Favorite Concept Album(s)

[Super Dave]

I've been looking into past topics, and I haven't been able to find one of these, so here we go.

What are some of your favorite concept albums?

Although I despise them, Dream Theater's "Scenes From A Memory" was pretty damn good, along with The Mars Volta's "De-Loused In The Comatorioum". however, the only concept album that has truly blown my mind, was Iron Maiden's "Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son". It's beyond words.

[sp2]

Pink Floyd - Animals

[KharBevNor]

Animals is actually my least favourite 'classic floyd' concept album.

Crotchduster - Big Fat Box of Shit
Ayreon - The Human Equation
Skyclad - The Answer Machine?
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon/The Wall (I am weighted towards duality because of my strong nostalgic affection for The Wall)
Sopor Aeternus - Dead Lovers Sarabande

That's a good top 5(ish). I love concept albums though, so listing any more would be silly.

[sp2]

Animals is actually my least favourite 'classic floyd' concept album.

Weird.  Wish You Were Here sort of loses me regularly...I feel like it can't keep a steady pace.  The Wall really just pissed me off....there was material for only on album and they stretched it to two so they could make that (crappy) movie.  Dark Side is okay, but highly overrated.  Animals, though, really just clicks with me.  I dunno, maybe I'm crazy.

Oh, and Final Cut was shit.

[KharBevNor]

I don't count 'Final Cut' in the 'Classic Floyd Concept albums'.

I dunno...Animals just totally loses me during 'Dogs'. Although I have to say 'Sheep' is one of my ten favourite Floyd songs.

[Kai]

I'm just going to use wikipedia's definition of a concept album:

"In a concept album, all songs contribute to a single overall theme or unified story."


The Residents - Animal Lover, Eskimo, Commercial Album, Mark of the Mole, The Tunes of Two Cities, Intermission, The Big Bubble, God in THree Persons, The King and Eye, Freak Show, Wormwood: Curious Stories from the Bible, Demons Dance Alone, The Third Reich N' Roll (how can you beat a concept album that compares popular music to Nazism?! You indie kids should eat this stuff up!)
Frank Zappa - Joe's Garage, Acts I, II, and III
The Mothers - Freak Out, We're Only in it for the Money
Queensryche - Operation: Mindcrime (Yes, I like myself some cheesy 80's prog rock/metal)
Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (That was a concept album, right?)
King Crimson - In The Court of the Crimson King, In the Wake of the Poisedon, Lizard, Islands (Each of them was based around a mythical element)
Jethro Tull - Aqualung
Zao - The Funeral of God


As much as I love concept albums, I seem to be severly lacking alot.

and Speaking of Animals; I've sure you (At least those of you who have attended high school sometime in the past year) have seen all these kids wearing the Pink Floyd shirts, and somethings been bugging me about one; Some kid I know has a shirt for Pink Floyd's Animals, yet the logo/design thing is that of the Division Bell. Bootleg? wtf?



EDITED to add in some stuff I missed.

[KharBevNor]

I think quite a few of Maidens 80's works could broadly be described as concept albums. I've always considered Powerslave to be one, though in my typically fashion I can't really explain what I know it to be about. Power, in a basic sense I suppose.

[Super Dave]

^^^^^^^^
Face it, 80's Maiden Kicked everyone's ass.

[Kai]

Was the entire album about Power, or just the song Powerslave (Which is basically that guy who is... a... slave to power. Way to be subtle, Iron Maiden!) I'm not exactly sure. Either way, it's a fucking awesome album.

[KharBevNor]

Well: Aces High portrays the honourable and glorious side of war, then 2 Minutes To Midnight portrays the far darker, nuclear side. Both the flying ace and the 'reasons for the carnage' have the same basic power, but how they use it is different. Flash Of The Blade is about the power the desire for revenge imparts, and The Duellists develops another sort of dual theme around that. Back In The Village is about the consequences of misusing power...the person who's perspective it takes was one of the 'Killers Breed' of 2 Minutes to Midnight. Powerslave is about the consequences of believing you have a power you don't (those of a god) and that 'the power of death' is stronger, and the Rime Of The Ancient Mariner, which they adapt, is a poem all about the power of nature and death.

So, that's how I see it anyway.

[Kai]

Also, I forgot an album.

Rush - 2112

How the fuck did I miss that one?


and that's a nice interpretation. Fits the album and makes sense.


Anyways, I think the concept album that has possibly made the most impact on me, story wise, is easily Zappa's Joe's Garage story, since it basically starts out with this kid who goes into rock music, and his life is turned to hell. and the Central Scrutinizer, who enforces all the laws that haven't been passed yet!

[KharBevNor]

Oh shit.

Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds!


OOOOH-LAAAAA

[Micolithe]

The Mountain Goats - All Hail West Texas

[loyalpeon]

i was about to say Tallahassee by the Mountain Goats hehe

out of curiosity, what is the common theme that you see running through All Hail West Texas?

