Favorite concept album? (1 Viewer)

[Dave Morton]

Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime

Rush - Hemisheres

 

[MartinTeller]

Two songs does not make a concept album.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Um, this isn't a tournament. Just a regular old poll!

I know. Weird, isn't it. A poll in "Polls." Go figger.

 

[Rain]

The Final Cut - Pink Floyd. Terribly underrated. :frowning:
And, yes, I like Sgt. Pepper too.

 

[george kaplan]

To what do you refer Martin? I trust you're not talking about Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. That is a concept album about a band that gives a concert. The fact that many of the songs between Sgt. Pepper and Sgt. Pepper reprise do not refer directly to Sgt. Pepper or his band doesn't mean it's not a concept album.

 

[MartinTeller]

That is a concept album about a band that gives a concert.

None of the other songs support that concept in any way. If I put "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)" at the beginning and end of Barry White's Greatest Hits, then it suddenly becomes a concept album about a band that gives a concert?

And "a band that gives a concert" is the thinnest "concept" you can possibly imagine.

 

[Rain]

I can see Martin's point to some degree here. It is a pretty loose "concept".

Martin's choice (a good album, too) fulfills the criteria of a "concept" album in a much more complete way, every song advancing the story.

 

[MartinTeller]

Other choices in this thread I really like:

The Wall

The Final Cut

Animals

Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd fan? Who, me??)

Quadrophenia

A Love Supreme (though I've never tried thinking of it as a concept album before)

I can't stand Tommy, for various reasons.

Here's some more I like:

David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (close second to Lamb Lies Down)

Kate Bush - Hounds of Love

The Frogs - It's Only Right and Natural

Parliament - Mothership Connection

Kraftwerk - Computer World

The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs

Negativland - Helter Stupid

Frank Zappa - Joe's Garage

 

[Ron-P]

Queensryche-Operation: Mindcrime
Peace Out~

 

[Jack Briggs]

Martin:

Perhaps you had to have been there, just as the album was being released and reading all the interviews Paul McCartney was giving at the time. Sgtr. Pepper was, in essence, his brainchild. And he stated repeatedly that his concept for the album was to pay homage to the old vaudevillian, ballroom entertainment shows of the 1920s. Thus, The Beatles would assume the persona of a "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," welcoming us to the "show," and wrapping things up with the reprise and offering the parting shot of the unforgettable "A Day in the Life." All the songs were intended as part of that show. Even the brief, less-than-a-second break between songs was new at that time, and all a part of the concept.

In short, you are arguing against the very statements of the album's chief creative force.

And you should also have seen the commentary in the rock and pop press at the time--everyone was bandying about this new term, "concept album," in their writings about Sgt. Pepper.

Hey, bro', I was there. It was one of the most memorable periods in which to live.

 

[MartinTeller]

Well, that may have been the intention, but it doesn't really come off that way today. At the very least, Paul should have let George in on the concept, because "Within You, Without You" doesn't strike me as particularly "vaudevillian".

If it was intended to be a concept album, then I suppose it's a reasonable choice... I maintain, however, that it does a piss-poor job of being a concept album.

 

[Rain]

Jack & George,

Let's not confuse things here. I don't think anyone is suggesting that Sgt. Pepper isn't a fantastic album, just that the "concept" is iffy.

 

[george kaplan]

I understand both sides of Sgt. Pepper. Here's my take. Not only is it a great album, it's a concept album, and not just a concept album, but the first concept album ever done. Does that mean it's as fully developed as a concept album as later ones? No. But it still qualifies.

What's interesting is that McCartney's original vision would have been much more of a fully defined concept album with more interludes, etc. But the other Beatles weren't as into it as much as he was. And obviously his songs fit into the whole concept better than most of the others, but even John got into it somewhat (e.g., Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite).

The Wright Brothers first plane wasn't as good as a 747, but it was still a plane, and without it we wouldn't have 747s.

 

[Rich Satch]

Dream Theater's Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From A Memory