Can you believe they included that?!?!

October 19, 2022 7:32 PM

In the spirit of the listicles from last month, Rolling Stone has given us one more to complain about. The 50 (absolutely NOT) best concept records of all time. (I can prove it! So can you!) Go!

Apologies for a quite malformed first attempt. As penance, here is the list for those who don't want to follow the clickbait link.

50. Styx - Kilroy Was Here
49. The Roots - Undun
48. XTC - Skylarking
47. The Avalanches - Since I Left You
46. Marina and the Diamonds - Electra Heart
45. Queensryche - Operation: Mindcrime
44. Drive-By Truckers - Southern Rock Opera
43. J Balvin - Colores
42. Halsey - If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power
41. Elton John - Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
40. The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday
39. Toni Braxton & Babyface - Love, Marriage & Divorce
38. The Mountain Goats - Tallahassee
37. Alice Cooper - Welcome to My Nightmare
36. Raphael Saadiq - Jimmy Lee
35. The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs
34. Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
33. Parliament - Funkentelechy Vs. The Placebo Syndrome
32. Millie Jackson - Caught Up
31. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Ghosteen
30. Marvin Gaye - Here, My Dear
29. Jasmine Sullivan - Heaux Tales
28. The Kinks - The Kinks are Village Green Preservation Society
27. Husker Du - Zen Arcade
26. Willie Nelson - Red Headed Stranger
25. BTS - Map of the Soul: 7
24. Randy Newman - Good Old Boys
23. Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
22. Donna Summer - Once Upon A Time
21. Brian Wilson - Smile
20. Janet Jackson - Control
19. Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
18. The Who - Quadrophenia
17. Jackson Browne - Running on Empty
16. Sly and the Family Stone - There's a Riot Goin' On
15. Beyonce - Lemonade
14. Radiohead - Kid A
13. David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
12. Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid
11. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
10. Rosalia - El Mal Querer
09. Frank Sinatra - In the Wee Small Hours
08. My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade
07. Rush - 2112
06. Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville
05. The Who - Tommy
04. Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx
03. Pink Floyd - The Wall
02. Green Day - American Idiot
01. Kendrick Lamar - Good Kid, M.A.A.d City

posted by a non mouse, a cow herd (96 comments total)

Ha ha, Sgt. Peppers made it but no Pet Sounds! Get bent, Mike Love!
posted by credulous at 7:44 PM on October 19, 2022 [9 favorites]

My concept album is about a future dystopia which has outlawed concept albums about dystopias where rock is outlawed. To get around the draconian censorship, the protagonists disguise their rock-opera-about-a-dystopia-where-rock-is-outlawed as instead a disco album about a planet where disco is outlawed. The disco-album which is really a rock album isn't, however, the album we hear, which is instead conversations the band has with their accountant, in rock-rap form.
posted by Pyry at 7:57 PM on October 19, 2022 [40 favorites]

Huh, okay, Skylarking is on here. Well, guess I have nothing to whinge about? That feels weird for me as an XTC fan.
posted by mollweide at 8:07 PM on October 19, 2022

Ok then, I'll just be in Joe's Garage with a couplea quarts of beer. Remember, if you gotta load or unload, go to the white zone.
posted by credulous at 8:14 PM on October 19, 2022 [23 favorites]

I am a lifelong Styx fan and I personally request removing Kilroy and including instead the brilliant, gorgeous, infuriating and heartbreaking The Shaming of the True by Kevin Gilbert. But at, like, 28, or something. (Gilbert probably would not want to be ahead of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, but seriously, Shaming is right up there.)
posted by kristi at 8:21 PM on October 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

"Our great computers fill the hallowed halls"
posted by clavdivs at 8:25 PM on October 19, 2022 [6 favorites]

Needs more Brian Ferneyhough - Lemma-Icon-Epigram

from the comments on the vid......"Great, now I'm going to be whistling this all day."
posted by lalochezia at 8:34 PM on October 19, 2022

Yes, Funkentelechy vs. The Placebo Syndrome is the 50 best concept albums ever, that aren’t sung in Kobaïan.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 8:34 PM on October 19, 2022 [7 favorites]

Wow, Rolling Stone finally discovered Rush?

