Concept Albums (1 Viewer)

[John Wes]

Firesign Theater...Don't Smash that Dwarf, Hand me the Pliers...

Porrrgie....tire biter...he's a spy and a girl delighter...

 

[Jeff Kohn]

My tastes tend towards prog/power metal, genres in which story-based concept albums are pretty common. Some of my favorites:

Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime
Dream Theater - Scenes from a Memory
Superior - Ultima Ratio (reminiscent of Mindcrime IMHO)
Zero Hour - The Towers of Averice
Blind Guardian - Nightfall in Middle Earth (an acquired taste, but also a masterpiece)
Pain of Salvation - One Hour by the Concrete Lake
Symphony X - V (The New Mythology Suite)

I could name lots of others, some good, some not-so-good, most of them with fairly cheesy fantasy-based stories.

 

[Jim_F]

Stop singing and do your homework!

How could I forget Joe's Garage? sheesh! Not to mention We're Only in it for the Money.

Harry Nilsson also had a soundtrack album ("Son of Dracula") that originally came with a cool "Bite it!" iron on sheet. (I ruined mine, either it was too old or I was too inept) There is supposedly a Japanese CD.

 

[Andrew 'Ange Hamm' Hamm]

King's X - Gretchen Goes to Nebraska
Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Pete Townshend - White City, The Iron Man, Psychoderelict

And how could I have forgotten Extreme's excellent III Sides to Every Story?

 

[Michael Hall]

Roger Waters' The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking was a concept album as well. The outline for this album was actually written concurrently with PF's The Wall. Waters took both "stories" to Gilmour, Mason, and Wright to pick which one to write and record. The other Floyd guys picked The Wall , which went on to be my favorite album of all time. Waters eventually recorded TPACOH as his first (?) solo album.

If I'm not mistaken, Floyd's The Final Cut was a concept piece as well. It's been so long since I've listened to it though that I could be mistaken.

 

[Jeremiah]

Electric Ladyland by Jimi Hendrix is another concept album; I also think his Axis:Bold As Love is one also. The album is just about Experiencing Jimi Hendrix and the Electric World he creates for you. So it doesn't have a political point like a Pink Floyd album does but it is quite deep nonetheless.

 

[Will_B]

Stuart Davis Bright Apocalypse

 

[Will_B]

And Kate Bush's Hounds of Love is one too, isn't it (or was it a different Kate Bush one?)

 

[Mike Broadman]

King's X - Gretchen Goes to Nebraska

Really? I guess I should go read the lyrics.

 

[Mark All]

Badly Drawn Boy - The Hour of Bewilderbeast

Great music about the beginning and end of a relationship. I liked the title of track 14 too.

 

[Ben_wood]

Yes - "Tales From Topographic Oceans". In fact, most Yes albums

 

[Jim_C]

Glass Hammer (also an acquired taste):

Perelandra
Chronometree
On to Evermore
The Middle Earth Album
Lex Rex

I'll second Blind Guardian-Nightfall in Middle Earth, an excellent album.

David Bowie-Ziggy Stardust
Rush-A Farewell to Kings/Hemispheres. These aren't two complete concept albums but one concept stretched over parts of two albums. It starts with Cygnus X-1 on Farewell to Kings and continues with Cygnus X-1, Book II on Hemispheres

Most of the ones I know are already listed above.

 

[Curtis Lotter]

Another freat Zappa concept album is Joe's Garage, which is a musical powerhouse. Probably my favorite concept album of all time, though Scenes From A Memory by Dream Theater is a close second.

Joe's Garage is another favorite of mine, I listened to Act 1 for years before I knew about Acts 2 and 3.

- he used to cut the grass... he was a very nice boy...