What Single Albums Should Have Been Doubles?

Guldbamsen wrote: There are albums in succession of each other that feel like they could’ve been joined at the hip. Carmen’s Fandangos In Space and Dancing On A Cold Wind fx

Or more contentiously, The Wall & Final Cut could have made an overblown triple album.

Great call on Salmacis, I was thinking what other tracks would make up the second disc. Even as a single album, I'd take it over Seconds Out though.

As a fact Genesis Live was planned as a double, and test pressings were released. It would have been rather short for a double LP with about 65 min, but well ... :

Record I:
Side 1

• Watcher Of The Skies
• The Musical Box

Side 2

• Get 'Em Out By Friday

Record II:
Side 1

• ["Old Michael" story]
• Supper's Ready

Side 2

• The Return Of The Giant Hogweed [Manchester 24th February 1973]
• The Knife

I downloaded the complete set (as mentioned in my post above) a few years ago. Shouldn't be hard to find. I never compared it to my CD with the official release.

No complains about the sound quality.

The complicated story of the recording and the test pressings as found on an old Genesis website:

"The official LP "Live" was re-mixed from tapes originally recorded by King Biscuit. Charisma initially intended to release a double album, but instead cut the recording down to produce a single budget LP aiming to reach a wider audience. Nevertheless plans for the double album were sufficiently far advanced for Charisma to have commissioned test pressings from Philips in Holland entitled "Live at Leicester & Manchester" [Philips 6830.140/1, 13.Apr.73 - 2LP]; the numbers stamped into the vinyl are AA 6830 140 1Y 1 670 1 series. Each label was written out by hand so they all look slightly different. A few of these Philips testpressings were distributed by Phonogram Int. B.V and have survived but are very hard to find. They contain the additional track Supper's Ready, complete with Peter Gabriel's introductory story, and some of the other song introductions are a little longer than on "Live". Besides the vinyl test pressings there also exists a set of two acetates which must take the honour of "ultimate live Genesis rarity".

So well hidden were the surviving test pressings that they acquired lengendary status and many knowledgable fans doubted their existence. Luckily a good tape of one of the double LPs has been used to master "Some Of You Are Going To Die" [Alternative Recording Company ARC 004 - CD] giving more fans a chance to hear the album in its original form.

The test pressings themselves are not "radio shows": they were not manufactured for the purpose of radio broadcast; the opportunity to describe them here is due to independently mastered shows broadcast by King Biscuit and the BBC. Radio recordings of the show can be distinguished from the Philips LPs due to minor differences in sound production - King Biscuit's recording seems more "polished". On that basis I believe "Genuine Genesis Live" [GGL 2/73 - CD] to be derived from the King Biscuit broadcast. Also, the old bootleg "Carnegie Hall" [TAKRL 933 - LP] is undoubtedly the same material and was probably taped from a King Biscuit show. The Leicester gig will have been one of King Biscuit's very first recordings; it has not contributed to any of their more recent retrospective compilations and as far as I know the show has not survived on any medium distributed by King Biscuit.

Supper's Ready from this recording was aired by the BBC on the "Sounds of the 70s" show, hosted by Bob Harris and transmitted on Monday 23rd July 1973. The source was a "private tape" supplied, in all probability, by Charisma and as such is unlikely to have been retained in the BBC archives. A tape containing the BBC broadcast has long been circulating amongst tape traders, coupled with the "In Concert" broadcast (section 2) under the name "UK Tours 1971-1973".

None of the tapes or bootlegs derived from the King Biscuit broadcast include Hogweed, and according to the test pressing cue sheet this was the only track recorded at Manchester's Free Trade Hall (24th February 1973), therefore it is possible King Biscuit recorded the Leicester show and Charisma added Hogweed independently to complete the LP. All versions of this material sound heavily supplemented with studio overdubs."

I'd rather have two good or samey 45 minute albums than a 90 minute double album, even if they musically would fit.

 Portnoy and Pardo have some opinions on this topic, at least for live albums...