History Main / DistinctDoubleAlbum

A similar approach can be taken for a double-disc GreatestHitsAlbum. Disc A might contain the artist's biggest commercial hits, while Disc B might be new material, the artist's personal favorites outside the big hits, obscurities like B-sides and unreleased songs, or the discs might be devoted to different eras or themes in the artist's career. Sometimes you might get a combination of the above.

* Music/{{Outkast}}'s double album ''Speakerboxxx/The Love Below'' also functioned as solo albums for the group with Big Boi's ''Speakerboxxx'' being a traditional hard-hitting HipHop album and ''The Love Below'' showing Andre 3000 experimenting with different genres.

'''Please''' note that this is not simply [[MultiDiscWork an album with multiple discs]], as with [[Music/TheBeatles the Beatles']] [[Music/TheWhiteAlbum White Album]], but albums where the discs follow different themes, as with [[Music/FooFighters Foo Fighters']] ''In Your Honor'' having all the electric songs on the first disc and all acoustic songs on the second disc.

A similar approach can be taken for a double-disc GreatestHitsAlbum: typical configurations include a disc full of greatest hits and a disc of new material, a disc of hits and a disc of deep cuts, a disc of A-sides and a disc of B-sides, or discs devoted to different eras or themes in an artist's career. Sometimes you might get a combination of the above.

* Mauro Picotto's ''Superclub'' double album consists of the dance disc ''Giganite'' and the chill-out disc ''Megalounge''.

* Music/{{Rush}} did the Distinct Single Album variant three times, in each case with one album side devoted to a RockOpera and the other side devoted to unrelated songs. ''Music/CaressOfSteel'', ''[[Music/TwentyOneTwelve 2112]]'', and ''Music/{{Hemispheres}}'' are the band's three examples. In the final case, the rock opera was so long that it actually extended back to the final song of the band's previous album, ''Music/AFarewellToKings''.

* Music/GeorgeMichael's 1998 GreatestHitsAlbum ''Ladies and Gentlemen'' was a 2-CD set. The first disc was titled "For the Heart" and composed of ballads, the second disc was titled "For the Feet" and composed of pop and dance numbers. This was a similar idea to his original plan for ''Listen Without Prejudice'' to be a DistinctDoubleAlbum, with Volume 1 being pop and ballad based and Volume 2 being dance-based. In the end, only Volume 1 was released, but a few Volume 2 tracks were released via a charity album and single [[BSide B-Sides]].

* Quoth Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} on Pan sonic's ''Kesto'' (234.48:4): "Each of the discs reflects elements of their style of music, with the dynamics and tempi generally decreasing throughout. The first CD consists largely of shorter compositions, reminiscent of the synthesis of pop structures and electronic noise found in industrial precursors like Music/{{Suicide|Band}}, while the second consists of less intense, electro influenced songs, using the same processed sine tones with more restraint and rhythmic consistency. The third and fourth [=CDs=] are more amorphous, the former incorporating Musique concrete elements and the latter is a single hour-long track that recalls early electronic composer Eduard Artemyev."

* Music/InformationSociety have the 2-CD rarities compilation ''Apocryphon''; the first disc, "Unobtainium", combining the tracklists of their long out-of-print ''Insoc'' EP and ''Creatures of Influence'' LP; the second, "Prophets Without Honor", showcasing previously unreleased recordings.

* Music/InformationSociety have the 2-CD rarities compilation ''Apocryphon''; the first disc combining the tracklists of their long out-of-print ''Insoc'' EP and ''Creatures of Influence'' LP; the second showcasing previously unreleased recordings.

* ''Bernstein Plays Brubeck Plays Bernstein'' was a Distinct Single Album on LP. Side I was dedicated to Howard Brubeck's ''Dialogues for Jazz Combo and Orchestra'' performed mainly by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Music/LeonardBernstein, with the Dave Brubeck Quartet contributing improvisations. Side II had the Dave Brubeck Quartet by itself covering showtunes from Bernstein's ''Theatre/WestSideStory'' and ''Theatre/WonderfulTown''.

* The two-disc ''Woodstock 1999'' companion album roughly separated its performance highlights by genre: ''The Red Album'' focused on the more aggressive bands on the bill -- mainly PostGrunge, RapRock, and AlternativeMetal (with a token nod to HipHop in the form of a Music/{{DMX}} track). ''The Blue Album'' was mainly the mellower acts, but also threw in basically everything else that wouldn't have fit on the other disc, be it HipHop (The Roots), ElectronicMusic (Music/TheChemicalBrothers), or swing revival (Brian Setzer Orchestra). The two discs were originally made available as one set, but were later released separately too.