Also:

Vama Veche - Am sa ma intorc barbat (probably the most complete concept album i know, it's a romanian band in case you were wondering)
and
NIN - The Downward Spiral

anyhoo

[La Creme]

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland (I still maintain that its a concept album)

Miles Davis - Aura

The Dandy Warhols - 13 Tales From Urban Bohemia

Emerson, Lake, and Palmer - Tarkus, Brain Salad Surgery

Eels - Electro Shock Blues, Blinking Lights and Other Revelations

Moody Blues - On The Threshold Of A Dream

Tom Waits - Alice, Blood Money

Mr. Bungle - California (I mantain that the entire CD is about Lucifer and the fall except for maybe Pink Cigarette and Golem II)

Michael Franti - Stay Human (<---- Best rap album ever, I swear)

The HIppos - Heads are Gonna Roll

GWAR - EVERY GODDAM ALBUM

Green Jelly - Cereal Killer Soundtrack

Gustav Holst - The Planets (Symphony)

Tenacious D - Tenacious D

The Sugarplastic - Will, Resin

Symphony X - V: The New Mythology Suite

I love concept albums. A lot.

[Super Dave]

GWAR - EVERY GODDAM ALBUM

GWAR FTW!

[Johnny C]

Pinkerton.

Also, I'm working on conclusive proof that Sloan's Pretty Together is, in fact, a concept album. Yeah. I'll let you guys read it when it's done.



(p.s. GWAR = RAWK spelled backwards and with a G instead of a K. Coincidence?)

[La Creme]

There's an episode of the Ska Parade Radio Show in which Gwar take over the Ska Parade headquarters and the Aquabats defeat them by rapping their name backwards (Raw G, Raw G, etc.) It is pretty much the meaning of 'wtf is going on zomg zomg'.

Anyways, I forgot: Chick Corea - Mad Hatter

[Johnny C]

If you can find an online excerpt from that radio show, I will pay you with nothing.

[La Creme]

I'll get it from my brother and make a thread of it tomorow, but I expect at least 13 nothing, or if you're feeling generous maybe 14 or 15.

Yeah, no worries man. It'll be up tomorow.

[Kai]

GWAR = God What's that Awful Racket?


also, I want that radio show!

[Micolithe]

out of curiosity, what is the common theme that you see running through All Hail West Texas?

As it says on in the cover art, "fourteen songs about seven people, two houses, a motorcycle, and a locked treatment facility for adolescent boys"

[soap]

some no ones mentioned that im fond of :

cursive's domestica
hawkwind - space ritual (yes it was live but it certainly has a conceptual theme)

[Sam]

Yeah, no worries man. It'll be up tomorow.

Engggghhhh.

[Merkava]

And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead - Source Tags & Codes
Cursive - The Ugly Organ
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
Modest Mouse - The Moon and Antarctica
The Dears - No Cities Left

[Hatebunny]

The Moody Blues - Every Good Boy Deserves favour
The Moody Blues - On the Threshold of a Dream
Nine Inch Nails - the Downward Spiral (I'd have said 'the fragile'...but that's not as coherent a concept)
Frank Zappa - Apostrophe <--The first 5 or 6 songs run right into eachother
Frank Zappa - Joes Garage(s)
Tweaker - the Attraction to All Things Uncertain
Children of the Monkey Machine - Septic Dreams (for some reason, I don't think the title has anything to do with the content...)
Sigur Ros - ()

[La Creme]

By golly gosh, isn't Threshold of a Dream just the greatest. I love it when the intro flows into that really Grateful-Deady guitar line. I think that may be the greatest crossover between tracks ever.

Which reminds me, I forgot: The Greatful Dead - Blues For Allah

[MilkmanDan]

Mr Lif - I, Phantom
Handsome Boy Modelling School - Both albums.

[KharBevNor]

hawkwind - space ritual (yes it was live but it certainly has a conceptual theme)

FOR THE WIN.

[ASturge]

Music From the Unrealized Film Script: A Dusk at Cubist Castle - Olivia Tremor Control

[La Creme]

The Arcade Fire - Funeral

How could I have possibly forgotten?!!!

[KharBevNor]

You were so bored by it you fell asleep!

Must be it...

[La Creme]

Eliteism... (dunh dunh DUNHHHHHHHHhhhh)

[ASturge]

Most of these aren't  really concept albums y'know.....

[KharBevNor]

All the ones I've mentioned are.

Concept albums don't have to be definitely narrative. Or even good!

Hell, I hear 'American Idiot' is apparently a concept album.

*shudders*

[ASturge]

*Also Shudders*

[Kai]

*shudders with the force of your shudders and a goat's combined*


And all of the ones I listed are definatly concept albums.

[Jooooosh]

Pink Floyds Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall kick any other concept albums ass, and basically kick the ass of any other albums.

