Best Concept Album of all Time?

[William Haskins]

poll coming.

obviously there are not enough poll slots to list all of the concept albums that have influenced music, so i provide an option for "other".

and, yes, i've listed mostly those that have stood the test of time. i do recognize that nine inch nails' "the downward spiral" and "year zero", green days' "american idiot" and my chemical romance's "three cheers for sweet revenge" (among other more modern concept albums) deserve some consideration.

you're welcome to make the case for those if you'd like.

[DWSTXS]

Jethro Tull - Thick As A Brick

[William Haskins]

good answer, and one i didn't include for space reasons.

there are blackheads on his shoulders and he pees himself in the night...

[KTC]

You know, I love almost every one you listed there, William. But I was alive and freaking with Bowie. That album changed me drastically when it came out. I was there for the Wall...but by that time I was already changed.

[dpaterso]

Rick Wakeman: The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Rick+Wakeman+The+Myths+and+Legends+of+King+Arthu r+and+the+Knights+of+the+Round+Table)

...Tho' I appreciate that Ziggy belongs somewhere in the top 3.

-Derek

[DWSTXS]

Rick Wakeman ............reminds me of his 'Journey to the Center of The Earth'

[poetinahat]

A couple more honorable mentions:

The Stranglers: The Gospel According to the Meninblack (http://www.amazon.com/Meninblack-Stranglers/dp/B00005MAGE)
The Damned: The Black Album (http://www.amazon.com/Black-Album-Damned/dp/B000006Y09/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1201186061&sr=1-7) (well, not actually a concept, but the full-side-length 'Curtain Call' is a magnum opus)

[robeiae]

What about Deep Purple's Made in Japan?

Seriously, they're all fine albums, but come on...

One, two, three, four...
*guitar*
We're Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band...

[mscelina]

See, this is totally not fair. I think that The Wall was the first concept album that impacted me, but I still have Zigy Stardust on vinyl... decisions, decisions.

Wham bam thank you ma'am.

[Don Allen]

Aside from being a huge Beatle fan, the pepper album was the first, and actually produced as a concept album, not determined to be a concept album as a second thought. In addition, Pepper had two songs removed from the album due to space constraints that you will recognize as Penny Lane, and Strawberry Fields. This is significant because those were the first rock and roll songs where a concept short movie was deliberatly produced to accompany the music. (The unofficial birth of MTV) It was McCartney's idea for the concept of a band that had been around for ages and still going strong 20 years later. Lennon's "Lucy in the sky" and "being for the benefit of Mr. Kite" turned the industry upside down as the first songs ever included on an album that couldn't be readily reproduced live, "in concert" at the time.. My two favorite quotes about the album come from the Beach Boys and the then head of the London C.S.O (I think it was him at least) The Beach boys-"We were sitting around patting ourselves on the back talking about what great music we put out on "Pet Sounds" when we got an advance copy of Pepper... We just looked at each other dumbfounded, knowing that we just listened to the greatest album ever made. The CSO guy - Until Pepper the beatles were a nice little pop group to be dismissed as a fad... after Pepper, the Beatles became musicians to be taken seriously.

[William Haskins]

you've watched "the compleat beatles" documentary, yes, don?

[Don Allen]

Yeah, that was the one made just after Lennon got shot, "84 I want to say.. I still think it was one of the better documentaries on the Lads.

[William Haskins]

agreed.

[Don Allen]

Oh, and Will, one other thing, I love just about all the albums you have listed and a good argument could be made for just about all of the them, Tommy, Wow! Dark side of the moon wins so many catagory bests it's silly... as a concept album it has to take a back seat to itself, if you know what I mean. Another not listed here is Metallica ... help me I had a brain fart, the name of the album????? UUUGGG

[William Haskins]

and justice for all?

[Priene]

Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds.

[Shadow_Ferret]

I wonder why DSOM would be considered a concept album.

Other concept albums of note:
Yes: Tales from Topographic Oceans
Dream Theater: Metropolis Pt.2: Scenes from a Memory
Nektar: Remember the Future
Hawkwind: The Chronicle of the Black Sword (simply because of their association with Michael Moorcock)
Beach Boys: Pet Sounds (which influenced Sgt. Pepper)

[Stew21]

I can't possibly choose. Each title I read I'd say "ooh, that one!" then I'd read the next, "ooh, no~that one!"

Bowie, Pink Floyd, Beatles, Genesis, Mothers Of Invention.

You can't make me choose. You can't.

[Don Allen]

That's the one... the one with one....

[III]

As much as I love 2112, my all time favorite is still...

Queensryche - Operation: Mindcrime (http://www.amazon.com/Operation-Mindcrime-Queensr%C3%BFche/dp/B0000931QA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1201187917&sr=1-1)

Mindcrime made a huge impact on me in college with its dissident lyrics and brilliant music. If you learn to play that album on guitar, you'll see Chris DeGarmo invented just about every chord that was played. And what a raw, gripping story. Truly an album without any missteps that's held up over time.