Actually not a bad list IMO. Still I was hoping to see Dr. Octagonecologyst, Hounds of Love (second half), Replicas, Doopee Time...
posted by equalpants at 8:42 PM on October 19, 2022 [6 favorites]

That list is... huh. Well, of course you'll pardon me for a moment. [puts on comically large headphones and stares daggers at you while blasting Time]
posted by phooky at 8:44 PM on October 19, 2022 [3 favorites]

(And I would love to live in the timeline where Doopee Time makes a list like this)
posted by phooky at 8:45 PM on October 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

Kid A made it so I’m ok but I’m of happy about The Wall being on this list
posted by sjswitzer at 8:49 PM on October 19, 2022

Where the hell is Thick as a Brick?

Bad list. BAD LIST! go to your room and think about what you did!
posted by vrakatar at 8:56 PM on October 19, 2022 [24 favorites]

No sign of Thick as a Brick or the Pretty Things' S.F. Sorrow. And as a HUGE Rush fan I feel 2112 is a bad choice. Side one is a concept but FFS, side two is not. Clockwork Angels, the final Rush album, there's a concept record. Also from our FFS department, The Who's Quadrophenia is a far more definitive statement than Tommy and I'll die on that hill.
posted by Ber at 9:06 PM on October 19, 2022 [6 favorites]

Yes, Funkentelechy vs. The Placebo Syndrome is the 50 best concept albums ever, that aren’t sung in Kobaïan.

:D

I'm not alone! After all these years! Another Magma fan!
posted by Dysk at 9:13 PM on October 19, 2022 [6 favorites]

(Animals is at least twice the album that The Wall is, and I will go to the mat for that. Otherwise I was pleasantly surprised at a lot of the stuff that was included (I expected to have a long list of things they should have included, but they've hit most of it) even if there are also some dodgy albums on the list.
posted by Dysk at 9:16 PM on October 19, 2022 [5 favorites]

"Let England Shake" would make my list, but I have no qualifications as a listicle judge.
posted by maxwelton at 9:25 PM on October 19, 2022 [6 favorites]

Were Prince still with us, he'd write, record, and release the greatest concept album of all time within four months, just to remind us who the boss was.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:39 PM on October 19, 2022 [10 favorites]

We hit the dumbth early on, with this: "it was only after he ditched the original bandmates and went all-in on his nightmare concept that he became Alice Cooper." Even as someone who thinks that the Greatest Hits album is one of the best rock records of the seventies, it's also the only thing of Alice's that's worth listening to, with the exception of "Only Women Bleed"; it covers the period between their starting to work with Bob Ezrin (before which they had the reputation of being the shittiest band in LA, and just stop and think about that for a moment) and Cooper firing his original band (which were all old high school buddies of his) and basically becoming his own tribute band.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:57 PM on October 19, 2022 [3 favorites]

Vera, Vera
what has
become of
you.
posted by clavdivs at 10:02 PM on October 19, 2022 [5 favorites]

I appreciate the genre diversity of the list, even if Thick as a Brick's absence is hard to forgive.
posted by solarion at 10:04 PM on October 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

I haven't heard most of the albums on the list and only had their descriptions to go on, but it kind of felt like some of them only loosely fit the definition of a concept album. But again, no familiarity, so no grounds to criticize really.

That said, I now consider it a crime that neither Doopee Time nor Let England Shake made this list. Thanks Metafilter!
posted by chrominance at 10:09 PM on October 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

Alright Dysk, not only are we both into Zeuhl music, we are of a mind on Animals as well.

