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best concept album of all time

#82
bassbrock said:
Can you guys define what qualifies as a concept album? I have my own understanding (concept, if you will) but I'm curious what you guys use as qualifiers to label an album a "concept" album.
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It's a good question, and I'm sure there's no definitive answer. But I'd say it's any album where the lyrics of all the songs (or at least most of the songs) are centered around a common theme. That definition probably needs work -- like, you wouldn't call a Christmas album a "concept album", would you?

And a "rock opera" is a concept album where the lyrics tell a story about particular characters.

I just thought of another concept album that's among my favorite albums ever: "Illinois" by Sufjan Stevens. All of the songs are about (or at least inspired by) people and events from the state's history. It's definitely nerdy but still very good.
 
#83
Jake of Bass said:
A Perfect Circle's Thirteenth Step is also worth a mention. It's main discourse is dealing with drug addiction, and handled beautifully. Songs like "The Noose" and "Gravity" are just so emotive, and with "The Outsider" (love it!) and "Pet" you get the heavier edge. Then you have stuff a little more out on a limb with "The Nurse Who Loved Me". Great album.
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"The Nurse Who Loved Me" is a song by "Failure"... great song, but I like "Dirty Blue Balloons" off that same failure album... which is a concept album...
 
#85
My fave is also the first album I ever purchased: Electric Light Orchestra's Time (1981). Considering the somewhat shallow and fluffy material that immediately preceded it, I have a theory that the murder of John Lennon profoundly influenced Jeff Lynne's creative processes. The album is great from start to finish, and although there is no virtuosic playing on the album, the production, songwriting, and arrangements are genius.

For second place, I'd have to say the Pretty Things' S.F. Sorrow (1968), which was the first fully-formed album-length rock opera, preceding the Who's Tommy by a year and definitely influincing that album.

The Kinks' Village Green Preservation Society (1968) gets honorable mention for sentimental reasons; it's very medicinal and warms my heart when I'm feeling cold and low. And the plentiful pastoral Mellotron bits are a nice contrast to the those in the Pretty Things' album, which are more psychedelic.
 
#89
They're not the best, but they're still incredible:

Operation: Mindcrime - Queensryche
Scenes from a Memory - Dream Theater
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence - Dream Theater
Tyranny - Shadow Gallery
Room V - Shadow Gallery
Into the Electric Castle - Ayreon
The Human Equation - Ayreon
Flower Power - The Flower Kings
Subterranea - IQ
The Turn of a Friendly Card - The Alan Parsons Project
De-Loused in the Comatorium - The Mars Volta
Frances the Mute - The Mars Volta
Darwin! - Banco del Mutuo Soccorso


And the best:

In the Court of the Crimson King - King Crimson
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway - Genesis
Tarkus - Emerson, Lake, and Palmer
Brain Salad Surgery - Emerson, Lake, and Palmer
Thick as a Brick - Jethro Tull
Aqualung - Jethro Tull
Tommy - The Who
Quadrophenia - The Who
2112 - Rush
 
#92
Not Available by the Residents -- the greatest concept ever: Make a record, then deliberately don't release it until forced to by your record company. From AllMusic:

This is one of the strangest and most interesting recordings in rock history, which speaks volumes coming from one of the strangest and more interesting bands in rock history. Not Available used what was referred to as "the theory of obscurity" (which called for the album to not be released until its makers literally forgot about its existence). It is said to be, questionably, the Residents' second recorded album (in 1974, only to be released in 1978 after utilizing "the theory of obscurity"). A highly underrated and forgotten achievement in the Residents' body of work, Not Available is such an incredible recording to experience that it simply and truly cannot be classified as being like another. While the Residents have experimented within the confines of rock throughout their entire careers, with the exceptions of Eskimo, The Commercial Album, and God in Three Persons, this album achieves like no other. A surreal rock opera resulting in an incredibly weird circus of sound, it is one that simply must be heard to be believed.
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Not Available
 
#93
relman said:
Sgt. Pepper's lonely hearts club band...first concept album ever.
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Not strictly true... you had The Beach Boys 'Pet Sounds' and Frank Zappa's 'Freak Out' before SPLHCB. In fact Frank Sinatra did themed albums in the 50's. A concept album is nothing more than a theme or narrative linking songs or compositions together. You could argue that since the early 1900's, classical musical has lead the way in terms of concept, and thematic ideas in music making, even though it wasn't strictly intended for album release as the notion of 'concept' music making goes.
 
#95
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