Best Ever Albums

Re: Inside every Double Album is a Better Single Album?

21stCenturySchiz — Wed, 28 Nov 2018 19:31:35 GMT

Author: 21stCenturySchiz

Posted: 11/29/2018 00:31

Being The Big Prince fan i am. I'm going to take a stab at the Sign O' The Times

Side 1

1. Sign O' The Times
Always loved this as an opener. Bites down hard from the start

2. Play In The Sunshine
Nice way to go from the topical nature of Sign O' The Times to a playful track like Play In The Sunshine

3. Slow Love
Slowing down the mood with a very sensual ballad from the master of talking dirty himself.

4. Starfish and Coffee
Anthem to being different. I couldn't not include it as it is my favorite song off of here

Side 2

5. U Got The Look
Big hit for Prince and i don't think would disrupt the flow from SaC

6. Strange Relationship
Cheerful sounding song even if that isn't the subject matter. Definitely has place in line with the title track

7. Adore
Beautiful Ballad to close off the album. The falsettos give me goosebumps sometimes

Here is the album that I nominate

All Things Must Pass by George Harrison

Technically a Triple album but i don't think most people would include the Jams

Re: Inside every Double Album is a Better Single Album?

Keatownrodriguez — Wed, 28 Nov 2018 16:15:41 GMT

Author: Keatownrodriguez

Posted: 11/28/2018 21:15

If you did Mellon Collie and didn't end with Farewell and Goodnight, I'd reconsider.

Re: Inside every Double Album is a Better Single Album?

Anonymous — Mon, 5 Nov 2018 16:31:18 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 11/05/2018 21:31

Purplepash wrote:

Here's my attempt at Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me as a single album.

1. The Kiss
2. Like Cockatoos
3. Snakepit
4. Just like Heaven
5. Catch
6. Perfect Girl
7. How Beautiful You Are
8. A Thousand Hours
9. One More Time
10. If Only Tonight We Could Sleep

I like it, 3 first tracks experimental, and then all the sugar, why not? perhaps not The Snakepit after Like Cokatoos, though, a bit too similar. Here's my try (a vinyl edition 😄 )

Side 1

1. Just like Heaven
2. Catch
3. All I Want
4. like cockatoos (a good side 1 closer I think, with the synthesized strings at the end)

Side 2

5. If Only Tonight We Could Sleep (a good side 2 opener, I think)
6. How Beautiful You Are
7. Icing Sugar
8. One More Time (the melancholic penultimate number)
9. Fight (I could not see another closer, except perhaps The Kiss ?)

Re: Inside every Double Album is a Better Single Album?

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Oct 2018 16:12:12 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 10/31/2018 20:12

The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway:

1. The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
2. Fly on a Windshield / Broadway Melody of 1974
3. In the Cage
4. Back in N.Y.C.
5. Hairless Heart
6. The Carpet Crawlers
7. The Waiting Room
8. The Lamia
9. The Colony of Slippermen
10. It

Re: Inside every Double Album is a Better Single Album?

Tha1ChiefRocka — Tue, 30 Oct 2018 00:29:48 GMT

Author: Tha1ChiefRocka

Posted: 10/30/2018 04:29

Lamb Lies Down on Broadway and The Wall (These are hard since a lot of songs lead into the next)

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1onmJKjdHDh5uSFmQf0oNP

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5SJQBqoSHhNf1Mc6pUJG6I

BTW, should I also post the track listing here, or do we all use Spotify?

Re: Inside every Double Album is a Better Single Album?

RoundTheBend — Tue, 30 Oct 2018 00:04:09 GMT

Author: RoundTheBend

Posted: 10/30/2018 04:04

Thanks for bolding the first rule - I think I got it based off that. Also can we add The Alchemy Index to your list since babyBlueSedan posted about it just before the new rules?

I suppose I'll give a White Album stab as well, but first to answer babyBlueSedan's question:

The Alchemy Index by Thrice

I think Air and Earth are totally everyone's favorite... Fire and Water has totally grown on me though (I almost hated it at first... especially Fire, but now love it all). Earth apparently is my favorite cause I couldn't figure out what to cut for an even 3...

