best big iconic classic rock studio double LP of the 1960s and 1970s

Dylan over the Stones

in before the (tedious) lists of what you missed

Trout Mask Replica!

Never liked Blonde on Blonde that much, nor Tommy, despite liking Dylan and The Who a great deal. The ones in the 70s are all o-kay, but it's really between Jimi and The Beatles for me. Beatles by a nose I think.

Thought about quibbling, but nah, Uncle Meat definitely doesn't count as a classic rock album. From that batch, I'd go Hendrix - Stones - Zeppelin as the top 3.

OK, seriously. EOTM

EOMS! Sorry

yeah it's between Jimi and the Beatles for me too, the rest are firmly in the "even if this was a single LP i like another album(s) by this act way more" category

xpost

exile is the best 'album', the white album has better songs

not huge on any of the others

Thought about quibbling, but nah, Uncle Meat definitely doesn't count as a classic rock album. From that batch, I'd go Hendrix - Stones - Zeppelin as the top 3.
― L.P. Hovercraft (WmC), Tuesday, August 23, 2011 9:49 PM (29 seconds ago)

last week i sat down with Exile and gave it a nice attentive listen and still came out just wanting to listen to Sticky Fingers instead.

oh, I wrote my post before seeing yours, Iago

Kind of feel like At Fillmore East and/or Eat a Peach could be included. Though both are live, they do define the Allmans at their artistic peak, it seems. Then again, neither would come close to winning.

double live is definitely a whole bag unto itself

For accuracy we should probably mention Eat a Peach is a mix of live and studio tracks.

I'm voting for Hendrix. Such an insane mindfuck of an album, even if I've committed it to memory. Blonde on Blonde is a kinda/sorta close second.

So London Calling isn't an 80s album or a 70s album?

This is a difficult poll.

ha Alex -- i dunno Clash just didn't feel classic rock-y enough for this one. would definitely in a 60s/70s runoff poll.

LC feels like an 80s album to me. It wasn't included in the poll mentioned above?

Bitches Brew feels like a classic rock album to me.

Haha I'm fine with excluding it here, it just feels mean that they were also explicitly excluded from the 80s poll too!

London Calling could have been included (barring chronology), hasn't it always had that "classic" vibe about it

It was released the last week of 1979 wasn't it? Rolling Stone made it their #1 album of the 80s back in 1989.

no chicago transit authority?

no chicago II?

no chicago III?

Exile on Main Street, followed by Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, which holds up quite well and is as perverse and thrilling as any Who or Stones record.

Hendrix, followed by the Stones/Beatles/Zep in some order depending on the day.

GYBR is incredible, very overlooked imho (I'm sure call all destroyer loves it-see Zep poll results thread)

Exile, then a toss-up between the White Album and Blonde on Blonde depending on mood. Layla seems like the most obvious omission, although it's not a favourite of mine.

This poll fucking rules

exile followed by blonde followed by graffiti followed by trout mask followed by layla followed by goodbye ybr followed by fly followed by freak out followed by america eats its young followed by electric ladyland followed by the white album followed by chicago transit authority followed by the wall followed by tommy

those floyd albums suck

I do love Blonde on Blonde but I forget to listen to it.

*those floyd & who albums suck

i need a new keyboard that works

I might have voted for Ummagumma.

tusk beyond classic rock obv, beyond mankind itself possibly, but it's right behind graffiti in my rankings, which is pretty fucking high in my rankings

I almost got into a drunken bar brawl w/a guy this weekend over me playing the 1st 3 exile tracks on the jukebox, but I don't want to sully the results of this badass poll with a vote based on recent raw emotion.

London Calling could have been included (barring chronology), hasn't it always had that "classic" vibe about it

― Iago Galdston, Tuesday, August 23, 2011 10:12 PM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark

it's a classic album and it's a rock album but it's not a classic rock album

yeah it's the most classic rock punk album ever obv but it doesn't really belong there any more than rattle and hum

yes, that's true, some dude

*those floyd & who albums suck

That reminds me, I almost insisted on the Who's inclusion in the jazz poll...haha...

