Best *CD* double albums?

[Jinsai]

I haven't seen these two mentioned. Pardon, if they have been.

Orbital - In Sides
Coil - Remote Viewer

both are great, but neither is a true "double CD" album.

The first release of Remote Viewer was a single CD, later rereleased with newer material on a second disc. In Sides, while released as a 3x LP, fit onto a single CD, and the second disc was material from Times Fly.

[jmtd]

starsuckers isn't on the fragile

Neither was ripe for that matter

[timdotexe]

I haven't seen these two mentioned. Pardon, if they have been.

Orbital - In Sides
Coil - Remote Viewer

Orbital - In Sides is brilliant, but is technically not a double album.
The original releases are 1 disc, the USA releases have bonus discs.

[henryeatscereal]

Not trying to overrate or anything but i truly think that "Reflektor" by Arcade Fire, deserves a spot on the list!

[GulDukat]

NIN- The Fragile
The Beatles- The Beatles (AKA The White Album)
Pink Floyd- The Wall

[Harry Seaward]

NIN- The Fragile
The Beatles- The Beatles (AKA The White Album)
Pink Floyd- The Wall

Whoa, careful throwing those radical polarizing opinions out around here.

[GulDukat]

Smashing Pumpkins- MCATIS

There are a few double-albums, as in two records, that fit onto one CD. So I'd add these to the list:

Guns N' Roses- Use Your Illusion I
Guns N' Roses- Use Your Illusion II
Guns N' Roses- Chinese Democracy
The Jimi Hendrix Experience- Electric Ladyland
The Velvet Underground- Live 1969 (released as two CDs)

[frankie teardrop]

Swans- Soundtracks for the Blind, Swans Are Dead, The Seer
Grouper- A I A
Unwound- Leaves Turn Inside You

these x 10... + have a nice life + nick cave's abattoir blues/the lyre of orpheus as far as what's been mentioned. as for two that haven't:

[elevenism]

I don't know if it counts but it IS two cds...the prodigy's Experience Expanded.
it's like a whole second prodigy experience album was found. it's perfect.

[jmtd]

Tricky one because even the first issue of experience is like a comp, with the singles being swapped out for remixes.

[wizfan]

I'm becoming increasinly interested in double albums where each album is a different style of music. Examples off the top of my head:

Parov Stelar - The Demon Diaries
Cypress Hill - Skull & Bones
Alec Empire - Intelligence and Sacrifice
Devin Townsend - Z²

Can anyone think of other examples? No, The Fragile doesn't count.

Oh, and yes, I'm aware of Angelic 2 the Core.

[fillow]

Can anyone think of other examples?

In Your Honor by Foo Fighters?

The Galilean Satellites by Rosetta

[BRoswell]

Not wildly different styles, but DJ Shadow's "Our Pathetic Age" has instrumentals on the first album and vocal tracks on the second album.

[Jon]

Can anyone think of other examples? No, The Fragile doesn't count.

David Sylvian // Gone To Earth (cover art by Russell Mills)
Panopticon // The Scars Of Man On The Once Nameless Wilderness
Death Grips // The Powers That B (debatable)

Those first two are great.

[wizfan]

David Sylvian // Gone To Earth (cover art by Russell Mills)
Panopticon // The Scars Of Man On The Once Nameless Wilderness
Death Grips // The Powers That B (debatable)

Those first two are great.

Hahah, I love The Powers that B, and it could work in that regard. I was actually looking for that Panopticon album and completely forgot the title, thanks! I will check out the Sylvian one too, as well as the albums @fillow and @BRoswell recommended. Thanks, peeps!

[r_z]

E-40 - Element of Surprise

I love that one. E-40 ist great.

[botley]

What up, old thread!

I've been playing this a lot lately. Since the big expanded set came out in 2020, I've been going back to it again and again.



(alt text: cover of the Prince album Sign O the Times from the original CD with 'two disc set' written at the bottom)

[versusreality]

I'll name something that hasn't been mentioned:
Techno Animal- Re-Entry

Not the industrial sounds of their first album, nor the noisy hip hop of their later albums, this album is deeeeep, heavy (not in a traditional sense, no guitars either..hard to explain) , tribal (one song has an Arabic rhythm, another a Native American rhythm), slow-mid tempo, dub, synth explosions...and that's just disc 1! The second disc is mostly deep, dark ambient. A masterpiece of an album.