1. Firebreather (Fire)
2. Backdraft (Fire)
3. Burn the Fleet (Fire)
4. Digital Sea (Water)
5. Open Water (Water)
6. Night Diving (Water)
7. Broken Lungs (Air)
8. The Sky is Falling (Air)
9. A Song For Milly Michaelson (Air)
10. Moving Mountains (Earth)
11. The Earth Isn't Humming (Earth)
12. Lion and the Wolf (Earth)
13. Come All You Weary (Earth)

Ok so headspace of where I'm at with this album - first... I really actually wouldn't take this album as any less amount of songs normally. At first listen or 7, absolutely because it took a while to really digest this one. The artist didn't just want to write a bunch of material, rather wanted to discover tonalities and subject matters in the greek elements, Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth. For Fire they have a very aggressive sound, full of beautiful baritone guitars and for me (as not a fan of screamo or whatever) it was a bit hard to get over the screaming. Screaming in of itself isn't what I have a hard time with, I suppose it's the style of screaming chosen. It makes sense a bit, but a smokey scream would make more sense (I think Grohl's scream is a little more smooth)... but anyway that's not the point.

Water was heavily influenced by a "digital sea", which is a lyric of the eponymous track. Earth went full acoustic to get the earthy tones out - there's even dirt dropped on a grave at the end. Air basically just sounds airy in my opinion - I suppose they should have learned some woodwind instruments or something... hehe. Anyway I wouldn't really cut much from this album on purpose cause it now all has a place in my head, unlike most double albums (this I suppose is a double EP). For me it really is worth getting to know all the tracks and the textures the band tried to capture for each element. That's the whole point of the album.

The Beatles (The White Album) by The Beatles

I really wish I could say more than I chose these tracks because they are the best. I also wish I could say I found a masterful tracklisting that makes more sense. I can't though. But what I can do is do a track by track analysis on why I like these the most. I can also talk to the point that the White Album probably is great because it just goes in so many directions, yet it all is uniquely Beatles in mindset, imo. Like I wouldn't really be like, oh this is a John or Paul or Ringo or George song, even though thats what they said about the album - just separate songwriters throwing stuff at it. This wouldn't be the result of 1972 Ex-Beatles comp album. They all went to India and they all participate in these songs in a synergistic experience. I suppose in the end I wouldn't really remove any lower rated tracks from the album either because they bring a unique experience and bring the album to something unique. I think the strength really is in the numbers - if it was a one of odd track and the rest being within the same vein, it'd be just a weird track, but the culmination of all the patchwork is what makes this album brilliant.

White Album:
1. Back In The USSR
I love that they are playfully mocking The Beach Boys, and with a subject matter that's a bit tongue and cheek with the cold war going strong at this time. Plus George's single like 32nd note guitar rip is bliss.

2. Dear Prudence
I like how this is a play with a possible girl's name and prudence itself. Plus that bass line is killer/timing/airiness of the song is fantastic/tight.

3. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
I really don't have to defend this... like at all.

4. Happiness is a Warm Gun
This is that surrealistic silliness I love of the Beatles. I also like how dark it is in the beginning, and then goes almost motown. That guitar tone that rips in is the epitome of surrealism. It's got a bit of a hippie vibe. It's just this mixed bag of music in a single fantastic song - it's like the White Album in one song.

5. Blackbird
I really don't have to defend this... like at all.

6. Julia
The emptiness this performance leaves me is almost heartbreaking. Those that think The Beatles are missing any depth just really haven't even tried to understand this track:
Donovan said: (from wikipedia on the track)
He told me he wanted to write a song about his mother. He said, "Donovan, you're the king of children's songs. Can you help me? ... I want to write a song about the childhood that I never really had with my mother." He asked me to help him with the images that he could use in lyrics for a song about this subject. So I said, "Well, when you think of the song, where do you imagine yourself?" And John said, "I'm at a beach and I'm holding hands with my mother and we're walking together." And I helped him with a couple of lines, "Seashell eyes / windy smile" — for the Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland feel that John loved so much.

7. Birthday
This and track 9 are some of the most fun Beatles songs ever recorded. Probably one of Ringo's better performances, I feel the song really rides off those drums more than anything else.

8. Yer Blues
I feel like this is a better performance of nearly any Rolling Stones blues song - like the traditional type/covers they did.

9. Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey
Again - fun energy is what this is about. Is it bad I get a sexual innuendo from this? Guitar and bass performance on this are fantastic.

10. Sexy Sadie
I just like how this feels.

11. Helter Skelter
I really don't have to defend this... like at all.

12. Long Long Long
This has some kind of solemn, heartfeltness to it. I remember really loving it as a teenager when I first heard this album in it's entirety. It's painful, yet blissful at the same time - a bit of explosion at the end perhaps of these mixed emotions.