I bet you agree Exuma’s eponymous debut album would make a cool addition to the list, too.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 1:22 AM on October 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

Were Prince still with us, he'd write, record, and release the greatest concept album of all time within four months, just to remind us who the boss was.

He could even call it "Purple Rain"
posted by chavenet at 1:40 AM on October 20, 2022 [16 favorites]

Count me in on ranking Animals (and Wish You Were Here) above The Wall. And I know prog rock is out of style these days but King Crimson’s first album was worthy of inclusion, along with any number of choices from Jethro Tull. Quadrophenia and Tommy are both great, but does The Who really deserve two spots? I would have picked The Grand Illusion if I had to include a Styx album, and finally, if they were going to include Sinatra, they should have found room for Woody Guthrie’s Dust Bowl Ballads. So in short, this list, like all others, sucks; even if I agree with some of the choices.
posted by TedW at 2:46 AM on October 20, 2022 [3 favorites]

I bet you agree Exuma’s eponymous debut album would make a cool addition to the list, too.

I didn't know about them (or him?), but having listened to it this morning, very much yes!


King Crimson’s first album was worthy of inclusion

Such a fantastic album, it absolutely should've been in the top 10.
posted by Dysk at 2:50 AM on October 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

Some missing ones:

Dr. Octagonecologyst
Peggy Suicide by Julian Cope
New York by Lou Reed
The Sophtware Slump by Grandaddy
Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld by The Orb
posted by snofoam at 4:12 AM on October 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

Wait, is this a list of "Concept Albums" or "Albums that were kinda sorta intended to be Concept Albums and may or may not have followed through with it". I'm so confused.

Because if the former, they totally missed Prince Paul's A Prince Among Thieves.

And if the latter...well, they still missed it.
posted by sektah at 4:47 AM on October 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

I hate to get dragged into this, but where's anything from the Flying Teapot trilogy by Gong?

Also, Armand Shaubroeck would like a word.
posted by SystematicAbuse at 4:59 AM on October 20, 2022 [5 favorites]

Halsey needs to move up 10 or 20 places.
posted by signal at 5:12 AM on October 20, 2022

Some of these are more "thematic albums" versus my idea of "concept album" but whatever, it's a listicle.

Glad to see Lamb Lies Down on Broadway here. The overt (surreal fairytale) story of the album is secondary to the James Joyce style lyrics which (IMO) delve deeper into its true meaning. Pure awesome.

The Wall suffers from a cringe-inducing 4th side (it was a double album, hence four sides, youngsters). And the greatest songs on The Wall have been overplayed to the point of becoming cultural Wall-paper. Not my favorite by a long shot.
posted by SoberHighland at 5:12 AM on October 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

Anyway, the fact that they put Rosalia a step above the Beatles makes me think this listicle is alright.
posted by signal at 5:16 AM on October 20, 2022

While I'm always happy to see Marina on any best-of list, this is the first I'm hearing that Electra Heart is a concept album, and thus I feel the need to argue with someone over it.
posted by mittens at 5:16 AM on October 20, 2022

King Crimson’s first album was worthy of inclusion

but what's the concept?

we're only in it for the money by the mothers of invention

eli and the 13th confession by laura nyro

hejira by joni mitchell

also dark side of the moon, which really was a concept album
posted by pyramid termite at 5:16 AM on October 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

Ween's The Mollusk deserves honorable mention for being both a parody of concept albums and one of the best concept albums.

I'm glad Ghosteen made the list, though. It is staggering.
posted by Tom Hanks Cannot Be Trusted at 5:20 AM on October 20, 2022 [3 favorites]

Nothing by Parliament / Funkadelic, nothing by Sun Ra. I'm out.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:34 AM on October 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

My concept album is about a future dystopia which has outlawed concept albums about dystopias where rock is outlawed. To get around the draconian censorship, the protagonists disguise their rock-opera-about-a-dystopia-where-rock-is-outlawed as instead a disco album about a planet where disco is outlawed. The disco-album which is really a rock album isn't, however, the album we hear, which is instead conversations the band has with their accountant, in rock-rap form.

