# Best concept albums - nomination thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 11, 2013, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554 "2013-09-11T04:43:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/41 "2013-09-11T15:19:59Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > Frank Sinatra? Seriously?) Seriously- while Sinatra didn’t write his own songs, as most of the usual suspects on “concept album” lists did, he made several albums in which all the songs were chosen to fit a theme, which makes them concept albums of a sort. Check out \*\*\*In the Wee Small Hours \*\*\*or _ **Come Fly With Me.** _ ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/42 "2013-09-11T15:20:01Z")
:smack: I forgot one of my favorites! _History Of American Rock And Roll_ by **Combine** ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/43 "2013-09-11T15:21:32Z")
In order by band: Helloween, Keeper of the Seven Keys 1 and 2. Iron Maiden, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son Judas Priest, Nostradamus Savatage, Dead Winter Dead; Streets: A Rock Opera; The Wake of Magellan; Poets and Madmen Virgin Steele, The House of Atreus Act I and II ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/44 "2013-09-11T15:59:32Z")
> [@campp](#): > > **Tubes** - Prime Time Actually the album is called _[Remote Control](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_Control_%28The_Tubes_album%29)_ Interestingly, like XTC’s _Skylarking_, that only became a concept album after the producer, Todd Rundgren, heard their demos and came up with the concept. In the case of the Tubes, he actually co-wrote a couple of songs with them to tie the concept together. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/45 "2013-09-11T16:01:31Z")
I wonder whether something like Utopia’s _Deface the Music_ counts. The “concept” is that it’s an album of Beatles pastiches. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/46 "2013-09-11T16:29:32Z")
Husker Du - [Zen Arcade](http://www.allmusic.com/album/zen-arcade-mw0000197795) Too new to really be called the “best” yet, but one from this year (from a member of Husker Du) I really like is Grant Hart’s [The Argument](http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-argument-mw0002545730), based on Milton’s _Paradise Lost_. I agree _2112_ doesn’t count as a concept album, but I would say _The Who Sell Out_ does, and would further argue it’s the best of their concept albums. ETA: Rush’s latest, _Clockwork Angels_, definitely _is_ a concept album, though, so I’d pick that one for them. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/47 "2013-09-11T16:45:03Z")
Vetrophonia - _Formula of War_ Current 93 - _Black Ships Ate the Sky_ The Residents - _Not Available_, _Eskimo_, _The Commercial Album_ and _Freak Show_ Attrition -\* All Mine Enemies Whispers\* Bardoseneticcube - _XXX_ Apoptose - _Bannwald_ ---
**Author:** ![JohnM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/848f3c/32.png) [@JohnM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnM)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/48 "2013-09-11T17:36:07Z")
Titles I own that haven’t been mentioned yet, AFAIK: The Decemberists - _The Hazards of Love_ Warren Zevon - _Transverse City_ Aimee Mann - _The Forgotten Arm_ Randy Newman - _Good Old Boys_ Poe - _Haunted_ The Flaming Lips - _Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots_ Sufjan Stevens - _Illinois_ Radiohead - _OK Computer_ (I know the band rejects the lable, but if it walks like a duck etc.) ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/49 "2013-09-11T17:57:43Z")
Charles Mingus- _Let My Children Hear Music_. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/50 "2013-09-11T17:58:18Z")
An old and obscure favorite of mine: Klaatu - _Hope_. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/51 "2013-09-11T18:19:41Z")
Styx - [Paradise Theater](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_Theater_%28Styx_album%29) ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/52 "2013-09-11T18:52:07Z")
Probably the “trippiest” album ever made: [_Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogdens'_Nut_Gone_Flake) by the Small Faces (1968). ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/53 "2013-09-11T19:19:33Z")
> [@Oedipus](#): > > I’m not trying to hijack the thread, but related: > > Has anyone done a 7 Sins concept album? It seems like such an obvious theme, but I can’t think of anyone who’s done it. Joe Jackson, _[Heaven & Hell](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven_%26_Hell_%28Joe_Jackson_album%29)_ ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/54 "2013-09-11T19:26:47Z")
Some non-Who concept albums by Pete to add to the list: [White City: A Novel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_City:_A_Novel), [Psychoderelict](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoderelict) and [The Iron Man: A Musical](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Iron_Man:_A_Musical) (not the soundtrack for the animated movie) ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/55 "2013-09-11T19:37:16Z")
Some lesser known concept albums that, while not everyone’s cup of tea, I think are masterpieces… **Men Without Hats** - Pop Goes the World **Blue Oyster Cult** - Imaginos **Camper Van Beethoven** - New Roman Times …and of course I came to this thread to listen to the endless debate by the dopeagentsia of what qualifies as a “concept” album. Some of these in this thread are pretty tenuous, and one could claim that every Taylor Swift album is a concept album exploring relationship breakups. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/56 "2013-09-11T20:18:18Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Actually the album is called _[Remote Control](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_Control_%28The_Tubes_album%29)_ > > Interestingly, like XTC’s _Skylarking_, that only became a concept album after the producer, Todd Rundgren, heard their demos and came up with the concept. In the case of the Tubes, he actually co-wrote a couple of songs with them to tie the concept together. Ooopsie on the title! Thanks gaffa. It’s still a concept, though, beginning to end. Campp sez play this loud. ---
**Author:** ![alphamatix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@alphamatix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphamatix)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/57 "2013-09-12T00:23:05Z")
Marvin Gaye - **What’s Going On** and **Hear My Dear**. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/58 "2013-09-12T00:36:07Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > An old and obscure favorite of mine: Klaatu - _Hope_. It’s like the lighthouse keeper’s beam. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/59 "2013-09-12T00:55:16Z")
[Joe’s Garage](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe%27s_Garage). ---
**Author:** ![Girlundone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/919ad9/32.png) [@Girlundone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girlundone)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/60 "2013-09-12T01:41:43Z")
Heart’s _Dog and Butterfly_ The “dog” side of the album consists of louder, faster rock songs, while the “butterfly” side of the LP is all softer ballads. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554.md?page=4)