double album that would have made a better single - Music

bobbyb5

Gender: Male
Location: New York

What's your favorite double-album-that-would-have made-a-better-single album?

Here's mine:
Joni Mitchell. Don Juan's Reckless Daughter
Goldie. Saturnzreturn
David Bowie. Stage
Donna Summer. Bad Girls
The Clash. Sandinista!

Daydreamer

Well almost all double albums have people claiming they would be better as single albums.

Personally I've always thought Physical Graffiti to be a prime example of this, esp. since all the lesser songs are thrown together at the end of the album.
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bobbyb5

Gender: Male
Location: New York

Damn, you're right TWICE. I should have said : double album that would have been A GREAT album had it been a single. Instead of just: would have been a better single. Cuz you're right, almost all doubles people think would have been better.
And Physical Graffiti is the ultimate one. Just didnt pop into my mind. Im sure I'll think of more when i start thinking harder about it.

LittleM1971

Gender: Male
Age: 52
Location: Nottingham

Sandinista is a triple album...yikes

I think The River by Bruce Springsteen would have been seen as one of his best albums had it been a single.

What is interesting was the arrival of the CD which pretty much stopped us talking about double albums altogether. Now once again more people are choosing to buy vinyl will the idea of a double/triple album make a come back? Of course it never really went away it was just the format changed.

Before CD you were limited to about 55 minutes of music onto a single vinyl LP. All of a sudden with a CD you could make albums around 70 minutes in length. Because these albums fitted onto one disc (cd) they were just seen as albums however had they been released pre CD these following well known albums from the 90's would be known as double albums today (or they would have had songs cut so they could fit onto a single LP).

Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream (62:16)
The Boo Radleys - Giant Steps (64:11)
Stereolab - Transient Random-Noise Bursts (62:11)
Primal Scream - Screamadelica (64:47)
Metallica - Black Album (62:31)
Massive Attack - Mezzanine (63:29)
The Verve - Urban Hymns (too long!!!)

Now I know all of these were released at the time as double vinyl but with CD being king they weren't talked about as double albums. Perhaps some of these were visualised as double albums by the artists but I don't ever recall Bobby Gillespie talking about Screamadelica as a double album where as when Joe Strummer talked about the next Clash album being a double it was big news.

Which brings me to a question for discussion. What about albums released in the CD age such as those listed above. With more people choosing vinyl once again as their preferred choice and buying them technically as a double album should they be viewed alongside 'London Calling' or 'The White Album' or should they be called something else? Extended Album perhaps? which would slot into the following formats, something like...

Single (1-3 songs)
Extended Play (3-5 tracks / 15-25 mins)
Mini album (25-35 mins)
Single LP (35-55 mins)
Extended LP (55-70 mins)
Double LP (pre CD)
Triple LP (pre CD)
Box set etc

stangetzaway

Gender: Male
Age: 53
Location: Melbourne

Little M your in the right ball park but during the vinyl era the industry standard for a double album was 65 minutes or over. Of that I'm pretty certain. The only anomaly was London Calling which clocked in at 64.59! Whats confusing now that is that since the comeback of vinyl albums much shorter in length are being released as doubles for no other reason I can see but to drain pockets. I think Currents was released as a double and it's barely 50 minutes long.

During the vinyl/cassette era majority of albums 45 mins or less to fit on a side of a cassette, or then over 65 minutes for the rare double album. Few albums between 45 and 65 minutes were released proportionately speaking as I have a feeling the more you squeezed on an a 33 inch disc there was some detrimental effect such as poorer sound quality but I'm not 100% sure.

bobbyb5

Gender: Male
Location: New York

LittleM1971 wrote:

Sandinista is a triple album...yikes

I think The River by Bruce Springsteen would have been seen as one of his best albums had it been a single.

What is interesting was the arrival of the CD which pretty much stopped us talking about double albums altogether. Now once again more people are choosing to buy vinyl will the idea of a double/triple album make a come back? Of course it never really went away it was just the format changed.

