# The Three Greatest Double Albums Of All Time... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 4, 2005, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-three-greatest-double-albums-of-all-time/302348 "2005-05-04T10:36:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Junior\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Junior\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junior_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-three-greatest-double-albums-of-all-time/302348/61 "2005-05-06T11:34:03Z")
_Metal Machine Music_ by **Lou Reed** _1969 The Velvet Underground Live_ (sorry, can’t remember the band who put this out.) _Metallic KO x 2_ by **Iggy and the Stooges** _Live After Death_ by **Iron Maiden** Another vote for _Trout Mask Replica_ _Get Up With It_ by **Miles Davis** _Seven Day Weekend_ by **The New York Dolls** (OK, it’s a boot, but it’s still their best record). and finally, not _quite_ a double album, but the version of the first **Suicide** record which came with the ten inch flexi live album (or, if you like, the double CD version of the same record). ---
**Author:** ![Junior\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Junior\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junior_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-three-greatest-double-albums-of-all-time/302348/62 "2005-05-06T11:35:42Z")
> [@Case Sensitive](#): > > Name names… Other than the title track, I can’t think of any songs on that album which would have been good enough to fit on the first Clash album. ---
**Author:** ![Ichbin\_Dubist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ichbin\_Dubist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichbin_Dubist)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-three-greatest-double-albums-of-all-time/302348/63 "2005-05-06T12:31:10Z")
Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band, _Trout Mask Replica_ Admittedly, an acquired taste. OK, to most humans this is just noise and yelling. But he’s easily the most underappreciated lyricist of all time, the band is beyond fantastic, and you’ll never untie all the knots in these songs no matter how long you listen. One of my favorite things to listen to on a noisy subway. Please do not buy this and then blame me when you hate it. Bob Marley & The Wailers, _Babylon By Bus_ If I was a more adventurous and enterprising teen, I could have frickin’ seen this. I wish I had, I’d probably be richer and more handsome now. This record is a little portable contact high. And I usually hate double live albums. Funkadelic, America Eats Its Young If you like your party records political, depressing, obtuse, and full of weirdness. Triple albums: _Sandinista!_; The Magnetic Fields, _69 Love Songs_; Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, _Will the Circle Be Unbroken._ Admittedly from a very small pool, discounting compilations and boxed sets and endless Grateful Dead noodlefests anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Chance\_the\_Gardener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@Chance\_the\_Gardener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chance_the_Gardener)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-three-greatest-double-albums-of-all-time/302348/64 "2005-05-06T13:50:04Z")
> [@The Gaspode](#): > > Nitpick: > Howard Hughes in blue suede shoes, > Smiling at the Majorettes, smoking Winston cigarettes. > Broadway Melody of 1974, 3rd track. Ugh… mixed those up. Thanks for the correction, **The Gaspode** “Lenny Bruce declares a truce and plays the other hand, Marshall McLuhan, casual viewin’, head buried in the sand…” Miles Davis’s **Bitches Brew** would be my number four double album. As to triple albums, my vote is for Yes’s **Yessongs** , which is one of my favorite live albums… but I guess that’s another poll… ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-three-greatest-double-albums-of-all-time/302348/65 "2005-05-06T14:00:21Z")
You think maybe Guns-n-Roses - **Use Your Illusion** should be counted as a double album? The discs were packaged seperately just to make it easier to buy. I’ll add Rush - **Exit…Stage Left**. ---
**Author:** ![riserius1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@riserius1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/riserius1)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-three-greatest-double-albums-of-all-time/302348/66 "2005-05-06T21:44:45Z")
Just so I can feel I’ve contributed to the discussion, I’ll add **Odessa** by the Bee Gees and **The Secret Life of Plants** by Stevie Wonder. The former is late 60’s orchestral pop at it’s finest, while the latter is probably the jazziest, most experimental thing Steive ever did. Both are well worth a listen if you can find them. Chris W PS Technically speaking if \*\*Voodoo Lounge \*\* by the Rolling Stones had come out in the vinyl era it would be a double album based on number of tracks and overall length ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-three-greatest-double-albums-of-all-time/302348/67 "2005-05-06T22:35:15Z")
> [@mamboman](#): > > Wasn’t “Freak Out” the first double album by a rock act? Nope; _Blonde on Blonde_ came out earlier the same year, beating Zappa to the punch with both the first rock double LP and the first side-long track on a rock album. (That’s assuming you don’t count compilations or the likes of _The Beatles Vs. the Four Seasons_ and _The Beatles Story_ as genuine “albums.”) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-three-greatest-double-albums-of-all-time/302348.md?page=3)