# Only Albums
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-albums/1019638
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Tags:** music
**Created:** [June 14, 2025, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-albums/1019638 "2025-06-14T18:13:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2025, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-albums/1019638/21 "2025-06-15T20:52:03Z")
Mad Magazine’s **It’s a Super Spectacular Day** has eight grooves on one side, each with a different ending to the same song.
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2025, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-albums/1019638/22 "2025-06-15T21:42:26Z")
I didn’t know about that, so I looked it up.
And found that the first [multisided disks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multisided_record) were released in 1898!
> So-called _Puzzle Plates_ produced by the Gramophone Company in London in 1898 and 1899: these were discs with two interleaved tracks, issued as E5504, 9290, 9296. Their most famous was a three-track _Puzzle Plate_ (9317) recorded in January 1901 and given as the prize for a competition, for which several master recordings had to be made, distinguished by suffix letters against the catalogue number.
Now that’s good trivia!
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2025, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-albums/1019638/23 "2025-06-15T23:12:13Z")
_Tadpoles_ by the Bonzo Dog Band had an animated cover. There were cutouts on the front cover and when you removed the sleeve, things would move. Neil Innes would have musical notes going through his head; “Legs” Larry Smith’s eyes went back and forth, and Vivian Stanshall had different glasses.
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### Author:  [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2025, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-albums/1019638/24 "2025-06-16T03:34:18Z")
> [@Orville\_mogul](#):
>
> And, I think, it may be the only time a member of Yes guested on another band’s album while they were still in Yes.\*
Jon Anderson sang part of King Crimson’s “Lizard” while still a member of Yes.
And then there’s [this](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Wakeman_discography#Guest_appearances)…
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### Author:  [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2025, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-albums/1019638/25 "2025-06-16T04:59:04Z")
Wow. I couldn’t have been more wrong could I?
I had forgotten about Lizard.
And as for Wakeman, I knew about his many guest spots, but thought they were before or after his time in Yes. Should have done my homework before posting. 🤦♂️
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2025, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-albums/1019638/26 "2025-06-16T07:18:41Z")
_Union_ is the only studio album to feature the work of eight full members of the band Yes:
- Vocalist Jon Anderson
- Vocalist/guitarist Trevor Rabin
- Guitarist Steve Howe
- Bassist Chris Squire
- Keyboardist Rick Wakeman
- Keyboardist Tony Kaye
- Drummer Alan White
- Drummer Bill Bruford
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### Author:  [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2025, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-albums/1019638/27 "2025-06-16T07:26:49Z")
Which is actually another example of a band absorbing another band. Or maybe absorbing itself?
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2025, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-albums/1019638/28 "2025-06-16T07:29:03Z")
Even better, two splinter factions of a band temporarily reuniting to record an album, because neither faction was able to get one done on their own.
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### Author:  [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2025, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-albums/1019638/29 "2025-06-16T07:58:34Z")
R.E.M.'s _Out of Time_ was the only album to include a mail in petition to sign and send to your senator.
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### Author:  [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2025, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-albums/1019638/30 "2025-06-16T12:37:11Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> Public Image Ltd’s _Metal Box_ came in a metal box.
They were not the first, though. The Small Faces concept album “Odgen’s Nut Gone Flake” originally came in a circular metal fake tobacco tin.
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### Author:  [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2025, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-albums/1019638/31 "2025-06-16T16:36:57Z")
As far as I know, Manfred Mann’s [_The Good Earth_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Good_Earth_(Manfred_Mann%27s_Earth_Band_album)) is the only album to come with a certificate good for a square foot of land in Wales.
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### Author:  [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2025, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-albums/1019638/32 "2025-06-16T17:12:44Z")
The Flaming Lips also gave us the only albums to be released on:
- a disc filled with beer
- a disc filled with the band members’ blood
- a USB drive encased in a human skull
[https://www.discogs.com/release/11903395-The-Flaming-Lips-The-Story-Of-Yum-Yum-And-Dragon](https://www.discogs.com/release/11903395-The-Flaming-Lips-The-Story-Of-Yum-Yum-And-Dragon)
[https://www.discogs.com/release/4574588-The-Flaming-Lips-The-Flaming-Lips-And-Heady-Fwends?srsltid=AfmBOooUeA-Cn5PXFcdpuluEjTKBlymNkqfmbIpPiwqwIju8ahLp\_Gqh](https://www.discogs.com/release/4574588-The-Flaming-Lips-The-Flaming-Lips-And-Heady-Fwends?srsltid=AfmBOooUeA-Cn5PXFcdpuluEjTKBlymNkqfmbIpPiwqwIju8ahLp_Gqh)
[https://www.discogs.com/release/3605303-The-Flaming-Lips-24-Hour-Song-Skull](https://www.discogs.com/release/3605303-The-Flaming-Lips-24-Hour-Song-Skull)
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### Author:  [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2025, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-albums/1019638/33 "2025-06-16T17:34:07Z")
I didn’t know about those, but I’m not surprised, because the Flaming Lips are a wonderfully weird band. I love them for that.
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2025, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-albums/1019638/34 "2025-06-16T18:09:30Z")
I should have started the thread with this:
The Wu Tang Clan created **only one** copy of its _Once Upon a Time in Shaolin_ album (actually a 2 CD set). It was sold to crypto crook Martin Shkreli for $2 million. When he was busted it was sold to PleasrDAO for $4 million to pay off debts. It cannot be commercially available until 2103.
Shkreli, a villain to the core like Snidely Whiplash, illegally made a copy for himself and live-streamed it in 2024, before a judge clamped down.
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### Author:  [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2025, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-albums/1019638/35 "2025-06-16T18:12:11Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#):
>
> Shkreli, a villain to the core like Snidely Whiplash, illegally made a copy for himself and live-streamed it in 2024, before a judge clamped down.
And I suppose after having been streamed, it was out in the open and will still be (illegally) downloadable or streamable somewhere.
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### Author:  [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2025, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-albums/1019638/36 "2025-06-16T18:12:56Z")
Jean-Michel Jarre released only a single copy of _Musique pour Supermarché_ (1983) before destroying the master plates, though it’s become available online since then.
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