Concept albums
August 14, 2013 3:30 PM   Subscribe

Two of my favorite albums are Hospice by The Antlers and In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel. What are some more spectacular concept albums?
posted by goosechasing to Media & Arts (42 answers total) 23 users marked this as a favorite
 
Well, the Wall by Pink Floyd should obviously be on your list.
posted by Thoughtcrime at 3:33 PM on August 14, 2013 [2 favorites]


Woods Of Ypres - Woods IV: The Green Album
posted by turbid dahlia at 3:33 PM on August 14, 2013


2112 from Rush is a favorite of mine.
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 3:37 PM on August 14, 2013 [2 favorites]


Juarez by Terry Allen [1]
posted by nathancaswell at 3:38 PM on August 14, 2013 [4 favorites]


I think House of Gold & Bones, by Stone Sour, is one of the best albums of 2012/2013. The accompanying comic book is not so great, but the music is fantastic.
posted by starvingartist at 3:39 PM on August 14, 2013


Best answer: Kid A.
Recently, I've been very impressed with Laura Marling's Once I Was An Eagle, which is a treasure of a concept album, but very different style.
The Decemberists - The Crane Wife.
posted by Lutoslawski at 3:42 PM on August 14, 2013 [3 favorites]


some of my favorites are:
Deltron 3030, by Deltron.
Tallahassee by the Mountain Goats.
posted by entropone at 3:43 PM on August 14, 2013 [2 favorites]


"the downward spiral" by nine inch nails is an bleak, depressing and sonically-amazing concept album.
"deltron 3030" by deltron 3030 (== del the funky homosapien, kid koala and dan the automator) is an awesome sci-fi hip-hop concept album.

(i'd argue that el-p's "fantastic damage" is one as well...)

(darn, beaten to it :D)
posted by raihan_ at 3:43 PM on August 14, 2013


oh, and Separation Sunday by The Hold Steady, of course.
posted by entropone at 3:44 PM on August 14, 2013 [2 favorites]


Based on your specific tastes, I would definitely suggest Califone's All My Friends Are Funeral Singers, which is kind of a loose cross between a concept album and film soundtrack.
posted by scody at 3:45 PM on August 14, 2013 [1 favorite]


Both of Neon Neon's albums:
Stainless Style, which is about auto engineer John DeLorean. Here's a song: I Told Her on Alderaan.
Praxis Makes Perfect, which is about publisher/communist Giangiacomo Feltrinelli. Here's a song: Hoops With Fidel.
posted by dayintoday at 3:46 PM on August 14, 2013 [1 favorite]


Home by Gavin Castleton is a very good album by an artist more people should be listening to.
posted by munchingzombie at 3:56 PM on August 14, 2013


Best answer: Are We Not Horses by Rock Plaza Central is so, so great. It's about a band of "mechanical horses programmed to act like real horses and I might just love it more than Aeroplane.

I also really really like Now We Can See by the Thermals though it's really more of a leitmotif than a concept album. They have another one, The Blood, The Body, and the Machine which is more of a straight-forward concept album but which I don't love quite as much.

Also, of course, Ziggy. And Janelle Monae. And Travellers in Space and Time?

I really like concept albums about weird scifi stuff.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 3:59 PM on August 14, 2013 [2 favorites]


Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) by The Kinks.
posted by a.mosquito at 4:00 PM on August 14, 2013 [1 favorite]


I don't remember if Neon Bible was specifically marketed as a concept album, but I've always seen it that way.

Also, Zen Arcade.
posted by jeudi at 4:03 PM on August 14, 2013 [2 favorites]


Blueberry Boat, by the Fiery Furnaces.
posted by afx237vi at 4:24 PM on August 14, 2013 [1 favorite]


Black Sheep Boy by Okkervil River
David Comes to Life by Fucked Up
posted by Gortuk at 4:38 PM on August 14, 2013


The Forgotten Arm, by Aimee Mann. Boxing, substance abuse, romance, road trips.

Leviathan, by Mastodon. Moby-Dick!
posted by fiercecupcake at 5:07 PM on August 14, 2013 [2 favorites]


Pink World by Planet P Project introduced me to the concept (ha) of concept albums. I haven't listened to it in many years but I recall thinking it was pretty great. Democratic Underground seems to think pretty highly of it. (Thinking about now, I may have to give it another listen.)
posted by Beti at 5:13 PM on August 14, 2013


'Concept album' is a loose term, but you might like:

The Sophtware Slump by Grandaddy
The Hour of Bewilderbeast by Badly Drawn Boy
The Suburbs by Arcade Fire
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots by The Flaming Lips
The Gay Parade by Of Montreal
Michigan or Illinois by Sufjan Stevens
posted by drpynchon at 5:15 PM on August 14, 2013 [3 favorites]




Oh, good albums, goosechasing! Roadside Graves - We Can Take Care of Ourselves is about / inspired by S.E. Hinton's book, The Outsiders. That was enough of a hook for me.
posted by diamondsky at 5:23 PM on August 14, 2013


Best answer: Pedro the Lion - Control
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois and/or Michigan
The Mountain Goats - Tallahassee and/or The Sunset Tree
The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love
Modest Mouse - Lonesome Crowded West
The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
posted by eunoia at 5:23 PM on August 14, 2013 [1 favorite]


The The - Infected
posted by JoeZydeco at 7:53 PM on August 14, 2013




The Fiery Furnaces - Rehearsing My Choir
I didn't like it at first, mainly because the voice of the Friedberger's 83-year-old grandmother was not what I was used to hearing in a rock album. But I stuck with it, and I'm continually impressed by its depth. Here's an essay on the album by composer David T. Little.

