Best 60s double album

nuggets not included on purpose

Uncle Meat

Odessa ftw

Haha, this must be the umpteenth time Bitches Brew is listed as a 60s album on ILX. Don't trust AMG with jazz albums, for some reason they put recording dates there instead of release dates, god knows why. Bitches Brew was released in 1970.

oops. I was going by this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_double_albums

Voted "Odessa" because I don't want to vote for a Beatles album that is among their worst, and still among the best of the 60s double albums.

I've got Ummagumma on right now, thanks.

Oooh I am a heartbeat away from voting for Freedom Suite; actually though it is the 14-minute drum solo that is keeping me from taking the plunge

Funnily enough, the same could be said of "Out Here"

Glad to see that the vast majority of these fulfill one of my personal beliefs: That double albums should have at least one side devoted to (or at least dominated by) a single track; or by a collection of conceptually linked tracks. This goes for The Beatles ("Revolution 9" dominates Side Four by virtue of it's being both the longest and weirdest-ever Beatles track), Sinatra At The Sands (long monologue on Side Two) and Second Winter (for the odd reason that there is no Side Four.) And of course, several of these doubles actually consisted of two separate independent single albums, and were even released that way at one point.

Having said all that, let me contradict myself completely and vote for a record that does none of these things: Trout Mask Replica. (If only Strictly Personal and Mirror Man were released as the double LP they were intended as...)

Autumn Stone...? wtf is that? The Small Faces put out a double album after the failure of Ogden's Nut Gone Flake...?

"Electric Ladyland" also fits with Myonga's description, in that "Voodoo Chile" takes up one single side (and yet a bit of another side in addition)

I thought Autumn Stone was one of them hodge-podge collections.

yeah, I think it should be disqualified

not like anyone's gonna vote for it anyway... this is actually a fairly tough decision, with the possible exception of Odessa none of these represent any of the artists' best work, they all have some serious flaws.

I'm inclined to Wee Tam & The Big Huge. If I could only keep one, that'd be it.

Wee Tam and The Big Huge! That was another double sold as two separate single lps. I prefer Wee Tam, I think. Trout Mask is my pick on this list.
You can talk about its flaws all you want, it's a singular mindfuck like no other.

They wanted to release it as a double, and originally it was released as such in the UK, iirc.

with the possible exception of Odessa none of these represent any of the artists' best work, they all have some serious flaws.

Arguments can be made for Blonde on Blonde, Live/Dead, and Ummagumma.

what are these arguments re: BoB and Ummagumma (I dunno the Dead's catalog well enough to comment, everything about them gives me the hives)

(I'm not tryibg to be bitchy btw - both are great albums, there's just other albums I consider far superior)

I guess Mad Dogs and Englishmen came out in 1970.

I must be in the minority who believe that the White Album is the Beatles' best, ergo, it's the best double album of the 60's.

what are these arguments re: BoB and Ummagumma

I don't really have a fave Dylan album because on any given day it could be Blonde on Blonde, Another Side..., Bringing It All Back Home, The Basement Tapes, Highway 61 Revisited, John Wesley Harding, Blood on the Tracks, New Morning, Rolling Thunder live, etc. I don't see the major flaw(s) in BoB. The first track is a bit cliche, but I can't even name just how band bands have nicked its sound. It's just one great Dylan tune after another: Visions of Johanna, I Want you, Memphis Blues, Sad Eyed Lady, and so on. It's not as fiery as Highway 61, but most of the tunes are just so epic and complex, with a newfound sense of rural jamming.

As for Ummagumma, I think it's a far more devastating psychedelic statement than the first two records, as well as Atom Heart Mother. That live sound is just so heavy and raw. I hear all kinds of stuff in Ummagumma: krautrock, Goblin-like prog, ambient electronics, full-on hard rock, space rock, proto-metal. Man, what a sweeping record. Floyd sounds like its inventing a new genre with each track. It's definitely my fave Floyd record of the 60s (Of course, if the first several singles were originally part of Piper then I might be singing a diff tune.)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

this reminds me that I need to get my own copy of Ummagumma (def. agreed about Piper tho!)

endless summer?

that came out in the 70s and was a greatest hits comp

Arguments can be made for Blonde on Blonde, Live/Dead, and Ummagumma.

