Concept albums

[John B. Foster]

What exactly constitutes a concept album? Do you think it needs a storyline? Is it enough for songs to share the same general theme?

Do you have any concept albums that you really enjoy?

 

[Sam Mills 51]

Hmmm ...

"What's Going On" - Marvin Gaye (and to think that Berry Gordy almost blocked its release ... like many theme/concept albums, many of the tracks are tied together)

"Dark Side of the Moon" - Pink Floyd
"Wish You Were Here" - Pink Floyd

"Duke" - Genesis (not as tight a theme as the Lamb, but a lot of it is tied together)
"The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" - Genesis (the adventures of Rael)

"Smallcreep's Day" - Mike Rutherford. An album written in 1980 during a break from Genesis and years before forming Mike + The Mechanics. The first seven of the 12 tracks is a suite and much of the rest of the album follows along ... certainly a concept. Nicely done ... his autobiography briefly explained that doing an album in that position was much different than the group dynamic, which might explain why he didn't try another of its kind.

"Gustav Holst: The Planets" ... "Mars" and "Jupiter" are highlights.

 

[Starman]

To me, "concept albums" are pretty much any collection of songs put together in a sequence other than "let's throw 12 songs together and put it out."

Some "concepts" are purely melodic; others are thematic-- you can have the full-blown opera concept which attempts to tell a complete story from beginning to end.

You can have partial concept albums; part is just a random grab bag of songs, another part a narrative sequence (see "A Quick One" by The Who).

"Rubber Soul" is not a thematic concept album -- the song topics are widely scattered -- but it's definitely a tonal and instrumental concept album.

"Born To Run" is one of the greatest concept albums, both thematically and musically. It opens in the lonely cool before dawn, and ends in the darkest hours the next night, as the ambulance pulls away, and the girl shuts out the bedroom light.

 

[Captain_Kirk]

The Who had two of the best: "Tommy" and "Quadrophenia". Both worthy enough to be made into full length films. "Quadrophenia" ranks up there in my favorite albums of all time list, even beyond the concept category.

Bowie's "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" is another one that immediately comes to mind.

 

[typefitter]

I have a somewhat shameful soft spot for "Operation: Mindcrime" by Queensryche.

 

[swingline]

"The Wall"

 

[garrow]

Not "Tarkus" by ELP

 

[Scout]

Born to Run and Sgt. Pepper immediately come to mind.

 

[mpcincal]

I have a somewhat shameful soft spot for "Operation: Mindcrime" by Queensryche.

I loved that album and I make no apologies. Styx's "Kilroy was Here," on the other hand, is the one I'm hesitant to admit to people I played practically nonstop when I got it in the early '80s.

 

[RARist]

Thick as a Brick - Jethro Tull.
And I've just discovered Anderson wrote it as a parody of concept albums

 

[Starman]

"The Wall"

Which even had a sequel/epilogue in "The Final Cut."

 

[Cosmo]

I know people all think Rush sucks, but 2112 is basically the definition of a concept album.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

I know people all think Rush sucks, but 2112 is basically the definition of a concept album.

To be fair, that doesn't mean it doesn't suck.

 

[Cosmo]

I wear my Rush fandom like a badge of honor. I take no offense to anyone who says they suck.

 

[DanielSimpsonDay]

I have a somewhat shameful soft spot for "Operation: Mindcrime" by Queensryche.

YOU HAVE NOTHING TO BE ASHAMED OF CUT THE ****

Everyone knows Queensryche for "Silent Lucidity" and that's too bad. Similar to Extreme ("More Than Words") and Mr. Big ("To Be With You"), the tune got them a lot of new fans but it also led many to toss away any notion of serious musicianship and craft.* Unlike Extreme and Mr. Big, Queensryche did not fit into a hair metal or **** rock bin, despite what their early promo photos would lead one to believe. The Warning and Rage for Order are rather experimental within the metal genre in production, time signatures and themes.

