Best LP Sides Ever!

[Kimo]

LOL!!

With a little help?

Naaahhh......after about the early 70's I decided to quiet down because I figured if I kept it up I wouldn't be here writing this thread...Great response though!!!!!

 

[harley]

Side 3 of Matching Tie and Handkerchief (Monty Python). Blew my mind when I finally figured out why I would only hear certain bits once out of every 10 or so times I played the record.

 

[Birdie Num Nums]

A couple of my favorites have already been mentioned. Another of mine is the first Eagles LP I don't believe there is a bad track on either side of that LP.

Speaking of which, the Eagles' Desperado was a huge favorite of mine. I recommend Side 2. (I couldn't find the full LP on YouTube.)

I was a freshman in college that spring of 1973, when that LP came out. I dunno whether I came up with the idea myself or someone suggested it to me, but the sonic fidelity of that record was so superb that I brought the LP to the "hi-fi" store when deciding what stereo system to buy: particularly the amp/tuner and speakers on my limited college student budget. I had the salesman put this Eagles' record on and play it thru various set-ups. Not the entire album, of course. Just that part of the record, from Doolin-Dalton thru Outlaw Man, in a relatively short 3 or 4 minutes, where you get the warm mid-range of acoustic guitar and banjo that morphs into the heavy thump of bass and drums, and the wide stereo spectrum of vocals & instruments. Those two songs were my baseline for buying stereo equipment until about 1980.

'Eagles - Doolin' Dalton' (instrumental) - YouTube
Outlaw Man - YouTube

Again, I recommend the entire Side 2. Great stuff!

 

[Nodak]

The Eagles records have always been superbly mastered and they really did allow you to do a good evaluation of stereo systems. When I bought my McIntosh amp and speakers Desparado was the first LP I played.

 

[Gumby]

In my experience, Dark Side of the Moon is the gold standard for testing out stereos.

 

[harley]

In my experience, Dark Side of the Moon is the gold standard for testing out stereos.

If the thread was about best total albums I'd be right there with you. But single sides? I wouldn't know which one to chose.

 

[Kimo]

I agree with both of you...a compromise... there is only one side to a CD....

 

[Kimo]

Okay.....So my wife is out of town and I have some time and can play things loud so I sat in my media room and listened to the remastered EMI versions of Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road.......how do you pick one side between those??

 

[MRG]

Well enough folks have voted for Abby Road. So I'll go with Rush 2112(side 1).

We wathed them perform the whole alblum in 1977 in a college auditorium. Wow!

MRG

 

[HFWR]

In my experience, Dark Side of the Moon is the gold standard for testing out stereos.

And the quality of your mind-altering substances...

I'll add sides 3 and 4 of CSNY Four-Way Street.

 

[David1961]

If the "Double Fantasy" album had one side of just John's songs and the other side of Yoko's songs, instead of them alternating songs throughout the album, I think that album would have the distinction of having one of the best LP sides in history AND one of the worst LP sides in history.

 

[Htown Harry]

This is a tough question.

So many near-misses...

• Led Zeppelin IV, Side One (Battle of Evermore isn't a favorite)
• Some Girls, Side One (Lies)
• The White Album (my favorite Beatles album, but one clunker per side)
• Back in Black, Side One (Let Me Put My Love Into You)
• Several Fleetwood Mac albums (oh why couldn't they put all of the Christine McVie songs at the end?)

One-song sides can be great, but they feel like I'm cheating a bit:

• Thick as a Brick, Side One
• At Fillmore East, Side Four (Whipping Post)

These might be somebody else's #1, but not mine:

• The Stranger, Side One
• Appetite for Destruction, Side One
• Tapestry, Side Two

I think I'll go with Darkness on the Edge of Town, Side One

 

[Birdie Num Nums]

If the "Double Fantasy" album had one side of just John's songs and the other side of Yoko's songs, instead of them alternating songs throughout the album, I think that album would have the distinction of having one of the best LP sides in history AND one of the worst LP sides in history.

You got that right!

Speaking of post-Beatle solo near-misses:

As I mentioned in my original post starting this thread, George's 3-record The Concert for Bangla Desh album was miserly in terms of minutes per side. Like some 12, 15, or so minutes per side. It might have been a more affordable and thus better-selling 2-record album. With more $ to George's charity. But hindsight is 20-20.

I also wish, in hindsight, that George would have discarded that "Apple Jam" 3rd LP and released All Things Must Pass as a double LP. I know, it's a classic as originally released. But, IMO, it would have been a monster-selling record as a 2-record release. (With, of course, all the trimmings of the original release--the posters and such.)

Here's just a taste of what might have been:

 

[candrew]

"A" Side of Jethro Tull's L.P. Aqualung

<LI class=first>AqualungCross-Eyed Mary
Cheap Day Return
Mother Goose
Wond’Ring Aloud
<LI class=last>Up To Me

 

[Birdie Num Nums]

Side 3 of Matching Tie and Handkerchief (Monty Python). Blew my mind when I finally figured out why I would only hear certain bits once out of every 10 or so times I played the record.

Betty Joe Bialosky? ("Everyone knew her as Nancy.")

 

[Nodak]

I forgot about Firesign Theater. Haven't listened to any of their stuff for a long time. I will rectify that this evening.

 

[Midpack]

Thick as a Brick[-], Side One[/-]

I can't believe I forgot that on my whole album list, Passion Play was pretty good too.

Green Day has a couple of "rock opera" albums, though I doubt they have a big following here. I wouldn't put them on my top list anyway.

And no one went for the easy ones so far Alice's Restaurant, American Pie, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida where the listener has no choice but to listen to the "whole side..."

Fun thread...

 

[Kimo]

Midpack.....I forgot about those three!! I saw Iron Butterfly preform at the Simi Valley High School on a free Friday night event when they were still working on In A Gadda Da Vida....really cool!

 

[HFWR]

Santana (III) is a good album all the way through, but side one is especially good, and suite-like in that it should be played together.

Also features a 15yo Neil Schon...

 

[HFWR]

Another good album side is side one of "Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus" by Spirit...

 

[Willers]

Well enough folks have voted for Abby Road. So I'll go with Rush 2112(side 1).

We wathed them perform the whole alblum in 1977 in a college auditorium. Wow!

MRG

+1 Also saw them perform this live. It was awesome!

 

[Kimo]

HFWR....you just reminded me there a quite a few sides of albums that The Moody Blues made that would fit in this discussion.

 

[Birdie Num Nums]

Thick as a Brick, Side One

I was thinking of that the other day and Googled it, only to learn that Ian Anderson is currently touring and performing Thick as a Brick in its entirety. I learned too late that he was in a nearby town, Tacoma, Sunday night but the show was sold out.

 

[HFWR]

HFWR....you just reminded me there a quite a few sides of albums that The Moody Blues made that would fit in this discussion.

Yep, side one of In Search of the Lost Chord and both sides of On the Threshold of a Dream would qualify.

 

[Kimo]

Those were the two I really was thinking about when I wrote the response.....Love listening to them remastered on a good sound system....