That would be "Electric Ladyland" rather than "Ummagumma".

"Ummagumma" is by far the act's worst work.

Har har har

Hence the arguments!

(I've called "Ummagumma" my favourite post-Barrett LP in the past. Not anymore, but still close.)

M.I.A. - An Evening With Wild Man Fischer, Emergency!, Wow/Grape Jam, Jazz Composers Orchestra, Loosen Up Naturally, Living The Blues, and, uh, Tommy.

I must be in the minority who believe that the White Album is the Beatles' best, ergo, it's the best double album of the 60's.

-- Davey D, Tuesday, 23 October 2007 07:20 (6 hours ago) Bookmark Link

We're in the majority because everyone who disagrees doesn't count.

The Beatles trying not to sound like The Beatles was a bad idea.

Missing out "Tommy" was a bit of a blunder

Obviously, yes. That would have been one of the most obviously best.

as much as i love white album, electric ladyland seriously rewired my understanding of music when i heard it at age 13, so electric ladyland it has to be.

(xpost) I didn't mean it was one of the best just one of the most obvious

Blonde on Blonde, Electric Ladyland, Trout Mask Replica and Live Dead are all great! I voted for BoB because; well, because it's BoB. And now I'm jonesing for a copy of Ummagumma. Thanks a lot, thread.

And where's Absolutely Live?

Never mind, I just remembered that the Doors double is another case of recoded in '69, released in '70.

Tommy would have gotten my vote.

For me, a live album just doesn't count unless it contains a lot of newly composed material like "Live Dead" does.

So, who's gonna do a "Best 70s double album" poll? :)

Physical Graffiti would win

Maybe, but it would have some serious competition from London Calling and Exile on Main St., I think.

I thought London Calling came out in 1980.

Plus the Clash seem pretty hated on around here.

Dec. '79 release in the UK.

London Calling is great high school rock

(not by me btw)

I would guess that a 70s double lp poll would be pretty lengthy, I can think of a bunch right off the top of my head (Out of the Blue, All Things Must Pass, Tago Mago, The Payback, America Eats Its Young)

x-post

double albums were better in the 70s

can't forget the totally awesome Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's "Will the Circle Be Unbroken"

Agreed.

Also, check out the results of this old-style ILM poll:

ILX 70s album poll - results

!!!

"The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" and "Tales From Topographic Oceans" and "Quadrophenia" (70s anyway)

but isn't Quadrophenia all previously released material...?

Not the original no.

Are you thinking of the soundtrack to the movie?

No, the Who concept album released in 1973.

oh yeah sorry I was thinking of the film

can't forget the totally awesome Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's "Will the Circle Be Unbroken"

But that's a triple!

Key '70s doubles: Funkadelic, Led Zep, Stevie Wonder, Hampton Grease Band

I figured if its more than one LP its admissable (see also All Things Must Pass)

Add Tusk to the 70s double list. And Europe '72. Also Don Juan's Reckless Daughter, I suppose (but I wouldn't think about voting for it.

And The Wall. And Saturday Night Fever. And Tusk. And a ton of Miles Davis.

haha oh man you add Miles to the equation that's some tough choices to make

I'm afraid to even attempt to compile the 70s list, someone else do it

I figured if its more than one LP its admissable (see also All Things Must Pass)

-- Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 24 October 2007 06:36 (2 hours ago) Bookmark Link

Like Apple Jam counts.

I like that jam record!

Me too, but without Apple Jam (which doesn't fit anyway) it counts as a double.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

oooooooh aaaaaaah

The Canon won.

Thanks for the pepperoni.

It's johnny's birthday!

Anyroad, someone should do a "triple" poll.

OK, Sandinista would win, but still...

Who else voted for 'For Alto', btw?

Wasn't me, I'm sorry to say.

Only voted for it, ahead of Beefheart and Hendrix of the ones I've heard, bcz I thought it wasn't going to get a vote. Which would've been ridiculous.