13. Cry Baby Cry
"Make your mother sad... she's old enough to know better." Musically solid, and hits home. I like the outro/Take Me Back song within a song. It just fits somehow.

14. Revolution (but the electric single version)
I really like the message of this song. It's like hey, you know you want change, but do you even understand status quo? Have you really tried working it out? Do you really want to violently revolt for something that maybe if you just chill it'll be cool and everyone will live more in peace? Are your ideas really that much better/thought through. It's a bit on Leibnitz's concept of this really is the best of all worlds.

I love the distorted guitar on this single version. Bass is driving, and still gets a slight blues feel with the piano. I guess Geoff Emerick quit working with the Beatles due to the dispute on which take to use...

Hoping that was enough meat to dig into those albums on.

Re: Inside every Double Album is a Better Single Album?

rkm — Mon, 29 Oct 2018 22:59:44 GMT

Author: rkm

Posted: 10/30/2018 02:59

sethmadsen wrote:

rkm - is it cool we are doing this out of order, so long as we answer peeps in the previous posts (feeling like a few haven't been answered).

CHANGE OF GAME RULES
I think I’d like to slow this down, so we really get into the headspace of a particular album, and the different facets that people appreciate about that album. I think that’s the thing I find interesting, that two people can love an album for completely different reasons, and this is even more likely when it comes to double albums. Secondly, when there’s a double album you don’t like, it’s cool to find a single album inside of it you do like (which was the case with Mellon Collie for me).

NEW RULES
1. Each album needs 5 responses before we can move on. Try to add something about your thinking. Something more than “these are the tracks that I like”.
2. The new album you suggest, adds to the pool of suggestions to be drawn upon by the group, but may not necessarily be drawn upon next.
3. Once there has been 5 responses, anyone can post a new playlist from the pool of suggestions, which will set the course until we reach 5 responses.
4. Caveat: You may interrupt the flow by adding a playlist for an album that has previously had 5 responses.

Current albums suggested:
Mellon Collie and the Infinte Sadness (4 responses)
Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me (1 response)
White Album (2 responses)
Sandinista
Sign O The Times (1 response)
All Eyes On Me (1 response)
In Your Honor (1 response)
London Calling
Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (1 response)
The Alchemy Index (1 response)
The Wall

NEW RULES START NOW.

The next person to post will set the course for the next 5 responses (Others, feel free to repost your old response if it’s an album that’s already been talked about)

Re: Inside every Double Album is a Better Single Album?

babyBlueSedan — Mon, 29 Oct 2018 22:24:48 GMT

Author: babyBlueSedan

Posted: 10/30/2018 02:24

sethmadsen wrote:

(also a note, anyone a Thrice enough fan to play on that?)

I'll take a stab at the Alchemy Index:

1. Backdraft
2. Burn the Fleet
3. Digital Sea
4. Open Water
5. Lost Continent
6. Night Diving
7. Broken Lungs
8. The Sky is Falling
9. A Song for Milly Michaelson
10. Daedalus
11. Moving Mountains
12. Child of Dust

I wanted to choose the same number of songs from every EP but the truth is I very much prefer Water and Air. I'm not sure how well this would flow but I think it gives a good taste of each style. Anything that I left out that you would have added?

I wouldn't touch London Calling, and I would only be able to get Mellon Collie down to a 90 minute album. I could cut down the White Album to a single though:

1. Back in the USSR
2. Dear Prudence
3. The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
4. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
5. Happiness is a Warm Gun
6. Blackbird
7. Piggies
8. Rocky Raccoon
9. Don't Pass Me By
10. Why Don't We Do It In the Road?
11. I Will
12. Yer Blues
13. Sexy Sadie
14. Helter Skelter
15. Savoy Truffle
16. Cry Baby Cry

I expect my tracks 8-10 will be controversial.

Re: Inside every Double Album is a Better Single Album?

badseed — Mon, 29 Oct 2018 22:22:24 GMT

Author: badseed

Posted: 10/30/2018 02:22

Quote:

I think my nomination is just fine as is but a single album could have been the genres best:
All Eyez On Me by 2Pac

I agree that it's a fine album by itself. But cut it in half and it's one of the best rap albums ever.

1. Ambitionz Az a Ridah
2. All About You
3. How Do U Want It
4. 2 of Amerikas Most Wanted
5. Life Goes On
6. Only God Can Judge Me
7. I Ain't Mad At Cha
8. Can't See Me
9. Holla At Me
10. Thug Passion
11. Picture Me Rollin'
12. Ratha Be Ya Nigga
13. All Eyez On Me

I guess I'll address the elephant in the room here with my nomination, because I know it's not the most popular album in the community but everyone knpws it well enough it should be an easy fix to make it at least compete with their better work.