Honorable mention to Dream Theater's Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From A Memory (http://www.amazon.com/Metropolis-Part-2-Scenes-Memory/dp/B000021XS0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1201188255&sr=1-1)

[jst5150]

I have a few add-ons:

Extreme -- III Sides to Every Story.

the who - quadrophenia

jimi hendrix - axis bold as love

Moody Blues - Days of Future Passed

Meatloaf - Bat Out of Hell

but my winner is ...

Jesus Christ Superstar

[Devil Ledbetter]

It wasn't easy to choose, but had to go with Ziggy Stardust - something that never gets out of heavy rotation with me for long.

Quadrophenia is another essential, for me.

Too bad you didn't have room for Frank Zappa Joe's Garage. It's a brilliant send-up of concept albums.

[Stew21]

ooh. Love Joe's Garage!

[ChunkyC]

I went from being an 8 year old boy to being a teenager during Beatlemania, so it definitely has to be Sgt. Pepper for me. All of those are great albums, though.
Beach Boys: Pet Sounds (which influenced Sgt. Pepper)
Absolutely brilliant album. Don't know how much it influenced the Beatles while making Pepper, but I remember an interview with Mike Love years later where he talked about Pepper blowing him away when it was released about a year after Pet Sounds.

What an amazing time for music that was. Everything was shifting, from the syrupy Love Me Do type of song to songs like Day in the Life. In the mid sixties, people were still listening to music on monophonic equipment, stereo was a relatively new fad. I burned out our old Seabreeze turntable listening to Beatles 45s.

*nostalgic sigh*

[otterman]

Quadrophenia lover here, too.

[maxmordon]

how can you people have forgotten Joe's Garage! it's pure genius

[blacbird]

"Best" is a hard thing to define. I'm inclined to vote for The Wall, by Pink Floyd, on that basis. But it's difficult to argue against Sgt. Pepper for being the most influential, the seminal album on which all others have been built.

caw

[bluntforcetrauma]

Dada by Alice Cooper still scares the living crap out of me. It's Poe. It's confessional. It's Rasputin. It's American. This is NOT the Alice we've all come to kinow and love.

[Pike]

As much as I love 2112, my all time favorite is still...

Queensryche - Operation: Mindcrime (http://www.amazon.com/Operation-Mindcrime-Queensr%C3%BFche/dp/B0000931QA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1201187917&sr=1-1)

See, that's where I was coming from. I was a Rush-a-holic in high school and college before letting loose and listening to other works, such as Mindcrime. And as much as I dig Rush and the Beattle's Sgt. Pepper, I had to go back to the Wall. I rememeber it coming out when I was in middle school and my buddy and I would walk through the hallways between classes shouting the chorus of the Wall, part 2. That and In The Flesh. Got in a lot of trouble for that one.

Pike

[williemeikle]

My fave is an oldie

Horslips - The Tain

It's a folk-rock masterpiece based on the legends of Cuchulain in Ireland, and it's bloody fantastic!

[DL Hegel]

"Concept Albums" can be found in many different styles of music even if that is not what was originally intended by the artist. a concept album is an album which is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical".This according to Wikipedia.

Quadrophenia The WHO Just wrong to forget that one!
Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols
LOS ANGELES X
In god we trust inc Dead Kennedys
Road to Ruin Ramones
I guess I am an old fashion gal;)

[Vandal]

Crime of the Century by Supertramp

Insanity rocks!

[Devil Ledbetter]

Let's not forget that Pearl Jam's Yield is an accidental concept album.

And a good one, at that.

[Dan Razor]

I might be the only Zao fan (for my knowledge) on here, but "Funeral of God" by Zao was great concept album. One of my personal favorites. The Wall was awesome too though.

[Vandal]

The Alan Parsons Project has put out a few:

Pyramid (mysticism)
Turn of a Friendly Card (gambling)
I, Robot (technology)
Tales of Mystery and Imagination (Edgar Alan Poe themes)
Eye in the Sky (surveillance)
Vulture Culture (consumerism)

[Kenny]

I feel it can only be the one and only Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield.

[ChunkyC]

Crime of the Century by Supertramp

Insanity rocks!
Love Supertramp. :)

Queen II (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvatNjqRUGM&feature=related) could also be considered a concept album. It's my fave of theirs and probably the "heaviest" album in my collection. It makes bands like Evanesence seem positively Britney Spears-ish by comparison.

[bluntforcetrauma]

The Alan Parsons Project has put out a few:

Pyramid (mysticism)
Turn of a Friendly Card (gambling)
I, Robot (technology)
Tales of Mystery and Imagination (Edgar Alan Poe themes)
Eye in the Sky (surveillance)
Vulture Culture (consumerism)

I liked Eve.