Concept Albums
 

Got a favorite? Will concept album survive the iTunes age where most buy just a song at a time?

One of my personal favorite concept albums...

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Great country rock - great Americana!

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Jackson Browne's the dead guy on the left and J.D. Souther on the right. I always liked Meat Loaf's Bat Out Of Hell and Marvin Gaye's What's Goin' On as 2 great concept albums.

wrong dead guy on left is bernie leadon

Favorite concept album:
Marillion's Misplaced Childhood

from wikipedia "The story has thematic elements of lost love, sudden success, acceptance, and lost childhood, along with an upbeat ending."

I will have to check that one out - never even heard of the band.

The Wall.

Sgt Pepper


Breakfast in America, Crime of the Century_Supertramp

Blood on the Tracks, John Wesley Harding _Dylan

Rust Never Sleeps_Neil Young

Teatro_Willie Nelson

The Ghost of Tom Joad_Springsteen

Tommy, Quadrophenia_The What

Rolling Stones.. Beggars Banquet
Neil Young...Tonights The Night
The The...The The
Dylan..Highway 61
The Band..Music From Big Pink
U2..Zootopia
Traffic....Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys
Jimi Hendrix...Electric Lady Land
The Clash..Combat Rock
Jefferson Airplane..Volunteers
Bowie..Alladin Sane

Wow - quite a few I didn't know.

Tommy also comes to mind.

Quadrophenia and Tommy are my top two rock operas . . . in fact, I've had 'Is it in my head? rolling through my brain all morning . . . er, day . . . I've been up for a long time. Really.

Sniff the Glove_Spinal Tap

"Tales of mystery & Imagination" - E.A. Poe stories adapted by Alan Parsons

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Jeff Wayne's "War of the Worlds"

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And.....Zappa's 200 Motels (I still have an original 7" reel-to-reel of this one)...

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Look further left, just to the left of Bernie Leadon

Tabs . . . that disguise you wear - the bitter curmudgeon - comes unraveled every time there's a music or movie thread. I postulate that you are a sensitive, caring individual who loves art and all things artistic. I picture you gazing at Picasso's "Guernica" and softly weeping to yourself - not only for the cruelty depicted but for the beauty as well.

Or not.

"White City: A Novel" was also by Townshend. IIRC at the time, he said he didn't think he could get away with another opera, so he wrote a novel. Lots of good songs there for the uninitiated.

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blows against the empire jefferson starship 1970

Every man has a soul. It is just a matter of how far you want to plumb its depths, not many go all the way.

Elton John..Madman Across the Water...is one I didn't list.

Rush 2112

And no one has mentioned Jethro Tull? ...Stand Up, Thick as a Brick, Aqualung etc.

Sometimes, I find myself cruising thru my old vinyl just to enjoy the cover art...

CD's reduced that..now Itunes is eliminating it...sad.

So regarding iTunes, are deeper cuts and "concept" albums dead?

One door closes, others open. Who knows what the next generation of creatives will bring?

How exactly are you defining "concept album"?

iTunes didn't kill the "album." Music is cyclical, and styles will come and go. Remember that the first "concept albums" were call symphonies back in the 17th-18th century ;)

If you look at recorded music, the "single" came first, and has driven most of the industry.

Interesting to note . . .

That the majority of the concept albums named above were recorded when the artists (and the listeners/buyers) had a tendency to abuse illicit substances . . .

Might there be a link?

Ian

Operation: Mindcrime

That's cause that's all that would fit on the cylinder. :D

Ian

just caught that sorry. my bad

While the single may have come first and has driven the industry, for ME, the "art" mostly came with the long laying format. I allowed for a larger canvas - or more canvases - so the artist could do something other than what appeals to the most (pop).

No offense, but the market doesn't care much about you ;)

You asked if iTunes/etc has/will kill the album. I would argue that it doesn't make a difference. Most of the money has/will be made on single tracks. For those artists that want to stretch out, they now have the most latitude *ever* wrt making and distributing music. If I wanted to do a 12 hour concept "album" right now, I could easily record it (and collaborate in real-time with musicians around the world), then distribute it globally online, with whatever associated "album art" (photos, videos, multimedia, etc) that I want. I would argue that digital has in fact given artists ultimate flexibility for realizing their vision.

The only real question is who/where is the vision, and who wants to listen...

There's no technical reason why an album cannot be treated as a single 1 hour long track priced at $20. If the demand is there. If the demand isn't there, then the concept album may not deserve to be treated as such. Most were a couple of good songs with abunch of filler anyway.

Love a good concept album, some of the best.
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Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime Killer album themes taken strongly from Orwells 1984 in sort of a big brother-esque dystopia where a man is used and framed for killing the only women he loves

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W.A.S.P. - Crimson Idol The story of Jonathon Steele just an amazing story, Blackie Lawless is an incredible story teller. Really emotional story that deals with loss and that old saying of be careful what you wish for. A son who feels invisible to a father who blames him for his brothers death. Runs away and tries to make it in the music industry. It's also a commentary on the corporate music industry as a whole.

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Savatage - Streets The story of a drug dealer in NYC who becomes a rockstar and his fall from grace then return to the spotlight.

Didn't Sgt. Pepper do that?

The REAL issue is that most bands/recording artists can't/won't put out something that is as good as some of the albums mentioned here. There are maybe 2 or 3 songs on a current album that are worth your time. Take Led Zeppelin 4 (Zoso) for example. Name a bad song on that album. Go ahead, try.

The content today sucks by comparison.

Oh... since I mentioned Led Zep, where does "Raising Sand" fall as far as a concept album?

Does mixing genres count?

one of my favorite books.......it it worth the search to give it a listen?








"NO!".....they might be giants.......they even won a grammy for it :D

yeah.. i was gonna say 2112.. hemispheres.. the wall..

then i saw mindcrime, must have listened to that most of 88.. rage for order and warning kicked ass also..

Come on guys!

Dark Side of the Moon?
Wish You Were Here?
Animals?
The Wall?

Probably four of the greatest concept albums ever.

And NIN and Tool pretty much exclusively do concept albums.

"The idea all along had been to record something unified and continuous, like a novel or film-a scapbook, rather, since the theme originally was the Beatles' own Liverpool childhood...'It (Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band) was Paul's number' George Martin says, 'Just an ordinary song, not particular brilliant as songs go. When we'd finishd it, Paul said, 'Why don't we make the whole album as though the Pepper Band really existed, as though Sargeant Pepper was doing the record. We can dub in effects and things.' From that moment on, it was as if Pepper had a life of its own.'..."It (the album cover) was further unique in opening out like a book, and in having the song lyrics printed in full on the back. Inside with the record was as sheet of cut-out novelties, figments of the Beatles. own comic-book childhood transformed to the last, or next, word in POP Art-a Sergeant Pepper picture card, a paper mustache, two badges and a set of NCO's stripes." 'SHOUT! The Beatles In Their Generation by Phillip Norman, p 288; p 291.

Incidentally, I do have an original Sgt. Pepper album set described above.