Before CD you were limited to about 55 minutes of music onto a single vinyl LP. All of a sudden with a CD you could make albums around 70 minutes in length. Because these albums fitted onto one disc (cd) they were just seen as albums however had they been released pre CD these following well known albums from the 90's would be known as double albums today (or they would have had songs cut so they could fit onto a single LP).

Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream (62:16)
The Boo Radleys - Giant Steps (64:11)
Stereolab - Transient Random-Noise Bursts (62:11)
Primal Scream - Screamadelica (64:47)
Metallica - Black Album (62:31)
Massive Attack - Mezzanine (63:29)
The Verve - Urban Hymns (too long!!!)

Now I know all of these were released at the time as double vinyl but with CD being king they weren't talked about as double albums. Perhaps some of these were visualised as double albums by the artists but I don't ever recall Bobby Gillespie talking about Screamadelica as a double album where as when Joe Strummer talked about the next Clash album being a double it was big news.

Which brings me to a question for discussion. What about albums released in the CD age such as those listed above. With more people choosing vinyl once again as their preferred choice and buying them technically as a double album should they be viewed alongside 'London Calling' or 'The White Album' or should they be called something else? Extended Album perhaps? which would slot into the following formats, something like...

Single (1-3 songs)
Extended Play (3-5 tracks / 15-25 mins)
Mini album (25-35 mins)
Single LP (35-55 mins)
Extended LP (55-70 mins)
Double LP (pre CD)
Triple LP (pre CD)
Box set etc

Actually, in the 90s almost all albums were over an hour. In the vinyl era, most albums had 10 to 12 tracks. But with 90s and after CDs, this jumped to about 14 or 15 to make use of the larger capacity. People felt ripped off if an album was less than an hour. So when vinyl era albums were reissued on CD, they loaded them with bonus tracks, alternate versions, etc. to make them more desirable.

scoob73

Here's my list :

Guns N' Roses : Use Your Illusion I & II
Led Zeppelin : Physical Graffiti
John Lennon : Some Time In New York City
Nine Inch Nails : The Fragile
Red Hot Chili Peppers : Stadium Arcadium
Bruce Springsteen : The River
Arcade Fire : Reflektor

bobbyb5

Gender: Male
Location: New York

stangetzaway wrote:

Little M your in the right ball park but during the vinyl era the industry standard for a double album was 65 minutes or over. Of that I'm pretty certain. The only anomaly was London Calling which clocked in at 64.59! Whats confusing now that is that since the comeback of vinyl albums much shorter in length are being released as doubles for no other reason I can see but to drain pockets. I think Currents was released as a double and it's barely 50 minutes long.

During the vinyl/cassette era majority of albums 45 mins or less to fit on a side of a cassette, or then over 65 minutes for the rare double album. Few albums between 45 and 65 minutes were released proportionately speaking as I have a feeling the more you squeezed on an a 33 inch disc there was some detrimental effect such as poorer sound quality but I'm not 100% sure.

Yes that's true about sound quality dimnishing as you squeeze more music on a vinyl. This is what led to the invention of the 12" single in the 70s. Disco DJ's needed a higher quality record to match the new high end equipment now in clubs. And playing tracks off of LPs just wasnt quality enough. Or 7" 45s. So someone had the idea of putting a single track on a 12" vinyl for better sound quality. And that solved the problem.

RoundTheBend
I miss the comfort in being sad

Location: Ground Control

IDK

But I made this a while back:
My Favorite Double Albums by sethmadsen

I'm realizing the order of this is wrong... oh well. like 70% agree.

lleon79

Gender: Male

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. I think there's waaaay too much filler in there. If it had been a single LP it would've been so much better in my opinion. Anyway, as it stands I like it. There are great songs here and there. But I'll never listen to it in its entirety ever again in my life.