411 Music Ten Deep 1.29.10: Top Ten Double Albums

Posted by Andrew Moll on 01.29.2010

From Exile on Main St. to Blonde on Blonde to Daydream Nation, 411 Music Ten Deep delivers the Top Ten Double Albums! See what other double albums made the list and which album came in at number one!


(Disclaimer: All opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of 411 Music and its staff.)


Welcome, one and all to the twenty-seventh edition of 411 Music Ten Deep! I say the twenty-seventh edition but I think I honestly lost track a little while ago and just kind of started winging it, so we'll say it's approximately the twenty-seventh edition. We have another great list here for you this week and we'll get to it all in just a bit. But first, let's take a gander back to last week and the daunting task I undertook, by attempting to rank the Top Ten Beatles Songs.





Seeing someone try so hard to find 10 good songs by the Beatles def shows why this is the most overrated band EVER.

I do like Yesterday though.

Lets focus on some of the greats please, none of these fakers. Sorry but Norwegian Wood blows like Tito Ortiz's wife and its top 10 material. Terrible, utter terriblenes.
Posted By: Beatles suck, give me the zep (Guest) on January 22, 2010 at 06:13 AM

This comment unfortunately led to the comment section becoming a Beatles vs Led Zeppelin debate, as if we can't consider both bands great, but whatever. I will say that I understand there are a lot of people who don't like the Beatles and find them incredibly overhyped. I don't know why, but I understand.

So maybe somebody who isn't a fan can explain to me exactly what's wrong with the Beatles, and if you'd like them more if you didn't have to constantly hear about them.

The fact that "Here Comes the Sun" and "Something" aren't on this list make it null and void.
Posted By: Guest#0566 (Guest) on January 22, 2010 at 01:37 AM

Both songs were considered for the final list but sadly didn't make it. Like I said last week, their catalog goes so deep that some amazing songs aren't going to make the cut. Those two you mentioned are pretty high on that list.

Any Beatles best of is gonna be dominated by McCartney.

Lennon is the fan favorite but after 1966, McCartney really took over the band and pumped out their biggest hit ever, Hey Jude. Lennon was in a drug funk and produced some of their worst material. McCartney also improved and sequenced the best Lennon compositions such as A Day in the Life, which is as much as McCartney tune as it is Lennon's.
Posted By: Sir Paul=Glue (Guest) on January 23, 2010 at 03:27 PM

I definitely agree that the band would have pretty much fallen apart if not for Paul trying to keep it together, and some of John's stuff didn't mesh at all with the great harmonies he had produced early in the band's career. But I also think you short change his output on the later Beatles albums. Paul definitely helped him out a bit, but he still had all the skills to be a legendary writer.

Also, what you said about "A Day in the Life" is exactly why I think it's the best Beatles song, since both men came together to create their ultimate song. How much Paul helped John's part, I don't know, but I do know that they pushed themselves to get better and better. It was only when that competition became unhealthy that the band started to crumble.

Great list, reminded me of how great they really were and still are. However your lack of love for Abbey Road is not good.
Posted By: Olympic Hero (Guest) on January 28, 2010 at 11:00 AM

This hurts me, because Abbey Road is my favorite Beatles album, mainly because of the medley. Unfortunately, I can't pick one song from that, so Abbey Road ended up being unfairly unrepresented on the final list. And you're right, it deserved much better.



Top Ten Double Albums



After doing the Beatles column last week I started thinking about the White Album and how many double albums overstay their welcome and really aren't that great. Then I looked into it and realized that I was completely wrong since there are lots of double albums that are tremendous and could probably be even longer since they're so good. So I decided to dedicate this week's column to the double album, which I basically defined as two CDs or four sides of an LP as an original release, so no two disc re-releases or anything. So with that out of the way, let's look at the honorable mentions:


Some Honorable Mentions: Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica; Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti; Pink Floyd - The Wall; Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness; Bruce Springsteen - The River; The Who - Quadrophenia; The Who - Tommy




10. Hüsker Dü - Zen Arcade


Hüsker Dü played faster and louder than any other hardcore band in the 1980s, but eventually consistently playing only fast and furious can run its course. That's where the band found itself in 1984 as they prepared to release their second full-length, and they were eager to move beyond the constraints of the genre. Zen Arcade was an ambitious effort, recorded forty-five hours and made for only $3,200; the modest recording stood in contrast to the album's scope which reached far beyond what any other punk bands were attempting to do. Not just a double album but a concept album as well, Zen Arcade expanded the band's sound to allow more time shifts, melodies, and lighter songs. Everything for the most part was still incredibly loud and fast, but those extra touches helped separate Hüsker Dü from the rest of the pack.





