OT: Favorite Concept Albums - Any Genre

[formerlurker]

Kiss Faces. Still have all 4 original vinyls somewhere.

Man of 1,000 Faces on Gene's record was my 11yo jam, good times.

 

[Bigboote]

I love concept albums. First up:
Band: Ayreon
Album: Universal Migrator
The last human alive was on Mars when the Earth blew itself up. He goes into a device called the Dream Sequencer, which sends his mind back in time; each song is a slice in time.

 

[Bigboote]

Band: Dark Sarah
Album: Behind the black veil
A woman is jilted at the altar and gradually all goodness disappears from her.

 

[Aluminny69]

Not really a concept album in my opinion, songs aren’t connected really- most could occur on any album

Don't tell that to Billy Shears!

But seriously, from WIKI:

The album was loosely conceptualised as a performance by the fictional Sgt. Pepper band, an idea that was conceived after recording the title track. A key work of British psychedelia, it incorporates a range of stylistic influences, including vaudeville, circus, music hall, avant-garde, and Western and Indian classical music.

Sgt. Pepper is regarded by musicologists as an early concept album that advanced the roles of sound composition, extended form, psychedelic imagery, record sleeves, and the producer in popular music. The album had an immediate cross-generational impact and was associated with numerous touchstones of the era's youth culture, such as fashion, drugs, mysticism, and a sense of optimism and empowerment. It is considered one of the first art rock LPs, a progenitor to progressive rock, and the start of the album era. In 1968, it won four Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, the first rock LP to receive this honour;

In November, during his and Evans' return flight from Kenya, McCartney had an idea for a song that eventually formed the impetus of the Sgt. Pepper concept.[14] His idea involved an Edwardian-era military band, for which Evans invented a name in the style of contemporary San Francisco-based groups such as Big Brother and the Holding Company and Quicksilver Messenger Service.[29][nb 2] In February 1967, McCartney suggested that the new album should represent a performance by the fictional band.[31] This alter ego group would give them the freedom to experiment musically by releasing them from their image as Beatles.[32] Martin recalled that the concept was not discussed at the start of the sessions,[33] but it subsequently gave the album "a life of its own"

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band​

 

[UHF]

Group = Jethro Tull.
Concept Album = Thick as a Brick.
Released = 1972.

43 minute song.

"Ian Anderson meant for the album to be a send up of rock pretentiousness, critics, and the band itself. The album cover claimed, outrageously enough, that the lyrics had been written by an eight year old boy, Gerald Bostock, and set to music by the band."

 

[UHF]

Group = Pink Floyd.
Concept Album = Wish You Were Here.
Released = September 12, 1975.

Two parts of the album. (1) Lament for their former band mate Syd Barrett. (2) Cold inhuman aspect of the music business.

 

[Scud49]

Beatles - Rubber Soul. This was their first concept album, they began to veer away from primarily boy-girl love songs to exploring new studio instrumentation and arrangements. I had a copy as a kid, and played it relentlessly:

 

[UHF]

Group = Genesis.
Concept Album = The Lamb Lies Down.
Released = 1974.


Double album. Peter Gabriel's last with Genesis.

“I’m not sure if the story made much sense to most people, but it did mean something to me, in essence, it was about an awakening. He [Rael] was on a journey to find himself, in a seductive, magical place." - Peter Gabriel.

 

[UHF]

Band = Alan Parsons Project.
Concept Album = I Robot.
Released = June 1, 1977.


"Originally was intended to relate to Isaac Asimov’s classic story ‘I, Robot’, but as Asimov had sold the rights some years previously, it was adapted to a more general theme of human versus artificial intelligence."

 

[Centerstream]

Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman

 

[visitingcock]

Theme Song above:

Songs of this Outlaw Opera were:
Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Time of the Preacher"	Willie Nelson	2:26
2.	"I Couldn't Believe It Was True"	Eddy Arnold, Wally Fowler	1:32
3.	"Time of the Preacher Theme"	Nelson	1:13
4.	"Blue Rock Montana" / "Red Headed Stranger" (medley)	Nelson / Carl Stutz, Edith Lindeman	1:36
5.	"Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain"	Fred Rose	2:18
6.	"Red Headed Stranger"	Carl Stutz, Lindeman	4:00
7.	"Time of the Preacher Theme"	Nelson	0:25
8.	"Just As I Am"	Charlotte Elliott, William B. Bradbury	1:45

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Denver"	Nelson	0:53
2.	"O'er the Waves"	Juventino Rosas, arranged by Willie Nelson	0:47
3.	"Down Yonder" (played by Bobbie Nelson)	L. Wolfe Gilbert	1:56
4.	"Can I Sleep in Your Arms"	Hank Cochran	5:24
5.	"Remember Me (When the Candle Lights Are Gleaming)"	Scotty Wiseman	2:52
6.	"Hands on the Wheel"	Bill Callery	4:22
7.	"Bandera"	Nelson	2:19

 

[Conndog]

Don't tell that to Billy Shears!

