# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/82 "2013-09-13T16:15:20Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > An old and obscure favorite of mine: Klaatu - _Hope_. > [@Malthus](#): > > I’m glad someone has heard of it. All is lost if one abandons _Hope_. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ruh-roh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ruh-roh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruh-roh)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/83 "2013-09-13T16:26:29Z")
I wasn’t exactly original material but… Jesus Christ Superstar. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/84 "2013-09-13T17:25:49Z")
Just about everything from the Alan Parsons Project Savatage: \*Dead Winter Dead \*and _Wake of Magellan_ ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/85 "2013-09-13T18:55:09Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > _Quantum Hack Code_ by **Amogh Symphony** I hadn’t heard of this band and decided check them out on Youtube, and holy crap, I’m glad I did. Thanks for giving me some new music I need to listen to! ---
**Author:** ![Apocalypso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Apocalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apocalypso)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/86 "2013-09-14T23:11:23Z")
I give you the utterly bizarre and wonderful [Colonel Jeffery Pumpernickel - A Concept Album](http://www.amazon.com/Colonel-Jeffrey-Pumpernickel-Concept-Album/dp/B00005AVO4). It’s literally too strange to even attempt to describe, you love it or hate it. There are references to childhood hallucinations, underwater fire battles, and hookers mistaken for wives long gone. I’m in the love it camp. Or how about some epic Middle Earth, Simarillion style, from German thrash metal band [Blind Guardian](http://www.amazon.com/Nightfall-Middle-Earth-Blind-Guardian/dp/B00004V4NO/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1379199829&sr=1-2&keywords=blind+guardian+nightfall+in+middle+earth)? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/87 "2013-09-15T02:09:02Z")
How about the most obscure concept album by a group that’s in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? I doubt anyone even remembers they did one (no one’s mentioned it yet), but it’s actually quite good. It’s _[The Genuine Imitation Life Gazette](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp_mWq89us4&list=PLRQKT-Cu2_2TQoKTAWv-rkp676INGZuQK)_. By the Four Seasons. It flopped because Four Seasons fans weren’t interested in an ambitious concept album, while those who would have been interested a concept album would never have listened to the Four Seasons. ---
**Author:** ![Suil\_Dubh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85f322/32.png) [@Suil\_Dubh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suil_Dubh)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/88 "2013-09-15T02:26:29Z")
[Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Lockheed_and_the_Starfighters) [Lucky Leif and the Longships](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_Leif_and_the_Longships) and [Hype](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hype_(album)) by the immensely underrated and immensely talented **Robert Calvert** “Captain Lockheed” and “Lucky Leif” have Brian Eno, Arthur Brown, Lemmy, and members of Hawkwind guesting on it. Sort of a “who’s who” of '70s British psychedelia. And “Lucky Leif” in fact was produced by Eno. “Hype” has an accompanying novel, which I would dearly love to get my hands on. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/89 "2013-09-15T04:08:42Z")
I’m just going to stick with _The Wall_ and _Tommy_. Why Led Zeppelin never wrote or ripped off a concept album idea is beyond me. it would have been epic. ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/90 "2013-09-15T15:11:28Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Parks has several concept albums; my favorite is _Jump!_ > I think my overall favorite concept album is Daniel Amos’s [Songs of the Heart](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songs_of_the_Heart). Seconded on both of those. I’ll also add **Gentle Giant’s** _Three Friends_. I do have one small issue with the original list, though, and that is the inclusion of Holst’s The Planets. It wasn’t written as an album, and it really con’t be considered a concept album any more than a recording of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony can. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/91 "2013-09-15T22:15:00Z")
**Electric Light Orchestra’s** _Time_ is a rather interesting science fiction concept album. It chronicles the experiences of a man taken from his time in the 1980s and displaced into the world of 2095. Some consider this to be the last great ELO album. ---
**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:** [September 16, 2013, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/92 "2013-09-16T13:31:53Z")
> [@ruh-roh](#): > > I wasn’t exactly original material but… Jesus Christ Superstar. Oh, please. That album is fantastic, got rock music onto Broadway, has been translated into almost every language there is, and has never gone out of print. ---
