Favorite Concept Album?

[crimson_713]

Wikipedia defines a concept album as "an album that is 'unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical.'" Examples: Alice Cooper's "Killer" (1971), Pink Floyd's "The Wall," and Opeth's "Still Life." What is your absolute favorite concept album?

Mine is a tie between Opeth's "My Arms, Your Hearse" and "Ghost Reveries," which is actually debated to be a concept album. It started out that way, and the band scrapped the idea, but the lyrics are tied by a unifying theme and there still seems to be an underlying story hidden in the lyrics.

[Bigduggieface]

Good idea for a thread, Crimson. I'm glad that you included a definition, but it may still be difficult to quantify what qualifies as a 'concept album' from what does not.

I'm a Frank Zappa fanatic. His artistic philosophy of "conceptual continuity" runs not only within individual albums, but across his whole discography (over 60 albums).

Zappa's "Joe's Garage" is a classic example of one of his many concept albums. Also include FZ's "200 Motels", "Thing Fish" and arguably "You Are What You Is" and "We're Only In It For The Money".

Jethro Tull's "Thick As A Brick" is a masterpiece of its day (1972).

Pink Floyd's "The Wall" is great, but I may prefer "Animals" slightly more.

George Clinton and Parliament certainly had a clear thread running through most of their albums. The ongoing struggles of Dr. Funkenstein and the Thumpasorus people from the Mothership battling Sir Nose D'VoidofFunk. Great stuff.

Do symphonies and ballets qualify as 'conceptual' in this case? If so, add Berlioz' "Symphonie Fantastique" and Stravinsky's "The Rite Of Spring" to the list, respectively. Many reoccurring and related themes in epic proportion.

I'm drawn to the so-called concept album because they are usually created by credible artists. The musically sub-standard artists are generally incapable of creating an entire album's worth of music with a common thread that runs throughout.

[recordingDR]

OK Computer, if it counts. But then, OK Computer is the best in every category it counts for.

[Audio~Geek]

Cradle Of Filth - Damnation and a day
Great writing and production, so cool to hear a real 80 piece orchestra on heavy stuff.
TBH thats the only one I can think of at the moment LOL.

[garageband]

"Wish You Were Here" Pink Floyd
"Welcome to the Pleasuredome" Frankie Goes to Hollywood (most of it is "concepty")
"Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks" Richard Strauss (long tone poems count?)
"Die Zauberflote" W. A. Mozart (operas count?)
"2112" Rush (some things you never get over)

[BatPat]

YES - Tales from topographic oceans.
Complex and at times plain weird. It took me a couple of years to somehow understand this album. I'll have to spend the rest of my life to really understand it. I must admit that I would have given up long ago if it weren't for Steve Howe. To me he's 80% of YES. Excellent playing.

[crimson_713]

Originally Posted by Bigduggieface

Do symphonies and ballets qualify as 'conceptual' in this case? If so, add Berlioz' "Symphonie Fantastique" and Stravinsky's "The Rite Of Spring" to the list, respectively. Many reoccurring and related themes in epic proportion.

I would consider a lot of classical music to be concept albums.

Originally Posted by Audio~Geek

Cradle Of Filth - Damnation and a day
Great writing and production, so cool to hear a real 80 piece orchestra on heavy stuff.
TBH thats the only one I can think of at the moment LOL.

Ugh...Opeth Pwns CoF...

Still Life and My Arms, Your Hearse totally blow Damnation and a Day out of the water.


Oh, I have another one to add to the list: Fear of a Blank Planet by Porcupine Tree. If you don't know that band, go find them. They're like Rush for my generation, but weirder. It's hard to explain.

[TonyB]

Rush 2112

[gs1800]

Absolutely agree...

Rush - 2112

Pink Floyd - Animals

And one of my top 10 records.. lamb lies down on broadway, Genesis

[Metaltyme]

Ok,

I'm not necessarily a Dream Theater nut, per se (big fan though ), but I have to mention the brilliance what is "Metropolis II - Scenes From A Memory." Many fans refer to that album as Dream Theater's last masterpiece to incorporate the original progressive writing-style reminiscent of "Images and Words" & "Awake," the albums that spawned generations of hell-bent, diehard fans. The drums, guitars, (infamous) keyboards, and bass sections of the entire album featured very acrobatic, yet musical, ventures that some (including myself) would call definitive Dream Theater. The story behind it was pretty cool (love triangle, murder/suicide mystery concept). The production was/is quite phenominal to my ears. There's never a bit of graininess or muddiness to any of the tracks, even when the whole band gets busy-as-hell in some of their more blistering sections. It contains some of the most precise performances that I've ever heard in this genre...It has happy stuff, sad stuff, dark/evil stuff, rockin' stuff, and everything else in between (including a bit of gospel-style guest singing to boot!). Overall, it's a pretty incredible album that I strongly recommend to anyone who hasn't already checked it out already that can appreciate strong songwriting, virtuostic performances, and overall lasting appeal.

My 2 cents anyway...
...peace,