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 | 10. Songs for the Deaf - Queens of the Stone Age |
QotSA's third studio album takes you on a drive from Los Angeles to the Mojave Desert, all the while tuning into radio stations from towns on the way, such as Banning, California, and Chino Hills, California, always changing channels until one of the songs from the album is played.
But besides the entertaining radio announcements ("We play the songs that sound more like everyone else than anyone else."), with the ever-changing membership of the band, this album is also famous for featuring none other than Dave Grohl on drums, which, together with Josh Homme, Nick Oliveri, and vocalist Mark Lenagan, was arguably one of the best lineups in their history.
~ Farin
 | 9. Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) - The Kinks |
Arthur (Or Decline and Fall Of The British Empire), 1969, was not the Kinks’ first concept album (that was their previous one, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society). But it turned out to be their best. With a collection of songs that have stood the test of time, and today, 40 years later, is as enjoyable as when it was first released in 1969.
From the Liner Notes of the Arthur album:
"This is Arthur Morgan, who lives in a LONDON suburb in a house called Shangri-La, with a garden and a car and a wife called Rose and a son called Derek who's married to Liz..."
"Derek and Liz...are emigrating to Australia..."
"The Granada TV story in which they're set all takes place on Derek and Liz's last day in England..."
"...Arthur takes them all to the boat, and they have a picnic on the way, and all the time Arthur's remembering his life..."
From the Rolling Stone review, November 1, 1969:
“Arthur–an Englishman's life and thoughts and hopes and dreams, stories that Ray Davies wrote and produced, little scenes that the Kinks act out in playing and singing, an album that is a masterpiece on every level: Ray Davies' finest hour, the Kinks' supreme achievement.”
~ Dappled
 | 8. Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake - Small Faces |
Side 1 of Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake contains a number of great songs like "Afterglow (Of your Love)," and, of course, "Lazy Sunday." But Side 2 is where things really get interesting as far as Concept Albums are concerned. It tells the story of Happiness Stan, who, together with a magic fly, embarks on the search for the missing half of the moon. The story itself is narrated by Stanley Unwin, a British comedian, in a half-English/half-gobbled ygook language he invented, while the dialogue between Stan and the various curious characters he meets takes the form of songs. It’s a very silly and fun album, and unlike most concept albums, it doesn’t try to make you think or convey any deep messages apart from “Life is just a bowl of All-Bran/You wake up every morning and it's there.” A documentary called the album “soul-tinged blues-rock and psychedelic pop with a flavour of mock-Cockney music hall” – sums it up pretty well.
~ The Seeker
 | 7. The Wall - Pink Floyd |
The songs from The Wall tell a story that relates to the events of Pink, the leading character. During Pink’s youth, he loses his dad in the war. His mother is very over-protective, and he is exploited in school by dictating teachers. Each of these heavy burdens is symbolized by being “another brick in the wall.” When Pink grows up, he sees new light in being a rock & roll icon. He gets involved in unfaithful relationships and is overburdened with drugs and violence. After the end of his marriage, Pink assembles the wall and isolates himself from society.
Pink begins a hazy thought process and becomes insane while behind the wall. He starts to fantasize about being a fascist ruler, and has concerts where he starts a bigotry authorization on the crowd. As a result, his conscience locks up on him and he begins a trial with his inner-self, demanding him to “tear down the wall” in order to free himself back into society, where he must make amends with the people he has hurt. The end of The Wall cycles back to the beginning, with a continuation of the melody during the final song.
~ Mindcrime
 | 6. Pet Sounds - Beach Boys |
Pet Sounds is a 1966 album recorded by American pop group The Beach Boys. The group's ninth studio album, it has been widely ranked as one of the most influential records ever released in Western pop music and has been ranked at No. 1 in several music magazines' lists of greatest albums of all time, including New Musical Express, The Times, Mojo Magazine, and Pure Pop's lists. It was No. 2 in Rolling Stone Magazine's list. According to Acclaimedmusic.net, Pet Sounds is the most acclaimed album of all time by music journalists.
~ Cyberjudge
 | 5. Thick as a Brick - Jethro Tull |
Thick As A Brick defines "concept album." In fact, it goes above and beyond by having only one song. Tull frontman Ian Anderson wrote Thick As A Brick in response to critics' calling Aqualung (their previous release) a "concept album." Anderson disagreed with this label, saying, "If the critics want a concept album we'll give them a concept album, and we'll make it so bombastic and so over the top."