Well, I can get you about halfway there with Dream Theater's The Astonishing, in which we get a grim dystopian future where ALL music has been outlawed, and now forgotten, until our plucky hero rediscovers it (with the help of the autocrat's daughter) and uses his musical gift to unite the people.

It's, uh, approximately as high-quality as this list.
posted by Mayor West at 5:36 AM on October 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

Nothing by Parliament / Funkadelic, nothing by Sun Ra. I'm out.

33. Parliament - Funkentelechy Vs. The Placebo Syndrome
posted by Dysk at 5:38 AM on October 20, 2022 [4 favorites]

Animals is at least twice the album that The Wall is...

Agreed. However, there’s a good argument to make that Wish You Were Here tops them both.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:39 AM on October 20, 2022 [8 favorites]

Damn my eyes. Okay then. It's not a TERRIBLE list.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:42 AM on October 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

Huge Rush fan, and as wonderful an album as 2112 is, it's not a concept album. It's a 21-minute epic, followed by five completely unrelated short songs on side 2.
posted by key lime guy at 5:44 AM on October 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

Where the hell is Thick as a Brick?
posted by vrakatar

Or A Passion Play?
posted by Splunge at 5:47 AM on October 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

There's no Kansas, though I'm not sure who should drop off to let In the Spirit of Things have a go.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:48 AM on October 20, 2022

It's not an album, but I like Kate Bush's side two of "Hounds of Love", a seven-track concept piece subtitled The Ninth Wave".

Animals is at least twice the album that The Wall is.

Animals is easily the best Pink Floyd album, so I agree.
posted by Pendragon at 5:48 AM on October 20, 2022 [4 favorites]

Exile In Guyville is a concept album? I listened to that a billion times on my old Walkman, back in the day, I feel silly.
posted by Stonestock Relentless at 5:52 AM on October 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

This is outrageous - I clicked through the list 3 times looking for MC Hammer’s Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em. It feels like this list was designed to anger me. Please Hammer DO hurt ‘em.

*walks out with parachute pants loudly swishing*
posted by vorpal bunny at 5:59 AM on October 20, 2022 [5 favorites]

What!? No "The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands?" This is an OUTRAGE!!
posted by Floydd at 6:02 AM on October 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

It's difficult to take this list seriously when the engage in active Arcade Fire erasure.
posted by wintermind at 6:03 AM on October 20, 2022

Even a mediocre Beatles album like Sgt Peppers is better than the nr 1 on this list. And I do like Kendrick Lamar. Ah well, it's a listicle.
posted by Kosmob0t at 6:30 AM on October 20, 2022 [3 favorites]

does The Who really deserve two spots?

The Who were the ultimate concept album band. Most of their records are concept albums. They invented the rock opera. IDK if the right albums are in the right spots here, but giving them two slots in the top 20 feels well deserved.
posted by grog at 6:42 AM on October 20, 2022 [4 favorites]

Also missing: "Escalator Over The Hill" by Carla Bley and the JCOA
posted by Dean358 at 6:45 AM on October 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

Exile In Guyville is a concept album? I listened to that a billion times on my old Walkman, back in the day, I feel silly.

Heh. I feel the same way about Skylarking. Had no clue.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:49 AM on October 20, 2022

The Who were the ultimate concept album band. Most of their records are concept albums. They invented the rock opera. IDK if the right albums are in the right spots here, but giving them two slots in the top 20 feels well deserved.

Counterpoint: The Kinks, who bizarrely get only one entry. No Lola Versus Powerman? No Arthur?

I challenge you to pistols at dawn, sirs.
posted by pwe at 7:23 AM on October 20, 2022 [5 favorites]

I normally never post in these threads but my heart breaks for Deltron 3030.
posted by derrinyet at 7:26 AM on October 20, 2022 [5 favorites]

Exile in Guyville is a concept album?

