# Best concept album ever? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 4, 2003, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-album-ever/172991 "2003-05-04T08:17:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![HelloKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecccb3/32.png) [@HelloKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelloKitty)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-album-ever/172991/21 "2003-05-04T21:15:03Z")
I’ve always been partial to **2112** by Rush. **Moving Pictures** also seemed to be a concept album to me. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-album-ever/172991/22 "2003-05-04T21:38:04Z")
I’m partial to [Ogdens Nut Gone Flake](http://www.makingtime.co.uk/rfr/ogdens.htm) by the Small Faces, although it’s a concept side rather than an a concept album. It tells the story of Happiness Stan, who goes looking for the other half of the moon, aided by an enormous fly. This is 60’s psychedlia at its finest! ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-album-ever/172991/23 "2003-05-04T22:13:48Z")
No mention of Husker Du’s **Zen Arcade**? In my opinion, it’s probably the best concept album ever. It sticks to its story (unlike, say, **Sgt. Pepper’s** ), it’s well-thought out, and not only are the songs great, but they work equally well as part of the concept and as individual songs. It’s even more amazing given the circumstances–alternating songs by two different writers, making it a double album, and being recorded what was viewed by many as a “hardcore punk” band (although far more melodic and intelligent). ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-album-ever/172991/24 "2003-05-05T04:34:40Z")
I’d second **Genesis** ’s _The Lamb Lies down on Broadway_. Fabulous album. ---
**Author:** ![Gr8Kat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gr8kat/32/18668_2.png) [@Gr8Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gr8Kat)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-album-ever/172991/25 "2003-05-05T04:58:57Z")
_Operation: Mindcrime_ is… so… awesome. **Video Mindcrime** was a let-down. _Tommy_ is also awesome. **Tommy** the movie is… interesting. I guess, as with many good books, what you see in your head is better than what others throw up on the screen. ---
**Author:** ![Nightime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Nightime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightime)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-album-ever/172991/26 "2003-05-05T05:26:32Z")
_In the Aeroplane Over the Sea_ and _On Avery Island_, both by Neutral Milk Hotel. Two of the best albums ever, not just concept albums. Also, _Ziggy Stardust_ deserves a mention. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-album-ever/172991/27 "2003-05-05T06:00:06Z")
The original rock opera **The Pretty Things** _S. F. Sorrow_ from 1968. Sadly my vinyl version is gone but I must find a CD. A nice review of the album in [Stylus](http://www.stylusmagazine.com/musicreviews/the_pretty_things-sf_sorrow.shtml) for those who haven’t heard of it. ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-album-ever/172991/28 "2003-05-05T06:17:58Z")
**The Rutles’** eponymous album, the “soundtrack” for the excellent _All You Need Is Cash_. And I’ll second the Kinks albums that were mentioned. I don’t think Ray Davies will _ever_ get his due as a songwriter. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-album-ever/172991/29 "2003-05-05T12:06:51Z")
The original \*\* Evita \*\* with Julie Covington. It has never been surpassed and remains my favorite recording of an ALW show. Also the brown cover \*\* Jesus Christ Superstar \*\*. What that recording started. ---
**Author:** ![Deptford](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Deptford](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deptford)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-album-ever/172991/30 "2003-05-05T12:41:23Z")
As soon as i saw the thread title i thought i’d rush in to expand upon the genius which is _Operation: Mindcrime_ expecting blank looks and crys of Operation what?. I’m glad to see it’s actually so well known, bloody good album. ---
**Author:** ![ignatius\_reilly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/db5fbb/32.png) [@ignatius\_reilly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ignatius_reilly)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-album-ever/172991/31 "2003-05-05T14:21:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Daoloth \* > \*\*_Southern Rock Opera_ by Drive-by Truckers is pretty good. \*\* **Daoloth** , you are da man. “Zip City, it’s a good thing that they built a wall around you…” I also have to chime in with _The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner_ by Ben Folds Five. ---
**Author:** ![Daoloth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/82dd89/32.png) [@Daoloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daoloth)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-album-ever/172991/32 "2003-05-05T19:52:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ignatius\_reilly \* > \*\ ***Daoloth** , you are da man. “Zip City, it’s a good thing that they built a wall around you…” > \*\* Presicely. You know, wouldn’t it be to fascinating for someone to create a concept album based upon _A Confederacy of Dunces_? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-album-ever/172991/33 "2003-05-05T20:21:06Z")
[“Dispepsi” – variously spelled in anagrams for legal reasons in the packaging, however] by Negativland. Fantastic concept and packaging, marred by mediocre original song/parodies. The whole thing is a cultural deconstuction of the products and marketing campaigns of Coca-Cola and Pepsi (although the cover art is a scrambling of Pepsi), using advertising pastiches, corporate info, and original songs/parodies. The back cover art is a redoing of the nutritional content chart & info; the CD itself is printed like a giant can top; and the first sound on the album is the “ssppllittttzzzzzzz” sound of opening up a can. This wins my vote for “Best Concept Album – Packaging”. Too bad the music basically sucks CO2 vapor. “Ssppllitttzzzz,” indeed. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-album-ever/172991/34 "2003-05-05T20:43:36Z")