* The physical version of the ''Webanimation/{{RWBY}}'' soundtracks have the vocal tracks in one disc and the score in the other.
* In the physical soundtrack for ''Machinima/RedVsBlue: [[Machinima/RedVsBlueSeason15 Season 15]]'', the tracks written by David Levy and Trocadero are split into their own discs.

* Music/{{BTS}}'s anthology album ''Proof''. Disc one is themed after the group's career path, starting with the 2013 song "Born Singer" (where a newly-debuted BTS talked about their aspirations and wish to prove themselves), followed by every title track in order (plus "Dynamite" and "Butter"), ending with the self-explanatory original song "Yet To Come". Disco two starts with the more fun original track "Run BTS", followed by side-tracks hand-picked by the group (one solo song and one group song for each member). Disc three contains demos and alternate versions of released songs (available only in the physical version of ''Proof''), and ends the album with the original song "For Youth".
** ''The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever'' and ''LOVE YOURSELF: Answer'' are compilation albums of their respective series. Both have a disc one with very deliberate sequencing of (both previous and new) tracks in a way that conveys the overall message of each album series[[note]]Disc one of ''LOVE YOURSELF: Answer'' in particular follows the order of the four "Wonder", "Her", "Tear" and "Answer" chapters of the series with a general "intro track by one of the vocalists - title track - original 'Trivia' song by one of the rappers - outro by all three rappers" format[[/note]]. Disc two contains some other notable side-tracks that don't necessarily focus on the series' concepts, and remixes of the singles.

'''Please''' note that this is not simply an album with multiple discs, as with [[Music/TheBeatles the Beatles']] [[Music/TheWhiteAlbum White Album]], but albums where the discs follow different themes, as with [[Music/FooFighters Foo Fighters']] ''In Your Honor'' having all the electric songs on the first disc and all acoustic songs on the second disc.

* Quoth Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} on Pan sonic's ''Kesto'' (234.48:4): "Each of the discs reflects elements of their style of music, with the dynamics and tempi generally decreasing throughout. The first CD consists largely of shorter compositions, reminiscent of the synthesis of pop structures and electronic noise found in industrial precursors like Music/{{Suicide}}, while the second consists of less intense, electro influenced songs, using the same processed sine tones with more restraint and rhythmic consistency. The third and fourth [=CDs=] are more amorphous, the former incorporating Musique concrete elements and the latter is a single hour-long track that recalls early electronic composer Eduard Artemyev."

!!Examples of the Distinct Double Album include:

* {{Music/HIM}} actually did this with a collection of [[BSide B-sides]]. In the days of the CD single, they were prolific users of the flip to release new or alternate versions of their music, some of which was collected in the ''Uneasy Listening'' series (specifically, vault goodies from before ''Dark Light''). Volume 1 comprises softer tunes, mostly acoustic renditions, while Volume 2 makes use of hard rock covers and heavier versions of songs released previously. Making the distinction clearer, Volume 1 has a blue cover with a female figure on it while Volume 2 is red with a fanged gentleman peering out from under his awesome top hat on the front.

* The twin ''Music/UseYourIllusion'' albums by Music/GunsNRoses. It would seem most of the harder stuff went on the first one (yellow and red cover) while the second one, to match the mood of the violet and blue-tinted cover, had more melancholy songs. Guess which of the albums produced more singles? [[spoiler:If you said the hard-rocking one, you'd be absolutely right (although II had ''You Could Be Mine'', which had been solicited for the Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay soundtrack)]].

* Music/{{Journey}}'s album ''Revelation'', released in 2008, featured one disc full of covers of songs from the Steve Perry lineup years by then-current frontman Arnel Pineda, and another disc full of new original songs.
* {{Music/Melvins}}' ''A Walk With Love And Death'': the ''Love'' disc is an avant-garde instrumental soundtrack to a short film (also titled ''A Walk With Love And Death''), while the ''Death'' disc is a rock album more akin to their usual style.

* The deluxe vinyl edition of Music/ClanOfXymox's ''Spider On The Wall'' is a distinct triple album, with the first LP being the main vanilla album, while the second and third compile the remix EP's for "She", "Lovers", "All I Ever Know", and "Spider", along with their {{B-side}}s.

