He must be:

1999
Sign o' the times
Graffiti bridge
Diamonds and pearls
symbol
Gold experience
Emancipation
Crystal Ball
Rave unto the joy fantastic
Rainbow children

Only other artist I can think of
close to this is "Chicago". They had
4 double lps in the 70's.

origmnd said:

Well, most albums from the late 80's on by any artists could be considered double LP's. Fact is, they're just single CD's. So the only real double LP's here are 1999 and perhaps SOTT.
[This message was edited Fri Oct 11 22:45:04 PDT 2002 by joeycoco]

origmnd said:

Since I stopped buying albums (i.e. vinyl), I didn't realize D&P, TGE, and Rave were double albums. Though, it takes a lot more material to occupy double cd's now.

Chicago's first 3 albums were double lps. I'm not aware of any other group or artist who was allowed to do that.

Supernova said:

And Chicago's 4th Lp was a 4 lp box live set!! Their 7th was the last double lp they did.

WHY do you guys know about Chicago???

CalhounSq said:

Well, before their original guitarist
died ,they were pretty good. Especially
the first lp.

Even Prince himself was interested
as him being able to play the guitar
solo from " Make Me smile" was considered
prestigious in his early days.

Emancipation and Crystal Ball also count towards the multi-album format. Otherwise, he only has 2 released double albums. Parade and Dream Factory were also planned as double albums at one point.

CalhounSq said:

Because pre-'80s Chicago was BADASS. Forget the Peter Cetera-led schlock teen ballads of the 1980s. That group sucked eggs. The REAL Chicago was from '69 till Terry Kath died. Don't let that 80s crap fool ya.

origmnd said:

Was that Live From Japan? I mean that 4 lp set.

Cut me...
[This message was edited Fri Oct 11 23:32:58 PDT 2002 by Supernova]

Supernova said:

Supernova---we think alike here. After
Terry they were shamefull.

No--it was from Carnegie Hall in NYC.
Prince should check this out for ONA.
There is like 3 posters in there, a booklet and 4 lps in a box.

origmnd said:

I haven't heard any of Chicago's live material. But they did have about 7 albums remastered just recently. Their first 6 albums of their career (I think), plus a double cd greatest hits collection. I THINK the Carnegie Hall cd is scheduled to be released soon (I'm not 100% sure). They need to remaster Chicago VII too. It's their most jazz influenced album, and as you said it's another double lp. It's the first Chicago album I ever bought.

joeycoco said:

Indeed when i think of Prince double albums those two spring to mind. Though sometimes i wonder whether Symbol should count because of the sheer amount of tracks on it and its length. I just don't see it as a double album though. Since the late 80's though 2xlp sets were common as they improved sound quality of vinyl, not to mention record companies could jack up the price(probably to phase out the format?!)

frank zappa:

freak out
uncle meat
200 motels
roxy and elsewhere
zappa in new york
sheik yerbouti
joe's garage volume 2
tinseltown rebellion
shut up'n play yer guitar (triple)
you are what you is
thingfish (triple)
them or us
broadway the hardway
guitar
you can't do that on stage volume 1
you can't do that on stage volume 2
you can't do that on stage volume 3
you can't do that on stage volume 4
you can't do that on stage volume 5
you can't do that on stage volume 6
make a jazz noise
the best band you never heard in your life

medoc2003 said:

I had a feeling Zappa had this many...
how many of these are actual studio lps and not live ??

So Prince is number 2 then.

u prince fanboys kill me!

Every one of those albums have filler.
A decent producer could have trimmed
those down to a single side.

Even those CHICAGO albums had unlistenable trax


Credit more Prince's ego and inability
to edit himself; this ain't realy agood thing!

Considering that "1999" and "Sign o' the Times" are really the only double albums that should count, he may not be the "king" of double LPs, but what a tandem "1999" and "Sign o' the Times" form. I can't think of 2 double LPs by any other artist that compare.

But aren't a lot of those Zappa albums posthumous considering he's been gone for almost a decade now and a lot of his material came out after his death?

I don't know about the double lp thing, but Prince has a lot of multi-album sets released during his lifetime. 1999 and SOTT would be career high water marks for any artist.

actually, all of the albums listed were released before his death, i didn't list the ones released posthumously (like the australia 1976 double cd just released through zappa.com last month) as well as 2 or 3 others.
of the ones listed,
freak out
uncle meat
200 motels
sheik yerbouti
joe's garage
tinseltown rebellion
you are what you is
thingfish
them or us
were all studio albums. the rest were either live albums or studio/live hybrids. i didn't count lather either which was a 4 album box rejected by warner bros. and subsequently cut into single lps and released against fz's will which preciptated his suing warner bros.