The Vinyl Issue:Triple Albums

Three times the fun, because how could two ever be enough?

**GEORGE HARRISON **

All Things Must Pass (APPLE, 1970)

“He had all this emotion built up,” said Phil Spector. Kept to one or two tracks per record during his Beatle years, George revealed the depth of his frustration and genius with a 23 song explosion on rock’s first triple album.

YES

Yessongs (ATLANTIC, 1973)

Cloaked in Roger Dean’s fold-out artwork, _Yessongs _is a magnificently packaged live tribute to the behemoth of vintage-era Yes. When you make music as ambitious as Close To The Edge – which filled the whole of Side Five – sometimes the medium of CD is just too microscopic.

GODLEY & CREME

Consequences (MERCURY, 1977)

The more avant-garde faction of 10cc, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme made their first album as a duo not just a concept record. Not just a demonstration platform for the Gizmo guitar effect. But a triple album. It was a tale of meteorological disaster, divorce and a mystical musician.

THE BAND

The Last Waltz (WARNER BROS, 1978)

The Band’s “farewell” gig may sprawl across six sides of plastic, but it’s far from an over-indulgent live album. Each side checks in with a different roster of guests (Neils Young and Diamond, Joni Mitchell, Muddy Waters etc), while the third record boasts a side of Bob Dylan and Robbie Robertson’s studio recorded_ The Last Waltz Suite_ on the flip.

THE SMASHING PUMPKINS

Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness (VIRGIN, 1995)

A two-hour triple album seemed like prog folly during the heyday of Britpop. But Mellon Collie was a brilliant artistic statement – as emotive and exquisite as it was weighty and complex.

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