included a couple of tracks that should have made it onto the previous two albums and a few outakes that they had hanging around, which generally were quite interesting if not quite up to the standard of the rest of the tracks. 

Still one of my top 5 favourite albums. 

[BillyBass]

6 hours ago, BigRedX said:

Contenders for terrible ones IMO are both by The Clash - "London Calling" with only 2 decent tracks and "Sandinista" which doesn't have any.

3 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

Agree, The Clash were a strange band, capable of both brilliant tracks and awful ones.

 

The first album was a masterpiece, the second was ok, English Civil war, Tommy Gun etc, and then it went downhill.  They stopped being punk, I'm so bored with the USA was put to one side and off to America they went.

[KevB]

Topographic Oceans failed all the way to No1 in the album chart and was the first UK album to be certified gold on pre sales alone. It was always going to divide opinion among fans and non fans alike. Personally I prefer sides 1 and 4 but I've known people who prefer 2 and 3 so what to leave out? I wouldn't edit out a note of either of the sides I like.

[wateroftyne]

Topographic Oceans as mentioned (burn sides 2&3), but also:

Genesis - We Can’t Dance

Eagles - Long Road out of Eden

That said, they wouldn’t be great single albums either.

 

[Beedster]

13 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

That said, they wouldn’t be great single albums either.

 

That's the thing, there's this idea of a quality:quantity ratio that assumes that a poor double album would be a better single album, i.e., keep the 'better' songs. But that's not how albums work, and why listening to compilations is often not as satisfying as listening to original albums. I've often suspected that the classic double album was in many cases a sign that the band had too much equally mediocre material, having originally set out to record a single album. Many exceptions of course

[Lozz196]

I suppose from my collection the double album that has a good few let-downs is The Great Rock n Roll Swindle by The Sex Pistols. The tracks of them playing are good, but there’s too much other “filler” on it. I suppose it does actually live up to its name.

[KevB]

I guess the real acid test is which double albums do you still play all way through. I certainly do that for The Wall and War of the Worlds. Though it doesnt come round in rotation very oten I also do that for Ayreon's Into The Electric Castle but that's another story telling album that would sound odd if you left big chunks out.

[BillyBass]

5 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

I suppose from my collection the double album that has a good few let-downs is The Great Rock n Roll Swindle by The Sex Pistols. The tracks of them playing are good, but there’s too much other “filler” on it. I suppose it does actually live up to its name.

I remember seeing racks of 'Flogging a dead horse' in the Virgin Megastore, probably about a year after the Great Rock n Roll swindle came out.  Malcolm McLaren just milking the last penny out of the Sex Pistols name.

[Drax]

All my Dont’s already mentioned. 

Couple that Do work ; 

Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 1 

Kate Bush - Aerial 

 

 

[Graham]

I'm generally of the opinion that the right length of an album is 40 mins, and quality tends to go down as length extends.

But, I think Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven by Godspeed You! Black Emperor works as a double album

[pst62]

Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway.

The Damned - The Black Album.

Captain Sensible - Revolution Now.

Captain Sensible - Meathead. 

The Who - Quadrophenia.

All work for me!

[rushbo]

Here are some goodies. CAUTION! Some may fall into the OP's "obscure twaddle" category:

Husker Du: Zen Arcade

Husker Du: Warehouse Songs and Stories

Game Theory: Lolita Nation

XTC: English Settlement

ELO: Out of the Blue

Prince: 1999

Todd Rundgren: Something/Anything

I may be in the minority, but The White Album and Physical Graffiti are among my favourite albums... funny old world, ain't it?

I'm surprised to see London Calling getting a pasting as I think that's ace, too.

I'm not a fan of War of the Worlds as it's a bit too close to the dreaded musical theatre for me.

Yes are (generally) brilliant, but Topographic Oceans was a bit too much for me. I'll keep trying at it tho.

 

[casapete]

Cream - Wheels of fire *

As a Clapton fan don’t know how I overlooked this. According to Wiki, it was also the world’s first platinum selling double album. 

For me it works, but only sometimes. I love White Room, Politician, Born under a bad sign and Crossroads, but avoid Spoonful and especially Toad (lengthy instrumental with drum solo!)

 

 

 

 

* Full disclosure - one studio album and one live, tin hat at the ready....

[KevB]

Having not played vinyl for so long I forget about Out of the Blue since it fits into a single CD.

Edited October 10, 2020 by KevB

[BassTractor]

15 hours ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

Mate, what is it with you? You’ve started a perfectly reasonable thread which you are now sabotaging. We can all do without the petty insults and it’s not the first time this has been said.

To me the pattern seems to be he does this mainly on Fridays. A workweek of constructive posts, and on Fridays a drawer opens in more than one meaning... 
Maybe @ped can add a little script to the site filtering his posts based on day of the week. 😁

As to double albums, Tales from Topographic Oceans is the first to come to mind as a DON'T, but that is also because my brain is used to its being mentioned and because after Close to the Edge it was a real wtf moment.

I struggle with parts of it to this day (the bits that seem lacking in purpose, as if they have no clue and think that not moving will eventually reveal direction to them), BUT I think that compositionally it's slightly more coherent than often given credit for.

Also, disliking side three from day one, after enough exposure it now probably is my fave whole side, though I love bits from other sides more.

[Old Man Riva]

4 hours ago, Drax said:

All my Dont’s already mentioned. 

Couple that Do work ; 

Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 1 

Kate Bush - Aerial 

 

 

I forgot about Aerial, great choice.

An album I’d add to the ‘don’t work’ pile would be Works Volume 1 by Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

It’s three sides of solo material and one side of group work (inc. Fanfare For the Common Man). Needless to say, the solo stuff could have done with a more honest approach to what worked, which may have led to a decent single album.

As it stands it’s an example of mid-70s overblown, self-indulgent meanderings that didn’t work then, and haven’t particularly stood the test of time (in my opinion, of course!)...