Tommy's depressingly weak for being a Moon-in-his-prime document, despite the fact that it contains one of the most mindblowing drum performances on record ("Pinball Wizard").

if i listen to tommy it's the one on the deluxe live at leeds

Ditto. Tommy was exponentially better live than on record.

Blonde on Blonde followed by The Beatles = Exile On Main St..

I didn't get the memo on when Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs stopped being a big iconic classic rock studio double LP.

i guess it's technically 'by' Clapton but i was going generally by the thoguht that Derek And The Dominoes don't really carry the kind of name recognition as the 8 acts listed above

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98P-gu_vMRc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pVihntUEVw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Itv6Kt8M-v4

I guess it's technically 'by' Clapton but i was going generally by the thoguht that Derek And The Dominoes don't really carry the kind of name recognition as the 8 acts listed above

Fair point. It's too bad Clapton and Duane Allman were never able to record more albums together.

Exile #1
Physical Graffiti #2

i prefer quadrophenia to tommy

Electric ladyland. would've definitely voted for Layla, though

when did soul/funk/r&b stop being rock? or is it more that rock stopped being r&b?

I get that rock is a passport to many cultural areas denied other genres but must everything have to be defined as rock to make it canon? SITKOL is total brilliance but it's not guitar music. Stevie himself would not call it that.

You think "Stop Breaking Down" is the worst song on Exile??? Fucking hell.

That is kind of insane.

By the way, who voted for "The Wall"?

DJP or jjjusten, looks like

and i think i missed this poll but would have had to go White Album. pop-rock is my home territory and i love a double album that's a big ol variety gift basket of memorable and varied songs as much as it is a sound/mood/hangout with the band.

whereas like, i keep giving Exile shots over the years and i always enjoy it while it's on, and then can't really remember much besides Tumblin' Dice when it's over. but i'm definitely more open to that type of experience than i was as a youth and for the same reason i'm probably way overdue to give Hendrix another chance.

GBYR is severely hampered by its weakest and most cringey songs (especially "Jamaica Jerk-Off" ... ughhhh). otherwise a very very good gift-basket imo.

must everything have to be defined as rock to make it canon

it seems like the definition of rock narrowed a lot around the time of many of these records. you find a lot of 60s music writing talking about e.g. aretha franklin and james brown as rock artists, as if that's uncontroversial. I don't know what changed exactly but I blame jann wenner and richard nixon

unoriginal comparison but exile is a lot like a longer & inferior there's a riot goin on

a song called jamaica jerk off is as good a reason as any to never listen to that elton record

Left, I think it really solidified when progressive/freeform radio became album-oriented rock in the 70s? Famously, Billboard actually stopped running a separate R&B chart for two years from 1963-1965. I don't think there's any obvious musical reason why "Blackbird" or "Comfortably Numb" are more closely descended from Chuck Berry than "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" is, or why Elton John is more 'rock' than Stevie Wonder. That said, "classic rock" refers to a popular and relatively standardized radio format in the US and Canada that includes the music on these albums and does not include much Aretha Franklin, James Brown, or Stevie Wonder.

I can't remember if I voted in this poll but I think it would be white album just over Electric Ladyland and Physical Graffiti.

I didn't imagine so many people liked "Stop Breaking Down"! I find the beat incredibly plodding, and I'm not really looking to the Stones to hear a straight 12-bar blues.

but is it worse than "turd on the run"?

exile and physical graffiti are my top two here easy, tho i need to revisit electric ladyland

It's longer, hence worse, than "Turd on the Run", which is also weak. I only really enjoy about half of Exile, I prefer Beggars Banquet.

xps that makes sense but it's a depressing story. not only totally racist but also made rock boring (even the non boring stuff becomes so in that context)

I remember hearing old farts moaning about destiny's child not being real r&b like the stones (lol)- these categories are still v contested (idk how british that attitude is but for whatever reason we've never been as into Rock despite producing a lot of rock music that we tend to call other things)

"turd on the run" is great, blistering

preferring beggars to exile is a really weird opinion to me but maybe that's why we disagree

beggars is weird and wonderful, but the bleary-eyed hedonistic dystopia of exile is really like nothing else

"Parachute Woman" on Beggars is a straight blues, but the production is so gritty and atmospheric, like a black-and-white newsreel from the 30s. The weaker blues on Exile sound like a bar band by comparison.

