Best/Worst Concept Albums

Kess73

SirLemonhead wrote: »

Do maiden have any other albums that would be considered concept albums?

While technically not a concept album, A Matter Of Life And Death is close to being one as the album is about war and it's effects.

damonjewel

GhostInTheRuins wrote: »

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I think it depends on how obvious it is that the song is telling a part of the overall 'story' if you know what I mean. The problem is songs that can't stand up on their own, without it being obvious that they're part of a larger storyline.

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Thats a fair comment, but a concept album doesn't have to be a story book, but a simple collection of songs on the same theme. Animals would be good examples of this

JBnaglfar

SirLemonhead wrote: »

Still undecided on Nostradamus. The first disc is pretty fantastic but the second one is a bit dull. They could have done with shortening it perhaps.

Agreed. I was really looking forward to that album. It has some great songs, but too many just seem like filler/dull. Maybe it'll be a grower, but I doubt it

TheLastBaron

Mastodon have probably produced the three best concept albums (Leviathan, Blood Mountain, Crack the Skye) I've ever heard.

A concept album is an album which follows the direct narrative of a story and/or concept, am I right? Surely most of Marilyn Manson's albums are concept albums...

MoominPapa

Funny thing about Rush is the albums which people call their concept albums 2112 and Hemispheres , Fountain of Lamneth on Caress of Steel is usually forgotten which is a shame - not being the albums title I guess, are all half concept albums which has been pointed out - but to me albums like Signals, Grace under Pressure and Snakes and Arrows are much more concept driven although one or two tracks on each may derail the concept (Countdown on Signals for example)

Anyway I agree that lyrically Hemispheres is dire (particularly the toe curling "The Sphere - a kind of dream") - but musically its fantastic - except for the toe curling .....

Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars is probably the greatest concept album though, DSOTM, WYWH close, Hawkwinds Space Ritual also and more recently Francis the Mute would be my favourite.

JBnaglfar

TheLastBaron wrote: »

A concept album is an album which follows the direct narrative of a story and/or concept, am I right?

There are two kinds of concept albums, as I understand it. One is the narrative type as you mentioned. The other is an album with all songs based on a central theme, such as Dark Side of the Moon, but with a story as such.

Which leads me to wonder, are groups such as Ayreon, Amon Amarth and Finntroll concept bands?

GLaDOS

JBnaglfar wrote: »

Which leads me to wonder, are groups such as Ayreon, Amon Amarth and Finntroll concept bands?

I've three Ayreon albums and I'd sa they are definately a concept group

damonjewel

JBnaglfar wrote: »

There are two kinds of concept albums, as I understand it. One is the narrative type as you mentioned. The other is an album with all songs based on a central theme, such as Dark Side of the Moon, but with a story as such.

Which leads me to wonder, are groups such as Ayreon, Amon Amarth and Finntroll concept bands?

Wiki sums it up quite well

In popular music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical".[1] Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing to a single overall theme or unified story. This is in contrast to the practice of an artist or group releasing an album consisting of a number of unconnected (lyrically or otherwise) songs performed by the artist.

In the world of musical theatre, there is a separate and distinct form of concept album known as the album musical, in which the performers are playing characters in a story, a type of recording which encompasses such "rock operas" as The Who's Tommy and The Wall by Pink Floyd.

xanthor

I will always have a soft spot for Demanufacture.

PattheMetaller

I rate the following

Symphony X: V-The New Mythology Suite
Dream Theater: Metropolis Pt 2-Scenes From A Memory
Spock's Beard: Snow
Shadow Gallery: Tyranny & Room V
Kamelot: Epica & The Black Halo
Marillion: Misplaced Childhood
Pink Floyd: The Wall

Dark Artist

I might as well throw in Century Child by Nightwish and The Divine Conspiracy by Epica if it's also case of a thematic concept rather than narrative.

DreamerDeceiver

fav. conceptual album : 7th Son of the 7th Son by Iron Maiden, The Crucible of Man by Iced Earth....
worst conceptual album : Nostradamus by Judas Priest