David Bowie - Outside
Divinities: Twelve Dances With God, by Ian Anderson. Every single song is goregous.
First Utterance, by Comus. A frightening little walk down the path into the acoustic underworld. Weird and weirdly wonderful.
Get Ballad of the Blues by Jo Stafford. It is ONE GREAT album.
Most people never heard of her. She was the number one female selling artist of the first half of the 20th century (1900 -1950). She could sing anything, from Jazz, Blues, Pop, she even made comedy albums.
But this CD is a steller standout. And as a bonus it has “Tony-the-Tiger,” singing back up. 
Brilliant, if I could only have one CD (concept or not) I’d choose this one
Another vote for Operation Mindcrime.
Ben Folds Five-The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner
I never heard of even one of these.
I like Jethro Tull in a nostalgic way. Some of it sounds twittery and simplistic now.
Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita & Chess. The original concept albums.
I love concept albums.
Sufjan Stevens - both of his 50 States albums: Michigan and Illinois.
Gwar - Beyond Hell (the boys get attacked by the Pope and have to escape through Hell, with the help of Jitler, a chimera of Jesus and Hitler.)
Avantasia - The Metal Opera I & II (really cool story about a 17th century monk finding a secret passage to a fantasy world.)
Rhapsody - every album they’ve ever done.
I know I have a bit of a taste for the pretentious, but I love Deloused in the Comatorium by Mars Volta.
Pretty much anything by The Alan Parsons Project, up to and including the Eric Woolfson stage musicals (Freudiana, Gaudi, Gambler, and Poe).
Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, and The Division Bell
Savatage’s *Dead Winter Dead *and The Wake of Magellan
Alice Cooper’s Brutal Planet, Dragontown, and The Last Temptation
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Murder Ballads. I’ve heard that a lot of fans regard it as his worst album, but I confess that it’s my favorite.
Great call. I love this record. It’s a 10/10 for me. I’d heard and read good things about The Streets in '03 and '04. One day at the record shop, I saw this cd in the used bin for $7.95 or so, and figured I’d check it out. From the very first notes of horns announcing the start, I was in love with the record. Mike’s ability to rhyme the same sound over and over and over and over, and the layers of sound are brilliant on this record (e.g. when he’s rapping about dropping a call on his cell phone, you hear the faintest “fucking piece of shit” in the backround).
Gotta listen to this now.
Both have some “off-concept” songs on them:
Starz Violation
Rush 2112 (can’t believe nobody’s posted that yet!)
Both tales of a dystopian, totalitarian future.
Wow, I can’t believe I left that one off my list!
<grumble> Some kind of Rush fan *I *am…
Husker Du - Zen Arcade
The only “concept album” I can stomach, unless you count “Sgt. Pepper” and “Village Green” (I don’t). Doug is good, not great, IMO.
Never heard either Zooropa or The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner described as concept albums before - I’m a little baffled by these entries.
Maybe Handsome Boy Modeling School’s So…How’s Your Girl? would qualify for me, but I’m still not sure it fits my idea of “concept album”.
Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake by the Small faces. Strictly speaking, it’s not a concept album because the continuous narrative is only on one side. But what a side! Plus, the whole package, a round album cover, depicting a tobacco tin, which you open to find the tobacco and rolling papers inside, is so damned clever. The songs kick ass, too!
I’ve got to say Alice Cooper’s Muscle of Love is my absolute favorite (heh), while Hey Stoopid probably comes in second and Lace and Whiskey third (or are those last two the other way 'round??). Billion Dollar Babies should figure in there somewhere, but I think it falls a bit short of the ‘concept album’ label.
I’m curious, what’s your idea of a concept album? Both Sgt. Pepper and even moreso Village Green (and definitely Arthur) fit into my idea of one, but it sounds like you have a stricter definition. What about Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust? I’m on the fence with something like OK Computer. To me, it’s a concept album, but Radiohead don’t consider it one.
So is the consensus that Sgt Pepper is a concept album? I’ve never considered it one. Really, the only common theme that it has is the “Sgt Pepper is a fake band”, with an opening and reprise, but none of the rest of the songs support the “concept”.
Tommy, by the Who