Concept Albums

[Tim]

So there are countless numbers of concept albums. They can range from many different topics, from a sci-fi epic, to nervous breakdowns, to politics, nearly anything you can imagine. Do you like the idea of a concept album, and what is your favourite concept album?

For me, my favourite concept album is Pink Floyd's The Wall. The whole album is a masterpiece. Each song flows perfectly into the next one, the use of recurring music, the lyrics, every aspect of this album is great. The concept behind the album deals with personal isolation, centered around the character Pink. He's had problems in his life, for example his father dying in WW2, an over aggressive and abusive schoolmaster among other things. The Wall is a metaphor for isolation, in the sense that the wall separates Pink from the rest of society. I think each song deals with this theme of isolation very well, and communicates the message very well, especially songs such as The Trial and Another Brick in the Wall 2. Overall it's a great album that has a great flow, and some of the best songs Pink Floyd has ever released.

 

[Mr. TM]

My favourite concept album is the story of Kezia, a woman who is to be executed for a crime she did not commit. The album is in 3 different parts, from the three characters, Kezia is the last part, but before her goes the Priest, who is corrupt, representing the corruption is organized religion. The last character is the prison guard who knows the Kazia, but goes along with her execution as well. The last song is a conclusion of the story.

I think it is one of my favourite albums of all time for its deep references to literature. Protest The Hero did a great job on it, and followed up with a pretty good album that is also concept in nature, Fortress.

 

[Twiztid Rodimus]

I havent had the pleasure of taking part in too many concept albums, but there are a few that I dig.

NIN: Year Zero
I am a decent fan of Nine Inch nails, I knew of them for years and years, but never really took the plunge in being a full on hardcore fan. This album speaking of a fallen government and such speaks alot to me as I think of the governmental implosion within itself often.

Trent's vocals and instrumentation on this album is the better of his ''Sober'' albums. And the ideals are pretty interesting.

Pink FLoyd: The Wall:
Obvious choice, and any reason given in the past always does justice to how great this album is.

Judas Priest: Nostradamus
Epic in every sense of the word. ANd not the over done use of that slogan on the internet. It was such a departure of Priest's usual sound, this is borderline power metal. and It fits them so much.

The story is amazing, even if you just read the lyrics themselves.

 

[The Doctor]

Ahh dangit Tim, I was going to make this thread.

My favorite concept album is Act II: The Father of Death by The Protomen.

The Protomen are a Nashville-based band that are currently making a three act rock opera set in a dystopian future. Act II shows how The City got to be shiny and ruled by fear. The story is incredible as is the emotion in all the songs. The audio quality is top notch. I could easily see it being turned into a successful movie-musical. It is exciting, dramatic, and ends on a high(ish) note. I have listened to the album multiple times. I love it. Not bad for an independent band living off their live shows!

 

[Shadowmancer]

While this is not my absolute favourite Concept album you cannot deny how awesome it is. The Concept Album is of course Jeff Wayne's musical version of The War of the Worlds. There are numerous reasons for it, the scope of the album itself is awesome. Taking the brilliant novel by H.G. Wells, as well as the radio play that fooled a large majority of America as done by Orson Welles.

This version has a number of big names on it that add to the story rather than being there for the fact that they can be there. Richard Burton being the narrator, Justin Hayward as the sung thoughts of the Narrator, Phil Lynott as Parson Nathaniel. The story itself is clearly delivered, it covers off all of the major highs and lows that of the Aliens dying, the thunderchild doing damage to a tripod, the lows of the thunderchild dying the losing of the narrators loved ones. That is performed so well in this song.

Spoiler

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The despair the horror the victory its all encapsulated within this album.

 

[Dagger Dias]

My favorite concept album is Green Day's American Idiot. It is one of the few cd's I can listen to without ever skipping a track. The story throughout the tracks is good too. I doubt anyone else is going to end up picking it since there are concept albums out there with far better stories than American Idiot, but it gets my vote because of the great music and the fact that I never skip a track on it. There aren't many other concept albums I can think of that I can listen to without skipping at least one song. Concept albums are very cool due to the tracks being about the same story through the whole disc, more should be made.

 

[The People's Peep]

I'm a really big fan of concept albums. If I had to choose my two favorites, they would be The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails and The Broken Bride EP by Ludo.

The Broken Bride is technically a concept EP, but it's still great. It's about a man whose wife died in a car accident, so he decides to spend his life building a time machine to go back and save her. An awesome story and epic music ensue. It's full of repeating figures and themes, and it's an overall solid album. I recommend it to anyone reading this.

The Downward Spiral is much more complex. It's about a man who's fed up with society and decides that the only way to fix it is by overthrowing everyone that rules it. It's a story of a man's fight against society, and there are some clever motifs and sections that tie everything together.

 

[Nitafrong]

My two favourite concept albums (and really the only two I actually own) would be one that Tim has already mentioned- Pink Floyd's The Wall and The Mars Volta and their first album De-Loused in the Comatorium.

The album is based on a short story written by Cedric Bixler-Zavala which it its turn is based on the suicide of one of the bands close friends. Most of the album takes place within a coma that the character is in where he attempts to search for some meaning in his life (I think anyway- its all fairly crytic ) before finally waking and being confronted with his horror of life and then jumps off a bridge. Admiditly the album lyrics do make a little more sense when you understand the concept behind it but I enjoyed the album long before I discovered it had any overall meaning.

Many consider it The Mars Volta's best work- its certainly their most critically acclaimed and finds them at their tighest- later albums would see them begin to extend the length of their songs and lose a lot of this structure.

In anycase here are a selection of songs from the album- and possibly the easiest introduction to Mars Volta.

Spoiler

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