“Blows Against the Empire” - Paul Kantner & Jefferson Starship (original edition of the spinoff band)
I love concept albums.
Favorite would the Amory Wars Saga by Coheed and Cambria which currently spans 4 albums (soon to be 5 with the forthcoming prequel).
Thirding War of the Worlds. Although it is very strange to hear the songs on satellite radio without the narration.
Lots of my favourites have been listed, but no harm in repetition:
Moody Blues, Days of Future Passed
Pink Floyd, The Wall
Klaatu, Hope
Genesis, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Jeff Wayne, Musical Version of the War of the Worlds
The Who, Tommy
David Bowie, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
Hounds of Love - Kate Bush
Thick as a Brick & A Passion Play - Jethro Tull
…Are the Village Green Preservation Society - The Kinks
Trans-European Express - Kraftwerk
Strange Little Girls - Tori Amos
WAT, Volk, Jesus Christ Superstar - Laibach
The Downward Spiral - NIN
The Gospel According to the Meninblack - The Stranglers
How about the Flaming Lips’ :
Journey to the Center of the Earth by Rick Wakeman.
A lot of people hated Kilroy Was Here by Styx, but I kind of liked it.
I don’t know about Clapton, but that’s Roger Waters’ worst work in mine. I also didn’t like Amused to Death very much, but I do kind of like Radio KAOS.
I reeeeealy like Olias of Sunhillow by Jon Anderson.
Let’s not forget Sgt. Pepper, which still gives me chills when I listen to it.
I love Olias of Sunhillow too, squeels.
Thick as a Brick is still a favorite.
Dark Side by Pink Floyd
Downward Spiral and Year Zero by NIN
Joni Mitchell’s first album, Song to a Seagull – city songs on one side, sea songs on the other.
*Operation:Mindcrime *by Queensryche. LOVE it.
Misplaced Childhood by Marillion still holds up very well after all these years.
For a more recent one, I second the Decemberists’ Hazards of Love. I’ve been a big fan of the Decemberists for a while and think it’s their best album.
Bruce Springsteen’s* Nebraska*. Sheer brilliance. Completely unlike anything he’d done to that point. Stark, bare and poignant. Listen to “State Trooper” and then “Open All Night” and see how they are basically the same song, but under different circumstances, reflecting the shifting mood of the album. Additionally, of all the father-issue themed songs of his career, and there’s been many, My Father’s House is by far the most hauntingly powerful.
Alan Parsons Project, I Robot
Michelle Shocked, Arkansas Traveler (Not a “pure” concept album–not sure what “I’ve Come A Long Way” did to support the theme of minstrelsy and southern music–but it’s one of my favorite albums ever)
Al Stewart, Past Present Future (theme of “European History”; you can pretty much skip Side One, though)
2112 and Hemispheres by Rush.
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles.
Dark Side Of The Moon by Pink Floyd.
American Idiot by Green Day
Jesus Christ Superstar and Tommy. Played the LPs until the grooves wore off, I did.
(obligatory story about buying the album Tommy - I was working at a movie theater and on my break, put on my coat and walked across a busy dark road, in the snow, risking my life, to the K-Mart, and bought it. I had only read a brief description in a magazine, didn’t know a thing about it, I only knew I MUST have it as soon as humanly possible.)