NO POLL! Best/Favorite Concept Albums!

[a21schizoidman]

Since there are like 2 or 3 with polls, and everyone complaining that there wasnt (insert album here) on the poll, we all needed an open discussion and here it is!

First off:
2112 and DSOTM are NOT concept albums.

and dont bash ppl for their tastes either, please

[afterstasis]

the first thing that comes to mind is "ziggy stardust" for me.

[Unbelievable21]

Still Life
Metropolis, Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory
The Human Equation
The Dark Saga
The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack
Christ 0

And Ghost Reveries, had it been a concept album like it was intended to be.

Riverside's Second Life Syndrome is a concept album, right? I'm not that big of a fan of it, I'm just curious.

[back_blows]

I'll go with Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. Often overlooked album but it has a lot of depth.

[WhiffleBallTony]

I'll go with Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. Often overlooked album but it has a lot of depth.

I'm with you. It's not Maiden's best, but it is still an awesome album. The title track is a massive song.

[AnarchyintheUK]

For me its Tommy, its just so epic and has a great (if unbelieveable) story behind it. I never really got what Quadrophenia was about but Tommy is pretty clear.

[synthesizedpiano]

I personally like Quadrophenia better than Tommy, even if Tommy had more hits. I really like the idea of four personalities in one person, and the title track, Love Reign O'er Me, and 5:15 are all epic.

[JukeBoxHero]

Yes-Tales from Topographic Oceans

It's growing on me. I got the double vinyl to see if I'll really enjoy it listening to it like that.

[kwami42]

Kid A - Radiohead

[SpiderLocMTGO]

Blacktrash: The Autobiography of Kirk Jones

[Soror_YZBL]

Brave by Marillion. Of course, I lean to that being the best album of all time!

[AxlVanHagar]

One of my all time faves is one that doesn't get a lot of talk. Alice Cooper's From The Inside. That album came out in 1978 and is a concept album of Alice in a mental institution. The real crazy part is Alice wrote the album with Bernie Taupin about Alice's very real stay in a mental institution.

Back in that time frame there really wasn't the facilities available for people to detox and/or dry out. While Alice was trying to kick his alcoholism his Dr. had him checked into a sanitarium in upstate New York to dry out.

Upon his release he set to work on the album and based all of the songs and characters in the songs on the actual inmates he met on the inside.
There are lots of Cooper classics including the sexy 'Nurse Rozetta', the romantic 'How You Gonna See Me Now' (based on a letter Alice wrote to his wife from the hospital), 'Serious' (which Alice has mentioned as one of his favourite songs ever) and the stunning epic closer 'Inmates (We're All Crazy').

Marvel Comics released a comic based on the album, Marvel Premier 50. In it, some of the albums characters were given names. The blonde in the blue dress from the song Wish I Were Born in Beverly Hills becomes Ms.Tiffany Sleek, The inmate admiring Nurse Rozetta is Jerome (He has a fetish for Nurse Rozetta's feet), the Doctor becomes the Deadly Doctor Fingeroth and Veronica is a Snake!

Track listing

From the Inside
Wish I Were Born in Beverly Hills
The Quiet Room
Nurse Rozetta
Millie and Billie
Serious
How You Gonna See Me Now
For Veronica's Sake
Jackknife Johnny
Inmates (We're All Crazy)

It's a fantastic album and an often overlooked one. Most people are drawn to Welcome To My Nightmare , Alice Cooper Goes To Hell or Killer as their Alice concept albums of choice.

How You Gonna See Me Now?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71-tSJ_z0-A&feature=related

Millie and Billie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adTFoKAm_tY&feature=related

The following clips are from the tour he did in support of the album. Alice was incredibly sick and completely emaciated from his stay in the asylum. He was often throwing up blood first thing in the morning so he's no where near his best. To this day Alice refuses to re-release this home video as he finds it painful to see how bad off he was and feels his performance is horrible and not worth watching.

From The Inside
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9BSyzevTgY

Nurse Rozetta/The Quiet Room
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gAD4y1C06k&feature=related

Serious
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fF3Vz8kVa20&feature=related

[Rev0lver]

Opeth- Still Life

or

Gojira- From Mars To Sirius

[CHOFF09]

Tommy has been one of my favorites but i have really gotten into Quadraphenia the last couple years. Some others i love to listen to are Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick and Pink Floyd's Animals.

