Why do so many bands do just one double album?!

ExittheLemming wrote: ^ Yet the same joke passes without demur here (albeit you may not have seen same): http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=97589

*sigh*

Has anyone done single LPs (the CD time frame notwithstanding) that one wishes were 2 LP sets?

Some padding is by design.  Take Tales from Topographic Oceans for example.  Songs that probably should have been 12-14 minutes long were extended out to 18-20 minutes in order to have one song fit on each side of a double album.  The intentional padding, among other things, was one of the reasons Rick Wakeman decided to leave the band.  In fact during the recording of the album he would get so bored with the meandering solos that he would go next door where Black Sabbath was recording Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and spent time working on their album instead.  Here is direct quote from Rick himself-

Edited by Prog 74 - March 19 2014 at 17:19

ExittheLemming wrote: Dean wrote: ExittheLemming wrote: ^ no-one is suggesting that an artist would deliberately record bad music and yes of course, you can find anecdotal evidence that some people find the least popular tracks on any given album to be their own favourite etc  All I'm saying is that musicians are just like the rest of us: deeply flawed humans who will sometimes release material that they know in their hearts maybe wasn't up to their usual standards. To deny that such a possibility exists is the worst kind of delusional fanboy thinking I can imagine. I accept that no-one's subjective appraisal of any double album has any bearing on this and It doesn't make such material filler or padding but does at least acknowledge we are far too credulous and in thrall to our heroes at times in discussions like these. I fail to see where anyone has shown fanboi tendencies, or demonstrated that they are in the thrall of any so-called heroes. No one has said that double albums are all golden and flawless. I responded to the claim that "Seems like every double album has some padding." and in the subsequent linear exchange of posts on that subject you leapt down my throat. Generalisations are never an accurate picture, especially in an area that has so few examples to choose from, but padding and filler implies deliberate intent, mediocre and weak does not. So no musician you like has ever released any material which contains music they know is of an inferior standard to their usual work? I consider a No to that question certainly reeks of fanboyism frankly. (yet again it's my inflammatory phraseology that lights your tinderbox fuse e.g is credulous less contentious?) The material's lack of quality is not deliberate of course, but in most unlitigated cases it's usually released with the artist's express consent so I'm guessing if it's on the shelf they mean it man. If the material's lack of quality were deliberate then we encounter what for you is clearly the unthinkable doomsday scenario: I like music that the artist knew was s.h.i.t. ergo I have been duped and the foundation of my tastes has been irredeemably undermined forever. You're a very intelligent man and  although i don't expect you to agree with me I cannot understand why you fail to see the validity of this perspective. I don't believe I Ieapt down your throat either but then I'm Scottish, and even Hadrian called in the builders.

Dean wrote: ExittheLemming wrote: ^ no-one is suggesting that an artist would deliberately record bad music and yes of course, you can find anecdotal evidence that some people find the least popular tracks on any given album to be their own favourite etc  All I'm saying is that musicians are just like the rest of us: deeply flawed humans who will sometimes release material that they know in their hearts maybe wasn't up to their usual standards. To deny that such a possibility exists is the worst kind of delusional fanboy thinking I can imagine. I accept that no-one's subjective appraisal of any double album has any bearing on this and It doesn't make such material filler or padding but does at least acknowledge we are far too credulous and in thrall to our heroes at times in discussions like these. I fail to see where anyone has shown fanboi tendencies, or demonstrated that they are in the thrall of any so-called heroes. No one has said that double albums are all golden and flawless. I responded to the claim that "Seems like every double album has some padding." and in the subsequent linear exchange of posts on that subject you leapt down my throat. Generalisations are never an accurate picture, especially in an area that has so few examples to choose from, but padding and filler implies deliberate intent, mediocre and weak does not.