Mindcrime is where it really all came together. It is difficult to make a concept album set in reality without it being a re-telling of a familiar story (W.A.S.P's The Crimson Idol) or too theatrical (Savatage's Dead Winter Dead, which they parlayed into what Jon Oliva wanted them to be all along: The Trans-Siberian Orchestra). Damned if they didn't pull it off.

Mindcrime has themes of societal/structural greed, corruption and revolution interwoven with personal loneliness, loss, and addiction. Each song can stand on its own merit without the story and the themes are just as relevant today as they were in the late 80s. The album is widely considered to be a "no-skip" affair in which there are no clunkers or fillers.

Religion and sex are power plays
Manipulate the people for the money they pay
Selling skin, selling God
The numbers look the same on their credit cards

Politicians say no to drugs
While we can pay for wars in South America**

Fighting fire with empty words
While the banks get fat
And the poor stay poor
And the rich get rich
The cops get paid
To look away
As the one percent rules America

That excerpt, from "Spreading the Disease," could have been written and contain as much veracity today as it did 30 years ago.

You may be ashamed of liking a metal album (which is another rant for another time).

You may be ashamed of liking a Queensryche album (which, given their output from 1997-2013, is fully understandable).

There is no need to be ashamed of liking this one.

*Don't laugh; Extreme (Gary Cherone, Nuno Bettencourt) and Mr. Big (Billy Sheehan, Paul Gilbert, Pat Torpey) were loaded with talent.
**They changed this to "Saudi Arabia" during the Empire Tour. Afghanistan doesn't quite flow, but you get the point in 2019.

 

[DanielSimpsonDay]

For @X-Hack

 

[typefitter]

YOU HAVE NOTHING TO BE ASHAMED OF CUT THE ****

Everyone knows Queensryche for "Silent Lucidity" and that's a too bad. Similar to Extreme ("More Than Words") and Mr. Big ("To Be With You"), the tune got them a lot of new fans but it also led many to toss away any notion of serious musicianship and craft.* Unlike Extreme and Mr. Big, Queensryche did not fit into a hair metal or **** rock bin, despite what their early promo photos would lead one to believe. The Warning and Rage for Order are rather experimental within the metal genre in production, time signatures and themes.

Mindcrime is where it really all came together. It is difficult to make a concept album set in reality without it being a re-telling of a familiar story (W.A.S.P's The Crimson Idol) or too theatrical (Savatage's Dead Winter Dead, which they parlayed into what Jon Oliva wanted them to be all along: The Trans-Siberian Orchestra). Damned if they didn't pull it off.

Mindcrime has themes of societal/structural greed, corruption and revolution interwoven with personal loneliness, loss, and addiction. Each song can stand on its own merit without the story and the themes are just as relevant today as they were in the late 80s. The album is widely considered to be a "no-skip" affair in which there are no clunkers or fillers.

Religion and sex are power plays
Manipulate the people for the money they pay
Selling skin, selling God
The numbers look the same on their credit cards

Politicians say no to drugs
While we can pay for wars in South America**

Fighting fire with empty words
While the banks get fat
And the poor stay poor
And the rich get rich
The cops get paid
To look away
As the one percent rules America

That excerpt, from "Spreading the Disease" could have been written and contain as much veracity today as it did 30 years ago.

You may be ashamed of liking a metal album (which is another rant for another time).

You may be ashamed of liking a Queensryche album (which, given their output from 1997-2013, is fully understandable).

There is no need to be ashamed of liking this one.

*Don't laugh; Extreme (Gary Cherone, Nuno Bettencourt) and Mr. Big (Billy Sheehan, Paul Gilbert, Pat Torpey) were loaded with talent.
**They changed this to "Saudi Arabia" during the Empire Tour. Afghanistan doesn't quite flow, but you get the point in 2019.

I love you the most.

 

[DanielSimpsonDay]

I love you the most.

The only things I feel strongly about are heavy metal and posting pictures on internet message boards.

This is home now.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

I wear my Rush fandom like a badge of honor. I take no offense to anyone who says they suck.

Agree with the former. Not sure I agree with the latter, especially when they try to counter with some bad excuses for bands and music in general.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

The 2011 Grammy-winning album “The Suburbs” by Arcade Fire should be included.