The Drovers Old Time Medicine Show - Prater's Creek Gazette

The Double Album

CDs are cute and all, but I miss the 331/3 RPM LP. That big ol’ slab of vinyl, two slabs, and a big record jacket with lots of big pictures and liner notes inside. Albums used to come with posters, T-shirt iron- ons, billion dollar bills, and all kinds of cool stuff.

Lots of bands released double albums in their time. But with all of the hundreds of double albums made by bands, it’s a short list when you look at the double albums that had enough good songs to warrant waxing and releasing four sides of music. A single LP used to have an average running time of 30 minutes and a double album ran 50-80 minutes, tops. One of the main factors in the lengths of vinyl LPs was that you could not have too many grooves cut in the vinyl, or the record would sound subpar, and it would wear out fast. Todd Rundgren once released an album, Infinity, with twice as many grooves. On the inner sleeve he warned the purchaser that they needed to record the album on the first couple of plays because the sound quality would be diminished with each subsequent play!

Now, with CDs, bands can put up to 70 minutes on a single CD. It seems that they put more songs on their releases because they can, not because they have so many great songs every time. The CDs have a lot of filler.

A double album took a lot of faith: faith in the bands that they had something to say, faith in their fans that they could grasp this concept, and faith on the fan’s part that this band had something worthwhile to say. Neil Spencer of The London Observer had this to say about The Clash’s London Calling that says it all: “Like all the best double albums, London Calling was a voyage”.

My list of the greatest double albums only includes those studio releases with new songs. It does not include compilations, repackages, and my beloved double live albums (so no Humble Pie Rockin’ The Fillmore, Allman Brothers Live At Fillmore East, Ted Nugent’s Double Live Gonzo, Edgar Winter’s White Trash Roadwork, and no Rust Never Sleeps).

1.Blonde on Blonde - Bob Dylan Released 1966. Probably the greatest rock album ever. Recorded in Nashville, Dylan said this sound was the closest he ever came to getting on tape what he heard in his head. He’d show the seasoned session musicians a verse and chorus, tell them “We’ll do a verse and chorus, and then I’ll do my harmonica thing. Then we’ll do another verse and chorus, and then I’ll play some more harmonica and we’ll see how it goes from there.” Contains “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35”, “Absolutely Sweet Marie”, the incredibly beautiful “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” (later revealed to be about future wife Sara), “Stuck Inside Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again”, “You Go Your Way and I’ll Go Mine”….what a record. John Hiatt said he listened to little else for a year at one stretch.

Derek & The Dominoes 2.The White Album - The Beatles Released in US Nov 25,1968. Running time 94 minutes. A sprawling album by the greatest rock and roll band of all time. Some people say it’s a masterpiece some say it’s a mess. It’s a beautiful mess. If you don’t know this album, you know nothing about rock and roll.

3.Layla and other Assorted Love Songs - Derek & The Dominoes Released November 1970. Running time 76:43. Eric Clapton and Duane Allman play the most beautiful guitars on tortured songs of love. This album is full of a raw emotion that Clapton has never before or since came close to. The title track, “Bell Bottom Blues”, “Why Does Love Have To Be So Sad?”…Clapton at his best.

4.London Calling - The Clash Released 1979. Running time 66 minutes. They had made the greatest punk rock record ever with their self-titled debut and made “arena punk” with their second album, Give ‘Em Enough Rope (Produced by Blue Oyster’s Cult’s producer). With their third album they brought in, along with previous reggae influences, rockabilly, and soul music with London Calling. Produced by famed Mott The Hoople producer Guy Stevens, The Clash made one of the greatest albums ever, single or double. This album has been called the punk equivalent of The Stones Exile. From the classic title song that opens the album to the very Motownish closer, the FM hit “Train In Vain” this album raised the bar for all rock, not just punk rock.

5.Exile on Main St. - The Rolling Stones Released in May 1972. Running time 66 minutes Side one blows the doors off, opening with “Rip This Joint” and “Rocks Off (“The sunshine bores the daylights out of me”!). This album has it all. Recorded mostly in Keith Richards' basement. The greatest rock and roll: ”Torn and Frayed”, “Rip This Joint”, “Tumbling Dice”, “Happy”, the soul of “Soul Survivor” and “Turn It Loose’. The Billy Preston, Hammond B3 drenched gospel of “I Just Want To See His Face” and “Shine A Light”…this album has more good songs than most bands come up with in a career. Rolling Stone magazine said, “Exile is to most records what The Big Sleep and Casablanca are to made-for-TV movies”. When this came out I was really sick and my dad bought the 8-track of this for me. It healed me. Rock and Roll at it’s brilliant and sleazy best.

