STACK #164 June 2018

MUSIC FEATURE

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How many classic double albums do you have in your collection? Here are the last ten of 20 we reckon are worth getting your ears on. Words Paul Jones

BLONDE ON BLONDE Bob Dylan (1966) Frustrated with New York

recording sessions in '65, Bob Dylan moved to Nashville early the following year and recruited

Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (2004) Essentially two separate albums drawn together as a double offering, these 17 tracks were recorded in a little under two weeks.

'The WHITE ALBUM' The Beatles (1968) Largely written on

some of the best musicians available to work on Blonde On Blonde . One of the first double albums in popular music, the deeply personal and inventive record is an effusion of rock, blues and folk, with barely a weak cut on it.

acoustic guitars during the band’s meditation retreat in Rishikesh, The Beatles abandoned the studio trickery of Sgt. Pepper’s , relying

IN YOUR HONOUR

The blues-rock-infused Abattoir Blues is the more aggressive offering, while Lyre brings the contemplative ballads. Impressive in scope, this was the first recording not to feature guitarist Blixa Bargeld.

Foo Fighters (2005) For the band’s fifth album, Dave Grohl – searching for a new direction – settled on

on a stripped-down approach across 30 often-disjointed songs. An ambitious and creative collision that encompasses folk, doo-wop and even heavy metal, the excellent White Album marked the beginning of The Beatles' final act.

the idea of a double album: one half all-out rock, the other featuring just acoustic tracks, for which Grohl enlisted the talents of Norah Jones, Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones, and QOTSA's Josh Homme. Versatile and ambitious, it’s the Foos with choices.

LIVE AFTER DEATH Iron Maiden (1985) This is the sound of Iron Maiden at the height of their powers, captured in front of adoring crowds at Long Beach Arena (Los Angeles) in March ’85, and at Hammersmith Odeon (London) in October ‘84. For Iron Maiden

JEFF WAYNE'S WAR OF THE WORLDS Jeff Wayne (1978) American-born Wayne’s musical interpretation of H.G. Wells’ The War Of The Worlds was originally released in 1978. The concept album was performed and recorded live, leaving Wayne to drop in strings, effects and narration later. It stayed in the British album charts for an incredible six years.

GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD Elton John (1973) Elton John pulled most of these tracks together in just three days in Jamaica, before relocating to France to complete the recordings. It’s an album full of towering songs: Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting , Bennie and the Jets , Funeral For A Friend and Candle In The Wind , to name a few. To date, it remains John’s most commercially successful studio album.

fans, or any heavy metal enthusiasts, Live After Death is an essential live album for the collection.

BABYLON BY BUS Bob Marley & the Wailers (1978) For Marley’s second

Speakerboxxx / the love below OutKast (2003) OutKast members Big Boi and Andre 3000 were working independently on solo albums before the decision was made to merge both separate outputs as one double album (which became their fifth record as a duo). Big Boi’s Speakerboxxx is hip hop with pop hues, while Andre 3000’s The Love Below is a jazz-funk, electro, out- and-out homage to Prince.

BEING THERE Wilco (1996) Creative powerhouse Jeff Tweedy countered the disappointing sales of Wilco’s A.M. with this masterful double album. Guitarist and multi- instrumentalist Jay Bennett joined the band for Being There , and proved to be the perfect songwriting foil for Tweedy. It’s 77 minutes of hooks, emotion and energy.

live album, most of the recordings were taken from a string of three nights at the Pavillion de Paris in 1978, while the

Jamaican singer/songwriter and his accomplished band the Wailers were touring the Kaya album. The production is sublime, comprehensively catching the energy and atmosphere of Marley’s famed live performances.

OutKast: Big Boi, Andre 3000

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JUNE 2018

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