Decent concept albums
- Thread starter Firky
- Start date
Dirty Martini
gets what he cant want
Grandaddy -- The Sophtware Slump
Bjork "Medulla".
Gorillaz "Demon Days".
The Liars "They Were Wrong and So We Drowned".
The Flaming Lips "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots".
Tom Waits "Alice".
Our Lady Peace " Spiritual Machines".
Radiohead "Kid A" and "OK Computer".
Elf Power "Creatures".
The Microphones "Mount Eerie".
The Arcade Fire "Funeral".
Gorillaz "Demon Days".
The Liars "They Were Wrong and So We Drowned".
The Flaming Lips "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots".
Tom Waits "Alice".
Our Lady Peace " Spiritual Machines".
Radiohead "Kid A" and "OK Computer".
Elf Power "Creatures".
The Microphones "Mount Eerie".
The Arcade Fire "Funeral".
clandestino
no llevar papel
which radiohead record are you including as a concept album?
'american idiot' by green day is the most modern concept album i can think of. i could see it working as a rock opera as well. it's got characters - st jimmy, jesus of suburbia, whatsername - recurring themes, etc. i think it would be pretty entetaining.
the greatest concept album of all time, however, has to be "that's life" by sham 69. if you only know their "hurry up harry", then try and find it. that song is actually part of a tight narrative. it occurs - and hold onto your headware suspense fans - when harry's mates call round to his house before a night on the town. guess where they're going...?
genius.
plus that record contains my favourite line of dialogue from an album. jimmy pursey (ooh, could st jimmy be a reference to this very record...!) slurring: "yeah, i'm feeling pretty pissed, as it happens."
happy days.
'american idiot' by green day is the most modern concept album i can think of. i could see it working as a rock opera as well. it's got characters - st jimmy, jesus of suburbia, whatsername - recurring themes, etc. i think it would be pretty entetaining.
the greatest concept album of all time, however, has to be "that's life" by sham 69. if you only know their "hurry up harry", then try and find it. that song is actually part of a tight narrative. it occurs - and hold onto your headware suspense fans - when harry's mates call round to his house before a night on the town. guess where they're going...?
genius.
plus that record contains my favourite line of dialogue from an album. jimmy pursey (ooh, could st jimmy be a reference to this very record...!) slurring: "yeah, i'm feeling pretty pissed, as it happens."
happy days.
Dr. Furface
One small step for me
Closer - Joy Division. It was a suicide note - and then he did it. Top that (pun intended - sorry).
Reno
The In Kraut
Keren Ann and Bardi Johanson - Lady and Bird
The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois & Michigan (the first two of fifty planned concept albums on each US state)
As a novelty item I feel compelled to include Amanda Lears "Sweet Revenge", to my knowledge the only ever disco concept album and based on the legend of Faust.
While technically a musical, the album of the original stage version of Hedwig & The Angry Inch works as a terrific concept album.
The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois & Michigan (the first two of fifty planned concept albums on each US state)
As a novelty item I feel compelled to include Amanda Lears "Sweet Revenge", to my knowledge the only ever disco concept album and based on the legend of Faust.
While technically a musical, the album of the original stage version of Hedwig & The Angry Inch works as a terrific concept album.
Termite Man
zombie flesh eater
The only modern concept album I can think of is Train Songs by Two Dollar guitar although it's more of a collection of songs inspired by train journeys rather than a collection of songs to forma anrrative !
The best concept album/s ever though has to be Joes Garage by Frank Zappa
The best concept album/s ever though has to be Joes Garage by Frank Zappa
Listening to it now.............Savage Henry said:The best concept album/s ever though has to be Joes Garage by Frank Zappa
It wasn't very large, there was just enough room to cram the drums, in the corner over by the dodge, it was a '54 with a mashed up door and a cheesy liitle amp with a sign with sign on the front said fender champ..........
DaveCinzano
WATCH OUT, GEORGE, HE'S GOT A SCREWDRIVER!
'tricks of the shade' by the goats
Dr. Furface
One small step for me
Rodders said:
and the worst of them too
Someone** should write and compose a concept album based on a fifteen-year discussion forum thread bump, and all the adventures of prominent characters stopping, then suddenly contributing again to it ..... 
**Don't bother sending me any share of the almost certainly useless 'royalties' 
**Don't bother sending me any share of the almost certainly useless 'royalties'
Johnny Vodka
The Abominable Scotsman
Already posted a video in the suicide thread last night, but the For Those I Love album seems to be a concept album about the suicide of a friend, in a The Streets meets (maybe) Fontaines DC kind of way. He even references The Streets on a couple of tracks. Pretty good it is too.
Siouxsie
Fashionable objector with a uniform fetish
It's what GoFundMe was invented for!Someone** should write and compose a concept album based on a fifteen-year discussion forum thread bump, and all the adventures of prominent characters stopping, then suddenly contributing again to it .....
**Don't bother sending me any share of the almost certainly useless 'royalties'
What can I say, I've embraced the recycling culture, be it yoghurt pots or 15yr old threads!