To the op:
while i agree with 2112 not being a concept album, i dont see how DSotM isnt a concept album.
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/151704/Dark-Side-of-the-Moon
Though it may not be a clear cut theme, one exists on the album, the nature of human experience or life itself.

[sg327]

Alan Parsons Project..."Tales Of Mystery and Imagination"

(Can't say I like the whole album...but "The Raven" and "The System Of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether" are a couple good songs on there).

[a21schizoidman]

Tommy has been one of my favorites but i have really gotten into Quadraphenia the last couple years. Some others i love to listen to are Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick and Pink Floyd's Animals.

To the op:
while i agree with 2112 not being a concept album, i dont see how DSotM isnt a concept album.
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/151704/Dark-Side-of-the-Moon
Though it may not be a clear cut theme, one exists on the album, the nature of human experience or life itself.
its no, b/c to be honest their would be holes in the story and, Pink Floyd themseleves never intended it to be a concept album

[CHOFF09]

its no, b/c to be honest their would be holes in the story and, Pink Floyd themseleves never intended it to be a concept album

a concept album doesnt have to tell a story. a concept album that tells a story is most commonly referred to as a rock opera. The Wall is a rock opera. WYWH and Animals are both concept albums that dont tell a story, rather have an overall theme like DSotM. And just b/c they never intended to write a concept album doesnt mean they didnt.

[a21schizoidman]

a concept album doesnt have to tell a story. a concept album that tells a story is most commonly referred to as a rock opera. The Wall is a rock opera. WYWH and Animals are both concept albums that dont tell a story, rather have an overall theme like DSotM. And just b/c they never intended to write a concept album doesnt mean they didnt.

what is the theme in Wish You Were Here, only 3 of the 5 have to do with Syd, Welcome to the Machine and Have A Cigar have nothing to do with Syd, DSTOM? what does Money have to do with life? or Us and Them? there is no overall theme to the entire album, hell Brain Damage is an homage to Syd as well

[CHOFF09]

what is the theme in Wish You Were Here, only 3 of the 5 have to do with Syd, Welcome to the Machine and Have A Cigar have nothing to do with Syd, DSTOM? what does Money have to do with life? or Us and Them? there is no overall theme to the entire album, hell Brain Damage is an homage to Syd as well

WYWH's theme is absence and as a whole meant as a tribute to Syd. Syd is not the theme. Welcome to the Machine and Have a Cigar relate to record companies as money making machines and the absence of artist expression. The rest of the album relates to syd's absence from the band.

Speak to Me/ Breathe is about birth.
On the Run is about the fear of travel.
Time is about growing old.
Great Gig in the Sky is about the fear of death. it also uses an altered/similar beat to "Breathe".
Money is about the evils money can bring you in life like greed.
Us and them is about mainly about war.
Any Colour You Like also shares the same beat/ similar chord progression as "Breathe".
Brain Damage is about insanity.
Eclipse acts as a climax to the album summing everything.

All those are emotions or experiences one would come across during their lifetime. also, the band tried to make the connection of all the songs relating together why else would they connect them without any breaks? the only time their is a break on the album is when you have to turn over the record after great gig in the sky, otherwise the album would play continuously without any pauses or breaks.
the definition of a concept album is very broad. DSotM may not be the best example of a concept album but i feel it still fits the criteria.

[Mystlyfe77]

My favorites:

Still Life - Opeth
Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd (I regard it as a concept album. Some don't, some do).
Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway - Genesis
From Mars to Sirius - Gojira (aside of the opening track, which I can't stand)
Leviathan - Mastodon
Dreaming Neon Black - Nevermore
The Pick of Destiny - Tenacious D
My Arms Your Hearse - Opeth

[AxlVanHagar]

track, which I can't stand)
Leviathan - Mastodon


Noice pick! Great album.

[Hastyl3]

Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness - Smashing Pumpkins(Yes, this is a concept album)

[Unbelievable21]

I was thinking about posting that one, but I didn't want to have to justify my reasoning. A great one, nevertheless.

[defenestrater]

I would call DSOFTM a concept album. If all it takes to be a concept album is for there to be some kind of unifying theme, then Dark Side meets the criteria.

As far as my favorites go, I would say Bowie's Ziggy Stardust and Blinking Lights by Eels.