The Who 6.Tommy - The Who Released in 1969. Running time 74 minutes. The first album billed as a “rock opera”. A rock opera? About a deaf, dumb, and blind boy who’s a pinball wizard?! You bet. “And Tommy doesn’t know what day it is. He doesn’t know who Jesus was or what praying is. How can he be saved, from the eternal grave?”)

7.Quadrophenia - The Who Released in 1973. Running time 82 minutes. The second rock opera by this great band. The main character is Jimmy, a Mod, who has four distinct personalities. Schizophrenia times two. Each personality is representative of each of the four members of The Who.

In some ways this album fell short of the mark set by Led Zeppelin Tommy, but in other ways, it surpasses it.

8.Physical Graffiti - Led Zeppelin Released Feb. 24, 1975. Running time 88:15. This had some things left over from II, III, IV, and Houses of the Holy, with brand new recorded songs. They recorded a lot of it outdoors on the lawn. “Let me just get this airplane off Jimmy” “Nah, leave it”. I wore this album out the summer of ’75.

9.Here, My Dear - Marvin Gaye Released Dec.15, 1978. Running time 72:56.Tortured soul music on love and divorce. Motown was leery of releasing a double album, especially one with no obvious singles. The album opens with the words “You know….when you say your marriage vows, they’re supposed to for real I mean…if you think about what you really said Allman Brothers you know, about loving and honor ‘til death do us part. It shouldn’t be that way…it shouldn’t be lies, cause if it turns out to be lies and you don’t honor what you said….you’ve lied to GOD”

10.Eat A Peach - The Allman Brothers Released in 1972, the year after Duane died in a motorcycle crash. This album has new songs such as “Blue Skies”, “Little Martha”, “Melissa” and leftover Fillmore East recordings such as the 33 minute “Mountain Jam”.

11.Bitches Brew - Miles Davis Released April 1970. Running time 106.02. This album is maybe more psychedelic than any rock record. It ain’t exactly jazz, with Miles playing his horn through a wah-wah pedal, electric guitars, and keyboards. And the sound is way more dissonant than any jazz. The sound of this album is best summed up in the title of the song, “Miles Runs the Voodoo Down”. And he caught it too! This album is one of the main reasons Miles just got inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

One critic said that Miles “drew a line in the sand that some jazz fans have never crossed, or even forgiven Davis for drawing.” Of course this album helped created the God-awful fusion movement of the ‘70’s, but Bitches Brew, and Miles’ other albums after, stands above all of the rest of the rock influenced music by jazz players.

12.Electric Ladyland - Jimi Hendrix Released Sept. 1968. Running time 75:47. Hendrix gives the listener everything and the kitchen sink on this double. Going beyond the restriction of a power trio with extra personnel on everything from Hammond B-3 to the flute, Electric Ladyland offers looser song compositions, than previous records and stretches out with lengthy jams. Contains classics such as “Crosstown Traffic”, “Voodoo Chile (Slight Return), and the milestone cover of Dylan’s “All Along The Watchtower”.

13.Something/Anything - Todd Rundgren Released Feb. 1972. Running time 86:15. This album is the defining album of Rundgren’s career with a remake of his own “I Saw The Light”, and the pop smash “Hello It’s Me”. Recorded mostly by himself playing all instruments.

14.Todd - Todd Rundgren Released in 1974. Running time 67 minutes. “Hello It’s Me” was still a hit on the radio when this second double album was released by the rainbow haired pop genius. It had a full band arrangement on it, unlike the previous albums, which were essentially one-man band efforts. I sold my hawksbill knife to my best friend, who had just gotten his restricted license, and we went to the record store so I could buy this album. I think this album is better than Something/Anything. Song such as “Izzat Love” “I Think You Know”, the hilarious hard rock of “Heavy Metal Kids”, and the bluesy Hendrix- like “Lowest Common Denominator”. And you gotta love the crazy genius who recorded one song live in New York and LA, and has the LA audience singing in the left speaker and the NY crowd coming out of the right speaker!

The Double Album Continued on page 7