The concept isn't particularly clear, but it proves to be as harrowing as the music occasionally is; the main character is a teenager who runs away from home and wanders the streets learning off cults and drugs, realizing the real world is no better than his life at home, leaving him resigned to an unfulfilling life where nothing ever changes. The story is a depressing one, and while is often aggressive to match that feeling it still can't hide its pop influences which are all over the album. They come up on what are some of the band's best tracks, including "Something I Learned Today," "Never Talking to You Again," and the epic anthem "Turn on the News."





9. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland


With this third studio album, Jimi Hendrix meticulously created a masterpiece with every lyrics and every note designed with a purpose. It's incredibly well-crafted effort that proves Hendrix to be a diligent producer in addition to being a legendary guitarist. All that hard work doesn't overwhelm the album, though, as each song flows perfectly, making the whole thing sound like a jazz album that was constantly running through Hendrix's head and funneled through his unique sonic structures. That's amazing for a song like "Gypsy Eyes" that, despite being recorded fifty times, sounds fresh and with a great groove. The rest of the Experience, Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding do their parts incredibly well as usual and they get some help from contributors like Steve Winwood and Buddy Miles.





Electric Ladyland is hazy and jazzy, but it also reaches its peak when it gets more direct, like on the ballad "Burning of the Midnight Lamp," the bursting "Crosstown Traffic," or his cover of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower," which features Hendrix at his absolute best. I think it's the best cover song ever recorded and one of the best examples of his genius and power as a guitar player, turning Dylan's song into a sonic tornado destroying everything in its path. Another example of that genius and power comes at the very end, with another definitive Hendrix track in "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)". A different take on "Voodoo Chile" from earlier on the album, this closer is the blues on steroids and another reason why Hendrix is pretty much unrivaled as a guitarist. The album, though, proves that he was also a master craftsman as well.





8. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven


To say that Godspeed You! Black Emperor operate under the realm of rock music is really doing the band a disservice. Sure they're technically a post-rock band and there's plenty of use of loud guitar, bass, and drum, but GY!BE essentially play classical music with highs and lows and dramatic tendencies. Typical verses and choruses are nowhere to be found, replaced by movements that are as emotional as they are powerful. Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven is a stunning work that no other band could replicate; made up of four tracks, each with multiple sections, this album transfixes you throughout with numerous instances of layered instruments, walls of sound, and definite rocking out moments.





Any of the four individual tracks make for an amazing listen on their own, but put together they form something amazingly special. As with any GY!BE release, it's incredibly moving as it sucks you in, making you essentially a part of the music. Making good use of the post-rock formula, the band makes sure that those moments of pure exhilaration, when the music reaches incredible heights and volumes after remaining quieter, are actually worth something and are important experiences; there aren't any crescendos and modern music that can match a GY!BE crescendo. Ever evolving and changing, the group don't rest on their laurels at any point on the album, instead choosing to challenge themselves and thereby challenging the listener as well. You end up being taken on a nearly hour and a half ride that is unlike any other group could give, one with enormous peaks and valleys that shake you to your core. It's a ride that you can't easily forget and one that needs to be appreciated as much as possible.





7. Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime


No band before or since have been much like the Minutemen, a working class trio from San Pedro, California that played some combination of punk rock, jazz, Creedence Clearwater Revival, avant-garde, political rock and whatever else may have popped into their heads. Double Nickels on the Dime is their magnum opus, a sprawling album containing more than forty songs which cover a number of different sounds while still remaining a piece of work that could only have been produced by the three men in the band. It's as ambitious as punk rock has every gotten and like a lot of great punk albums, it completely transcends the genre by reminding people that punk isn't about a particular sound but rather an attitude, and the Minutemen had plenty of plenty of attitude to spare.





Alternating between wistful, funny, mocking and passionate, Double Nickels showcases the band at their best, with lead singer and guitarist D. Boon's personality taking over many of the tracks as bassist Mike Watt and drummer George Hurley shuffle along with him, creating a jazz-funk sound on many songs that never gets old even as the albums blows past the hour-long mark. The album has a real sense of urgency to many of its best songs, from "This Ain't no Picnic" to "Viet Nam" to "Political Song for Michael Jackson to Sing," but it also wisely chooses to mellow at times, and even gets sentimental on "History Lesson, Part II." On it, Boon sings, "Our band could be your life/Real names'd be proof/Me and Mike Watt played for years/Punk rock changed our lives." That first line defined the band's ethos, that anyone can be successful at what they do. Even if making an album as great as Double Nickels is a monumental feat, the group knew it was worth it to just give it a shot.





