The best Classic Rock double albums of all time

16 September 2024, 18:25

One artist. Four sides of vinyl. The double album can be challenging, illuminating, delightful and eclectic. Here are some of the best.

By Radio X

@RadioX

1. Bob Dylan - Blonde On Blonde: release date 20th June 1966

   Dylan's seventh album was the follow-up to the acclaimed Highway 61 Revisited and included the raucous Rainy Day Women #12 & 35, Visions Of Johanna, Just Like A Woman and the epic Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands.

   Best side - Side 2: I Want You/Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again/Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat/Just Like A Woman

   

2. Cream - Wheels Of Fire: release date 9th August 1968 (UK)

   Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce's blues rock trio issued their third album, which included The White Room and a cover of Albert King's Born Under A Bad Sign.

   Best side - Side 1: White Room/Sitting On Top Of The World/Passing The Time/As You Said

   

3. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland: release date 16th October 1968

   The Experience trio of Hendrix, Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding made their swansong a double - after this, Jimi played with a series of different musicians, but this was his definitive statement. Full of 1960s studio trickery, it features the epic Voodoo Chile (and its equally epic Slight Return) and the apocalyptic Dylan cover All Along The Watchtower. And, if you lived in the UK, it came packaged in a tacky gatefold sleeve, featuring a load of naked ladies, while the American version was a bit more restrained.

   Best side - Side 4: Still Raining, Still Dreaming/House Burning Down/All Along The Watchtower/Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)

   

4. The Beatles - The Beatles: release date 22nd November 1968

   The grandaddy of all rock double albums, this 30-song collection was the result of the time the Fab Four spent in India in the Spring of '68. They came up with enough tracks to fill a triple, but honed it down to four sides - and still people complained it was too self-indulgent. The penultimate track, John Lennon's avant garde sound collage Revolution 9, is probably the most-skipped track in musical history. Brilliant cover, too.

   Best side - Side 1: Back In The USSR/Dear Prudence/Glass Onion/Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da/Wild Honey Pie/The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill/While My Guitar Gently Weeps/Happiness Is A Warm Gun

   

5. Chicago Transit Authority - Chicago Transit Authority: release date 28th April 1969

   Later to shorten their name to simply "Chicago" and become soft rock megastars, this was their debut album and included Questions 67 And 68, Beginnings and Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?

   Best side - Side 3: Free Form Guitar/South California Purples/I'm A Man

   

6. The Who - Tommy: release date 19th May 1969

   The British mod band's first rock opera was the ambitious tale of the dissociative hero who becomes a pinball legend and youth leader. Classic tracks include Pinball Wizard and I'm Free, along with the anthemic We're Not Gonna Take It.

   Best side - Side 3: Do You Think It's Alright?/Fiddle About/Pinball Wizard/There's A Doctor/Go To The Mirror!/Tommy Can You Hear Me?Smash The Mirror/Sensation

   

7. Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica: release date 10th June 1969

   A hugely influential album from Don Ban Vliet, the experimental blues rock had fans in future stars such as Tom Waits, John Lydon and PJ Harvey.

   Best side - Side 2: Pachuco Cadaver/Bills Corpse/Sweet Sweet Bulbs/Noen Meate Dream of A Octafish/China Pig/My Hima Gets Me Blues/Dali's Car

   

8. Pink Floyd - Ummagumma: release date 7th November 1969

   The prog band's fourth album was one of their most challenging: a double album with half recorded live and half made in the studio, with each member of the group writing a piece. It would be the last Floyd front cover to feature a photo of the band... and what a strange photo it was.

   Best side: Side 1: the live side that features Set Astronomy Domine and Carefyl With That Axe Eugene

   

9. Derek and the Dominos - Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs: release date 9th November 1970

   The only album from Eric Clapton's blue rock collective was a double set that included the classic title track, plus Bell Bottom Blues and Tell The Truth, plus a cover of the Jimi Hendrix tune Little Wing.

   Best side - Side 4: Little Wing/It's Too Late/Layla/Thorn Tree In The Garden

   

10. The Rolling Stones - Exile On Main Street: release dare 12th May 1972

    The Stones' famous double album doesn't feature any of their most well-known hits (Tumbling Dice aside), but this decadent 18-track set, recorded when the band were tax exiles in France, is perhaps their most accomplished collection. One of the high points is Keith Richard's tune Happy.

    Best side - Side 1: Rocks Off/Rip This Joint/Shake Your Hips/Casino Boogie/Tumbling Dice

    

11. Aphrodite's Child - 666: released June 1972

    The third and final album from the Greek prog group - which included instrumentalist Vangelis and singer Demis Roussos - is a concept LP about the end of the world. Tracks include The Four Horsemen and Break.

    Best side - Side 1: The System/Babylon/Loud Loud Loud/The Four Horsemen/The Lamb/The Seventh Seal

    

12. Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road: release date 5th October 1973

    Elton's seventh album is one of his all time classics, including the evergreen title track, Bennie And The Jets, Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting and the ever-popular Candle In The Wind.

