Emancipation (1996)

Crystal Ball (1997)

One Nite Alone... Live! (2002)

Lotusflow3r/MPLSound/Elixer (2009)

idk if anyone else has made a habit of releasing as many triples. id say emancipation is still the best of the lot. im tempted to include AOA and the two HnR albums too but as they were released a year apart (IIRC), they prob cant count.

i think it was kind of a bad habit personally (i guess that rejection of CB in 87 stuck with him all those years after, so every chance he could release three discs in one go, he took it), but i know im prob in the minority on that in this forum. triple albums are really hard things to do i think unless they are archive releases. but maybe they are more like a tv show (ie to be digested in diff sittings), whereas a single album is more like a movie?

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

Emancipation (1996)

Crystal Ball (1997)

One Nite Alone... Live! (2002)

Lotusflow3r/MPLSound/Elixer (2009)

idk if anyone else has made a habit of releasing as many triples. id say emancipation is still the best of the lot. im tempted to include AOA and the two HnR albums too but as they were released a year apart (IIRC), they prob cant count.

i think it was kind of a bad habit personally (i guess that rejection of CB in 87 stuck with him all those years after, so every chance he could release three discs in one go, he took it), but i know im prob in the minority on that in this forum. triple albums are really hard things to do i think unless they are archive releases. but maybe they are more like a tv show (ie to be digested in diff sittings), whereas a single album is more like a movie?

Just my personal taste, but if I'd have to pick up just one then it should be One Nite Alone... Live!

At least you can easily split it into the aftershow or the main show. And even the later has very different sections that you can go for or skip depending on your mood, like the piano set on disc 2.

I don't like the 'Frankenstein' approach to it, mixing up different shows instead of a full complete one, but let's reckon it's quality stuff anyway.

[Edited 8/18/23 4:16am]

My version of Crystal Ball is a quintuple release, bundled with The Truth and Kamasutra.

I would say Emancipation is probably the best of this bunch . . . although LotusFlow3r is a better album IMO, the 3-disc LF/MS/E set is not as strong as Emancipation.

A Triple Threat indeed!

Vanity 6
What Time Is It?
1999

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

Emancipation (1996)

Crystal Ball (1997)

One Nite Alone... Live! (2002)

Lotusflow3r/MPLSound/Elixer (2009)

idk if anyone else has made a habit of releasing as many triples. id say emancipation is still the best of the lot. im tempted to include AOA and the two HnR albums too but as they were released a year apart (IIRC), they prob cant count.

i think it was kind of a bad habit personally (i guess that rejection of CB in 87 stuck with him all those years after, so every chance he could release three discs in one go, he took it), but i know im prob in the minority on that in this forum. triple albums are really hard things to do i think unless they are archive releases. but maybe they are more like a tv show (ie to be digested in diff sittings), whereas a single album is more like a movie?

.
ONA-L and LF/MPLS/E are not real triple albums, they are bundles.

Kares said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

Emancipation (1996)

Crystal Ball (1997)

One Nite Alone... Live! (2002)

Lotusflow3r/MPLSound/Elixer (2009)

idk if anyone else has made a habit of releasing as many triples. id say emancipation is still the best of the lot. im tempted to include AOA and the two HnR albums too but as they were released a year apart (IIRC), they prob cant count.

i think it was kind of a bad habit personally (i guess that rejection of CB in 87 stuck with him all those years after, so every chance he could release three discs in one go, he took it), but i know im prob in the minority on that in this forum. triple albums are really hard things to do i think unless they are archive releases. but maybe they are more like a tv show (ie to be digested in diff sittings), whereas a single album is more like a movie?

.
ONA-L and LF/MPLS/E are not real triple albums, they are bundles.

A bit like the NewPowerPak

I always wished he would have deliberately set out to create a 2 disc album.

I know SOTT ended up as such but it was not conceived that way.

And a lot of his albums are 2 LP sets, but he never did a 2 disc album.

LILpoundCAKE said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

LILpoundCAKE said:

I always wished he would have deliberately set out to create a 2 disc album.

I know SOTT ended up as such but it was not conceived that way.

And a lot of his albums are 2 LP sets, but he never did a 2 disc album.

1999. Sott was a two disc album of his own making and decision making. He mightve wanted a triple but he decided what made the final cut, not warners.

yeah, no.

those are the facts im afraid.

you can be upset he didnt get to make it a triple, but WB said it should be cut down to a double, and he got to put it together, not them.

LILpoundcake is referring to how none of them were double CDs in the CD era of double CDs.

1999 and SOTT are 'double LPs' specifically created for the LP era that both quite literally fit on a single CD. When I first downloaded MP3s of SOTT I burned 'em to a single CDR, then when I bought the silver CDs I ripped those to FLAC then burned those to a single CDR.

To be honest in the streaming age the concept of a "double" or "triple" album seems anachronistic considering in the streaming age it's all glorified playlists and playlists have no space limitation.

[Edited 8/18/23 16:39pm]

WhisperingDandelions said:

LILpoundcake is referring to how none of them were double CDs in the CD era of double CDs.

1999 and SOTT are 'double LPs' specifically created for the LP era that both quite literally fit on a single CD. When I first downloaded MP3s of SOTT I burned 'em to a single CDR, then when I bought the silver CDs I ripped those to FLAC then burned those to a single CDR.

To be honest in the streaming age the concept of a "double" or "triple" album seems anachronistic considering in the streaming age it's all glorified playlists and playlists have no space limitation.

[Edited 8/18/23 16:39pm]

This is what I meant, yes. I think it would be interesting to see what Prince could have done
with the concept of a 2 CD album. Something he conceived as such from the beginning and
set out to record from scratch.

It seems that with prince it was either 1 disc or 3 or 5

emancipation isnt actually a true triple CD if we are taking capacity as the indicator of what makes something a triple album

it was 180 mins (if he did a real triple CD release it would have been just under 240 mins!), which could alllllmoooost fit on two discs (79 mins x 2). its just 20 mins over the two-CD space limit.

wu-tang forever is the best double CD of all time however.

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

emancipation isnt actually a true triple CD if we are taking capacity as the indicator of what makes something a triple album

it was 180 mins (if he did a real triple CD release it would have been just under 240 mins!), which could alllllmoooost fit on two discs (79 mins x 2). its just 20 mins over the two-CD space limit.

wu-tang forever is the best double CD of all time however.

eh it doesn't have to stretch the maximum space limitations of the format though, just be only limited/contained by the format which Emancipation does coming up just 22 minutes or so short of 79, which was originally 74 until some point in the 90s pre/around CDR era.