Exile in Guyville is a song-by-song response to the Rolling Stones' Exile in Main Street (as TFA says). I to didn't know this for, like, 20 years. I think it speaks to the genius of Liz Phair that EiG absolutely crushes even when you don't know the backstory.
posted by medusa at 7:55 AM on October 20, 2022 [4 favorites]

I can't take off my musicologist hat for this list, too many errors. Most egregious: Sgt. Pepper isn't technically a concept album, it's the idea of a concept album, a proto-concept album. (It fails even the basic Wikipedia definition of "A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually.") The first proper concept album is widely thought to be King Crimson's debut album about two years later. Which is glaringly absent from this list.
posted by LooseFilter at 8:02 AM on October 20, 2022 [5 favorites]

I'd replace Kilroy Was Here with Paradise Theatre. Better concept, better album.
posted by kirkaracha at 8:21 AM on October 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

LooseFilter: “The first proper concept album is widely thought to be King Crimson's debut album about two years later. Which is glaringly absent from this list.”

“King Crimson: Artists Who Changed Music - Part 1”—Produce Like a Pro, 19 October 2022
posted by ob1quixote at 8:24 AM on October 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

Kilroy Was Here is such garbage that it made Todd In the Shadows’s Trainwreckords
posted by mubba at 8:52 AM on October 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

Um, The Decemberists' Hazards of Love should most certainly be on this list. Wait, does it count as a concept album? Wikipedia calls it a rock opera.
posted by hydra77 at 9:18 AM on October 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

Kilroy Was Here is such garbage that it made Todd In the Shadows’s ...

Good god, I had forgotten how cringey Kilroy Was Here is. That Todd in the Shadows video was hilarious. "Dennis DeYoung looking like a Walgreen's manager", lolsnort.
posted by sundrop at 10:01 AM on October 20, 2022

Thick as a Brick was disqualified for its "extremely unwholesome attitude towards life, God and Country" and use of the word g — — r.
posted by Gerald Bostock at 10:13 AM on October 20, 2022 [5 favorites]

I think Motor Booty Affair is just as deserving of a spot as Funkentelechy. And I would make room for Stevie Wonder’s Journey Through “The Secret Life of Plants” and Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds.

Also, I’m not really a fan, but the Alan Parsons Project’s 70s output was basically all concept albums, so maybe they deserve a spot for their doggedness.
posted by mubba at 10:14 AM on October 20, 2022 [3 favorites]

Could an argument be made for Daft Punk's Discovery being a concept album, and therefore the greatest one of all time? Because in a certain context, it totally is.

(Meanwhile, I too lament Dr. Octagonecologyst missing from this list.)
posted by May Kasahara at 10:32 AM on October 20, 2022

as wonderful an album as 2112 is, it's not a concept album. It's a 21-minute epic, followed by five completely unrelated short songs on side 2.

My headcanon is that A Passage To Bangkok is about the boom in marijuana tourism after the fall of the totalitarian no-fun Solar Federation.
posted by Sauce Trough at 10:32 AM on October 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

I have been listening to King Crimson since 1987 maybe? they are my favorite band. I listen to Court of the Crimson King regularly. I had no idea it was considered a concept album???

what is the concept? (other than, oh wow, this is really an amazing album)
posted by supermedusa at 10:35 AM on October 20, 2022

I personally think a good number of Parliament albums need to be in or near the top 10 here--their body of work is a concept in itself. And anyone who played a part in nominating and voting for Kilroy Was Here needs to turn in their laptop and find new work.
posted by TrialByMedia at 10:36 AM on October 20, 2022

Kilroy Was Here may not be a great record but leading the list with it is some A+ top quality listicle authorship.
posted by Sauce Trough at 10:55 AM on October 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

