Which Double Albums Do You Feel Justify Their Length?
Twelve years ago today, the Red Hot Chili Peppers released ‘Stadium Arcadium’, a double record chock-full of smash hits like “Dani California”, “Snow (Hey Oh)”, “Charlie”, and many more that earned the band their first-ever number one selling album and five Grammy awards. It was my introduction to the band, so it’s got a special sorta nostalgic place in my heart, thinking back to some of my first bass lessons where I’d ask my teacher to show me Flea’s licks and he’d try his hardest not to laugh in my stupid face before suggesting I work on “Smoke on the Water” first, and it marked guitarist John Frusciante’s final work with the band, so it’s also a bit bittersweet in that right (although his replacement, Josh Klinghoffer, is an absolute MONSTER).
In my eyes, with some of the deeper digs like “She’s Only 18″, “Torture Me”, “Especially in Michigan”, “C’mon Girl”, “Tell Me Baby”, “If”, “Animal Bar”, “Storm in a Teacup”, and my personal favorite track, “Readymade”, I don’t only think ‘Stadium Arcadium’ justifies its length as a double record, I believe it’s one of the best twofers ever released. That list is pretty small from me though, because I think doubles usually consist of just enough good content to make up one album, and filler tracks that should’ve been left on the cutting room floor but got thrown in for the sake of the gimmick.
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I understand the Chili Peppers aren’t for everyone, though, so I’m gonna open up this topic to all of your musical tastes. Which double (or even triple) albums do you feel justify their length? Looking for good shit front to back to front to back. It’s not easy to do, so I assume your list’ll be pretty short! Here’s mine, along with just a random jam from each:
Use Your Illusion – Guns N’ Roses
The White Album – The Beatles
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness – The Smashing Pumpkins
Physical Graffiti – Led Zeppelin
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Wu-Tang Forever – Wu-Tang Clan
London Calling – The Clash
All Eyez On Me – 2Pac
Obviously there’s the popular ones like ‘The Wall’ by Pink Floyd, ‘Exile on Main Street’ by the Rolling Stones, ‘Quadrophenia’ by The Who, ‘Blonde on Blonde’ by Bob Dylan, and ‘The River’ by Springsteen (had to give that one a shout-out or else I’d be murdered on my next trip back home to Jersey), but I never really dug deep into any of those, truthfully. So I want your recommendations! Toss ‘em my way on Twitter.