Great pairs. Albums that go well together

[Fracktured]

Maybe a stupid thread, but it wouldn't be the only one on here at least. Sometimes I pair 2 albums together on a CD-R for playing at work. Some seem to go together very well, almost as if they could have been 2 lp sets. Most are back to back releases.

Horslips - The Book of Invasions, Aliens
Strawbs - Hero and Heroine, Ghosts
Gentle Giant - Three Friends, Octopus
Jethro Tull - Songs from the Wood, Heavy Horses
Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Sabotage
Procol Harum - Grand Hotel, Exotic Birds and Fruit
Steely Dan - Aja, Gaucho
Rush - A Farewell to Kings, Hemispheres

[trurl]

KC- Lark's Tongue, Red
Yes- CttE, G4t1
Gentle Giant- In A Glass House, Interview
Tull- Warchild, Passion Play

Gah- so many *lo*

[JJ88]

Not a stupid thread, provided it doesn't become a 'list my favourite albums' job!

These days the two are available in one 2-cd 'legacy edition' package anyway, but the Elvis Presley albums 'Elvis Is Back' and 'Something For Everybody' are very much of a piece- recorded with only a year between them. The non-album singles are on the CDs now...indeed, these were very much planned as albums, as originally they were stand-alone with no songs used as singles on original release.

Frank Sinatra's 'Songs For Swingin' Lovers' and 'A Swingin' Affair' I think were done in the same year with the same arranger, Nelson Riddle, and have a mostly upbeat flavour.

I suppose Uriah Heep's 'Demons And Wizards' and 'The Magician's Birthday' are often paired- there was a short space of time between the two, both have the same line-up and both have Roger Dean covers. But I personally do feel the former is the better of the two.

[progeezer]

Love - Da Capo (side 1 only) & Forever Changes
Steely Dan - Katy Lied & The Royal Scam
The Who - Happy Jack/A Quick One & Sell Out

[Yaman Aksu]

The Marillion albums "Marbles" and "Happiness is the Road" are 2-disc albums whose first discs are actually pretty similar (that is, at least the first discs) and I've never heard this mentioned -- in fact, surprisingly, some people put these two albums at extreme ends when ranking Marillion albums (just see the other thread about this). Go figure -- maybe the second discs are very different --- well, I'll have to check that out.

Speaking of Marillion, well definitely the first 2 of their albums (Script/Fugazi) are a pair, and so is the next two (Misplaced/Clutching), in terms of sound and mood.

Nursery Cryme and Foxtrot are a pair.

There are many more.

[Rufus]

David Bowie-Ziggy & Aladin Sane
Alice Cooper-Killer & B&B's
Budgie-Squawk & Bandolier
Led Zep-II & 4
Alex Harver Band- Impossible Dream & Tomorrow belongs to me
Tears for Fears-The Hurting & Songs from the Big Chair
Talk Talk-Colour of Spring & Spirit of Eden
Mott the Hoople-Mott & The Hoople

[walt]

Captain Beefheart-The Spotlight Kid and Clear Spot

[mogrooves]

Jack Bruce ~ Songs For A Tailor & Harmony Row
Procol Harum ~ Home & Broken Barricades
Hendrix ~ RUX & Axis
Family ~ Fearless & Bandstand
Stones ~ Beggars Banquet & Let It Bleed
Peter Hammill - Chameleon & Silent Corner
Traffic ~ Mr. Fantasy & s/t
Doors ~ s/t & Strange Days
JA ~ Baxter's & CoC
MoI ~ Absolutely Free & ....Money
MoI ~ Grand Wazoo & Waka Jawaka
Henry Cow ~ s/t [Legend] & Unrest
Magma - MDK & Kohntarkosz

[Garden Dreamer]

Horslips - The Book of Invasions, Aliens

Jethro Tull - Songs from the Wood, Heavy Horses

Rush - A Farewell to Kings, Hemispheres

I thought of these three when I read the thread title, before opening the thread!!

Also

Tull - Thick as a Brick and Passion Play

Rush - Presto and Roll the Bones (although in my opinion, they belong together... in the trashcan!)