"The Wayward Granddaughter"
"We Wrote Letters Everyday"
posted by hydrophonic at 9:07 PM on August 14, 2013 [1 favorite]


The Beach Boys - Smile
"Cabin Essence"
"Child Is Father of the Man"
posted by hydrophonic at 9:21 PM on August 14, 2013 [1 favorite]


Nobody mentions Gabriel-era Genesis? The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is an essential concept album. If you want something less prog-ish, check out Song Cycle by Van Dyke Parks.
posted by TrialByMedia at 9:44 PM on August 14, 2013 [1 favorite]


Best answer: The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love.

Wiki: "The Hazards of Love is a rock opera, with all songs contributing to a unified narrative, similar to the use of recurring stories in The Crane Wife. The plot is a love story: a woman named Margaret (voiced by Stark) falls in love with a shape-shifting boreal forest dweller named William (voiced by Meloy). William's mother, a jealous fairy queen (voiced by Worden) and the villainous Rake (also voiced by Meloy) bring conflict to the album's story arc."
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 10:21 PM on August 14, 2013 [1 favorite]


Clockwork Angels by Rush.
posted by Occula at 10:24 PM on August 14, 2013


Best answer: The band would disagree, but OK Computer (here's a post I did on it last year). It's a bit loose thematically and doesn't tell an explicit story, much like ITAOTS, but the ideas underscored by the lyrics and sound design include future shock, political dysfunction, millennial worries, fear of technology, social alienation, and simmering existential dread. It also sounds amazing and is regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time -- not just for the quality of individual songs but for the way it coheres and flows as a complete body of work.

Also, FWIW: Hospice, ITAOTS, and OK Computer are all considered part of "/mu/core", the general consensus favorite discography of 4chan's music board. Regardless of your opinion of that cohort, these albums do share a certain high-concept je ne sais quoi as well as considerable critical acclaim. Some more if you want to explore:

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven - brooding instrumental post-rock in four movements

My Bloody Valentine - Loveless - dreamy lyrics and densely layered mosaics of shoegaze guitar

Radiohead - Kid A - darker than OKC, with more experimental electronica and a moodier, apocalyptic vibe

King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King - a classic prog rock masterpiece, symphonic and surreal

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion - beautiful, richly produced psychedelic pop (and one of the trippiest album covers of all time -- that YouTube is of a 100% static image)

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - a tour-de-force deconstruction of Kanye's celebrity identity, featuring an ensemble cast of guest artists
posted by Rhaomi at 2:16 AM on August 15, 2013






Monolithe I, II, and III by (you guessed it) Monolithe could all be considered concept albums I suppose, though each album consists of one 40+ minute long brooding doom metal track.

Also, nobody's mentioned Joe's Garage yet?
posted by Venadium at 5:28 AM on August 15, 2013


Tales of Mystery and Imagination -The Allan parsons Project.

War of the Worlds - Jeff Wayne

The obvious Thick as a Brick, and the new Thick As A Brick 2 -Ian Anderson and or Jethro Tull, War Child by Jethro Tull which was supposed to be the soundtrack to a Tull themed movie, and Too Old To Rock and Roll, Too Young to Die Also by Tull. Jeebus it seems that most Tull albums are concept albums.
posted by Gungho at 6:38 AM on August 15, 2013


Hadestown by Anais Mitchell

The Archandroid by Janelle Monae
posted by piyushnz at 7:21 AM on August 15, 2013


The new Sonny and the Sunsets album, Antennae to the Afterworld is themed around love, death and aliens.
posted by iamkimiam at 8:44 AM on August 15, 2013


The Roots Undun tells a story in reverse and is in my mind, the best hip hop album ever made.
posted by cnc at 10:36 AM on August 15, 2013


Best answer: * The answer, as it is to all things musical, is Emmylou Harris. The Ballad of Sally Rose is loosely based on her experiences with Gram Parsons. But that's not the important thing -- the important thing is that it's crammed with awesome, super catchy songs. Start with Timberline, White Lines, the heart-stoppingly gorgeous Diamond in My Crown, Bad News, Rhythm Guitar -- oh heck, they're all awesome, start anywhere.

* On a completely different note, the Styx album Paradise Theatre is pretty fun, using the rise and fall of a movie theater to parallel the story of America itself. Very tuneful, memorable songs -- The Best of Times, Too Much Time on My Hands, Snowblind, etc.

* Finally, this might be a little outside the bounds of your question, but do you ever listen to musicals? Something like Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (the 1974 version), which tells a story and has songs so catchy you'll be humming them years later.
posted by Alaska Jack at 11:05 AM on August 15, 2013


Best answer: I could list many, many concept/theme albums, but I'll stick to "spectacular" ones not already mentioned (in no particular order):
posted by namewithoutwords at 12:05 PM on August 15, 2013


Planet P - Pink World
posted by littleredwagon at 12:21 PM on August 15, 2013


Sufjan Stevens - Age of Adz is amaaaazing...
A new emo-punk revival concept album with a bunch of the same themes as Hospice, is The Wonder Years - Greatest Generation
Yeezus - Kanye (really)
Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d city
Daft Punk - Random Access Memories
posted by stratastar at 12:10 PM on August 16, 2013


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