[jeffmangum]

i registered just to say

Mount Eerie by The Microphones

it may not be the best concept album ever made but my appreciation for phil elverum is so great that i could not bear to see it go unmentioned.

its still really freaking good though.

[Kai]

Pink Floyds Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall kick any other concept albums ass, and basically kick the ass of any other albums.

You know Joe's Garage is way better than anything Pink Floyd ever did. Come on. Admit it. Just do it. In fact, I can pretty much vouch that any concept album (or album, for that matter) that Zappa/The Mothers did is better than Pink Floyd.. but whatever.


Also, after reading a whole bunch on Norse Mythology, a concept album featuring it would be totally awesome. Khar, cough some up, I'm sure you have some.

[Merkava]

All the ones I've mentioned are.

Concept albums don't have to be definitely narrative. Or even good!

Hell, I hear 'American Idiot' is apparently a concept album.

*shudders*

For a second, I was like: "Yeah, he's right! The Arcade Fire IS boring", but then this. Meh. 1 out of 2 is ok, and most people hate AI.

[Schmendrick]

I completely agree with Pink Floyd- The Final Cut, every song on it is gold ... although I'm not a huge fan of 'not now john'.

[Merkava]

I just got Sufjan Steven's latest, and now Illinoise is on the list. Amazing piece of work.

[KharBevNor]

Also, after reading a whole bunch on Norse Mythology, a concept album featuring it would be totally awesome. Khar, cough some up, I'm sure you have some.

Holy shit. How the hell could I forget 'Blood on Ice' by Bathory? It's pretty much just a musical telling of a saga that Quorthon (who did everything in Bathory apart from drums) wrote himself from the old mythological conventions. I love the shit out of it. Also:

Black Sabbath - Tyr (easily the crappest album they ever made)
Burzum - Balder's Dod (All Burzum albums are arguably conceptual in an esoteric way. This album is basically based off the story of the murder of Baldur by Loki. It's entirely instrumental though)
Arguably all of Finntroll's albums. Though they're more based off the settings of Norse mythology, and they all (apart from Visor Om Slutet) have one concept: Trolls beating the crap out of Christians.

I'm sure there's more. Countless songs as well, of course.

[Johnny C]

There is a difference between concept albums and regular albums.

A concept album, such as Sufjan Stevens' Come On Feel The Illinoise, Pink Floyd's The Wall, either Mars Volta album or a crapload of albums involving Frank Zappa, is strongly centred or driven by one theme or storyline, or it has a loose hold on one or both of those and also has a narrative arc. Pinkerton, for example, is very loosely based on "Mme. Butterfly," but it qualifies because it also has a narrative arc.

() is not a concept album; though some "lyrics" are repeated, they mean literally nothing to anybody except the listener (so I guess it could be a concept album if you really really wanted it to be). No Cities Left isn't one either. Good tries, though.

Funeral is the only one I'm not really certain about; the theme that it reportedly has is death, but although death does crop up in the songs on occasion I don't think it's fair to call it a concept album based on a few references. We don't call AC/DC albums concept albums, despite the fact that most songs carry some allusion to

a) how hard AC/DC rocks
b) how much Bon Scott / Brian Johnson loves womenfolk
c) some combination of the two


Come to think of it, we should maybe base the criteria as "having a stronger concept or argument for concept than the average AC/DC album."

[kikanjuuneko]

Everyone else is going to kill me, I'm sure, but as far as theme goes, I thought Boys Night Out's newly released 'Trainwreck' was kind of cool. Then again, I am a sucker for all concept albums.

[Johnny C]

The concept for Trainwreck is actually really, really cool.

[KharBevNor]

What is it's concept?

[Johnny C]

Best explanation I can find is here.

For starters, Trainwreck opts for more melodic pop-rock injected with post-hardcore flourishes and dream pop overtones as the vehicle for the conceptual narrative surrounding it, but with a fluid number of tempo, pace, and dynamic changes through and through. Written by guitarist Jeff Davis, each of the 12 tracks follow the story of The Patient, our protagonist who, after murdering his wife in his sleep, seeks to create the song stuck in his mind created by medication, prescribed in the first place to fill the "holes" and imminent loneliness following the murder. Most bands attempting this sort of musical novella would tend to rely on overblown instrumentals or overly vague narration, while Boys Night Out are mostly to the point, simple enough lyrically to clue the listener as to what's going on while at least keeping some open interpretation to it. "Introducing" finds The Doctor, the one other directly notable character in the tale, recording notes about The Patient following one of a few hospital releases granted to him, but all on top of delicate instrumentation being composed. Upon "Dreaming," the second track, The Patient takes over the story. From there, without giving too much away, we follow his attempts at recreating the aforementioned song save for a final narration from The Doctor in "Dying."

[Quincy Hoist]

Afghan Whigs - Gentlemen + Black Love

I guess Gentlemen may fall into a grey area as to if it be a full fledged concept album, but I always saw it as such.

MF Grimm - The Downfall of Ibliys