Filler-free double albums: are there any?

In a lot of cases I'm sure you're correct, but at the same time you have to wonder when (on both double AND single albums) they bury what is clearly the worst song at the very end of the album. In cases like that - they know!

Of course in some cases a song may have some personal meaning to the artist, so they are aware but don't really care that *some* people are going to think its crap. As long as they keep those songs to a minimum, I can live with it - especially on a double album as opposed to a single album.

Sometimes "filler" can even work to an album's advantage. Are 'Black Country Woman' and 'Boogie With Stu' filler? Probably, but those are the outtakes from previous albums they had left available to them to stretch PG to double album length. Plus they were stuck on the end of the album (second and third last songs) though they used a stronger (and new) song to close the album.

But for me the fact that PG is a double is what made it work. Most of the newly recorded songs were epics (in length or layers of overdubs or both). Those epic songs needed the room to breathe that being spread over four side of vinyl afforded. A single album full of almost nothing but epics probably wouldn't have worked as well as an album that averaged just one epic a side (side 3 had two epics - one to open and the other to close the side - and side 4 had no epic song).

Without the earlier album outtakes/filler tracks (of varying quality - some of them were legitimately great) the album would have likely been the 4 epic tracks of 7-11 minutes each, leaving room for only one or two other songs - so a five or six song record. I couldn't imagine liking that single album nearly as much as the double album we got.

 

A lot of people complain about the second record and say it should have been just the first LP that got released, but I like the second record. As much as the first? No, but I'll definitely take the second record of 'Tago Mago" over most of the later albums they released.

And yes I agree that overall it is their greatest achievement and easily my favorite record by them (not to mention its one of my favorite albums of all time - probably top 20 or at worst top 30).

 

The Who - Quadrophenia
The Beatles - The Beatles “White Album”
Stephen Stills & Manassas - Manassas
Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland
The Allman Brothers Band - At Fillmore East

Honorable (or dishonorable...) Mention:
Andrew “Dice” Clay - The Day The Laughter Died*

*And this is by no means an endorsement of its subject & quality (or lack thereof), but I’ve always loved this double album. In high school for me in the early 90’s there were no podcasts, so I’d put it on while doing homework, etc.

 

What other off-topic exaggerations would you like to 'not mention'? You can grind that axe by starting your own thread or posting in one of the many existing threads of this fascinating topic.

 

T

No exaggeration at all my friend, and in my view, NOT "off topic" either. Do I consider taking a song written by someone else, changing a few lines and then claiming authorship to be filler? YES!

My apologies if you felt that I was changing the topic.

The author of the following article discusses the track "Boogie With Stu" from Physical Grafitti: Led Zeppelin: Plagiarism? “Boogie With Stu”

 

The Wall

 

I get you but i only listen to the fabulous Bron y aur on LP 2.

 

Ariel Pink - pom pom

 

So basically you're not at all familiar with the conventional idea(s) of what filler is, and you just made up your own definition that has nothing to do with what everyone else is talking about?

 

"Boogie with Stu"?

 

What about "Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats" or "The Waiting Room"?

 

Quadrophenia, Tommy and Electric Ladyland.

I'd almost say London Calling too but for Lovers Rock.

 

Or just buy the new vinyl pressing from the same digital source.

 

Exile on Main street come to mind

 

Isn’t this about no filler as opposed to all filler?

 

Dan Fogelberg's The Innocent Age.

 

FIGHT ME!!!

 

White Light from The Mouth Of Infinity by Swans
& the compilation Various Failures

 

I love Exile as much as the next guy, but tell me this is not filler.

 

One of my favorites from the album whether you consider it filler or not.

 

I don't fight deaf people...

 

I love Exile, it's my favorite Stones record, but I would argue there's some filler:

"Casino Boogie", and "Sweet Virginia" are grating in certain ways (Mick warbling in a country voice unironically? Nails on a chalkboard for me. And "Sweet Virginia" feels like it goes on for an hour), and "Shake Your Hips" does nothing to improve upon or alter the Slim Harpo original. It's just a bar band cover that's average. Should have been B-side material at this point for the Stones. At least their cover of "Stop Breaking Down" has a cool jam section with some great guitar playing.

 

Its Tom Waits favorite song from that album.

 

Physical Graffiti is the nearest album I could think of with no filler but doesn't succeed (IMHO) because….

…ironically (or not) I said on Page 1 of this thread that Boogie with Stu is my definition of filler!