I'm not clear on this: some people define a concept album as one that tells a story through its music, while others define it as an album that centers around a particular theme. Help me out here.

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Originally posted by Crash:
some people define a concept album as one that tells a story through its music

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We used to call that a "Rock Opera" back in the 70's. (or even more recently, if you consider the Drive-By Truckers.)

Thin Lizzy's "Jailbreak", Rush's "2112", Camel's "The Snow Goose", etc.

I usually think of a concept album as tying songs into a general theme, something along the lines of Fountains of Wayne's "Utopia Parkway" or Sufjan Steven's "Greetings from Michigan".

(I'd thought about mentioning Blueberry Boat, but didn't want to get the Elanor-haters all lathered up again. )


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I think the short answer is, yes. I, too, have heard both definitions applied and I've heard the term used with albums that display some pretty tenuous internal themes.

The idea of a Concept Album is pretty similar to the idea of Program Music in classical music, which can both center around a common theme, or tell a specific story. Disney, for example, took advantage of Program Music in the movie Fantasia. Beethoven's "Pastoral" Symphony, for example, is written around a theme of nature. Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain" tells a more specific, supernatural tale.

The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds is often cited as a Concept Album. It follows an arc of love and loss, but not a specific story, so I would tend to lump it in as a "theme" concept album, whereas an album like Pink Floyd's The Wall is a "story" concept album.

I think both definitions are valid.

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I went and checked the entire site out before I came back to answer, but now my response is superfluous. However, I fall on the side that a concept album and a rock opera SHOULD be two different things, even if nobody else distinguishes them anymore. So, for all intents and purposes, they're considered the same now, except perhaps by the artists themselves.

Megatron would be remiss to not recommend the very first rock opera- The Kinks' masterpiece "Arthur". Though the album was released one month after The Who's "Tommy", even Pete Townshend concedes that Ray Davies hit upon the idea of a rock opera first. "Arthur" includes such Kinks classics as "Victoria", "Brainwashed" and "Mr. Churchill Says", and is generally considered one of the group's top three ablums.

Plus, it's only $10.99 at Amazon.

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Originally posted by mark f:
[...]I fall on the side that a concept album and a rock opera SHOULD be two different things, even if nobody else distinguishes them anymore.

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The more I think about it, the more sense this makes to me.

On the whole I think I like concept albums more. There's a subtlety to concept albums I find appealing, while I can think of two many rock operas that are terribly overblown. Megatron cites a great example in the form of The Who's Tommy, which I have never liked as much as Quadrophenia. Arthur, on the other hand, is a superb example of rock opera done right. Megatron's recommendation is dead on.

One album I came back to time again throughout the year was Sleep Station's World War II concept album After the War. It just missed my year-end Top 50, but not without a lot of second-guessing on my part. I don't know of a great many concept albums released this year, but it was a pretty fine example of the species.

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Some more recent albums that have been labeled concept albums by many are Green Day's "American Idiot" and The Liars "They Were Wrong and So We Drowned".

Is "Blueberry Boat" supposed to be a concept album? I just recently heard the album, and have been playing it again and again and gradually i'm getting more into it.

But what a weird sound.

It has kind of a nautical theme to it, but I don't know if that qualifies it as a concept album.

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Originally posted by Crash:
It has kind of a nautical theme to it, but I don't know if that qualifies it as a concept album.

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The general rule is that any CD containing even a single mention of pirates and buried treasure automatically qualifies as a concept album.

At least, I'm pretty sure I read that somewhere.

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Concept albums are both of what you said previously. Anyway some other concept albums you should look into are..

Queensryche-Operation Mindcrime
Pink Floyd-Dark Side Of The Moon
Metallica-And Justice For All(at least I think it's a concept album)
Dream Theater-Scenes From A Memory(it's extremely pretentious though)

There are others but I can't name them all.

I think I'm with LT and mark that there are two different KINDS of concept albums, even if they aren't distinguished very often:

1. The thematic concept album, which doesn't tell a story, per se, but has a unifying theme. flem_snopes' point about Fountains of Wayne's Welcome Interstate Managers is dead on: a whole record about the daily grind of the working week. There were also a few overtly political records that came out in 2004 (including Dan Bern's My Country II, the Poster Children's On the Offensive, and Shivaree's Breach) whose central conceit was a general anti-war or anti-Bush vibe.

2. The rock opera/story telling concept album, which follows characters through a plotline, etc. Along with the ones mentioned, I should bring up Husker Du's Zen Arcade. I'm told that Blueberry Boat is supposed to be a concept album of this sort, but since I can't stand it, I'll abstain from making a strong stand here.

I dont know if it is a concept record...but i like the lovage album.For a quirky goofy fun album to throw in and change it up a bit.

Then again like almost anything the automater touches...or at least i used to...after the new handsome boy album i am not sure.

