Double album

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A double album is an audio album of sufficient length that two units of the medium in which it is sold (especially records and compact discs) are necessary to contain the entirety of it.

1 History
2 Sesquialbums and triple albums
3 Simultaneous Releases
4 Critical reaction
5 See also
6 Notes and sources

[edit] History

The first ever double album was Benny Goodman's Live at Carnegie Hall, the famous jazz concert of 1938, released by Columbia Records in 1950. The first rock double album, and first studio double album, ever released is believed to have been Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde in 1966,^[1] also on Columbia, although at the same time Frank Zappa and his Mothers of Invention band were at work on the double album Freak Out!, released two months after Blonde on Blonde. The first rap studio double album, on the other hand, wasn't released until 1996, with 2Pac's "All Eyez on Me" This album was, however, predated by a No Limit Records compilation album called "Down South Hustlers" in 1995 and a Too Short Greatest Hits album in 1993. The best selling double album of all time is Pink Floyd's The Wall, with over 30 million copies sold worldwide.^[2]

The double album was a much more common format during the vinyl LP era than during the CD era. A single LP had two sides, each of which could be no longer than half an hour, however, not unlike the bitrate/filesize quality relationship with modern digital music storage, having less recorded on one side of a record allowed for the greater sound quality of what is being recorded (thus one sacrifices quality for space). Most LPs were between 30 and 45 minutes in length. A single CD can be as long as about 80 minutes. Hence, many old two LP albums have been re-released as a single CD. The double album format is now more often used for live albums for which material is often plentiful. The format is also frequently used for concept albums.

Since the late 1980s, albums which were originally packaged as double records are often sold on a single compact disc, such as the aforementioned Blonde on Blonde (although the SACD version of the album was issued with two discs), The Who's Tommy, Jimi Hendrix Experience's Electric Ladyland, The Rolling Stones' Exile on Main St., and U2's Rattle and Hum (though not in all cases, because it may not fit on one CD, such as the Beatles' White Album and Pink Floyd's The Wall). Sometimes CD re-releases of LP double albums are made 2 CDs despite being able to fit on 1, to preserve the intended continuity of the LP release (such as Prince's Sign "O" the Times or The Who's Quadrophenia). Also, albums of the compact disc era are often longer than those of previous decades, and are sometimes packaged on two records if vinyl copies are produced. Further, there are cases, such as Mike Oldfield's Incantations and Chick Corea's My Spanish Heart, in which some double-LP tracks have been dropped from or shortened to CD release in order to make the album fit on one CD (both examples mentioned were later released on one CD with all the original material when CD making techniques allowed longer durations in 1990s). In general, an album is usually referred to as a double album when its audio content requires two units of the prominent format of its time period.

Recording artists often think of double albums as a single piece artistically; however, there are exceptions such as Pink Floyd's Ummagumma, one live album and one studio record packaged together, and OutKast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, consisting of one practical solo album by each member of the hip-hop duo. Particularly in the compact disc era, artists sometimes will release albums with bonus discs, featuring studio out-takes, alternate mixes, or other material that would not typically be suitable album material but which would be of interest to fans (e.g., The Beatles' Let It Be... Naked, which featured a bonus disc of studio chatter and jamming entitled Fly on the Wall).

[edit] Sesquialbums and triple albums

There were only a few examples during the vinyl-LP era of a sesquialbum, i.e., a one-and-a-half album. Johnny Winter released a three-sided album on two 12-inch discs, with the flip side of the second disc being blank. Joe Jackson's 1986 release "Big World" is another example. The vinyl release of Pavement's Wowee Zowee also had only three sides of music. More recently, Boards of Canada's 2002 album, Geogaddi, is a two-and-a-half album (a triple album, but with one side of vinyl left uncut). The Monty Python album Matching Tie and Handkerchief was originally issued with two concentric grooves with different programs on side B. Elvis Costello and The Clash (amongst other 1980s acts) would sometimes release early pressings of their albums with extra material on a 45 rpm single. Leonard Cohen wanted to do the same with his album Recent Songs but Columbia rejected the idea. In 1993, Alice in Chains made a limited-edition vinyl release of Jar of Flies/Sap, which was a "sesqui-double-EP". The album contained 2 EPs of music, but only took up three sides of the double album; the fourth side was an etching of the band's name. In 2005, The Mars Volta released their album Frances the Mute, on which the vinyl pressing spans five sides of vinyl, the sixth is an etching of tree roots. Released in 2006, the LP version of A Twist in the Myth by German power metal band Blind Guardian, spans on three vinyl sides. The fourth side (aka 2nd side of the 2nd album) contains interviews and bonus material. Another example of a sesquialbum is The Beach Boys' 1973 release Holland. Brian Wilson composed a fairy-tale titled "Mount Vernon and Fairway (A Fairy Tale In Several Parts)", which he intended to include on the album proper, but the thought was quickly dismissed by the other members of the group. Carl Wilson, younger brother to Wilson and practical leader of the band at the time came up with the compromise that it would be issued as a bonus EP with the album.

The triple album contains three units of the medium; the first one of note in the rock era was George Harrison's All Things Must Pass. Another well known triple album is the Clash's Sandinista!, which contains 36 songs on 6 sides of vinyl. Recent examples include 2006's Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards by musician Tom Waits, The Mother, The Mechanic, and The Path by US rock band The Early November, and Led Zeppelin's live album How the West Was Won. Packages with more units than three are generally called boxed sets.

Frank Zappa's "Lather" was delivered to Warner Brothers as a quadruple album, but the label refused to release it as such. It was eventually released in 1996 from its original master tapes, as a triple-CD package.

[edit] Simultaneous Releases

Some performers have released two or more distinct albums at the same date; one notable example being Bruce Springsteen's Human Touch and Lucky Town, both issued in 1992.

[edit] Critical reaction

The concept of a double album is one that often sparks critical debate. Some see them as a testament to a band's creativity, and many double albums, such as Smashing Pumpkins' Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main St., Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde, Pink Floyd's The Wall, the Beatles' White Album, Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life, the Clash's London Calling or Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti, were met with great praise upon their release and are now widely considered to be classics. Others, such as Guns N' Roses' Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II, received somewhat mixed reviews upon their release, but with the passing of time their reputation has improved.

On the other hand, double albums are often seen as self indulgent and bloated, containing "filler" tracks or old studio out-takes which would not usually be considered of a high enough standard to appear on a single album. In many instances, double albums come at a time in a band's career when they have achieved much success and possibly believe that fans will buy anything they produce.