6. Rolling Stones - Exile on Main St.


Heralded by many as the Rolling Stones' best album, despite mixed reviews at the time, Exile on Main St. is gritty and murky with the Stones sounding truly like they're on the outskirts and looking to persevere. A tough combination of rock, blues, country and soul, Exile is far from polished, but that's where the record gets its attitude from. If the opener "Rocks Off" had been recorded in a posh studio on London instead of the south of France in hiding from the British drug police and tax codes, it wouldn't have started the album off in the slap shod, grungy way that it does so perfectly. In some ways it really personified what we think the Rolling Stones are; a group of bad boys playing gritty rock and roll that contains plenty of danger.





The album wasn't all that well received at the time, mainly because of its immediate inaccessibility and partly because of the fact that beyond "Tumbling Dice" and "Happy" there aren't any hits on the album, especially when compared to albums like Let It Bleed. But that's kind of why the album is so great, since the band clearly wasn't concerned with mass appeal. In the end, Exile is an album that rewards those who stick with it and keep listening. Eventually, songs like the alt-country "Torn and Frayed," the soulful "Let it Loose" and the gospel ballad "Shine a Light" all sound as great as anything in the Stones' catalog. Time has been incredibly kind to one of the Rolling Stones' masterpieces and it just makes you wonder what people were listening to the first time around when it was released.





5. The Mothers of Invention - Freak Out!


Albums don't get much weirder than Freak Out! the debut album from rock's greatest weirdo Frank Zappa and his band the Mothers of Invention. Sending up every conceivable rock and roll convention, Zappa set the stage for an illustrious career spent challenging what we thought we knew rock could be and what we even found tolerable in our music. Freak Out! may just be the ultimate love it or hate it album as it purposely devolves from pop music parody to sonic experiments that are as off-putting as they are fascinating. Music like this doesn't happen by accident; you need someone capable of making pop music that is both good on its own while simultaneously poking fun at it. Zappa excels at that on the album's first half, which features catchy songs that are sung in a joking manner and contain more kazoos than most pop songs normally do.





Freak Out! was meant to shock people and turn their expectations upside down, and it most certainly succeeds on that level. Much of the album contains versions of art-rock, pop and doo-wop, all of which get the Zappa treatment. In some alternate universe, "Hungry Freaks Daddy" or "Motherly Love" would be pop hits, but there's enough Zappa weirdness in them to prevent that from ever happening. The last part of the album though takes things to a completely different level, with "It Can't Happen Here" and "The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet" are sonic collages that take art rock places it's never been before, thanks partly to the contributions of one Suzy Creamcheese. Safe to say, most of the albums that came out after Freak Out! that resembled it in any way were made by Zappa himself, a unique musician that dared to go places most couldn't imagine.





4. Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde


Hardly anybody has every been able to approach the trio of albums that Bob Dylan released over the course of fourteen months in 1965 and 1966, starting with Bringing it All Back Home, continuing with Highway 61 Revisited and finishing with Blonde on Blonde, his double album masterpiece. It's considered to be the first significant double LP in rock history and arguably the best album of Dylan's career, which is really saying something. The album sees Dylan further distancing himself from the folk poet label that he felt had been thrust upon him early in his career, and focusing on indirect lyrics that were difficult to decipher. Lyrics like "An' I said, ‘Oh, I didn't know that/But then again, there's only one I've met/An' he just smoked my eyelids/An' punched my cigarette,'" from "Stuck Inside of Mobile with Memphis Blues Again" are surreal and uniquely Dylan, the words of a man attempting to express what's in his head while simultaneously trying to keep people out of it.





Opening with the brass band romp of "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" and continuing throughout the album, from the rocking "I Want You" to the fun and upbeat "Absolutely Sweet Marie," the album is captivating and even at its more wistful moments, still has a tension that doesn't really resolve itself at any point. Everything is tightly coiled, thanks in part to Dylan's backing band which included frequent contributor Al Kooper and future Band guitarist Robbie Robertson. It all finishes with the eleven minute epic "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands," Dylan's ode to his wife Sara that stands out from the rest of the album, with its clean sound and production and the fact an entire side of the original LP was dedicated to it alone. It's a perfect closer for one of the great accomplishments from the greatest songwriter that ever lived at the peak of his career.





