I was under the impression the intended double album would be arranged the way MP did on the FII Demos Ytse Jam release.
This. I don't know why there is speculation, since we already know what that would look like.
I disagree. The Demos are in order of when they were written and recorded (like all the other Demo discs). The only exception is Metropolis 2, which was placed at the end as a bonus track. I don't think there's any question that if they released a double-disc, they would have switched up the order.
This is my understanding as well. I think it's pretty obvious that MP put them in chronological order of when they came about...which is not the way the final product would have turned out.
Yes and no. On the one hand, I know the track order on the demos (excluding Metropolis 2) is the order in which the songs were written. On the other hand, though, the demos do have a very nice flow to them, far too nice to just be a coincidence. It possible that as they wrote the songs, they just kind of came out in an order that felt like a real album because they thought after writing a track, "Okay, what kind of song should follow that?" I don't have any proof to back up that theory, but given how well the track order on the YtseJam demos fits together, it would make sense.
Personally, my preferred FII looks like this:
CD 1
Raise The Knife (demo)
Where Are You Now? (demo)
Take Away My Pain (demo)
You Or Me (demo)
Anna Lee (demo)
Burning My Soul (album version)
Hell's Kitchen (album version)
Lines In The Sand (demo)
CD 2
Just Let Me Breathe (demo)
Peruvian Skies (demo)
The Way It Used To Be (demo)
Cover My Eyes (demo)
Hollow Years (demo)
New Millennium (demo)
Speak To Me (demo)
Trial Of Tears (demo)
Moving TWIUTB to the second disc and and having the album versions of BMS & HK maintains the symmetry of the demos, plus you also get that excellent flow of BMS/HK/LitS from the final album, creating a perfect climax for the end of the first disc. And while I know I mentioned earlier that you could place ACoS at the end of a FII double album, there is just something about ToT that makes it a flawless closer for the entire record.