His intention was to "spoof" prog acts of the time.
Ironically, Thick As A Brick placed Jethro Tull amongst the greats of prog rock. It epitomized everything prog: time signature changes are everywhere, the instrumentation is varied, the lyrics are oblique, and, of course, it consists of one 43-minute epic.
The concept even extends beyond the music and lyrics: TAAB's premise is that its lyrics were penned by a (fictional) 8-year-old, Gerald "Little Milton" Bostock, as an epic poem entered into a children's writing contest. The story of his entry, triumph, and subsequent disqualification are detailed in the liner notes, which consist of the newspaper of a small town (also fictional). The lyrics themselves are printed, along with numerous articles, all of them written by Ian Anderson, who has a great sense of humour. This furthers the "spoof" idea, mocking small-town journalism.
All in all, it's a great album, and the concept holds together very well. Also, its humourous presentation helps to stop it from seeming pretentious as many great prog albums might.
~ Foolonthehill
 | 4. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust And the Spiders from Mars - David Bowie |
We write five years before the end of the world. Natural resources are running out and the people's minds are losing grip with reality. David Bowie narrates the story of a young alien that visits the earth with a message of peace and love. Ziggy is a gifted guitar player and his band rises and falls during the length of the album.
On live shows, Bowie continued the concept by transforming into Ziggy Stardust calling his backing group "The Spiders from Mars," as one can enjoy on the 1973 concert movie with the same title as the original album.
Topping the UK charts upon release in 1972, this album received many good critiques and has grown to one of the albums that defines Bowie, and concept albums in general.
~ Viaene
 | 3. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles |
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the British rock band The Beatles. Recorded over a 129-day period beginning on 6 December 1966, the album was released on 1 June 1967 in the United Kingdom, and the following day in the United States. Sgt. Pepper is often described as The Beatles' magnum opus and recognized as one of the most influential albums of all time by prominent critics and publications. It was ranked the greatest album of all time by Rolling Stone in 2003.
~ Cyberjudge
 | 2. Tommy - The Who |
Released exactly one year after Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake, Tommy is everything the Small Faces' album isn't, and vice versa. It had mass appeal, it did not veer off into a multitude of different genres, it had a message, and the music was a lot more mature. Tommy introduced the rock opera to the masses, catapulted The Who to superstardom, and even though the story might not be very easy to understand just by listening to the album, it is undeniably there. It made the Top Ten of Q’s “Albums That Changed Music,” and even though The Pretty Things and Small Faces may have been a little faster with releasing their respective rock operas, the honour of being able to claim the invention of the concept of the rock opera still falls to The Who and their 1966 ‘mini opera,’ A Quick One, While He’s Away. And Tommy, released in 1969, was far more successful and influential than its predecessors.
~ The Seeker
 | 1. The Dark Side Of The Moon - Pink Floyd |
At a time when almost every British rock band was releasing concept albums, Pink Floyd managed to stand out from the pack with their outstanding 1973 album The Dark Side Of The Moon. Every track on the album is based on one of the many stresses of human life, including time, money, war, death, and insanity. The album is well known for its excellent instrumentation and revolutionary use of synthesizers to create an atmospheric feel.
The Dark Side Of The Moon is the only concept album in history to sell more than 40 million copies worldwide, and it truly deserves that honor. It is still as popular today as it ever was, and is regularly rated amongst the greatest and most influential albums of all time.
