Filler-free double albums: are there any?

Dream Theater~Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Dream Theater~Scenes From A Memory, Metropolis Pt II
Genesis~The Lamb Lies Down On Broadstreet
ELO~Out Of the Blue
CAN~Tago Mago
Yes~Topographic Oceans

 

Good answer!

 

Double Nickels on the Dime
45 songs FTW!

 

Allman Brothers - At The Fillmore.

 

Interesting choices. I'm a big fan of The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway and have even stuck up for the much maligned second disc, but even then I'd admit to some filler being thrown in there (the faux oriental opening of "Colony of Slippermen" being the most egregious example). Still, I do think that it's more consistent than it's often given credit for being. I can't say the same thing for the undercooked, uneven Topographic Oceans, or even Tago Mago (Disc one is killer, disc two not so much).

 

Not to me. Absolutely essential.

 

London Calling by the Clash is the perfect double album in my book...of course they followed it up with Sandinista! which contains a lot of textbook “filler”.

 

Nick cave and the bad seeds - abattoir blues/lyre of orpheus

 

That record has lost some of it's lustre . At the time ,the production seemed very modern (for Tamla/Motown ), but now some of it seems a bit IMHO … corny.

 

I'll vouch for The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. I don't feel any of the songs should be left out. It is a very cohesive piece.

 

What??? "The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker" is one of the most beautiful songs on the entire, filler-free double album! Of course it's your opinion, but I cannot believe anyone doesn't like that song. I also love "Housequake" but I can grasp someone calling it filler. But Dorothy…

 

Throwing a flag on this play, man! Housequake and Dorothy Parker are filler? "Shut up already...damn!" You can make a case that Gonna Be a Beautiful Night is suspect enough to be called filler, but I gotta disagree on those two (ESPECIALLY Parker), my unknown friend.

 

English Settlement. Some songs are more genius than others, but they all deserve to be on an XTC album. Oranges & Lemons, ditto. (They're both very short double albums, but they are officially doubles).

And hell, Something/Anything. In a way the entire fourth side is filler, but it's so much fun that you'd miss it if it was gone.

 

due to the diversity of sign of the times, it took me a couple of listens, but i don't see it as having filler personally

 

It's a single album

 

I've been ripped off, my copy is only has a single disc

 

i guess it's subjectivity really ..
for me pink floyd the wall has no filler .. the psychological drama that is the main theme ties in through every song. to me vera lynn and bring the boys back home are as essential as comfortably numb and nobody home

 

This is one of the issues in the original question.
Define: filler.

In narrative albums, even minor songs are an important part of the story.
See The Lamb by Genesis. Some music can be underwhelming but the sequencing and the narrative make pretty much everything essential.
Same about The Wall. At the very most, I find The Show Must Go On redundant, narratively, but musically it serves as a necessary intro for the side, so it kinda works.

With non narrative non concept albums it's easier to find duds and weak songs.

 

Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Brilliant start to finish.

 

Another mention for Out Of The Blue.

 

While I agree in principle and will stick up for pretty much every "rock opera" you can think of on the same grounds (you don't improve a book by ripping out chapters) with 'Tommy' there's the matter of 'Underture' to contend with. Its a nearly ten minute instrumental, so adds nothing to the story - especially since its basically an alternate extended version of the much more concise 'Sparks' which, while also an instrumental, does have a place in the story as an aural representation of a plot point, just like the much maligned 'The Waiting Room' does on Genesis's 'The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway'.

Why 'Underture' is necessary to the story at all I don't understand (though I'd be open to entertaining any theories/interpretations) but I can't imagine anyone convincing me that it needed to be nearly 10 minutes long.

 

...And Justice for All by Metallica was originally released as a double album with no subpar tracks.

 

I always thought it represented Tommy's acid trip.

 

The River by Bruce Springsteen
Obviously there are tracks on it which are puzzling but they are not filler as he had a pile of alternatives in the can. I love the album but it could have been the greatest double of all time if other songs had been chosen.

 

Electric Ladyland - Jimi Hendrix Experience