The Double Album that should have happened?

The 2 lp of Bryan Ferry's The Bride Stripped Bare as originally planned.

 

Jethro Tull for sure. It almost did happen in 1972-73, when they partially recorded 3 sides for a double album, but due to poor recording circumstances they decided to abandon the project. Would have been one of their best albums had they completed it.

Others that I think would’ve been cool: Queen, Alice Cooper

 

That Necrophillia instrumental, "Aftermath", is it from that block of sessions? If yes, it could be used, as well

 

I agree but these bands had record companies that wanted product out quickly or as you pointed out drug use was also an issue. I just think these bands had the diversity to make a double album but they couldn't execute. Although DLR stated that VH made their albums short on purpose. I also am in the minority as I like later Motley Crue IE Generation Swine and Saints of Los Angeles.

 

The Beach Boys' Sunflower should really have been a double album, or at least two separate albums, as there were a bunch of quality stuff left off of albums at that time i.e. San Miguel, Lady, Break Away, Good Time, Big Sur

 

If you think about it, many "modern" releases (King Crimson's THRAK comes to mind) are nearly an hour long, on cd, and could easily be expanded into "proper length" double albums without too much effort. They had many improves recorded during the "VROOOM" sessions that could have been included on THRAK.

 

First example that came to my mind. I think 13 minutes or so are said to have been edited down? I have no idea if it is true or not and if so what songs were removed.
It's a loose concept album in a way as most songs are old ideas (sometimes going back to the Velvet Underground days) put together to make a story.

Let's not forget there's an extra instrumental bit at the end of "Berlin" on the 8-track version. Maybe it's most of what was meant to be cut down? Dramatic instrumental pieces?

 

I've always thought Elvis Costello's King of America could have been a killer double album. I don't recall if the possibility was ever considered, but there was definitely enough top quality material in the can to make it a reality. In fact, as the finished album is already 57:36, you really wouldn't even have to add much to push in into that territory-- you could even DROP the relatively weak "Eisenhower Blues" (and perhaps also "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" which suffers from a very hoarse vocal) and turn it into a no-filler opus (my opinion, of course).

 

David Bowie.

My try of a double album Ziggy Stardust, with most of the Alladin Sane LP (all the songs played constantly on the Ziggy tour), some outtakes and two Diamond Dogs tunes meant for a Ziggy musical. Turned out pretty good:

Five Years (Ziggy Stardust)
Soul Love (Ziggy Stardust)
Cracked Actor (Alladin Sane)
Port of Amsterdam (Ziggy Stardust)
Rock n' Roll Star (Ziggy Stardust)
Moonage Daydream (Ziggy Stardust)
-
All the Young Dudes (Changesonebowie)
Starman (Ziggy Stardust)
Hang Onto Yourself (Ziggy Stardust)
Lady Stardust (Ziggy Stardust)
Round and Round (Ziggy Stardust deluxe)
Aladdin Sane (Alladin Sane)
-
Watch that Man (Alladin Sane)
Sweet Head (Ziggy Stardust deluxe)
John, I'm Only Dancing (Changesonebowie)
Rebel Rebel (Diamond Dogs)
Velvet Goldmine (Ziggy Stardust deluxe)
Ziggy Stardust (Ziggy Stardust)
-
Time (Alladin Sane)
Holy Holy (Ziggy Stardust deluxe)
Rock n' Roll With Me (Diamond Dogs)
The Jean Genie (Alladin Sane)
Suffragette City (Ziggy Stardust)
Rock n' Roll Suicide (Ziggy Stardust)

 

Queen - I honestly don't think that they could have sustained a double album. Even merging the ANATO and ADATR material leaves such a lot of filler that you'd probably end up with perhaps two sides of real quality and then two of stuff that's fair-to-middling. Then, taking the best of that lot, it's a hell of a lot of variations on a similar theme........

If the idea was ever floated, then I'm bloody glad they held back and kept it all crystallised whilst their albums were still of incredible artistic value.

 

Of the bands that the OP listed, I would go for a King Crimson double album from the Starless & Bible Black period. The could have recorded the original version of "Dr. Diamond" and offer more extended improv pieces like the complete "The Mincer".

Though it benefits from being more concise than its double predecessor, I wouldn't mind a double album version of Can's Ege Bamyasi. Some of the tracks easily could have been extended--"Pinch" was often known to run over twenty minutes live--and we've heard some of the other outtakes from the period on Unlimited Edition and The Lost Tapes.

 

I'd love a double of Ege - they had such a great sound at that point (new recording equipment) but from what I gather they were having trouble getting it together on that album. I think Schmidt and Damo allegedly spent most of the time playing chess. Liebezeit and Czukay put the album together and the others added their bit when called to do so. So the story goes.

One useful track that was left off The Lost Tapes is Doke E running at nearly 30 mins, but not what period that is from.

 

The original vinyl edition is a double album. Great record!

 

Here's another one that was apparently considered by the band for a double album but the record company shot it down: Van Der Graaf Generator's Pawn Hearts, which would have included some of the more raw, improvisational tracks that were featured on the reissue, as well as the epic length "Squid/Octopus" which was featured on the H to He reissue, which they had been playing live for some time.

 

Yeah, you could build a decent double-album length version of Ege Bamyasi with Lost Tapes tracks like Dead Pigeon Suite which are alternate versions (maybe earlier takes) of tunes that are on the album.. by doing that, it'd almost make it a song-cycle if you put one near the start & another near the end...

 

Tom Petty : Southern Accents

 

Agree, that would have been fantastic. I've only ever heard a few outtakes, none that sounded like finished, unreleased tracks.