And some honorable mentions: concept _bands_: The Dukes of Stratosphear (actually, XTC recording as a long-lost '60’s psychedelic band, with appropriate disguises, costumes, and _nommes de plume_) – one album and one EP, since collected on one CD, _Chips from the Chocolate Fireball – An Anthology_. Terrific pastiches of that era, and it’s fun to spot the influences. The Squirrel Nut Zippers – the 90’s band that sounded like a '20’s hot jazz combo. Combustible Edison – Another '90’s band that sounds like something from another time. I’ve only heard one of their albums, but it sounded like an homage to '50’s and '60’s “Lounge/Exotica,” with maybe a dash of “Space Age”. Perhaps someone more familiar with them can elaborate? * * * I’m just hoping someone will explain exactly what George Clinton & Parliament/Funkadelic and Sun Ra were all about… surely these were also concept bands, which may have put out concept albums? Something about a Mothership, and an ancient-Egypt theme [respectively]…? ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-album-ever/172991/35 "2003-05-05T21:30:06Z")
Yes-Fragile Rush-2112 Pink Floyd-Dark Side of the Moon ---
**Author:** ![Quack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e99b99/32.png) [@Quack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quack)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-album-ever/172991/36 "2003-05-05T22:33:09Z")
Pink Floyd’s _The Wall_ owns all others. And so far it is the only one mentioned here that has had a good movie come out of it. ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2003, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-album-ever/172991/37 "2003-05-06T01:04:50Z")
If any Floyd album is worthy of best concept album The Final Cut is head and shoulders above the Wall and DSotM ---
**Author:** ![RexDart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b77776/32.png) [@RexDart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RexDart)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2003, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-album-ever/172991/38 "2003-05-06T01:51:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BurnMeUp \* > \*\*If any Floyd album is worthy of best concept album The Final Cut is head and shoulders above the Wall and DSotM \*\* I thought about mentioning _The Final Cut_, and it’s very good, but it is the album that broke up Pink Floyd. It represented a complete takeover of the band by Roger Waters, which created resentment and helped along the band’s dissolution. But then, you could say the exact same things about Peter Gabriel’s role in breaking up Genesis with _The Lamb_, which _is_ on my list, so perhaps I should drop my prejudice against _Final Cut_. _Final Cut_ is very solid musically, and the energy of the songs rises and falls quite nicely throughout. Floyd can change moods in the middle of a song like almost nobody else except the Pixies. Ending the album with a song like “Two Suns in the Sunset” does sort of date the album, but the imagery presented by the lyrics was quite vivid. The sound of the waves washing in and out repeatedly at the end reminds me a little of the ending of the novel _A Canticle for Liebowitz_, sort of a death-as-cycle-of-renewal rather than death-as-the-end. ---
**Author:** ![Payton\_s\_Servant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3da27b/32.png) [@Payton\_s\_Servant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Payton_s_Servant)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2003, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-album-ever/172991/39 "2003-05-06T02:31:24Z")
No one has mentioned the artist who invented the concept album yet??? I give you Frank Sinatra, who didn’t make just one or two concept albums, but made no less then 16 concept albums. **September Of My Years** **Sinatra-Basie** **Sinatra’s Swingin’ Sessions And More!!!** **I Remember Tommy** **Come Swing With Me** **Nice N’ Easy** **No One Cares** **Only The Lonely** **Come Dance With Me!** **A Swingin’ Affair!** **Frank Sinatra Conducts Tone Poems Of Color** **Where Are You** **Come Fly With Me** **Songs For Swingin’ Lovers!** **Swing Easy** **In The Wee Small Hours** ---
**Author:** ![riserius1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@riserius1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/riserius1)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2003, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-album-ever/172991/40 "2003-05-06T03:14:15Z")
If you haven’t heard _The Shaming Of The True_ by the late **Kevin Gilbert** (and I’m guessing that most of you haven’t) then you have not experienced one of the most truly outstanding concept albums EVER. If you can buy or download a copy, get ready for greatness. Chris W [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-album-ever/172991.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-album-ever/172991.md?page=3)