i think the director said it was LB's baby.

Thank you, Lindsey
 

Thanks. That was my working theory. (Particularly since there's that scene where he's talking with Mick and expresses an admiration for indie film-making.)
I wonder if part of the reason for doing it was to make sure he and the others stayed on their best behavior.
Either way, it turned out to be a generous fan service--not to mention an incredibly helpful reference for trying to make sense of the current state of affairs!

How badly would you like to see the fight that led to the album going back to a single disc and killing (at least according to Mick) any prospects for a future album?

It must have been some fight, because it would have been an obvious climax scene for the film but was not included.

Exactly. The most acrimonious and telling part of the story was not included--presumably because Stevie (and maybe Mick's) camps did not give their approval, either to the filming or during the editing stage.

I don't think I'd necessarily enjoy watching another fight between Stevie, Lindsey and Karen, but it's frustrating from a narrative perspective for the most pivotal part of that "subplot" to be elided completely and just summarily reported on by Lindsey after the fact.

I actually side with the others regarding not making it a double album, and being able to squeeze as many as 18 tracks on 1 CD seems like a reasonable compromise. My take on it is that Lindsey had been sitting on this project for WAY to long (ie his last release (other than The Dance) was in 1992) so he had too much invested in it psychologically and was trying to accomplish too much, even despite shifting the project to a different context (ie FM instead of solo).

But everyone stringing him along until the last minute is so infuriating.

The double-CD idea was ridiculous. A CD holds 80 minutes, so a double-CD album would have been longer than Tusk by a country mile.

One thing that annoyed me about the way Lindsey advocated for it was his constant insinuation that any opposition to the idea was motivated by selling out. "Are you going to do it my way or be a sellout?" It was always a false dilemma.

The Beatles White Album is only 93 minutes and draws from three of the greatest songwriters of all time all at their creative peak.

I think a chief concern was probably that cramming a lot of tracks onto one CD would result in "burying" of eclectic songs, or have the appearance of such a burying. For example, I imagine the initial idea for a 2-CD package was to limit the number of tracks to something like 12 or 13, rather than put out something like 36 tracks at once.

Even 18 songs was too many.

18 Tracks...
 

Just pulled SYW out to give it a spin and thought to myself, "way to go, you made it through Murrow!" 18 tracks is too many...it needs some pruning.

easy. get rid of all Stevie tracks except Destiny Rules, and get rid of WWTWCT and you are in business! better yet, just pull lout that masterpiece that was Gift of Screws bootleg and add Peacekeeper to it.

The track order was another major bone of contention that was not included in the documentary, unfortunately. Suffice to say that Lindsey mostly got his way, in terms of the darker/avant-garde/political tracks being put on the "A side" and some of the more lightweight/standard tracks on the "B side". Although I see why he did it (to avoid the "track-burying" thing), I personally am not a big fan of this decision--I would rather that the listener gets to "warm up" with the likes of Steal Your Heart Away and (blecch) Silver Girl, and then be later rewarded and surprised with mind-blowing opuses like Murrow, Red Rover, and Illume.

SYW represented the disconnect between B/N and sorely lacked chemistry. Despite, having some great tunes on it, I don't listen to it often.

B/M in my opinion had way more chemistry and flowed so nicely.

Too bad we may not get another B/M album.

On and on
 

Oh, Elle, while there's no need to ever listen to Silver Girl...ever...I'm of the opinion that the Stevie songs are stronger. Definitely some great Lindsey moments, but his "avant garde" songs/lyrics/production choices are almost always a turn off for me. But, to respond to another post, I think SYW has a better flow and better songs that B/M did. I don't know that I'm overly sad the chances of a follow up album have lessened lately. Those songs were fine but seemed to be scraping bottom on Christine's end and Lindsey...well, he's still Lindsey. I don't know that any of the three songwriters have much left to say.

Further
 

Just to elaborate a little re SYW vs B/M, I think SYW feels more obviously connected despite it being a frankenstein of a solo album and Stevie's songs thrown into the mix. There's a through line on production, for better or worse, that feels more solid than on B/M. SYW has songs that feel like genuine collaborations as opposed to Christine popping in from time to time on Lindsey tracks. B/M feels more like two distinct halves to my ears than SYW. But maybe that's just me. I'm also the person that thinks Carnival Begin is the obvious clunker on B/M...so who knows?

I am firmly of the belief that Destiny Rules/EFO/RTTG for Stevie and BTLH/SYHA/Miranda are the essentials.

While a 2000-ish album from Lindsey comprising the GOS material and his solo version of Peacekeeper etc. would have been AWESOME, I too think that Stevie really brought the goods to the table with SYW in terms of the songs themselves (but I'm not a fan of her vocals on some of SYW--probably half a question of performance and half a question of production/mixing; she's too LOUD). It's just that Silver Girl is so cringey (for many, at least) that it drags down the rest of her contributions.

Love
Not Make Believe
Say You Will
Running Through The Garden
Destiny Rules
Thrown Down
Everybody Finds Out
Goodbye Baby
Illume (9-11)

Tolerate
Smile At You
(I was spoilt by the great old demo; that piano!)

Love to hate
Silver Girl

Stevie's Vocals On Say You Will
 

In the Destiny Rules documentary she sounds great singing the first half of "Goodbye Baby," but then it cuts to the finished studio recording and it's clear that whatever vocal effect they applied (reverb?) detracts from her vocal. Things like that are probably why she never wanted Lindsey producing her material again.