In which cases do you think an artist's double album is their very best work?

Peter Frampton-Comes Alive

 

A lot of my favorite albums by a particular acts are doubles:

Dusk at Cubist Castle - The Olivia Tremor Control
I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One (or And Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out) - Yo La Tengo
Derek & the Dominos' Layla - Eric Clapton's finest work
Exile on Main Street - The Rolling Stones
1999 - Prince
Zen Arcade (or Warehouse: Songs and Stories) - Hüsker Dü
Physical Graffiti - Led Zeppelin
Bitches Brew - Miles Davis
Electric Ladyland - Jimi Hendrix
White Numbers - The Bevis Frond (double CD/triple vinyl!)

And Radiohead wanted to release Kid A and Amnesiac as a double but drummer Phil Selway invoked his veto power and nixed it.

 

I love double albums - sometimes just the idea even more than the album itself! Of the doubles I own and routinely play, maybe half could be considered the best work of the artist in question. A few I could definitely make a case for...

Definitely My Favorite Album By The Artist:
Electric Ladyland - Jimi Hendrix Experience
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John
Exile On Main St - The Rolling Stones
Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs - Derek & The Dominos (Clapton's finest hour by far, in my opinion)

I Don't Know If These Are The Artists "Best" Work, But They Are Damn Good:
1999 - Prince
Sign O The Times - Prince
The Beatles - The Beatles
Physical Graffiti - Led Zeppelin
Songs In The Key Of Life - Stevie Wonder
The Innocent Age - Dan Fogelberg
Tusk - Fleetwood Mac

 

Beatles White Album.

 

Something /Anything springs to mind regarding Todd R.

Beatles double ? Not red /blue, but white. The White Album.

 

These ones:

Studio

Eric Clapton/Derek & The Dominos -- Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs

The Who -- Tommy

Elton John -- Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Chicago -- Chicago VII

Led Zeppelin -- Physical Graffiti

Stevie Wonder -- Songs In The Key Of Life

Bruce Springsteen -- The River

Live:

KISS -- Alive

Paul McCartney and his Wings -- Wings Over America

Peter Frampton -- Frampton Comes Alive

Lynyrd Skynyrd -- One More For/From The Road

UFO -- Strangers In The Night

 

I think it is very rare for an artist's best work to be a double simply because the temptation to pad the album is too great. Possible contenders:

Led Zep - Physical Graffiti (though IV is possibly better, more consistent)
Genesis - The Lamb Lies down on Broadway (but better than Selling England by the Pound?)
Dylan - Blonde on Blonde (but better than Highway 61?)

The 2 examples where, for me, they genuinely are the artist's best work:

Spock's Beard - Snow
Marillion - Marbles

 

Precisely. I don't know why it's rated lower by fans than Zen Arcade or New Day Rising. Warehouse shows they had the pop-writing knack to be THE underground band that broke through first.. and it's great tune after great tune.

Just a shame it didn't have better production - the rehearsals & live performances of those tracks have a power that's lacking from the album.

 

Saturday Night Fever
Frampton Comes Alive

 

What I took into consideration is... even if a double album has some fluff and filler on it (which don't, right?), if you were to take the best songs and make a single album out of it, would that single album still be better than the other single albums from that artist. I think Layla, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and The River are a good examples of that. And if The Who didn't already have Tommy, I would have chosen a pared-down Quadrophenia over Who's Next.

 

Another vote for The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway

 

That's a very good point. If you made just one album out of Physical Graffiti it would definitely be my favourite Zep album as opposed to might be my favourite!!

For me, the problem is how much below par stuff do you have to tread through to get to the really good stuff. Springsteen's The River is a good example. For every great track like Independence Day or The Price you Pay you have to get pass Sherry Darling, I Wanna Marry You and Crush on You etc...

 

Made in Japan Deep Purple by a country mile

 

Johnny's second Columbia album shows an artist in transition. He's still obviously a Texas bluesman, recording in the same trio format that he left Dallas with. But his music is moving toward the more rock & roll sounds he would go on to create. The opener, "Memory Pain," moves him into psychedelic blues-rock territory, while old-time rockers like "Johnny B. Goode," "Miss Ann," and "Slippin' and Slidin'" provide him with familiar landscapes on which to spray his patented licks. His reworking of Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited" is the high spot of the record, a career-defining track that's still a major component of his modern-day set list. This was originally released back in the day as a three-sided vinyl double album, by the way.

Three sides....Close enough?

 

Who is that?

 

Yep, there are 2 records

 

Clash - London Calling
Wilco - Being There
Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
George Harrison - All Things Must Pass

Can't list Blonde on Blonde, because Highway 61 was better

 

The Beatles - The Beatles
Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
Yes - Tales From Topographic Oceans
Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti
Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
ELO - Out Of The Blue
Sky - Sky 2
... might have missed some.

 

Beatles: White Album (Beatles best AND best album of the '60',s)

Stones: Exile on Main Street (Stones best AND best album of the '70's)

Clash: London Calling (Clash's best AND best album of the '80's even if it was released in December of '79)

Wilco: Being There (Wilco's best AND best album of the 90's)