3. The Beatles - The Beatles


Most double albums end up being double albums because the band or artist has an artistic vision in mind, or just really believe they have enough songs to release two albums at once. In the case of the Beatles self-titled album, though, a double emerged because none of the band's members were willing to back down on their songs, resulting in an expansive album thirty songs deep. This being the Beatles, the album consists of mostly top-notch songs that, if a bit disparate, make for a compelling listen. Lennon's "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" doesn't Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," which compares in no way to Lennon's "Happiness is a Warm Gun," which stands in stark contrast to McCartney's "Martha My Dear." The fact those four equally great but definitely different come in successive order just makes the album that much more interesting to listen to.





Those four songs, along with most of the album, flows extremely well for tracks that were written and produced independent of each other. Even if the songs didn't work as well with each other as they do, the album would still be a great collection of individual songs, from the raucous opener "Back in U.S.S.R." to the beautiful ballad "Julia" to the most raw and explosive song the Beatles ever recorded, "Helter Skelter." For all the greatness the album has, there are also plenty of jokes ("Why Don't We Do it in the Road?", "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey"), an actual bad song in "Piggies" and one certainly interesting experiment in "Revolution 9." But even the stuff that doesn't work is important for the album; this was a completely different album from Sgt. Pepper's since it was a completely different band. No longer the united group they were before, the Beatles now were four different personalities concerned with themselves and this album finds them at their most human, even as they grew apart.





2. Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation


There are some bands that consistently deliver good to even great albums, but you still find yourself waiting for them to fully realize their potential and deliver a classic. That's what happened when Sonic Youth released Daydream Nation in 1988, an album that was the end product of years of hard work, touring and honing their sound. This was the payoff, as Sonic Youth produced a guitar rock classic full of their patented layers of feedback and squall, while also featuring by far the best songwriting of the band's career. It all begins with "Teen Age Riot," the perfect combination of punk rock, pop melody, and Glenn Branca-inspired atonal guitars the made the band's name in the first place. There hasn't been a better of more definitive Sonic Youth songs before or since, but it also doesn't overshadow the rest of this tremendous album.





Daydream Nation doesn't really differ to much in approach to Sonic Youth's previous releases, but it stands out because, well, it's just simply better than those releases were. Neither independent rock or guitar rock as a whole could match up to this album with its mix of aggressive and artistic attitudes that made for great songs. Like I said, though, what separates Daydream Nation is the songwriting. "Silver Rocket," "The Sprawl," "Candle," "Hey Joni" and more are all done to perfection; even the guitar freakouts are kept in check as they are there to enhance the song and not be the song itself. The bottom line is, Sonic Youth were at their peak here, as their writing was never better, Kim Gordon never sounded more threateningly sexy, and Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo never meshed together so perfectly, with their guitars supplying both harrowing screeches and killer hooks. One could make the argument this was the height not only for Sonic Youth, but independent rock as a whole, and that may be true; for sure, though, this band never sounded better and Daydream Nation stands as a remarkable achievement.





1. The Clash - London Calling


London Calling is, like Daydream Nation the record its makers had been building up to. The Clash were never really punk band in the way the Ramones or the Sex Pistols were and they made that abundantly clear with their third album, a sprawling album that is punk only in the way you might label in your iTunes player. It goes from straight ahead rock to rockabilly to hip-hop to reggae to pop to ska and the Clash handle each of it expertly. Always expecting their audience to never accept the status quo, the band takes their own advice by moving to those different genres throughout the album like they had specialized in them their whole lives. For all of that, though, it's the punk rock title track that not only opens the album but also sets the apocalyptic tone that hangs over much of the album; there's a lot more to these songs than just lost card games trips to the supermarket. At the very least, though, if the apocalypse does came, the Clash made sure to provide the perfect soundtrack.





Even if everything isn't meant to signal the end of the world, it all is played with a purpose, positioning rock and roll as something more than just a means to get women. This is important stuff the band is taking part in, an album full of urgency and passion that none of their punk rock peers could match. A record this monumental needs to have importance to it and the Clash makes sure you know that everything in your life, both the political and personal has deep consequences in terms of who you are and how you live your life. I realize this all makes London Calling more consequential to the world than it really is, but that's partly the point; it all needs to be extremely important to you, first and foremost. They band was also smart enough to realize that a light-hearted touch at the end wouldn't hurt and that's where they stuck their poppiest track, "Train in Vain." It's a perfect capper to a classic album that remains vital and exciting. The Clash were the Only Band that Matters and this was not only their best album, but their one album that mattered the most and needed every bit of both albums to makes it point.



That'll do it for this week folks, thanks for reading. If you have any questions, comments or concerns feel free to let me know, and make sure to leave your own lists in the comments. I'll see you all next week. And if you're out on your bike tonight, do wear white.