I love jennifer charles too.

Um...."Sgt. Peppers lonely hearts club band".

"We're only in it for the money".

Prefab Sprout, who have recently hit heavy rotation in my car, have a record called Jordan: The Comeback which is (I'm told) a concept album about God, Jesus, and Elvis. I'm not sure I quite get the conceptual parts, but it's a darn good record.

Judging only from what I've heard on Left on the Dial, Prefab Sprout is not capable of making a good record. Is their other stuff different sounding?

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Originally posted by Crash:
Judging only from what I've heard on _Left on the Dial_, Prefab Sprout is not capable of making a good record. Is their other stuff different sounding?

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Nope. If you don't like "When Love Breaks Down," which is the song on the boxed set and one of my favorite Sprout songs, you probably won't like the rest of their stuff. The later stuff loses the dated 80's synths of the earlier stuff, but it still sounds pretty much the same. There's a 2-disc greatest hits that got a US release (surprisingly) that covers all aspects of their career, but Steve McQueen/Two Wheels Good (same album...different titles in the US and UK) and Jordan: The Comeback are both fine on their own.

Mastodon-Leviathan and The Streets-A Grand Don't Come For Free would be two more recent concept albums I can think of off the top of my head. Also Pink Anvil-Halloween Party, DJ Shadow-The Private Press, David Bowie-Outside, Lesbians On Ecstasy. Ministry's last album might qualify, same with Bjork's. Lovage is definately a good one too, although most of those players seem to be involved in a ton of concept albums! Patton especially, Fantomas-Director's Cut and Delirium Cordia being perfect examples. Prince Paul's A Prince Among Theives, same as Politics Of The Business too. Most NIN albums could qualify. Ween's-The Mollusk and 12 Golden Country Greats. Buck 65-Man Overboard maybe?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Smenkharon,

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Originally posted by philosopherEric:
Prefab Sprout, who have recently hit heavy rotation in my car, have a record called Jordan: The Comeback which is (I'm told) a concept album about God, Jesus, and Elvis. I'm not sure I quite get the conceptual parts, but it's a darn good record.

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There's also an album of theirs called, if I recall correctly, The Gunman and Other Stories, which is a (Wild) Western-themed concept album.

A side-note, considering that Crash put forth his opinion on the quality of their records: I don't really care for them, but I haven't really heard enough of their work to be a judge. It's certainly a pretty bold statement to say that a band is "not capable of making a good record" after hearing one of their songs.

As a side-note to that side-note, my dad is a pretty big Prefab Sprout fan, but he's really the only person I know who likes them. I still know a few of their major song/album titles because of him, though.

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Originally posted by Biggles:


There's also an album of theirs called, if I recall correctly, _The Gunman and Other Stories_, which is a (Wild) Western-themed concept album.

A side-note, considering that Crash put forth his opinion on the quality of their records: I don't really care for them, but I haven't really heard enough of their work to be a judge. It's certainly a pretty bold statement to say that a band is "not capable of making a good record" after hearing _one_ of their songs.

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Good call. I forgot about the Gunman record, which was the most recent album by the "band" Prefab Sprout which is, essentially, a vehicle for the music of Paddy McAloon. He's more recently put out a solo record, but Gunman is a thematic concept record about the Wild Wild West. Good call.

I, too, was a little puzzled by Crash's ability to discern a whole band's catalog by one song. Given his list of the best albums "evar", I don't expect that he would like the Sprout. But I think it's a pretty strong statement to say they're "not capable of making a good record," particularly after I just endorsed their music. Essentially, he's saying "you like crap." Nice strategy. You'd think I had said something about Crash's beloved Pavement...

I agree that either type of album is a concept album, but I think that there has to be some real attention to the focus in the case of second (centers around a theme). A lot of good albums that weren't designed to be concept albums have similar sounds just because that's where the band was at the time (like Pearl Jam's Ten or most Rage Against the Machine stuff). Also I hear a lot of stuff without words, or English words, get called concept albums (Sigur Ros or Godspeed You Black Emperor or M83). I'm not sure if the band meant for them to be thought of this way or not but its hard to imagine them doing a nonconcept album then, sort of ruining the idea that a concept album is something special for a band to attempt. Other cases may be where its the only sound a band is able to produce well (Nirvana comes to my mind or Les Claypool).

Some other concept albums I could think of:
Avalanches--Since I Left you (though this may fall into one of the categories I was talking about above)
The Flaming Lips--Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (Rock Opera sort)
MF Doom--Operation Doomsday, King Geedorah, the Viktor Vaughn ones (all told from different first person point of view)
Magnetic Fields--69 love songs.
Nick Cave--Murder Ballads
Primal Scream--XTRMNTR
Tom Waits--Alice (actually produced for a musical)