Two Too Much? Double Albums Force Fans To Pay Premium Prices, But For The Beatles, Smashing Pumpkins And Michael Jackson, They Seem Willing Open Up Their Wallets

Congratulations, Messrs. McCartney, Harrison, Starr, Corgan and Jackson. You’ve given birth to twins.

When three artists as disparate as the Beatles, the Smashing Pumpkins and Michael Jackson all release double albums in a short period of time, you know something’s afoot.

What’s happening is that the trio is contributing to a resurgence of one of the monuments of classic rock’s vinyl days. “Beatles Anthology Vol. 1” and the Pumpkins’ “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” currently occupy two of Billboard’s Top 10 spots. And “Jackson’s HIStory: Past, Present and Future Book 1,” while its sales have dropped, continues to maintain a high profile on the pop front.

Since the dawn of the CD era about a decade ago and its full brilliance in the ‘90s, the necessity of the double album has faded. Vinyl albums couldn’t hold more than about 40 minutes of material, meaning a big musical idea or a long concert required two platters. But the compact disc, despite its smaller size, can hold 72 minutes of music - nearly the length of the traditional double album.

As a result, multiple CD sets have been reserved for anthology collections and especially long live performances.

The Smashing Pumpkins’ “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness,” though, emerges as perhaps the most significant CD-era double studio album. Guns ‘N’ Roses, with 1991’s “Use Your Illusion I and II,” and Bruce Springsteen, with 1992’s “Lucky Town” and “Human Touch,” each recorded two discs worth of material in one session, but chose to release two separate discs simultaneously.

The Pumpkins jumped in with both feet.

“When we heard that the band wanted to do a double CD, we had our concerns,” said Margie Cheske, a Virgin Records product manager who was in on the planning of “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.”

The main questions surrounded the higher price of a double CD, especially in the currently soft retail market, and the more subjective issue of whether listeners would be patient enough to absorb “Mellon Collie’s” 28 songs.

Virgin dealt with the price issue by selling the double CD for $22.98, at least $2 below the norm for a twin spin.

So far, the decision has paid off. “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” currently sits at the No. 8 spot on Billboard’s album chart and has been in the Top 10 since its release in early November.

The Beatles, too, had no trouble swinging the increased weight of their “Anthology,” which sold 855,000 copies in its first week of release - the biggest debut ever for a double album.

But Geoff Mayfield, Billboard’s director of charts, says double albums, chiefly because of their price, have trouble in the long run.

“It’s more difficult to get shelf life from a double album,” said Mayfield.

Mayfield has watched several double CD sets make big splashes this year. Pink Floyd’s “Pulse,” a live recording, was the first double album to debut at No. 1 since Billboard began using Soundscan in 1990 to track sales.

“Pulse” entered at No. 1 June 24. Two weeks later, Jackson’s “HIStory” debuted at No. 1. The Smashing Pumpkins bowed in at No. 1, as well, and the Beatles held the top spot until this week.

Aware of heightened expectations, record companies work to make the packaging seem twice as nice, Cheske said. The Smashing Pumpkins, Beatles and Jackson packages all come with extra-long or multiple booklets.

Of course, all of that costs the record company more money, not to mention the headaches of production - the Pumpkins’ discs required the services of 10 different pressing plants - and storage.

Is that enough to keep this from becoming a trend?

Mayfield thinks so. He considers the appearance of these recent high-profile double albums to be more coincidence than anything else, pointing out that each is a different animal - the Beatles’ release wraps archival material around a radioready, newly recorded song; Pink Floyd’s entry was a live album; Jackson’s package included one CD of greatest hits and one of new material; and the Smashing Pumpkins released two discs of all new songs.

Still, artists seeking a gold album - for selling 500,000 albums - might want to consider the double album. Because the Recording Industry Association of America only counts the number of discs sold, whether they’re in the same package or not, a double CD can get there with half the sales.