But seriously, from WIKI:

The album was loosely conceptualised as a performance by the fictional Sgt. Pepper band, an idea that was conceived after recording the title track. A key work of British psychedelia, it incorporates a range of stylistic influences, including vaudeville, circus, music hall, avant-garde, and Western and Indian classical music.

Sgt. Pepper is regarded by musicologists as an early concept album that advanced the roles of sound composition, extended form, psychedelic imagery, record sleeves, and the producer in popular music. The album had an immediate cross-generational impact and was associated with numerous touchstones of the era's youth culture, such as fashion, drugs, mysticism, and a sense of optimism and empowerment. It is considered one of the first art rock LPs, a progenitor to progressive rock, and the start of the album era. In 1968, it won four Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, the first rock LP to receive this honour;

In November, during his and Evans' return flight from Kenya, McCartney had an idea for a song that eventually formed the impetus of the Sgt. Pepper concept.[14] His idea involved an Edwardian-era military band, for which Evans invented a name in the style of contemporary San Francisco-based groups such as Big Brother and the Holding Company and Quicksilver Messenger Service.[29][nb 2] In February 1967, McCartney suggested that the new album should represent a performance by the fictional band.[31] This alter ego group would give them the freedom to experiment musically by releasing them from their image as Beatles.[32] Martin recalled that the concept was not discussed at the start of the sessions,[33] but it subsequently gave the album "a life of its own"

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band​

Eh, what do they know?

 

[Ozimoto]

Rush had several.

Farewell to Kings would be my favorite.

Another Jethro Tull concept album was "Too Old to Rock and Roll, Too Young to Die."

 

[TerpWomenFan]

 

[TerpWomenFan]

 

[Bigboote]

Freak Out! by the Mothers was one of the first concept albums and one of the first double albums. I've been listening to it for almost 50 years and still every time I hear it I like it more. In fact, I'm gonna go down to the wood shop and listen to it as soon as I'm done typing. It features songs in so many different styles, from doo-wop to avant-garde. Here's one that has the Mothers' almost omnipresent tuned percussion (marimba? vibes?) and also features a kazoo.

 

[Bigboote]

Band = Queensrÿche.
Concept Album = Operation Mindcrime.
Genre = Progressive Metal.
Released = May 3, 1988.

I hadn't thought of this album in years till a month or so visiting my wife's brother-in-law and had a metal playlist on that featured a song from it. I had no idea they'd done a followup to it 20 years later.

 

[Slipperman]

Fates Warning
A Pleasant Shade of Gray
Progressive Metal

 

[Slipperman]

Rush
2112
Progressive Rock

 

[cancontent]

I hadn't thought of this album in years till a month or so visiting my wife's brother-in-law and had a metal playlist on that featured a song from it. I had no idea they'd done a followup to it 20 years later.

They did? What's the name of the album?

 

[Bigboote]

They did? What's the name of the album?

Operation Mindcrime II. Released in 2006. Haven’t listened to it yet.

 

[Bricklayer]

man oh man - those mentioning wakeman/who/zappa/rush/genesis/tull - we gotta get together for a listening session some day...
might i suggest a couple more:
pink floyd - dark side of the moon
spock's beard - snow

 

[Slipperman]

IQ
Subterranea
Neo-prog

 

[Waquoit]

Group = Jethro Tull.
Concept Album = Thick as a Brick.
Released = 1972.

43 minute song.

"Ian Anderson meant for the album to be a send up of rock pretentiousness, critics, and the band itself. The album cover claimed, outrageously enough, that the lyrics had been written by an eight year old boy, Gerald Bostock, and set to music by the band."

I think this still holds up. I listened to it during a walk not too long ago.

 

[Bigboote]

This is the first album of a trilogy, although it’s the middle on in terms of the story. Basically, a woman becomes the goddess of purgatory. The singer/composer has a great voice