Re: Rock Operas or Theme albums

S.F. Sorrow tops my list.

Ogden's Nut Gone Flake...not so much (but from one of my favorite bands)

I like Quadrophenia much more than Tommy.

Any takers?

Being the big Manfred Mann, erm, Kinks fan that I am, I would have to add Arthur, Preservation (the Boston Rock Opera did a great version live a few yrs. ago) & Soap Opera


ADDITION: Here's a clip of Soap Opera performed live in '75 & I now noticed that the whole concert has been posted on YouTube, yea!

[www.youtube.com]



Post Edited (08-05-08 12:03)

Lou Reed Berlin

Also always liked The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway by Genesis, even though I never knew what the hell the concept was.

Setting Sons by the Jam was originally conceived as a concept album about two school friends growing up and apart, and you can still see how some of the songs tie into that story - "Burning Sky," "Eton Rifles" maybe "Smithers-Jones".

Kid A is possibly about the first human clone, although Radiohead will never confirm if that's the case or not.

The Residents' Mole trilogy.

There are bands like Voivod and Coheed & Cambria whose entire careers are dedicated to telling ongoing stories, both of the sci-fi variety.

The Who Sell Out is way better than Tommy. Also, I would be remiss in not mentioning another great Kinks concept album, the best one of them all, the Village Green Preservation Society.

> Here's a clip of Soap Opera performed live in '75

Thanks, Joe - I saw both this and the Preservation shows (and Schoolboys, too, although that wasn't as elaborate) and have long regretted that they weren't filmed, so this was great to see. Hope the files stay up long enough for me to watch the rest!

The Who Sell Out.

Pussy, Queen of the Pirates -- Mekons and Kathy Acker
We're Only In It For The Money -- MOI
Joe's Garage -- Zappa
Imperial Bedroom -- Costello

Imperial Bedroom is a concept album? I dig that record but have never though of it that way.

The "concept" is kind of like Armed Forces, which used the metaphor of military maneuvering and romantic relationships to discuss facism. In Imp. Bed., the concept is different types of romantic struggles as a means to discuss Europe's post-WWII problems.

I promise I am not making this shit up. Yup, I do have a degree in English, and am not afraid to overuse it.

And, yeah, it is overproduced, which kills some of the initimacy of certain songs, but enhances others. Jeez, that piano solo in The Loved Ones...

And XTC's Skylarking is a hell of a concept album.

Ah, that kind of concept album. Not a narrative running through the songs but a theme. Now I get it.

I'm all for using literary critical skills to analyze records like this. Hell, most of Costello's work demands it. Not of all of it holds up under scrutiny (*cough"The Delivery Man*cough*), but still...

My TOP 3 by a long shot:
Husker Du - Zen Arcade
Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation

James Brown - The Payback (it's sort of technically a soundtrack - but he composed the album as a standalone concept)
Pink Floyd - Animals (I always enjoy hearing it more than The Wall)
Rush - 2112 - yep, I have a weak spot from them Canucks and this is one of my favs from them - incredible musicianship - best trio EVER.
I could throw a few Genesis suggestions in there, but I think Rush exposes my 'prog' weakness enough for now.

Zappa - Joe's Garage - goofy fun and one of my favs of FZ - Watermelon in Easter Hay is such a classic tune.
Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts I-IV (as much as he divides tastes, this is untypical for him and a really solid work)
The Kinks - Village Green Preservation Society
Mars Volta - Frances the Mute (Omar is such a fantastic guitarist that I can totally overlook the annoying vocalist)

Clash - London Calling (tho it's debatable whether that's a concept album or just a double-album)

Bowie should be in there too but too hard to decide.



Post Edited (08-05-08 14:02)

I would have to add U2 - Boy in there too - it over reaches, but I'm still amazed at that debut every time I hear it - feat. a 16-yo Larry Mullen on the skins. =P

With regard to the Kinks I would put 1966's Face to Face as their first concept album and it came out before Aftermath, Sell Out and Revolver. What a great year 1966 was.