Bowie - Low and Heroes

[the winter tree]

KANSAS "Left Overture"/"Point of Know Return"
Styx "Grand Illusion"/"Pieces of Eight"
YES "Fragile"/"Close To the Edge"
STRAWBS "Grave New World"/"Bursting At the Seams"
VAN DER GRAAF "H To He..."/"Pawn Hearts"
GENESIS "Nursery Cryme"/"Foxtrot"
URIAH HEEP "Demons and Wizards"/"Magician's Birthday"
JETHRO TULL "Songs From the Wood"/"Heavy Horses"
TRAFFIC "Low Spark of High Heeled Boys"/"Shoot Out At The Fantasy Factory"

[rcarlberg]

Bah. Two albums by the same artist almost ALWAYS go together. Here are pairs under DIFFERENT names:

Flash - Out of our Hands + Peter Banks - Two Sides of
Recorded in the same studio at the same time utilizing most of the same musicians

David Sylvian - Alchemy, An Index of Metals + Mark Isham - The Beast Soundtrack
Similar approaches, similar results

Blanket of Secrecy - The Walls Have Ears + Yaz - Upstairs At Eric's + Berlin - Pleasure Principle
1982 synth-rock triad

Wilding/Bonus - Pleasure Signals + Lancaster/Lumley - Marscape
Ex-Brand X members put out competing albums

[Digital_Man]

Led Zeppelin -3 & 4
Rush - A farewell to Kings and Hemispheres (not just because of Cygnus)
Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour and Sgt. Peppers
Yes - Fragile - Close to the Edge
Genesis - Nursery Cryme & Foxtrot
ELP- same and Tarkus
Aerosmith- Toys in the Attic- Rocks
Van Halen - 5150 - OU812
Ozric Tentacles- Jurassic Shift - Arborescence
Porcupine Tree - Stupid Dream - Lightbulb Sun
The Flower Kings - Space Revolver - Rainmaker
King Crimson- First two (Court and Wake) but also SaBB and Red

Another one for RUSH: Power Windows and Hold your Fire. But also: Presto & Roll the Bones. I could keep going. Rush seems to be a band who's sound evolves slowly as opposed to totally different from one album to the next.

[walt]

Eno-Another Green World and Before And After Science
Nico-The Marble Index and Desertshore

[Digital_Man]

[URIAH HEEP "Demons and Wizards"/"Magician's Birthday"]

Good example! Forgot about those.

[NogbadTheBad]

I always think of
Cheer-Accident - Fear Draws Misfortune
Miriodor - Avanti!

[trurl]

I think the trick would be not to list two consecutive albums by the same artist ;-)

[Digital_Man]

I think the trick would be not to list two consecutive albums by the same artist ;-)

Good luck with that. The only one for that I could think of would be Yes- CTTE and Relayer and even that's a stretch. However, I always thought ATotT was modelled after SEBTP for Jenny Sis.

[Fracktured]

10CC - Deceptive Bends, Bloody Tourists

[Fracktured]

Bah. Two albums by the same artist almost ALWAYS go together. Here are pairs under DIFFERENT names:

Flash - Out of our Hands + Peter Banks - Two Sides of
Recorded in the same studio at the same time utilizing most of the same musicians

David Sylvian - Alchemy, An Index of Metals + Mark Isham - The Beast Soundtrack
Similar approaches, similar results

Blanket of Secrecy - The Walls Have Ears + Yaz - Upstairs At Eric's + Berlin - Pleasure Principle
1982 synth-rock triad

Wilding/Bonus - Pleasure Signals + Lancaster/Lumley - Marscape
Ex-Brand X members put out competing albums

Sure many albums by the same artist can be paired, but I was looking for those that are very similar. Except for Fragile And Close to the Edge, I find myself no 2 other yes albums that are very similar. Maybe the first two also. But albums like Santana III and Caravanseria even though they were back to back releases are very different. Just as an example of how different albums can be from the same artist. I'm not familiar with several of the ones you point out but finding ones from different artists is a trick.

[NogbadTheBad]

Comus - First Utterance
Jan Dukes De Grey - Mice & Rats In The Loft

[Gruno]

Bah. Two albums by the same artist almost ALWAYS go together. Here are pairs under DIFFERENT names

Bah? Start your own thread with your own criteria and have at it.

[BravadoNJ]

QUEEN- A Night At The Opera, A Day At The Races

PINK FLOYD- The Wall, The Final Cut

[Progbear]

Wilding/Bonus - Pleasure Signals + Lancaster/Lumley - Marscape
Ex-Brand X members put out competing albums

Marscape actually pre-dates Brand X.

[Dave (in MA)]

Marscape actually pre-dates Brand X.

And Pleasure Signals was done while Brand X was still active. (it's OK, but not as good as any of the Brand X releases, IMO)

[spellbound]

Love - Da Capo (side 1 only)

Now, Geez, you know side 2 is perfectly fine provided you only have to listen to it once, preferably in 1967.