So no musician you like has ever released any material which contains music they know is of an inferior standard to their usual work? I consider a No to that question certainly reeks of fanboyism frankly. (yet again it's my inflammatory phraseology that lights your tinderbox fuse e.g is credulous less contentious?) The material's lack of quality is not deliberate of course, but in most unlitigated cases it's usually released with the artist's express consent so I'm guessing if it's on the shelf they mean it man. If the material's lack of quality were deliberate then we encounter what for you is clearly the unthinkable doomsday scenario: I like music that the artist knew was s.h.i.t. ergo I have been duped and the foundation of my tastes has been irredeemably undermined forever. You're a very intelligent man and  although i don't expect you to agree with me I cannot understand why you fail to see the validity of this perspective. I don't believe I Ieapt down your throat either but then I'm Scottish, and even Hadrian called in the builders.

Oh it exists alright, it's just so often a matter of context as to what is deemed padding or filler.   There isn't a Beatles album before Revolver that does not have at least some substandard work relative to the rest of the issue IMO.   In the Beatles case, they just recorded constantly, laying down any new cohesive song they'd written (with George Martin's help).   The rest was editing, and considering George Harrison's increasing desire to have his songs featured more than twice per album, it was a tightly run ship no doubt.   This was good quality control but we later see they all had much more to offer.  





Edited by Atavachron - March 19 2014 at 06:48

Logos wrote: That wouldn't be *gasp* filler, now would it?    I thought that wasn't supposed to exist.

Bands record many cuts, some make it to an album and some don't.   The songs that don't make it may be rejects, unwanted children, or just not quite right for a particular record, but whether those songs can be called filler is a judgment call.   But as we all know from the extras on the Tull reissues, sometimes you wish they'd put more of that stuff on the original and left some other stuff off.   Filler is in the eye of the beholder and easy to claim after the fact, but like with film, sometimes the Director's Cut is better.

Prog 74 wrote: The band themselves admitted that they didn't quite have enough material to make it a double album so they went to the vaults and filled the album with some unreleased tracks.  Tracks that weren't good enough to be on previous albums.

Edited by Logos - March 19 2014 at 05:52

Moogtron III wrote: Kati wrote: Rick Robson wrote: ExittheLemming wrote: Dean wrote: ExittheLemming wrote:  Everyone knows you were being sarcastic, but if you can no longer be good at it, don't. (ELP take note) You've just honed in on the football comment as a a transparent diversion technique i.e. I've called you out for being credulous and permanently in thrall to your fave musicians and you have responded with precisely squat. There's also your usual helpining of grammatical pedantry which is just a waste of everyone's time and energy. I might start a petition to get you reinstated as an Admin, you were a damn site better value then. ........................ Another incentive for everyone in having you reinstated as an Admin: you would post less, especially kneejerk childish crap like the above. Grow up, you've got nothing hippy...   Agreed, but for the sake of this forum i think you shouldn't waste your time anymore and get back to what the thread title suggests.   Cooee!!!! Awwwww    leave Dean alone, yes he might be uber grumpy at times but I love his input and knowledge on our forum topics. Heck I get it wrong at times and Dean is the first person to point that out leave my favorite Grumpy number one alone because he certainly adds so much more value, knowledge and interest to our forum topics. huge hug to all P.S. I love football, this pic attached is me at the Fifa Worls Cup 2010 in Cape Town South Africa supporting my favorite team     Supporting the Dutch! I'm Dutch! So you're supportering me!  Okay, so far for this pseudo-Socratic syllogism  but you do have a good taste, Kati   As well as for supporting Dean, whom I'm happy to see on this site. We all have our grumpy days, and that's the truth

Oh wow Moogtron, you are Dutch? Ha! Love that! I lived in Holland, in Breda for 8 years myself, during van Basten and Frank Rijkaard era hehehe best times really
Dean always has a go at me (might be due to the fact that I write what I am thinking at the time without having done any research about the the topic tho;) but I pay no attention at that, he is a teddy bear really a very grumpy one I must add