One of the first concept albums (and one of the best BTW) is Frank Sinatra's "Wee Small Hours of the Morning" LP. Way back in the Mid-50's he was crafting thematic albums when most everyone else was just focusing on singles. In later years Sinatra became a gross parody of himself but it is hard to beat his work for Capital Records in the 50's.

Good call on the Sinatra. I had forgotten about that.

Hard to qualify Sinatra - he never wrote a single song or melody of his own.

He did have some co-writes. "This Love of Mine" is an example. Now, Elvis, on the other hand...

..also had some co-writes - Heartbreak Hotel for example.

Now Madonna on the the other hand... =P

> Bowie should be in there too but too hard to decide.

Ziggy Stardust, Station to Station and Lodger top his "concept" work, IMO. After that, listeners are on their own. (Of course, they already are, but never mind.)

> Imperial Bedroom -- Costello

The concept of which is how over-produced it is.

Gary Numan's first three or four albums (up through Dance) all were loosely set in the same conceptual world, with Replicas containing most of the narrative details. All very JG Ballard & Phillip K Dick inspired SF stuff.

I think Dance's only actual concession to the overall concept is that Numan is dressed as a "Grey Man", who I guess are kind of the overseers in his world.

Kind of interesting that the look of Numan's album art and tour stage sets for those albums predated Blade Runner but were pretty similar in a lot of ways.

The Magic Garden by The 5th Dimension.

Lola
Diamond Dogs
Time - ELO
Trials of Vanoccupanther

are my faves.

Oh, Vanoccupanther is a good one. I love that album.

Agree with mjm that Animals is far superior to The Wall.

Drive By Truckers - Southern Rock Opera

King Crimson - Beat

Paul K - A Wilderness of Mirrors

We are forgetting Prince too:

Dirty Mind
Purple Rain
Sign o the times
The Gold Experience

Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs
Sufjan Stevens - Come On Feel The Illinoize
Prince Paul - A Prince Among Thieves
Tom Waits - Alice
David St Hubbins - Saucy Jack
Matmos - A Chance to Cut Is a Chance to Cure
Carcass - Necroticism - Descanting the Insalubrious



Post Edited (08-06-08 08:49)

Astral weeks

And I consider Joe Henry's Tiny Voices a series of vignettes set in some alternate timeline of a modern revolutionary America, where L.A. is magically fused with Havana, and hearts are breaking all around.

I think you're right - St. Hubbins' album trumps them all. As is usual with him and his band.

Tarkus - Emerson, Lake, and Palmer

According to The Worst Rock-n-Roll Records Of All Time: Tarkus is an armadillo / tank creature that "exploded out of a volcano, fought several fellow combination animal / battle vehicles, and eventually skipped town."

I had to go out and buy it after reading that description.



Post Edited (08-05-08 22:26)

How 'bout Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. That's the most recent attempt at a concept album by Smashing Pumpkins, or at least that's what they intended.

"I like Quadrophenia much more than Tommy" - Agree with you there.

Sham 69 - That's Life

Barry Adamson - Moss Side Story

David Holmes - Bow Down To The Exit Sign

Sabres of Paradise - Haunted Dancehall

Prefab Sprout - Jordan: The Comeback

Mike Watt's last coupla albums....

Big Black - Songs About Fucking

In addition to 69 Love Songs, a lot of Magnetic Fields albums are concept albums in one way or another - The Charm of the Highway Strip, Holiday, etc. I was all about the concept of First Person narrative, in addition to being all acoustic instrumentally, so it had two concepts at work. I think Merritt stumbled with the concept for Distortion - while I'm all in favor of albums whose sound is a tribute to the Jesus & Mary Chain, I don't really think the particular set of songs Merritt had ready for the album benefitted from it. The approach works on some of them, but on most the noise is a distraction and seems more like an arbitrary stylistic decision than the best approach for that particular song.

Just catching up with all these posts and had to add my two cents; first of all; VERY ASTUTE OBSERVATION re Sinatra all round, Jothoma. I love those 50's Capital lps and you're right, he probably was the first to make a "concept" album as defined here. Does it matter if he wrote the material? I think not.

Secondly, I vote for Tubular Bells II, produced by Trevor Horn. It's an awesome mirror of the original Tubular Bells with Buggles production!



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