* [[Music/PCMusic A.G. Cook's]] debut album ''7G'' is a ''[[UpToEleven septuple]]'' [[UpToEleven album]], with 49 total tracks spread across 7 discs, each one being based around a specific instrument: drums, guitar, supersaw synths, piano, nord keyboards, [[SpokenWordInMusic spoken word]], and "extreme vocals". Many of the tracks average between 3-4 minutes, and the entire experience lasts just over 2 and a half hours.

** After all four albums had been released, Townsend proceeded to re-release them together as an [[UpToEleven eight-disc box set]], containing six [=CDs=] and two [=DVDs=]. The two extra [=CDs=] consisted of outtakes from the sessions, [[BSide B-Sides]], and demo material.
** Played straight rather than UpToEleven with his 2014 album ''Z2''. The first disc, ''Sky Blue'', is the familiar Devin Townsend Project the fans know and love. The second disc, ''Dark Matters'', is a sequel to Townsend's goofy 2007 sci-fi RockOpera, ''Ziltoid the Omniscient''.

* Music/{{Nightwish}}'s ninth album ''Human. :II: Nature''. The first disc is a standard Nightwish SymphonicMetal album. Disc two is a ClassicalMusic suite with some spoken word parts titled ''All the Works of Nature that Adorn the World''.

* Music/KendrickLamar's ''Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers'' features two nine-track discs, each broadly sharing themes on dealing with varying personal topics, from coping with trauma, fatherhood, the pressures of fame, etc. The tracklists of either disc is meant to mirror the other, both in structure and tone -- the first disc examines topics in a rather cynical and deconstructive light, while the second is more reconstructive and affirmative. Taken as a whole, the project reflects Kendrick as featuring simultaneously harsh yet hopeful thoughts on himself and the world around him, [[DualityMotif and both sides are equally important in informing who he is]].

** Both [[Music/YellowMagicOrchestraAlbum their self-titled debut]] and ''Naughty Boys'' came in two different versions back in the day: the former had different mixes for the Japanese and American markets, while the latter had a second instrumental version released concurrently with the original. For the band's 2003 remastering campaign, the two different versions of each album were collected as double-CD packages, one disc for each rendition.
** The 1984 retrospective compilation ''Sealed'' was originally released as a four-LP BoxedSet. Each of the first three discs corresponds to each of the band's three members and contains YMO songs that they wrote, while the fourth disc focuses on full-band compositions. The CD release meanwhile squeezes the album onto two discs (albeit dropping some songs due to space constraints): one for the Music/RyuichiSakamoto & YMO songs and another for the Music/HaruomiHosono & Yukihiro Takahashi songs.

* Music/NeilYoung
** ''Arc/Weld'': ''Weld'' was a straightforward two-disc LiveAlbum, while Arc was a 35 minute sound collage of tune-ups and [[BigRockEnding big rock endings]] from live performances that verged on SensoryAbuse. They were originally released as a three-disc set, but later got individual releases.

* Music/GeorgeMichael's 1998 compilation Ladies And Gentlemen was a 2CD set. The first disc was titled "For the Heart" and composed of ballads, the second disc was titled "For the Feet" and composed of pop and dance numbers.
** This was a similar idea to his original plan for ''Listen Without Prejudice'' to be a DistinctDoubleAlbum, with Volume 1 being pop and ballad based and Volume 2 being dance-based. In the end, only Volume 1 was released, but a few Volume 2 tracks were released via a charity album and single [[BSide B-Sides]].

* Music/MichaelJackson's ''[=HIStory=]: Past, Present and Future, Book I''. The first disc ([=HIStory=] Begins) was a GreatestHitsAlbum, and the second disc ([=HIStory=] Continues) was all new material.