SpookyFrank
Don't swallow the cap
Someone** should write and compose a concept album based on a fifteen-year discussion forum thread bump, and all the adventures of prominent characters stopping, then suddenly contributing again to it .....
**Don't bother sending me any share of the almost certainly useless 'royalties'
Unusual for a mega-bumped thread to have so many still-active posters on it tbh.
mojo pixy
head down
I made a concept album last year. All recorded at home because .. well, everyone did everything at home last year. One day I might re-record it at an actual studio but for now, it is what it is: lockdown therapy, too much time on my hands, and an idea that wouldn't leave me alone.
In the immortal words of just about everyone, "we made this for us, if anyone else likes it that's a bonus"
In the immortal words of just about everyone, "we made this for us, if anyone else likes it that's a bonus"
PM me for a free copy 
It was recorded at home, alone, using very cheap equipment. And after weeks of bingeing box sets between 12-hour care shifts in a pandemic, this basically stopped me going mental. Arguably
hitmouse
God laid a big egg in my heart to tell you this
Rudimentary Peni - Cacophony
You could probably make a case for most of the Fucked Up records, but definitely David Comes To Life, that's about as concept as albums get.
Pretty much everything the Mountain Goats have done this century has been "concept" to a greater or lesser extent, Tallahassee (songs about an alcoholic couple and their failing marriage) and The Sunset Tree (songs about his childhood and his relationship with his abusive stepfather) are pretty much the classics imo, but if you want concept albums about goths, wrestling, meth addicts, or dungeons'n'dragons, they've got those as well.
Oh, and it's not something I listen to that often, but Addicted to Bad Ideas by World/Inferno Friendship Society is a concept album about Peter Lorre.
You could probably make a case for most of the Fucked Up records, but definitely David Comes To Life, that's about as concept as albums get.
Pretty much everything the Mountain Goats have done this century has been "concept" to a greater or lesser extent, Tallahassee (songs about an alcoholic couple and their failing marriage) and The Sunset Tree (songs about his childhood and his relationship with his abusive stepfather) are pretty much the classics imo, but if you want concept albums about goths, wrestling, meth addicts, or dungeons'n'dragons, they've got those as well.
Oh, and it's not something I listen to that often, but Addicted to Bad Ideas by World/Inferno Friendship Society is a concept album about Peter Lorre.
Kaka Tim
Half Arsed and Slapdash till I Die
The who sell out.1967. Radio jingles and daft adverts run alongside some brilliant songs in this work of minor pop art genius. Oft over looked cos of tommy.
Fun. Inventive. Daft. Fizzing with ideas and energy. And Roger Daltrey sitting in a bathtub full of baked beans.
Fun. Inventive. Daft. Fizzing with ideas and energy. And Roger Daltrey sitting in a bathtub full of baked beans.
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I made a concept album last year. All recorded at home because .. well, everyone did everything at home last year. One day I might re-record it at an actual studio but for now, it is what it is: lockdown therapy, too much time on my hands, and an idea that wouldn't leave me alone.
In the immortal words of just about everyone, "we made this for us, if anyone else likes it that's a bonus"
PM me for a free copyIt was recorded at home, alone, using very cheap equipment. And after weeks of bingeing box sets between 12-hour care shifts in a pandemic, this basically stopped me going mental. Arguably
You got some really catchy tunes there along with the social commentary.
mojo pixy
head down
[I'm using something else as an excuse to say, ^that^ album definitely has commentary, but it has some intensely personal stuff as well.]
Anyway I checked over this tiny thread for War of the Worlds, though it's well into 'Musical' territory as well .. it's an album's worth of music with a single coherent storyline .. recorded and released as an album (not a stage show later set to record) so I'm putting it here (if anyone anywhere hasn't heard it lol)
A little more obscure, but also literature-related, is Bo Hansson's 1970 album "Music Inspired by Lord of the Rings" (1972 is the international re-release, it was first released in Sweden in 1970)
Some may like it, others will hate it .. but it's certainly a concept album. It's a bit samey, but that could as easily be called understated and tense. If anything, the songs are too short and have no time to grow, which is a shame. It's certainly better than most of the overblown, pompous prog the 1970s is so infamous for .. and that it pre-dated all of.
Anyway I checked over this tiny thread for War of the Worlds, though it's well into 'Musical' territory as well .. it's an album's worth of music with a single coherent storyline .. recorded and released as an album (not a stage show later set to record) so I'm putting it here (if anyone anywhere hasn't heard it lol)
A little more obscure, but also literature-related, is Bo Hansson's 1970 album "Music Inspired by Lord of the Rings" (1972 is the international re-release, it was first released in Sweden in 1970)
Some may like it, others will hate it .. but it's certainly a concept album. It's a bit samey, but that could as easily be called understated and tense. If anything, the songs are too short and have no time to grow, which is a shame. It's certainly better than most of the overblown, pompous prog the 1970s is so infamous for .. and that it pre-dated all of.