The Residents release almost exclusively concept albums, but they may be too obscure for this list. Not Available is one of my desert island records, and it's definitely a concept album, although only the Residents understand the concept.
Also, I seem to remember Bob Mould saying Husker Du didn't know Zen Arcade was a concept album until fans told them the "storyline".
posted by Furnace of Doubt at 11:31 AM on October 20, 2022 [4 favorites]

I'd like to share That Was the Year That Wasn't, by Thoughts Detecting Machines (Rick Valentin of Poster Children) about living through the Covid lockdown.
posted by jeffamaphone at 11:50 AM on October 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

Blows Against The Empire?
posted by aiq at 12:10 PM on October 20, 2022

I can't stand listening to it, but I figured Neutral Milk Hotel's "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" would have made it onto the list.

And two is already overrepresentation for The Who, but I would have liked to see The Who Sell Out.

I guess it's kind of an art to keep enough variety in the list to make a sufficient amount of people angry.
posted by onehalfjunco at 12:27 PM on October 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

This list includes Frank Sinatra's In The Wee Small Hours from 1955 - so it's not just recent rock/pop. If we include jazz, there are many more --- most notably these, all from 1959: Dave Brubeck Time Out (concept: unusual time signatures), Miles Davis Kind of Blue (modal jazz), Ornette Coleman The Shape of Jazz to Come (free jazz).
posted by JonJacky at 1:11 PM on October 20, 2022

Some albums I expected to see:

Pet Sounds- inspired by the lovely cohesion of the U.S. version of Rubber Soul.

Time- ELO's time travel weird synth pop epic.

A Sailor's Guide to Earth - Sturgill Simpson imagines a letter to a sailor's wife and son.
posted by oneirodynia at 1:19 PM on October 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

This list is not terrible, but just to throw in a wrench, I would include the original 1970 concept album of Jesus Christ Superstar.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 1:21 PM on October 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

In a slightly more hilarious universe, this list would include Devin Townsend's Ziltoid the Omniscient, an hour-long progressive metal concept album about an alien who comes to Earth, tastes and immediately hates our coffee, then launches a full-scale attack on our planet. Live versions included puppets, costumes and animations. It's a good time.
posted by vverse23 at 2:21 PM on October 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

No Moody Blues, not even 'Days of Future Passed'? I'm pretty sure I'd not be able to listen to it end to end anymore but it certainly was a fixture of its time.

And if we're doing single sides of an album then I nominate 'Close to the Edge, Side 1' Still lovely.
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 3:01 PM on October 20, 2022 [3 favorites]

They accidentally put Lemonade as #15 instead of #1. Printer's error, probably.
posted by The corpse in the library at 3:58 PM on October 20, 2022 [4 favorites]

The Who's Quadrophenia is a far more definitive statement than Tommy and I'll die on that hill.

And I will be standing on that hill right beside you. And Dysk:

I'm not alone! After all these years! Another Magma fan!

And I'm another! I got to see them live a few years back after decades of hoping and wishing and they were absolutely grand.
posted by jokeefe at 4:02 PM on October 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

hejira by joni mitchell

Oh yes, and if we're including Mitchell, then Hissing of Summer Lawns-- an album all about women and their dreams and the opposition to their dreams-- deserves a spot on the list too.
posted by jokeefe at 4:04 PM on October 20, 2022

'The Wall' is one of The Floyd's weaker albums, with a few good songs and a lot of filler...

But what is cool is: The Wall - Live in Berlin, 1990, which has really interesting pairings of famous guest artists (Joni? Van? and more!) with the material. The selections are really something.

