List-o-Mania: Concept Album Bands

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During Spinal Tap’s end-of-tour party, David St. Hubbins and Derek Smalls observe that – what with the probable demise of the band – that they are free to write Saucy Jack, their rock opera about Jack the Ripper. It’s a fine joke, all the better because the following acts have done likewise, or even worse. Here, for your pleasure, are ten of the more notable purveyors of the concept album, something that tells a story, explores a theme, or just expands on a footnote. Criteria for selection are exportability to other media, vanity, quantity, frequency and absurdity.

This is a probably a good time to confess that Styx should probably be on this list, but missed out because I’m not familiar with their music, beyond seeing them at El Paso’s 2006 Downtown Street Festival.

10. Blue Öyster Cult

BÖC only released one actual concept album, Imaginos, in 1988, but it recycles so many of the themes and songs that they and their first producer, Sandy Perlman, had been playing with since the late 1960s. The band disliked the finished product, while their fans – myself included – consider it to be one of their best records, even if it does contain a track entitled The Siege and Investiture of Baron von Frankenstein’s Castle in Wesseria. Imaginos sort of tells a story of an immortal adventurer and the secret masters who control human history. At least, I think it does. On the plus side, it’s got some superb numbers – Les Invisibles and Del Rio’s Song, for instance get played three times in a row if they pop up when I’m driving – and eleven guitarists, including Joe Satriani.

9. Genesis

Genesis have the distinction of being one of the few bands to lay down a concept album by accident: they didn’t intend their first release to be a linked cycle of biblically-themed songs; producer Jonathan King did that without asking them first; but they spawned The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway on purpose. This sprawling double album about Rael, who accidentally wanders into another world (or underneath the city) and then comes back, was Peter Gabriel’s last effort with the band. Incidentally, From Genesis to Revelation was released before the boys had settled on a name for their hip combo; the record was re-issued as Genesis: In the Beginning. 
 
8. W.A.S.P.

I once owned a box of 20 W.A.S.P. T-shirts. A friend who was working for EMI had to take them home; they weren’t shifting as promotional freebies for the album The Crimson Idol. Despite Blackie Lawless’s tale of a rocker’s life receiving positive reviews, I also got a surplus copy of the record and third row tickets to see the lads at the Hammersmith Odeon. They played most of the work, but omitted their most fun live number Animal (Fuck Like a Beast).

That omission should have been enough for their inclusion in this list out of spite alone, but Blackie went on to produce two more conceptual pieces – actually one, split over two releases – The Neon God Parts 1 & 2. Bad Blackie; but he is a recent (if not, perhaps current) adherent of the genre, and that says something.

And the T-shirts? I put them in a charity clothes bank and occasionally look for them in newsreels from war zones.

7. Yes

You might think that Yes would be higher, due to their incomprehensible lyrics, unusual time signatures and very long tracks, but they only ever released one honest-to-God concept album, the timelessly bad 1973 double disk Tales From Topographic Oceans. Odd beyond belief, it’s based on a footnote in Autobiography of a Yogi, as Jon Anderson is kind enough to explain inside the lavish gatefold cover.

What’s more, all members of Yes simultaneously and independently released solo albums during the band’s 1976 hiatus; two of them, Anderson's Olias of Sunhillow (which is really good; so good that it lets him off for Tales) and Patrick Moraz’s Story of I (also a fine – if jazz tinged – piece of work), were concept albums as well, so Yes are definitely concept-friendly.

6. Alan Parsons Project

Alan Parsons – the engineer on Dark Side of the Moon – headed, well, a project, that devoted itself to releasing ambitious themed long players and drawing on a pool of musicians and singers for the necessary talent. Thus the APP was more of a business plan than a band. Releases included Tales of Mystery and Imagination, I Robot (no comma, for copyright reasons), Eve and Ammonia Avenue. The last one is about miscommunication between industry and citizenry, as exemplified by Imperial Chemical Industry’s Billington Works. That same plant, viewed at night, inspired the design of the opening shots of Bladerunner.

5. Alice Cooper

Starting with Welcome to my Nightmare Cooper released several concept albums in the 70s – they mostly concern his abused, wife-beating character “Steven,” who returns on Alice Cooper Goes to Hell, Hey Stoopid and in the thematically unified effort The Last Temptation, which ties in with a Neil Gaiman comic.

While not being autobiographical as such, these records certainly address themes that bothered Cooper; for actual introspection, see From the Inside, a collection about alcoholism and rehabilitation.

Drunk or sober, Alice has released several other concept pieces, including DaDa and Constrictor. He claims not to remember recording all of them.

4. The Who

Pete Townsend, the Who’s principal songwriter, was so taken with the rock opera concept that he wrote two of them, Tommy, and Quadrophenia. For our purposes, rock operas are concept albums (with Tommy being an early example) so the Who get a look in. They’re this high because both of these pieces became films, and not very good films at that. If you ever watch Quadrophenia, watch out for Sting as hotel doorman by day, mod gang leader by night.

3. Pink Floyd

The Floyd have released several concept albums, among them The Wall, Wish You Were Here, Animals and a strong contender for best LP by anyone, ever, The Dark Side of the Moon. As most people know, the Wall became a movie and a stage show. It’s a strong showing, especially as they put on one production in front of the Berlin Wall, but not enough to get them closer to the top spot.

2. The Kinks

Mostly regarded as writers of astute, ironic pop songs like Dedicated Follower of Fashion, then recognized as early proponents of  rock – You Really Got Me and All Day and All of the Night – the Kinks released Lola, a song about accidentally scoring with a transvestite, but then became obsessed with churning out concept albums. These included the appalling Preservation Act 1 & 2, the indifferent Soap Opera, and the uneven Shoolboys in Disgrace.

Basically, and post-Lola, the '70s was a decade with only one memorable Kinks song, No More Looking Back. You might think that this isn’t quite enough to place the band above the Floyd, but consider how far they fell and remember that they acted out their songs on stage …

1. Rick Wakeman

Wakeman, who played with Yes in the '70s and '80s, and whose son still does (at least in principle), has been cranking out concept pieces since 1973. Not that his music is by any means bad – the No Earthly Connection tour was showmanship at its best and it gladdens the heart to know that he’s still a working musician – but sometimes he’s stretching the concept idea a bit. Indeed he has released so many themed albums that a full list would be unworkable, so let’s just say that he’s covered history, 19th century science fiction, Arthurian legends, mysticism, political satire and religion.

Titles to relish include The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Return to the Centre of the Earth and the New Gospels, Wakeman’s second attempt to encapsulate his faith on a CD.

The scope of his oeuvre alone would be enough to award him the top spot, but he has a unique distinction that nailed it for him. Rick, so far as I know, is the only rockisto whose work has been presented as an ice show.

How does this list stack up against your Top 10? Let us know in a post or browse past List-o-Mania Top 10s.

Comments

[jabartlett]

Yes indeed, Styx belongs on here: low on quantity and frequency, since they did only one concept record, but off the charts for vanity and absurdity. Their 1983 concept album "Kilroy Was Here" is supposedly the story of a future in which rock has been outlawed, and of the young hero whose quest is to bring it back. Only trouble is, the album itself is a fine argument for outlawing rock, or at least this type of rock--it's pompous, pretentious, soulless trash, and it pretty much killed Styx's career.