The Wall by Pink Floyd

Re: Inside every Double Album is a Better Single Album?

RoundTheBend — Mon, 29 Oct 2018 21:54:25 GMT

Author: RoundTheBend

Posted: 10/30/2018 01:54

rkm - is it cool we are doing this out of order, so long as we answer peeps in the previous posts (feeling like a few haven't been answered).

In Your Honor by Foo Fighters

I'll take the Foo Fighters album since I actually quite like that album and it is difficult to take on as the whole point of it was a 10 song kick ass standard Foo album, and then a 10 song acoustic album that was going to be a side project until convinced otherwise... it's nice living room chill music. Too bad critics weren't crazy about it, their loss really... plenty of shittier double albums.

Ok so I tried to mix something up where every other song was the Jekyll and Hyde party this album is... you know how like some albums are double and they have like a theme to each disk... dusk until dawn, dawn until dusk, Mars/Jupiter, etc. I don't feel any of those albums actually followed a theme on each. Only this record and Alchemy Index ring a bell. Anyway, I sucked at it... but here it is:

https://open.spotify.com/user/122614575...kfVz-GWlPg

1. In Your Honor
2. Over and Out
3. Free Me
4. Another Round
5. Best of You
6. On the Mend
7. DOA
8. Friend of a Friend
9. Hell
10. The Last Song
11. Virginia Moon
12. Still
13. Razor

I almost took out Virginia Moon, but couldn't cause it so perty.

Would love to hear someone try and strip down: (also a note, anyone a Thrice enough fan to play on that?)

London Calling by The Clash

Re: Inside every Double Album is a Better Single Album?

glynspsa — Mon, 29 Oct 2018 15:01:08 GMT

Author: glynspsa

Posted: 10/29/2018 19:01

Sign 'O' The Times by Prince

Sign O' The Times
Ballad Of Dorothy Parker
Starfish And Coffee
Forever In My Life
U Got The Look
If I Was Your Girlfriend
I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man
Adore

I think my nomination is just fine as is but a single album could have been the genres best:
All Eyez On Me by 2Pac

Re: Inside every Double Album is a Better Single Album?

Purplepash — Mon, 29 Oct 2018 07:51:34 GMT

Author: Purplepash

Posted: 10/29/2018 11:51

Here's my attempt at Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me as a single album.

1. The Kiss
2. Like Cockatoos
3. Snakepit
4. Just like Heaven
5. Catch
6. Perfect Girl
7. How Beautiful You Are
8. A Thousand Hours
9. One More Time
10. If Only Tonight We Could Sleep

https://open.spotify.com/user/purplepas...Or6Ets7CCA

I think there is a great single album in here.

Sign 'O' The Times by Prince

Re: Inside every Double Album is a Better Single Album?

Sandinistar — Mon, 29 Oct 2018 07:12:34 GMT

Author: Sandinistar

Posted: 10/29/2018 11:12

Here's my White Album:

Back in the USSR
Dear Prudence
Bungalow Bill
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Happiness is A Warm Gun
Martha My Dear
Blackbird
I Will
Mother Nature's Son
Everybody's Got Something to Hide
Long, Long, Long
Cry Baby Cry

Given my username, i probably ought to throw in
Sandinista! by The Clash

Should be interesting, there's definitely an amazing single album in there, but to me (and, clearly, only me) I think the complete sprawl of it is fascinating and beautiful. The Clash also have that other double album that might be interesting to do, because other than 4 or 5 songs, editing it is an impossible task...

Re: Inside every Double Album is a Better Single Album?

rkm — Mon, 29 Oct 2018 02:52:26 GMT

Author: rkm

Posted: 10/29/2018 06:52

I’m pretty happy with this. All the angsty stuff up front, and Tonight Tonight moved to later as the emotional centre-piece of the album. Works pretty well as a Side A and B, with Porcelina as the start of Side B. Either of the last two tracks serve well as a final track, and I’m tempted to ditch one of them, which would bring it down to a nice 45 minutes.

Smashing Pumpkins are one of those bands, where I don’t really love any album of theirs as they stand, but there’s no compilation that exists that would cover all of the tracks that I like, hence the idea of embracing playlists, and starting this thread.