**Author:** ![HookerChemical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@HookerChemical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HookerChemical)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/93 "2013-09-16T17:14:45Z")
It’s good to see the first ones that came to mind already on the list (Thick as a Brick, Metropolis Part 2, Brave, Fear of a Blank Planet). It’s fun to see so many outside the progressive genre, given the association between the two. Let me throw out an obscure one. First is Kadath Decoded by Payne’s Gray. I bought this in college without ever hearing a note based on a raving review, and I was rewarded. It’s based on Dream Quest for Unknown Kadath by H.P. Lovecraft. Many songs are now available on You Tube, but I don’t think you can get it in print. ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/94 "2013-09-16T20:07:46Z")
I’ll throw out an 80s masterpiece: [_This is the Sea_ by The Waterboys](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Is_the_Sea). ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Doom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Dr\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Doom)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/95 "2013-09-16T20:27:40Z")
**Voivod** – _Dimension Hatross_, and _Nothingface_ are both masterpieces, IMO, although _Nothingface_ was much more critically acclaimed. Science fiction storytelling from progressive/metal French-Canadians. **Sepultura** – _Dante XXI_. Brazilian thrash metal band’s opus based on _The Divine Comedy._ ---
**Author:** ![AnthonyElite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@AnthonyElite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnthonyElite)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/96 "2013-09-16T20:50:25Z")
> [@mbetter](#): > > Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory This is going to be, hands down, one of the best. Did you know that the psychiatrist isn’t innocent in the mix? He is the incarnation of the scorned brother, and he hypnotizes the protagonist in the end to crash his car, thereby completing the cycle once again. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/97 "2013-09-16T20:50:41Z")
Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/98 "2013-09-16T21:43:55Z")
Besides anything by Pink Floyd, my favorite themed album is _The Black Parade_ by My Chemical Romance. Doesn’t tell a single story per se, but rather songs sung by characters who are dying or just have died. Besides _Teenagers_ which was tacked on at the end and doesn’t really fit the theme well. Unless you fanwank that the singer was gunned down by a crazed teenager, which has _almost_ no support from the lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/99 "2013-09-17T05:53:51Z")
Wilco - _Yankee Hotel Foxtrot_ Eagles -\* Desperado\* Electric Light Orchestra - _Eldorado_ ---
**Author:** ![OurLordPeace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e8c25b/32.png) [@OurLordPeace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OurLordPeace)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/100 "2013-09-17T14:43:18Z")
Nobody has mentioned _Machina: The Machines of God_ by The Smashing Pumpkins. It has more of a story than _Mellon Collie_, but then again MCIS’s concept is broader and looser. In any case, _Machina_ is a gorgeous emotional rollercoaster, and I have championed it since it arrived in 2000. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554/101 "2013-09-17T15:15:29Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > How about the most obscure concept album by a group that’s in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? I doubt anyone even remembers they did one (no one’s mentioned it yet), but it’s actually quite good. > > It’s _[The Genuine Imitation Life Gazette](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp_mWq89us4&list=PLRQKT-Cu2_2TQoKTAWv-rkp676INGZuQK)_. > > By the Four Seasons. > > It flopped because Four Seasons fans weren’t interested in an ambitious concept album, while those who would have been interested a concept album would never have listened to the Four Seasons. Well, Bob Gaudio was a very talented songwriter who could SEE where the music business was going, and wanted to move with the times… but as you observe, kids who’d once loved “Rag Doll” and “Walk Like a Man” were never going to like a concept album, and hippies already regarded the 4 Seasons as hopelessly uncool. To SOME extent, the Beach Boys had the same problem. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-concept-albums-nomination-thread/668554.md?page=6)