[partyboydanial]

DSOTM (cause it is a concept album)
Animals
The Wall
The Black Parade
The Rise an Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
...And Justice For All
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Tommy
Quadrophenia
American Idiot
The Beatles (White Album)
Wish You Were Here
Thick as a Brick

[Mystlyfe77]

...And Justice For All

.....what?

[WonderboyYYZ]

The Wall - Pink Floyd
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness - Smashing Pumpkins
Machina I/Machina II - Smashing Pumpkins
Tommy - The Who
Black Holes and Revelations - Muse
Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV - Coheed and Cambria

[Mystlyfe77]

A couple more that I forgot (somehow):

The Human Equation - Ayreon
Fear of a Blank Planet - Porcupine Tree
Deadwing - Porcupine Tree

If I had to chose one (from both my lists), I don't think I could do it. :rolleyes:

As for the previous poster's mention of BH&R (Muse), that's kinda pushing it. There's definitely a theme to the album, but I don't really know if it's a full-fledged concept album.

[NX013]

Maiden - seventh son
Yes - tales from topographic oceans
the who - tommy and quadrophina
Smashing pumpkins - mellon collie
bowie - ziggy stardust
genesis - lamb lies down on broadway and selling england by the pound


and a load more

[gorillawarfare]

If a concept album is an album that is based around a single theme, and there are no other determining factors, wouldn't Please Please Me be a concept album because all of the songs have to do with love? There is more to it than that.

Also, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club band is considered the first concept album, but has no central theme.

That said, Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust, Quadrophenia and Animals are deffinitely my 3 favorite.

[Elegy]

The Black Parade
American Idiot

Both albums I can listen through all the way, over and over.

Really want to pick up Tommy and Quadrophenia though.

Also, I heard Libertad by Velvet Revolver was loosely a concept album, so if it can be considered one, then it's certainly one of my favorites.

[Mystlyfe77]

Also, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club band is considered the first concept album, but has no central theme.

No it isn't. A number of artists wrote albums that are debatable as concepts dating back to the 1930s. Frank Sinatra's In the Wee Small Hours (1955) is widely considered a concept album, and pre-dates Sgt. Pepper by 12 years. Johnny Cash's Ride This Train also was released before Sgt. Pepper (among a number of other concept albums).

[ClassicRockFanatic23]

Tommy and Quadrophenia, and if it was made, Lifehouse. Those two alblums are EPIC. Both of there endings (Were not Going to Take It and Love Reign Ore Me respectivley) and just amazing. So much emotion especially when they are performed live.

[Unbelievable21]

Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness - Smashing Pumpkins(Yes, this is a concept album)

Under this reasoning, could one consider Dream Theater's Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence a concept album?

[IRockSoAwesome]

Blinking Lights by Eels.

Fully agree. The album is a great autobiography put to music

[ScaryReal]

King's X - Gretchen Goes to Nebraska

Queensryche's Operation Mindcrime. Mentioned in a couple of other threads but worth adding to this discussion.

Bowie's album 1.Outside, even though the story remains unfinished as the next 4 albums in the cycle were never recorded.

Somebody mentioned in the Halloween thread, the concept trilogy from Helloween. Keeper of the Seven Keys.

[Serpentd]

The ones I'm familiar with personally as there were a few albums mentioned I'm very familiar with and love, but didn't realize they were under the concept theme. Anyway, my personal picks in order for the most part. But depends on my mood as well, so it sort of changes here and there.

1. Them-King Diamond

2. Conspiracy-King Diamond (this is the sequel to Them)

3. Puppet Master-King Diamond

4. The Wall-Pink Floyd

5. Operation Mind Crime-Queensryche

6. From the Inside-Alice Cooper

7. Black Parade-My Chemical Romance (Really need to be in the mood for this type of music, but still enjoy it.)

There are plenty more for sure, just not coming to mind at the moment. I'm definitely going to re-listen to stuff that others have mentioned on here of music I already own. Not to mention pick up the stuff I don't own such as Tommy and a few others that I can't believe I don't personally own. Always like to learn new things, especially when it comes to music. Thanks for all the great posts everyone! :)

[Cubecubed]

Good Apollo im Burning Star IV vol 1: From Fear Through the eyes of Madness-Coheed and Cambria
In Keeping Secrets of Silent earth:3-COheed and Cambria

[TragicEnd666]

Black Parade by My Chemical Romance
What To Do When You Are Dead by Armor For Sleep

both very depressing cds...but really good