    Best side: Side 1: Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding/Candle In The Wind/Bennie And The Jets"

    

13. The Who - Quadrophenia: release date 26th October 1973

    Pete Townshend's tribute to mod culture was another hit concept album from The Who and spawned the singles 5.15, The Real Me and Love Reign O'er Me.

    Best side - Side 3: 5:15/Sea And Sand/Drowned/Bell Boy

    

14. Yes - Tales From Topographic Oceans: release date 7th December 1973

    The British band issued one of the defining works of progressive rock, which was popular enough to top the UK album charts for two weeks. Each of the four tracks was the length of a side of vinyl.

    Best side - Side 1: The Revealing Science Of God (Dance Of The Dawn)

    

15. Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (release date 22nd November 1974)

    Puerto Rican youth Rael is taken from modern day New York City on a surreal journey that ends with him becoming at one with the universe. Peter Gabriel bade farewell to Genesis with this ambitious double set.

    Best side - Side 2: Back In NYC/Hairless Heart/Counting Out Time/Carpet Crawlers/The Chamber Of 32 Doors

    

16. Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti: release date 24th February 1975

    The hard rock legends were at the height of their powers in '75, headlining five nights at Earls Court n London that May. Physical Graffiti was their only studio-recorded double album and their first on their own Swan Song label.

    Best side - Side 2: Houses Of The Holy/Trampled Under Foot/Kashmir

    

17. Electric Light Orchestra - Out Of The Blue: release date 28th October 1977

    A classic double album from Jeff Lynne and his team, this monster LP included Turn To Stone, Sweet Talkin’ Woman, Wild West Hero and the Concerto For A Rainy Day which climaxes with the classic Mr Blue Sky (ending with a vocoded voice saying "Please turn me over").

    Best side - Side 3 (Concerto for a Rainy Day): Standin' In The Rain/Big Wheels/Summer And Lightning/Mr Blue Sky

    

18. Jeff Wayne's Musical Version Of War Of The Worlds: released 9th June 1978

    "No one would have believed, in the last years of the nineteenth century, that human affairs were being watched from the timeless worlds of space... and yet, across the gulf of space, minds immeasurably superior to ours regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly, and surely, they drew their plans against us." Ambitious musical retelling of the HG Wells story, featuring David Essex, Phil Lynott and Richard Burton, which sold tons of copies.

    Best side - Side 1, of course: The Eve Of The War/Horsell Common & The Heat Ray

    

19. Fleetwood Mac - Tusk: release date 19th October 1979

    The band were always going to struggle in following the monster hit Rumours, and this ambitious double album confused many fans. The title track was a solid hit, as was Stevie Nicks' song Sara.

    Best side - Side 4: Honey Hi/Beautiful Child/Walk A Thin Line/Tusk/Never Forget

    

20. Pink Floyd - The Wall: release date 30th November 1979

    The prog legends released one of their most famous albums, a double concept piece about personal alienation, which was accompanied by a typically lavish live show. The LP included the No 1 hit Another Brick In The Wall Part II and Comfortably Numb.

    Best side - Side 1: In The Flesh?/The Thin Ice/Another Brick In The Wall, Part 1/The Happiest Days Of Our Lives/Another Brick In The Wall Part 2/Mother

    

21. The Clash - London Calling: release date 14th December 1979

    On 14th December 1979, the punk legends made the rather un-punk move of releasing a double set at the height of their fame. The title track kicks off proceedings, the excellent Train In Vain closes and in between we get Lost In The Supermarket, Guns Of Brixton and more.

    Best side - Side 2: Spanish Bombs/The Right Profile/Lost In The Supermarket/Clampdown/The Guns Of Brixton

    

22. Bruce Springsteen - The River: released 17th October 1980

    The Boss issued his fifth studio album - his only double - which include the classic title track and Hungry Heart.

    Best side - Side 2: Hungry Heart/Out In The Street/Crush On You/You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)/I Wanna Marry You/The River

    

23. Prince - 1999: released 27th October 1982

    The album that put Prince on the map, his fifth studio LP saw him form The Revolution and singles included Little Red Corvette and the classic title track.

    Best side - Side 1: 1999/Little Red Corvette/Delirious

    

24. Metallica - ...And Justice For All: released 25th August 1988

    The band's fourth album saw the introduction of new bassist Jason Newsted and included the hit single One, plus the fan favourite Harvester Of Sorrow.

    Best side - Side 2: Eye Of The Beholder/One

    

25. Guns N'Roses - Use Your Illusion I OR Guns N'Roses - Use Your Illusion II (1991)

    Take your pick. At the height of their fame in the 90s, Axl Rose decided his band should release not one, but TWO double albums… on the same day. If he was really serious, he'd have done a quadruple album. Volume I features the epic November Rain and the preposterous cover of Live And Let Die, while Volume II boasts You Could Be Mine and their version of Knockin' On Heaven's Door.

    Best side - Side 1 of Volume II: Civil War, 14 Years, Yesterdays, Knockin' On Heaven's Door