Jump to content
View in the app

A better way to browse. Learn more.

Surly Horns

A full-screen app on your home screen with push notifications, badges and more.

To install this app on iOS and iPadOS
  1. Tap the Share icon in Safari
  2. Scroll the menu and tap Add to Home Screen.
  3. Tap Add in the top-right corner.
To install this app on Android
  1. Tap the 3-dot menu (⋮) in the top-right corner of the browser.
  2. Tap Add to Home screen or Install app.
  3. Confirm by tapping Install.

Featured Replies


It would be too easy to name The Wall as my favorite. I do love it, and for me it came along in my formative years, and I even saw the Roger Waters version live...
 
But I think my all timer is this one. Even got to see the live version on the Empire/Livecrime tour.
 
8260020e1c2ee312536465ddf33dcf42.jpg

Whatcha like?

 

spacer.png

My contribution. Blew my mind when it first came out. Still one of my favorite bands. 

I’m going to go against the usual picks *cough* any Pink Floyd album or Radiohead album

so I submit 

image.jpeg.58755e17f92efdadb212299d05174e06.jpeg

Hell, I had to Google the damn thing. I had forgotten about a few of these.

Tommy, Petsounds, 2112 even Sgt Pepper. All good concept albums.

I don’t think anybody had a string of great concept albums that can compare to The Kinks:
‘68-Village Green Preservation Society
69- Arthur/The Decline and Fall of the British Empire
70-Lola vs. Powerman
71-Muswell Hillbillies


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

17 minutes ago, TexPx said:

I don’t think anybody had a string of great concept albums that can compare to The Kinks:
‘68-Village Green Preservation Society
69- Arthur/The Decline and Fall of the British Empire
70-Lola vs. Powerman
71-Muswell Hillbillies


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Yeah, those are great examples. Ray Davies was really ahead of his time. And was pretty damn good with a Tele. And Dave was simply bad ass.

My two favorites are Red Headed Stranger and this one.   "Let the children boogie"

R-618952-1443451473-7889.jpeg.jpg

Edited by hullabelew

Always loved Operation Mindcrime. I’ll still play the whole thing through sometimes if I’m going to be in the car for a while. Figured someone would make a movie about it eventually.

Red Headed Stranger and The Wall are 1a and 1b for me.

1 hour ago, Scooter Monzingo said:

Hell, I had to Google the damn thing. I had forgotten about a few of these.

Tommy, Petsounds, 2112 even Sgt Pepper. All good concept albums.

Don’t forget Quadrophenia. 

I wouldn’t put this in the same echelon as the other albums I mentioned. But before Mr. Roboto, there was Paradise Theater.

il_570xN.2472918714_2t49.jpg

4 hours ago, WhatTheBuck said:

Zappa has a number of them but this is the flagship:

FrankZappa-Joe'sGarageActsI_II_And_III.j

Damn, how did I forget Zappa. I would like to add Overnight Sensation (dynamo hum), Uncle Meat, and 200 motels.

That reminds me of another one.  Alice wrote this one with Bernie Taupin around Alice's mental health issues.  Just a fantastic record.  My brother ran in to Bernie Taupin at a radio interview and he said, "Mr. Taupin....I really enjoyed your work with....." Taupin kind of kindly nods and starts to move past him....  "Your work with Alice Cooper on 'Welcome To My Nightmare'."  Taupin turns around and talks to my brother for about 20 minutes.    What a great album.    Davey Johnston and Dee Murray from Elton's band.  also play on the record.   Plus, Marcy Levy (Clapton's background singer) sings a great duet on "Millie and Billy".  I need to pull out that album today.   

220px-Acinside.jpg

looks like I need to recalibrate my definition of what a concept album is....

Dream Theater

Metropolis Pt 2 - Scenes from a Memory

BC9099AD-DFCB-43F6-8704-D38173A3780B.jpeg

14 hours ago, Dennis Taylor said:

Does this count? Pretty much all the tracks were about death, drugs, or death by drugs

 

download (1).jpeg

Write what you know.

If teen angst is a concept then there were a whole lot of concept albums coming out of the Seattle grunge scene in the 90’s.

I considered posting In the Court of the Crimson King by King Crimson but I don’t think it’s a concept album. They’re more of a concept band. When other bands were fusing rock and jazz concepts (which they did too), King Crimson was introducing classical influences and creating the prog rock genre. But just making new and different music doesn’t by itself qualify as a concept. There should be some sort of thematic coherence throughout the work.

We can toss around the concept album label pretty casually. And it’s complicated by the fact that there are albums that were both good albums and also failed concept albums. I’d offer one of my all time favorite albums that I posted above, Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus by Spirit, as an example. That’s a complicated story, recorded as the band was breaking up and put together by their producer after-the-fact. It’s about life and sensualities and it’s environmentally aware but it’s hard to say it’s a successful concept album. But it’s a brilliant piece from start to finish. 

1 hour ago, Chad Fuck said:

Has to be mentioned, my all time favorite:

 

Great album. I don’t know what the concept is other than good songs on a really well produced album. 

I'm listening to Quadrophenia right now. Pretty fucking outstanding.

3 hours ago, WhatTheBuck said:

Great album. I don’t know what the concept is other than good songs on a really well produced album. 