What major rock artist should have made an iconic double in the 70s, but didn't? What about Station to Station or Low as double albums?

if i went into a bar and the band was playing torn & frayed and happy and rocks off, i'd never leave

Well, those aren't "weaker blues" like "SBD" or "TOTR".

i definitely prefer beggars to exile. im in the same boat as dr casino where i go back to exile periodically and enjoy it a lot but it washes over me

What major rock artist should have made an iconic double in the 70s, but didn't? What about Station to Station or Low as double albums?

a great question. bowie is an obvious choice - i remember getting ziggy stardust as a kid and being surprised it wasnt a double

Haha, I was about to say that I remember enjoying the overall vibe of Exile well enough but "Tumbling Dice" is the only tune I can ever even recall from it and then I read Dr. Casino's post.

y'all can't remember "sweet virginia" or "ventilator blues" or "loving cup" or "shine a light"? "tumbling dice" is the only real radio play on the album, but it's not as if it's devoid of hooks

Any album Earth, Wind & Fire released between 1973-78 could easily have been a double. Blue Öyster Cult could have had one in 'em, too.

Bowie probably had enough tunes sitting around (including covers) to make Ziggy Stardust into a short double.

I haven't heard it, what do you think of EW&F's actual double, Faces? Was it too late?

a good answer for "who should've released a double album" is neil young, considering how good the archival material from his mid-70s era is

At one point, Ray Davies planned to make Village Green Preservation Society a 20 track double album. Instead, the Kinks' first studio double was Preservation Act 2 in 1974, their first big stumble in 10 years.

Maybe American Stars 'n' Bars would seem less of a jumble if it was twice as long and included some of his better stuff that was unreleased at the time.

I haven't heard it, what do you think of EW&F's actual double, Faces? Was it too late?

It's good, but yeah, I feel like they were past their creative peak by that point.

Quadrophenia should be on the list. The only other artist here who could've managed a second iconic double set is Hendrix -- surely First Rays would've been 2 LPs (all the speculative tracklistings have it as such, anyway).

quadrophenia was a triple lp, no?

fits the spirit tho, i agree

It was 2LP.

ah yes, you're right.

some dude is cowardly for not putting tales from topographic oceans in the poll

Or The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

Most underrated/disdained/ignored studio doubles of the 70s:

Septober Energy - Centipede
America Eats Its Young - Funkadelic
Tales from Topographic Oceans - Yes
Todd - Todd Rundgren
Incantations - Mike Oldfield
Journey Through The Secret Life Of Plants - Stevie Wonder

Ha, Tales is the only Yes album from 71-77 that I never pull out. The Lamb is great, though.

yeah, and it doesn't reeeally fit the theme. doesn't approach any of the poll options in cultural stature or commercial success or radio-readiness

the moment has passed but i will take no shit-talking "turd on the run" which is an explosion of techno drone energy from another planet and incredible

"turd in the run" is a good song in a sea of excellent ones, imo. it doesn't really build or go anywhere or keep up that jolt of energy from the opening riff. still fun, though.

Escalator on the Hill is one of these albums despite not really being rock, I'd vote for it

Over the fucking hill

I used to have a commute that allowed me to listen to Tales from Topographic Oceans in full, from walking out my front door to walking in the front door of my job. I did it a surprising amount. I came to really love that album.

Yes-Tales from Topographic Oceans

From a UK perspective, the presence of an Elton John album seems a very weird decision.

Stevie should definitely be on there though.

Escalator on the Hill is one of these albums despite not really being rock, I'd vote for it

There is quite a bit of rock on it though.

a double album walk into work sounds like the ideal commute. maybe not every day but once in a while.

EOTH is a three-LP set, if that matters.

wrong Who it's Quadrophenia