 

Queen supposedly considered making The Game a double album, and there was enough material recorded during sessions for The Miracle to significantly extend that as well. However, I wouldn't go as far as to suggest combining A Night At The Opera and A Day At The Races, since the former was created under very different circumstances, while its follow-up has a slightly less ambitious overall sound, having more of a liberated feeling as a result of the band not having to worry as much about its future. One idea I'd have loved to see is a 2LP set with each side containing only tracks written by each of the group's four members, similar to the Kiss solo efforts from 1978 - how many of their contemporaries would have been able to do such a thing? Even the quarter of material by John Deacon might have given us a few true gems... Well, providing they still had Freddie Mercury on lead vocals, that is!

 

What was leftover from The Game, aside from A Human Body and Sandbox?
I only see enough if they developed the Flash Gordon instrumentals and short pieces into actual songs. Then that would be something!

 

Although it's often mentioned that Queen planned for The Game to be a double album, I have to agree that they don't appear to have possessed enough material to make such a thing happen. Indeed, that project was recorded in two distinct batches, with several of its tracks already released as singles by the end of 1979, while the rest was developed following a return to Musicland Studios in early 1980, where the musical direction changed - at this point, Sandbox evolved into Dragon Attack, and the "no synths" mantra of previous releases was finally retired once engineer/co-producer Reinhold Mack introduced the band to the Oberheim OB-X (which is also the very same keyboard extensively heard on ELO's Time, which was recorded at the same location just a few months later). From what I've read about this period, A Human Body was dropped from the final running order in favour of another Roger Taylor song, Coming Soon, because of concerns the resulting LP would otherwise be too loaded with slower pieces. There was also confirmation of Andy Gibb - yes, that Andy Gibb - singing on an early version of Play The Game, but the fact such a high profile duet has yet to surface either officially or through bootlegs suggests this no longer exists, particularly as the themed Forever compilation from 2014 would have been a perfect opportunity to place it next to the version of There Must Be More To Life Than This featuring Michael Jackson as another gem from the QPL vaults. One thing I'm fairly sure of is that the Flash Gordon tracks were always separate from those earmarked for The Game, and I just can't imagine any one album being half more conventional songs and the rest being mostly instrumental movie score. On the other hand, the later A Kind Of Magic suffered from a similar identity crisis, with much of its content being independent of the Highlander film.

As for what else Queen might have been sitting on from sessions for The Game, we know that the initial vocal and piano demo for It's A Beautiful Day was recorded in April 1980, but only embellished nearly 15 years later for its inclusion on what became the posthumous Made In Heaven, where it featured in various permutations that extended to a further single-exclusive remix. I guess it's possible that at least some of Hot Space or perhaps even The Works dates back to 1980 as well, though we can rule out Under Pressure, Cool Cat and I Go Crazy, since those all came out of the short-lived collaboration with David Bowie, which was originally intended to produce an entire album until they had an infamous falling out. Also, the basic musical foundation of Back Chat was developed over the course of The Game Tour, with its distinctive bass part improved during a show on October 9th, not to mention its roots can be traced to the jam section that segued into Keep Yourself Alive on the We Will Rock You concert video, later reissued as Queen Rock Montreal. For those unaware, many fans refer to this brief piece as Sex Show due to its final lyric, even if I can't imagine it was ever given this particular name by anyone in the band. Then again, Freddie might have tried calling it that...

P.S. According to the article on The Game at Wikipedia, this was allegedly Queen's first project to be recorded digitally, yet the aforementioned Time was completely analogue, so I'm not convinced by such claims. I suspect the confusion stems from a note on the artwork for the 2011 remastered edition of The Game, which indicates that the best modern analogue and digital technology was used for transferring the original first generation mixdown tapes, as it's highly unlikely Musicland would switch technologies between two of its then-biggest clients. Besides, a major factor in ELO's relocation from Musicland to Wisseloord Studios for their subsequent Secret Messages album was because leader Jeff Lynne wanted to record in a facility with digital recording capabilities ahead of this being the group's first CD. Ultimately, he was forced to compromise on this vision, mixing from analogue safety tapes because of impending release deadlines meaning he didn't have the time to properly familiarise himself with the recently installed digital editing suite. Anyway, that's another story!

 

Shame there's nothing to replace this with. Both sections of this are heard elsewhere in the 2-LP set!

Also, I just heard "Campers" for the first time..... uh, I can see why that hasn't made it out officially. XD

 

You could also turn The Kinks' "Village Green" into a double album:

Side One:
01 Village Green Preservation Society
02 Do You Remember Walter?
03 Picture Book
04 Johnny Thunder
05 Mr. Songbird
06 Last of the Steam Powered Trains
Side Two:
07 Animal Farm
08 Big Sky
09 Did You See His Name?
10 Polly
11 Misty Water
12 Sitting By the Riverside
Side Three:
13 Starstruck
14 Phenomenal Cat
15 Rosemary Rose
16 All of My Friends Were There
17 Berkeley Mews
18 Wicked Annabella
19 Days
Side Four:
20 Village Green
21 Pictures in the Sand
22 Wonderboy
23 Lavender Hills
24 Monica
25 People Take Pictures of Each Other

 

Maybe Let It Be...include "Don't Let Me Down", Old Brown Shoe, Ballad Of J & Y...the rooftop concert, both Get Backs, some stuff like on Anthology,I dunno not really an expert on LIB, but expanding it could only help make it a bit better probably.

 

Abbey Road...

 

Rush.
If you mentioned a group that the OP didn't mention, run a lap!