Re: Inside every Double Album is a Better Single Album?

craola — Mon, 29 Oct 2018 01:59:32 GMT

Author: craola

Posted: 10/29/2018 05:59

sethmadsen wrote:

I suppose I won't post an album until I can answer legit. But here's a source of double albums: My Favorite Double Albums by sethmadsen

grabbed The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway by Genesis

1. The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
2. Fly on a Windshield
3. Cuckoo Cocoon
4. In the Cage
5. The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging
6. The Lamia
7. Back in N.Y.C.
8. The Colony of Slippermen
9. Counting Out Time
10. it.
11. Carpet Crawlers
12. The Chamber of 32 Doors

i saw you have the Foo Fighters in your honor album on your list? how would you have parsed that down to one? the two are so different.

Re: Inside every Double Album is a Better Single Album?

Tha1ChiefRocka — Mon, 29 Oct 2018 01:42:50 GMT

Author: Tha1ChiefRocka

Posted: 10/29/2018 05:42

I also can not make a playlist for that Cure album as it's not one of my favorites.

1 Zero
2 Jellybelly
3 Here Is No Why
4 Muzzle
5 Thru The Eyes of Ruby
6 We Only Come Out At Night
7 Tonight, Tonight
8 Cupid De Locke
9 To Forgive
10 Love
11 By Starlight
12 Porcelina of The Vast Oceans

The obvious double album would be The White Album, which everyone knows could maybe be The Beatles best.

I'm pretty happy with the way this turned out.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/363efelmsErzJfkvUEdIUT

Re: Inside every Double Album is a Better Single Album?

RoundTheBend — Mon, 29 Oct 2018 00:32:33 GMT

Author: RoundTheBend

Posted: 10/29/2018 04:32

Someone else gotta do Cure cause I only really like 5 songs off it... I know 🙁

You asked for another version of MC&TIS (It's boring as hell, but it's the tracks I like the most... I also didn't account for flow or anything cause that takes real effort, just my favorite tracks)... honestly the album is great the way it is because of the dynamics... I'm just bringing mostly the mellon collie, and not so much of the infinite sadness... hehe.

1. Tonight, Tonight
2. Zero
3. Bullet with Butterfly Wings
4. Cupid de Locke
5. Galapogos
6. Muzzle
7. Porcelina of the vast oceans
8. Thirty-Three
9. In The Arms of Sleep
10. 1979
11. Thru The Eyes of Ruby
12. By Starlight

I suppose I won't post an album until I can answer legit. But here's a source of double albums: My Favorite Double Albums by sethmadsen

Re: Inside every Double Album is a Better Single Album?

CA Dreamin — Sun, 28 Oct 2018 23:43:13 GMT

Author: CA Dreamin

Posted: 10/29/2018 03:43

1. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
2. Tonight, Tonight
3. Jellybelly
4. Zero
5. Here is no Why
6. Bullet with Butterfly Wings
7. Fuck You (An Ode to No One)
8. Love
9. Muzzle
10. Bodies
11. 1979
12. Farewell and Goodnight

My album is:

Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me by The Cure
This is probably my all-time favorite double album. I'm curious to see how others would trim this. I would omit only 3 or 4 songs. Also curious to see other Mellon Collie tracklists.

Inside every Double Album is a Better Single Album?

rkm — Sun, 28 Oct 2018 22:02:24 GMT

Author: rkm

Posted: 10/29/2018 02:02

For every sprawling double album, the question lingers: would it have been better without the filler, as a killer single album?

Game
1. Create a single album length playlist (Spotify/Apple Music/or plain old list) from previously posted album, that you feel is better than the full length double album, and post it.
2. Post another double album for following posters to consider.

[EDIT]
CHANGE OF GAME RULES
I think I’d like to slow this down, so we really get into the headspace of a particular album, and the different facets that people appreciate about that album. I think that’s the thing I find interesting, that two people can love an album for completely different reasons, and this is even more likely when it comes to double albums.

NEW RULES
1. Each album needs 5 responses before we can move on. Try to add something about your thinking. Something more than “these are the tracks that I like”.
2. The new album you suggest, adds to the pool of suggestions to be drawn upon by the group, but may not necessarily be drawn upon next.
3. Once there has been 5 responses, anyone can post a new playlist from the pool of suggestions, which will set the course until we reach 5 responses.
4. Caveat: You may interrupt the flow by adding a playlist for an album that has previously had 5 responses.

Current albums suggested:
Mellon Collie and the Infinte Sadness
Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
White Album
Sandinista
Sign O The Times
All Eyes On Me
In Your Honor
London Calling
Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
The Wall

NEW RULES START NOW.

Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness by The Smashing Pumpkins