Thoughts on the double album

ExittheLemming wrote: ^ Why don't we have the 'economically clad reclining nubile' cover for Electric Ladyland?

A couple of reasons - our policy is to use the first cover from the first release and technically, the American red and yellow head cover was released before the UK 19 naked womens cover - The Hendrix family has expressed the view that the nude cover will not be used in later releases since it wasn't the cover Hendrix wanted - ironically, neither are what Hendrix wanted, he wanted this:

Edited by Dean - January 25 2012 at 07:38

I guess I can say that I'm glad that Roxy Music didn't release Country Life here first.  It still leaves me scratching my head as to how Santana got away with Abraxas.  I guess the censors were distracted by all the stuff around the nekkid lady. 

Some interesting double albums are the ones with no reocurring themes and every song changes in some way. That way there's no boredom. But at the same time the artist has to make every song relevant in relation to the other songs. I think this is done successfully by Ayreon on The Human Equation.

Usually i don't like double albums, it tends to include weaker tracks just to fill the empty spaces or to extend certain tracks when there is no need. When a double album is persistent in quality then it's a real winner, like The Wall or The White Album and some others, but most of what i've heard tires me, especially The Flower Kings, and i love that band, but sitting throughout any of their double albums is extremely hard.

giselle wrote: Many albums have way too many fillers, and a double album more than doubles that probability.

Noooooooo... this is a prog site, not a classic rock site - prog album are more than a couple of hit singles seperated by sub-par filler.

HarbouringTheSoul wrote: Dean wrote: giselle wrote: Many albums have way too many fillers, and a double album more than doubles that probability. Noooooooo... this is a prog site, not a classic rock site - prog album are more than a couple of hit singles seperated by sub-par filler. That's preposterous. Just because prog doesn't have hit singles, that doesn't mean the albums are somehow more consistent. Every good record is more than a couple of hit singles separated by sub-par filler, whether it's prog or not.

Preposterous? That depends on what you call "filler" and what you call "sub-par", for example I do not consider "Moonchild" to be filler. Actually, I do not buy into the notion that bands (especially Prog bands) deliberately chose to fill-up whatever space remained on 45 minute album once they'd recorded their "strongest" material with material they knew to be sub-par at all, that to me is both preposterous and disingenuous. Would "Time Table" be classed as filler just because it's a track on a well known album that people overlook?

Sometimes double albums feel long for me, and sometimes I forget the songs being played. I think it just depends on how the songs go about their business/sound. If the songs are enjoyable, then the album is enjoyable in my eyes.  

 

Dean wrote:  Preposterous? That depends on what you call "filler" and what you call "sub-par", for example I do not consider "Moonchild" to be filler. Actually, I do not buy into the notion that bands (especially Prog bands) deliberately chose to fill-up whatever space remained on 45 minute album once they'd recorded their "strongest" material with material they knew to be sub-par at all, that to me is both preposterous and disingenuous. Would "Time Table" be classed as filler just because it's a track on a well known album that people overlook?

I wholeheartedly agree with you.

HarbouringTheSoul wrote: Dean wrote: HarbouringTheSoul wrote: Dean wrote: giselle wrote: Many albums have way too many fillers, and a double album more than doubles that probability. Noooooooo... this is a prog site, not a classic rock site - prog album are more than a couple of hit singles seperated by sub-par filler. That's preposterous. Just because prog doesn't have hit singles, that doesn't mean the albums are somehow more consistent. Every good record is more than a couple of hit singles separated by sub-par filler, whether it's prog or not. Preposterous? That depends on what you call "filler" and what you call "sub-par", for example I do not consider "Moonchild" to be filler. Actually, I do not buy into the notion that bands (especially Prog bands) deliberately chose to fill-up whatever space remained on 45 minute album once they'd recorded their "strongest" material with material they knew to be sub-par at all, that to me is both preposterous and disingenuous. Would "Time Table" be classed as filler just because it's a track on a well known album that people overlook? Saying that prog albums are more than a couple of hit singles separated by sub-par filler isn't what was preposterous about your statement. What was preposterous was your implication that classic rock album aren't or are less often more than a couple of hit singles separated by sub-par filler.

Edited by Dean - June 11 2012 at 17:16

ProgSeeker wrote: There's no shame in skipping tracks.  The good thing about a double is that we can sometimes make a great single by picking the best tracks - with plenty of variation between different listeners as to what makes the cut.

What he said dagnabit!  Those tracks you may now look so disparagingly on today you might like later.  Skipping may even help that along.


Edited by Slartibartfast - June 11 2012 at 17:47

Slartibartfast wrote: ProgSeeker wrote: There's no shame in skipping tracks.  The good thing about a double is that we can sometimes make a great single by picking the best tracks - with plenty of variation between different listeners as to what makes the cut. What he said dagnabit!  Those tracks you may now look so disparagingly on today you might like later.  Skipping may even help that along.

I didn't notice that with listening to double albums, but that kind of sounds like what I did with The Lamb, slightly with Tales from Topographic Oceans. 

It works wonders, I guess. 

Edited by FromAbove - June 12 2012 at 08:46