~ c_s_1987
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Comments: 115
FIRST, CONCEPT ALBUMS ARE A LOT OLDER THAN ROCK, SO THE TITLE FOR THIS FEATURE SHOULD BE "THE TOP ROCK CONCEPT ALBUMS. SECONDLY ROCK IS ALL INCLUSIVE TO ANY BAND THAT USES ELECTRIC GUITARS, KEYBOARDS, DRUMS, AND SO ON. SO HEAVY METAL, ACID, POP, HARD, AND ALL THE OHTER LABELS SHOULD BE INCLUDED. NEXT THE CRITERIA FOR LISTING THE BEST IN NUMERICAL ORDER, i.e. 1 to whatever, should include the best concept, holding to that concept, structure of the music and lyrics, instrumentation, imagination, manipulation of the concept to cause more than one concept to be derived from the listener, how memorable and ease of recognition with just a few notes played, and finally sales. the concept album is nothing more than a series of songs strung together in a specific string, so as to generate a general/identical theme and/or idea, that each song must exhibit. In more basic terms, it tells a story. Rock Concept albums were first introduced in Europe, by groups like The Move, The Moody Blues, Floyd and so on, but were never really widely excepted in the U.S. until Days of Futures Past, by the Moody Blues, was released during the middle of the British Invasion. Americans liked it because it told a story, but more because the conservative U.S.record companies could sell it with the additon of the London Symphony for backup on the album. It was the bridge the rich and the poor were looking for to finally put rock music in the concrete foundation, that the Big Bands, Country Music and Rock and Roll had in the history of the American Music listening public. Yet, there was still one last element missing, to put it over the top and blow everything else away. Futuristic sound. It was the late sixties and we were headed for the moon. America was only thinking 21st century and a new sound. Electronically synthesized music. The MOOG effect. A little known studio band called, "Alan Parson's Project," joined the Genius of Roger Waters and David Gilmore to produce, "Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon." this concept album has out sold, outlived, crossed more generations and is more recoganized by hundreds of millions than any other music album in the world since its inception. Therefore it should be no question that it will alkways be number one toi anyone with a brain. That concept albums have almost ceased to exist in the new generations of music since the mid to late ninties, should make compliling the total list of Rock concept albumns relatively simple. Once compiled it could be given to people all around the world to peruse and vote on. Remember this is only "Rock," style music. Not centuries of native music, like Celtic, Indonesia, African tribal, American Indian, and such, so, strict audiophiles calm down and focus. Gangster rap and the like are not true concept albums, they are more of a politicized rant than anything else. But I digress. Groups like Yes, Tull, ELO, Beatles, Cooper, Sabbath, Genisis, Vangelis, just to tip the iceberg, are what we are looking to list. There will be a few hundred at most. It is very hard to find the genius it takes to do a true concept album, in most bands. A lot more have tried and failed miserably. Some bands are repeat producers of various concept albums. Floyd, Moody Blues and ELO come to mind. So, one of you computer techs need to build a site that we can all go to to vote and listen to each album, just incase some of us have never heard it before. That way when we cast our vote, it will also show that we listened to mor than just a few albums. It will make for a more truthful and accurate vote. The vote should take about three years to compile with one vote per person. that way nobody rushes to judgement. Finally, no running tote. no one should be influenced by what the pack is voting for. That's how bands get lost in the shuffle and true genius is never heard. This has to be fair. Have fun with this. Hope I have helped.
-TIM KELLY from ST. LOUIS, MO.
Dream Theater - Scenes from a Memory - up there with The Wall, Dark Side, and Amused to Death (which too is brilliant). The final cut is good but it gets to me at time. I also happen to love the Pros and Cons of hitchhiking. It's not that PF/Waters single handedly wrote the only concept albums, but they/he did them quite brilliantly in a way I enjoy.
-Don Kelley from Maple Ridge, BC, Canada
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew is #1.
-bluespro from Wisconsin
You guys and your Final Cut. Yes, it's good but it's no Dark Side or the Wall. It's not even Amused to Death, which is a truly phenomenal piece of work.
-Ford Prefect from USA
Pink Floyd's The Final Cut deserves mention here. A complete masterpiece.
-Quonk from Florida, USA
I still don't understand how is it that The Wall isn't considered by everyone to be the single best piece of, not just music, ART, ever created in the history of humanity. The Story, the music, the infinite layers of complexity hidden in that masterpiece.
-Almafuerte
List could have easily been a "Top 25" and some would still be left out. My personal favorites are "Time" from ELO and "Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds". "Mr. Roboto" from Styx would also be in a Top 25 list.
-Chuck from South Carolina
I think the greatest Moody Blues album was Seventh Sojourn. Great songs.
-Bill from Memphis
The final Cut is the best of the lot!
-Simon C > from Liverpool
Alice Cooper Goes To Hell is a piece of art that deserves to be listed.
-Aaron E