Alice Cooper is the master of concept albums. Already mentioned are “Alice Cooper Goes to Hell” and “The Last Temptation”, but the one that is often upheld by the critics as being the best concept album of all times (and it tells a story) is “Welcome to My Nightmare”.
Other Alice Cooper concept albums (not in any order): “From the Inside”, “Special Forces”, and “Dada”. Also many of his albums have what I would call reoccurring themes where a character pops up in scattered songs across an album or even from album to album. Too many to list!
On the Pink Floyd side, I think “Animals”, “The Wall” and “The Final Cut” are clearly concept albums, but I question whether “Wish You Were Here” and “Dark Side of the Moon” are concept albums?
Someone mentioned “Joe’s Garage” - good one, but how about “The Yellow Shark”? A totally different concept…
Not entirely sure what can of worms I may be opening here, but the album “Chess” by Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Rice (the two guys from ABBA) seems to fit the definition of a concept album. I know it was produced with the intent of producing it as a theatrical play eventually (as opposed to some of the other albums here which people decided, after production, would make good movies) but it has a definite story line with characters, plot, etc. What do y’all think?
I think they pretty much both are–“WYWH” is unquestionably about Syd Barrett and his madness, and about the effects of the record industry and music business on his life. “DSOTM” has a looser concept, but it’s about the darker side of the human experience–greed, mortality, insanity, loneliness, etc.
Olentzero said:
"Not entirely sure what can of worms I may be opening here, but the album “Chess” by Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Rice (the two guys from ABBA) "
Actually Chess was a musical in the early 80’s so i certainly hope all the songs tell a story (although that could explain why no one has seen it since).
To deal with men by force is as impractical as to deal with nature by persuasion.
I agree with you wholeheartedly, Lawrence. Those are all some of my favorite albums (have you been raiding my CD collection?). I would add to that list “Automatic for the People”, “Pet Sounds”, and “The Joshua Tree”.
By the way, isn’t “Freak Out!” by Frank Zappa considered by some to be the first rock concept album? I’m not familiar with it, but that’s what I’ve heard.
“For what a man had rather were true, he more readily believes” - Francis Bacon
Well, mostly. “Chess” was a musical conceived by Tim Rice (he was Andrew Lloyd Webber’s partner on Jesus Christ Superstar, and a couple of others) and Rice used Benny & Bjorn to write the music, while he wrote the lyrics. A pretty good show, with quite a good soundtrack IMHO, but you’ll probably never see it performed again since it dealt with many Cold Warish themes.
“Chess” didn’t come out as a musical until 1989-90. The original album came out around 84-85 (IIRC) and I remember reading that it was put together solely as an album at that time, with the musical slated for later.
At least that’s how I remember it, seeing as how I bought the double-cassette album when it first came out, not seeing any advertisements for a Broadway (or otherwise) musical at the time, then seeing the cassette soundtrack for the musical production of 1990 and thinking how pale and lame it had become as the producers tried to revamp it to reflect the post-Berlin Wall era.
Yes, it tells a tale with themes from the Cold War, but that really was the central idea of the whole thing. Doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be put on anymore. Hell, the Civil War ended in 1865 and Ken Burns’ documentary rocked the house. (I go to reenactments too, FWIW :))
Back to the topic: I still think “Chess” is a concept album because it meets the plot/characters/etc. requirements that have been put forth by some people here, and that it was put out more or less as a stand-alone project at the time it was originally issued.
Right. Rice had watched and learned from Lloyd Webber. Same thing was done with JCSS. It allowed them to gather a group of folk, some of whom might actually wind up in the cast, and record an album, sell it, and use the proceeds to mount the show itself. It was not put together solely as an album, but as a part of the larger goal of making enough scratch to mount the musical itself.
I agree that it is a good enough show (with the Broadway music though, otherwise it sounds like Euro-trash disco) to be mounted at a point in the future. What I said was that it probably would not be seen again due to it’s US vs USSR theme.
Another tidbit: Rice originally planned the show to revolve around a British chess champ & his Soviet counterpart, but too many backers balked at not turning it into a superpower standoff. Rice also wanted his latest chippy to sing the role Florence, ala Lloyd Webber, but ultimately had to give up on that idea, too.
Sorry, I forgot to finish my thought. Damned nicotine patch. . .
“Chess” was never intended to be a stand alone, or concept, album. It existed to fill the coffers so that the show could be mounted. In following the guidelines as established, it was a soundtrack. It came out before the show, yes, but it was not meant to be anything but a soundtrack.
I guess I’m not sure what the definition of “concept album” is. How about
Beethoven’s 6th symphony?
West Side Story (Original Broadway cast recording?)
Rhino Record’s CD of x different versions of Louie Louie?
etc…
Jacques Kilchoer
Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains.
Genesis’ “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway”:
It was , I guess, an attempy to write science fiction of a sort. But it was before video, it was hard to visualize.
I had S.F. Sorrow, the first ever rock opera, by…IIRC…The Pretty Things. I played it once. The Who’s miniopera A quick one preceded that and was better.
OK, this is kinda late on this thread, and probably won’t be replied to, but The Resident’s “Commercial Album” is definately a concept album in the sense that it’s a unified piece of conceptual art. A top 60 consisting of sixty one-minute songs, each exemplefying and parodying some form of popular music, this record grabs its ideational thread, runs with it, and makes fun of the notion of such a thread all at once.
Not mentioned thus far and in my collection, avoiding mentioning “tenuous” concepts:
ABC - “The Lexicon of Love” (coincident with Martin Fry’s film Mantrap), “How to Be a Zillionaire,” and “Alphabet City”
Marillion - “Misplaced Childhood” and “Brave” (an argument could be made for ALL their albums, but most are loose and tenuous)
Most Gary Numan albums.
Saga - “Generation X” (side note: Saga had a nifty gimmick their first four albums. Each one had two chapters of an eight-part suite which, placed in order, would equal one whole album, and would clearly be a concept album. This pre-dates Rush’s backwards Fear Trilogy.)
Lots of others I could have mentioned, but I think the concept is too weak to really be called a concept album.
Well I figured I’d put my two cents in just cuz I’m jealous that everyone else is posting in a music related thread and I’m not. Trent Reznor has said that Nine Inch Nail’s The Downward Spiral is a concept album. He said:
You can see the shedding of the different layers in the different songs. It’s not a strong theme, you might not pick it up right away. But it’s there if you’re listening for it. Does that count?
~brandie~
“Physicists have determined that even the most solid and heavy mass of matter we see is mostly empty space. But at the submicroscopic level, specks of matter scattered through a vast emptiness have such incredible density and weight, and are linked to one another by such powerful forces, that together they produce all the properties of concrete, cast iron and solid rock. In much the same way, specks of knowledge are scattered through a vast emptiness of ignorance, and everything depends upon how solid the individual specks of knowledge are, and on how powerfully linked and coordinated they are with one another.”
~Thomas Sowell