Lifehouse went through various incarnations but was never fully realized in album form. Musically speaking, the Super Deluxe Box Set of Who’s Next was probably the closest it ever came to being presented as a complete work.
The original Psychoderelict album wasn’t well-received by fans* and the accompanying tour was a financial disaster. The failure basically killed Pete’s solo career.
*I’m in the small minority of Who/Townshend fans who really liked both the album and the live performance.
There was also the six-disc Lifehouse Chronicles box set from 2000. Two discs of Townshend’s demos, one of re-recordings and live performances, a disc of orchestral music, and two discs of a BBC radio play adaptation.
I’ve got a copy buried in the garage somewhere.
The whole “aging pop star has a fling with a teenager which revitalizes his career” storyline kinda aged like milk considering his arrest in 2002.
And the character of Ray High, who features in both Psychoderelict and the radio play, also makes an appearance in the Who’s 2006 rock-operette Wire and Glass.
Supper’s Ready isn’t an album. It’s one long song made up of several titled parts.
The Genesis contender for concept album or rock opera would be the double-album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.
Right. Both of those pieces take up one album side. So they’re not concept albums, but they do have a theme or tell a story, which is why I asked if they would be considered rock operas. A rock opera doesn’t have to be a full album, as noted above with the Who’s “A Quick One While He’s Away”.
The last rock opera I can think of is 2011’s “David Comes to Life” by Fucked Up, which the band did describe as rock opera, but which is hardcore punk in form (also according to the band). Still, it’s got narrative, even multiple singers of different perspectives (I don’t really care about cantata vs rock opera since the former is in almost nobody’s rock vocabulary, but still).