That's fair.  Pet Sounds is oft cited as a concept album, though as you reference above, there's a pretty wide range of definitions of that nebulous term.  I mean, some people use the definition you put forth - good songs on a well produced album - as a starting point.  To me, that's just a good album.  At first blush "concept" tends to conjure up the necessity of a thematic concept about which to revolve, but that's not the only concept that can be available.  The concept in Pet Sounds by Brian Wilson's own description was a perfection of Phil Spector's Wall of Sound technique.  So maybe we have a spectrum of "concept" albums where on the one hand have a thematic concept (say, madness - for Dark Side of the Moon), or perhaps at the other end of a spectrum, have an artistic concept (wall of sound, country parody).  In any case, I'm here for whatever comes up on the thread.  

On 4/5/2021 at 10:24 AM, GhostOfTomJoad said:

What's Going On by Marvin's gotta be mentioned.

tenor.gif

  • Author
Always loved Operation Mindcrime. I’ll still play the whole thing through sometimes if I’m going to be in the car for a while. Figured someone would make a movie about it eventually.

Red Headed Stranger and The Wall are 1a and 1b for me.


Getting to see Queensryche play the whole thing live at their peak was my #1 show for many many years.
  • Author
Does this count? Pretty much all the tracks were about death, drugs, or death by drugs
 
1868445448_download(1).jpeg.3840af529ce06f4f442b2c6f7e02ce4a.jpeg


I say no. And I love that album.
  • Author
 
shopping?q=tbn:ANd9GcRUFChHwWHd4VEl6fxDQTXsF96GYHXmPboNrTo_cmgh6XFiEOTU&usqp=CAE
My contribution. Blew my mind when it first came out. Still one of my favorite bands. 


I give up, what is this?
  • Author

Google suggests some interesting ones. Drive-by Truckers’ ‘Southern Rock Opera’ is great. I didn’t know Thick as a Brick was a concept album.

1 hour ago, Buzzrock said:

 


I say no. And I love that album.

 

One of my all time favorites.  Managed to get a copy a few days before the official release and was blown away. Couldn't take it out of the CD player 

And I was joking about the concept thing

Edited by Dennis Taylor

1 hour ago, Buzzrock said:

Google suggests some interesting ones. Drive-by Truckers’ ‘Southern Rock Opera’ is great. I didn’t know Thick as a Brick was a concept album.

I wouldn’t call Thick as a Brick a concept album. I’d just call it an album-long song. 

I have to admit I am not totally sure what a concept album is but here are a few I think qualify.

Pink Floyd- Wish You Were Here (I believe the whole album is about Syd Barrett’s demise and how the music business helped with it)

Pink Floyd- Animals (My favorite Floyd album and its all about animals! Kind of)

The Who- Tommy. (Didn’t see it listed above but may have missed it.  Figure a Rock Opera is a concept album)

The Beatles- Sgt. Pepper (I have read that this is considered a concept album with the whole fake band theme and I know some argue it is and some it isn’t.  If you believe it is a concept album it should probably top the list)

I wouldn’t call Thick as a Brick a concept album. I’d just call it an album-long song. 

According to Anderson it was meant to satirize concept albums. He was apparently pissed that people called Aqualung a concept album and he considered it just a collection of songs.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

c50433d330e859efd5012d5cabc40962.jpg
Shout out to The Woodlands.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

8f48c63f78b6c7a4b2b6272bb94f5469.jpg
Can’t believe I forgot about this one.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

12 hours ago, Beantown Express 2.0 said:

I have to admit I am not totally sure what a concept album is but here are a few I think qualify.

Pink Floyd- Wish You Were Here (I believe the whole album is about Syd Barrett’s demise and how the music business helped with it)

Pink Floyd- Animals (My favorite Floyd album and its all about animals! Kind of)

The Who- Tommy. (Didn’t see it listed above but may have missed it.  Figure a Rock Opera is a concept album)

The Beatles- Sgt. Pepper (I have read that this is considered a concept album with the whole fake band theme and I know some argue it is and some it isn’t.  If you believe it is a concept album it should probably top the list)

I’ve got a great bootleg copy of Pink Floyd at Boston Garden on 6/18/75. It opens with Raving and Drooling and You Gotta Be Crazy. Those songs would go on to become Sheep and Dogs, respectively. If you changed the titles of the songs on Animals, would it still be a concept album?

45 minutes ago, WhatTheBuck said:

I’ve got a great bootleg copy of Pink Floyd at Boston Garden on 6/18/75. It opens with Raving and Drooling and You Gotta Be Crazy. Those songs would go on to become Sheep and Dogs, respectively. If you changed the titles of the songs on Animals, would it still be a concept album?

Animals is totally a concept album as it is kind of based on George Orwell’s Animal Farm with each animal/song representing a different class of society.  

8 minutes ago, Beantown Express 2.0 said:

Animals is totally a concept album as it is kind of based on George Orwell’s Animal Farm with each animal/song representing a different class of society.  

You didn’t answer my question. 

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

Configure browser push notifications

Chrome (Android)
  1. Tap the lock icon next to the address bar.
  2. Tap Permissions → Notifications.
  3. Adjust your preference.
Chrome (Desktop)
  1. Click the padlock icon in the address bar.
  2. Select Site settings.
  3. Find Notifications and adjust your preference.