* Music/EmersonLakeAndPalmer's ''Works, vol. 1'' was effectively four half-albums. The original double LP was arranged into one side each of individual works - a piano concerto by Keith Emerson, five songs by Greg Lake, six percussion-heavy pieces by Carl Palmer - and one side of collective works, which consisted of their interpretation of ''Fanfare to the Common Man'' and their own composition ''Pirates''.
* Music/{{Yes}} released the two ''Keys to Ascension'' albums as double albums, each containing a live disc and a disc of new studio recordings. (The new songs were later released one on album as ''Keystudio.'')[[note]]Technically the division isn't exactly between live and studio material, since the first volume of ''Keys'' contains two live tracks on the second disc, but it's close enough.[[/note]]
** A more noteworthy example of this by Yes would be the monstrous ''Tales from Topographic Oceans'', which stretched out a mere four songs over two [=LPs=], one on each side. Upon its release, [[BrokenBase it split the fanbase in half]]; Rick Wakeman said that, when it was played live, the audience would be in two halves - "one half would be on some faraway planet, and the other half would be bored shitless". This was the album that caused him to [[WriterRevolt leave the band]], due to not enjoying the material he was playing. He was in the "bored shitless" category, and he was ''playing'' the music.

** ''Music/{{Ummagumma}}'': The first disc is a live album, while the second disc is a studio album. All four members of the band have one fourth of the studio disc all to themselves, and the results are mostly lengthy experimental pieces with only two actual "songs", Roger Waters' "Grantchester Meadows", and David Gilmour's "The Narrow Way (Part 3)".

* Music/DreamTheater's album ''Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence'' has two discs. The first contains a collection of experimental, contemporary sounds, the second contains the [[Main/EpicRocking 42-minute]] long title track - a classically-influenced progressive rock opus and one of the band's greatest pieces of SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic.

* Music/{{Muse}} have ''Hullabaloo'' - one CD is live recordings from the band's concert in Paris, 2001, while the other CD is a collection of B-sides.

* The 1991 compilation album ''Music/StarTime'' by Music/JamesBrown consists of four CD's with the best from his entire career; all of the tracks are comprised in chronological order, unintentionally resulting in this trope as each disc covers a certain span of time.

* The two-disc ''Woodstock 1999'' companion album roughly separated its performance highlights by genre: ''The Red Album'' focused on the more aggressive bands on the bill - mainly PostGrunge, RapRock, and AlternativeMetal (with a token nod to HipHop in the form of a Music/{{DMX}} track). ''The Blue Album'' was mainly the mellower acts, but also threw in basically everything else that wouldn't have fit on the other disc, be it hip hop (The Roots), ElectronicMusic (Music/TheChemicalBrothers), or swing revival (Brian Setzer Orchestra). The two discs were originally made available as one set, but were later released separately too.

** The album ''The Otherly Opus'' was a distinct double-EP: the first half of the album is JE's usual, impenetrably surreal lyrics, while the second half is a miniature ConceptAlbum about [[Literature/{{Genesis}} the period between the Fall of Man and Noah's flood]]. He almost titled the whole thing ''The Otherly Opus / The Memory of Alpha'' to reflect the bifurcation.

* Music/{{Genesis}} did a variation with the initial release of their ''The Way We Walk'' live album, splitting the show into two volumes: ''The Shorts'' and ''The Longs'' separated by a few months. As implied by the titles, vol. 1 consisted of the more commercial, relatively shorter hit songs like "Invisible Touch," "I Can't Dance," and "Land of Confusion," among others, while vol. 2 consisted of a few longer, more progressive numbers such as "Domino," "The Old Medley" (a medley of earlier fan favorites from their more progressive era), and even the Phil Collins/Chester Thompson "Drum Duet." This only applies to the original release, though, as a later reissue in their ''Genesis Live 1973-2007'' box set sorted the songs back into concert order, eliminating the distinct structure.

* Joseph Scrimshaw and Friends' ''Flaw Fest'': Disc one is a standup comedy album performed by Joseph and themed around his flaws, disc two is musicians such as Music/PaulAndStorm and Music/TheDoubleclicks doing songs inspired by these same comedy routines.

* While released separately, Music/{{Eminem}}'s ''Relapse'' and ''Recovery'' (originally ''Relapse 2'') were conceived as partner albums for each other and recorded around the same time. ''Relapse'' is a {{Horrorcore}} album with Music/DrDre production (apart from one song) and [[RevisitingTheRoots a return for]] Slim Shady, allegorising Eminem's drug addiction and CareerResurrection [[ConceptAlbum through the concept]] of a MedicalHorror SlasherMovie. ''Recovery'' is a poppy RapRock album using various new producers, filled with inspirational [[SincerityMode Marshall]] [[BoastfulRap boasts]], allegorising Eminem's drug addiction and CareerResurrection through the concept of a [[LowerClassLout trailer-trash]] BastardBoyfriend Slim [[DomesticAbuse picking on a string of unfortunate girlfriends]].