10 Double albums - should they have been single albums ?

Emmy Award winning producer Bob Carruthers considers the great double albums from the sixties and seventies and dares to ask the question...would these legendary albums have been better as single albums ?

[aroberts]

I've never heard the mike oldfield and frank zappa albums, but agree that the others would be better as single albums,
apart from tales from topographic oceans, I would need to listen to it to make my decision, because I find it unlistenable as a double.
I would definitly remove the piano concerto on works, but read that it is keith emerson's proudest composition
(along with side 1 of tarkus) so it would be on a single disc works even though I would't want it.
hence the question which tracks would get removed from these double albums, everyone would have their own ideas.

[deanjonasson]

An interesting, if contentious topic. I would agree that there are plenty of double albums that would have been made better with a bit of editing or more discipline. It is a funny thing that doubles that were debated by fans back in the day are now regarded as classics or even at the top of those bands' discographies. I'm amazed that some people (usually not yet buying albums back in the mid-to-late 'Seventies) consider TALES FROM TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS or A LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY as the best from Yes and Genesis. As you say, these are flawed, over-stuffed collections, where the great material is diluted by throw-aways or extended jamming. I would say XTC's ENGLISH SETTLEMENT would also fit here as well.

On the other hand, when a band has put out a peak album (as the Beatles, Dylan, Fleetwood Mac or Led Zeppelin did), where else is there to go? How do you top SGT. PEPPER'S, HIGHWAY 61, RUMOURS or HOUSES OF THE HOLY? Many acts felt they needed to make an even bigger statement. They could either put out a live album or produce a double album. The size and scope of the double is a statement unto itself and can compensate for the kind of discipline (or serendipity) that produced an earlier classic. In the case of the Beatles, it would be hard to top PEPPER'S with 14 songs from 'The White Album" (unless you considered adding the "Hey Jude"/"Revolver" singles). By making the album a double, listeners could get lost in it, find their favourites, discover hidden gems, debate what the dross really was, etc. It would take a lot more discipline and some acquiescence to George Martin for the Beatles to knock out another classic single album in the form of ABBEY ROAD. Interestingly, the only Beatle to come close to a classic double was Harrison (who then ruined it with an extra disk of "Apple Jam").

I agree PHYSICAL GRAFFITI has more than enough great material for a single but not enough for a double. How do you make a three-sided record? What do you cut to make it a single? It's an interesting dilemma.  DON JUAN'S RECKLESS DAUGHTER by Joni Mitchell is a similar challenge. Cut out (or trim) "Paprika Plains" and you still have too much for a single... but what else to cut?

UMMAGUMMA isn't actually a classic double as it's one-half live and one-half individual experiments. The Byrds and Cream also put out half-and-half albums (UNTITLED and WHEELS OF FIRE, respectively). These operate the same way though the studio stuff is better written, played and produced. In the case of Pink Floyd, THE WALL is the double that could have used some trimming or, like JOE'S GARAGE, been issued in two separate releases. 

WORKS is a portrait of a band falling apart or, at least, needing to go solo but knowing that individually, they couldn't cut it. FOCUS 3 works for me because the players have the improvisational chops to play together and extend ideas. Other than Keith Emerson, ELP did not. THE LONG RUN was supposed to be a double but the band didn't have the stamina nor material to go the distance. Once they got around to it, their peak had long passed.

Elton John? Maybe once but definitely not twice!

I guess another topic would be bands that have succeeded with double albums. The Stones managed as classic with EXILE ON MAIN ST. and the Clash with LONDON CALLING (but then needed to go bigger with an overstuffed triple!). SIGN O' THE TIMES by Prince might be considered near perfect. I like FREAK OUT by Zappa's original Mothers of Invention and tolerate his later doubles because of the wealth of ideas and the depth of the playing. THE WHO put out two doubles that are considered classics (TOMMY and QUADROPHENIA) and I'd be hard pressed to cut anything from either. Probably the second CHICAGO album justifies its length. The juries still out on Kate Bush's double.

There are certainly others I've missed. (SOMETHING/ANYTHING?)

As mentioned, an interesting topic. Thanks, Bob!

[stevenveloz]

How about Exile on Main Street by the Rolling Stones?