(We were in Germany when this was happening and didn't know about it (a lot was going on). We missed this show by a day or two and heard about it later. Oh well. The concert video is swell.)
posted by ovvl at 4:08 PM on October 20, 2022

I had knives out until I found The Mountain Goats' terrific Tallahassee. It's so good even without the theme, but to follow this couple through their descent is just amazing. It breaks my heart each time.
posted by AgentRocket at 4:23 PM on October 20, 2022 [3 favorites]

As a Millenial, this list appears to be ranked by a zoomer employing least to most familiarity
posted by Perko at 4:43 PM on October 20, 2022

> As a Millenial, this list appears to be ranked by a zoomer employing least to most familiarity

That might explain the lack of Berlin, which I loved when I was young and full of ennui but would probably find unlistenable now.
posted by The corpse in the library at 5:23 PM on October 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

No ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’!?!?!?
posted by Gadgetenvy at 6:38 PM on October 20, 2022

My concept album will be filmed amid the megalithic ruins of the ancient city Nan Madol. It will be called: Live at Pohnpei
posted by deadbilly at 10:34 PM on October 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

I don't know if it belongs on a Top 50 list, but I'm going to put in a good word for Richard Dawson's weird, proggy concept album about plants Henki.
posted by davidwitteveen at 2:34 AM on October 21, 2022

As a Gen-Xer, I just like to point out how my generation has the coolest name whenever I get the chance.
Also, listen to new music, there's a lot of great stuff out there.
posted by signal at 5:56 AM on October 21, 2022

WHERE IS "BORN TO RUN" ARE YOU MOTHERF*CKING KIDDING ME NEW JERSEY WEEPS
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 8:25 AM on October 21, 2022 [6 favorites]

Meh. It is missing Tales from Topographic Oceans. 81:14 minutes of progressive rock.
posted by elmono at 9:39 AM on October 21, 2022

Needs more We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite, but it’s not like I’m going to lose any sleep over it. It’s on the National Recordings Registry, that works for me.

Mr. Lif’s I Phantom is an amazing hip-hop concept album, but it was never even remotely popular.
posted by box at 8:33 PM on October 21, 2022

The should have Zappa/Mother of Invention's Freak Out in there if only because it was maybe the first rock concept album ever.
posted by mono blanco at 8:58 PM on October 21, 2022

As it turns out, Since I Left You isn't a concept album!

For Zappa, please: Joe's Garage and it isn't even close. Given the above, it could take the Avalanches slot. Honorable mention: Thing Fish for taking previously release songs from unrelated albums, around which an entirely new story was wrapped. Stupendous and unique.

Animals is great, but Wish You Were Here is the Pink Floyd concept album par excellence.

I have to think there might be a Duke Ellington suite in here, but "concept album" I doubt would apply.
posted by rhizome at 9:17 PM on October 21, 2022

WHERE IS "BORN TO RUN" ARE YOU MOTHERF*CKING KIDDING ME NEW JERSEY WEEPS

I was thinking more Tunnel of Love. Same concept as Love, Actually without the life-threatening levels of saccharine.
posted by billsaysthis at 11:35 PM on October 21, 2022

I have to think there might be a Duke Ellington suite in here, but "concept album" I doubt would apply.

His suites would just be "pieces of music," like any composed concert suite. (Amazing pieces of music, to be clear, from one of the 20th century's great American composers.) A concept album must have lyrics, as lyrical content provides the fundamental unifying element. The concept (despite its name) must be textually explicit and not implied by framing or other means, so instrumental works don't qualify.*

Also, a concept album should be an album; that is, a work of recorded music rather than concert music. (With the distinction being, recorded music is created primarily as a recording, may or may not be notated to any degree, and is only secondarily experienced live; concert music is created primarily as notated music to be performed live, and only secondarily made/experienced as a recording.)


* i.e., Stravinsky: "Music is, by its very nature, essentially powerless to express anything at all…music expresses itself." Musical sound is its own phenomenon without secondary meaning, it is non-symbolic; linguistic sound is symbolic, because the sounds of language are little boxes with specific, discrete ideas inside of them. Those specific ideas are required to make any concept of a concept album clear in the sounding music.

(...I guess what I'm really saying is that mid-19th c. Romantic era composers, especially the whole conceit around the "New German" school [Liszt, Wagner et al], were fairly wrong-headed in their attempts to superimpose textual meaning onto instrumental concert music, because at the end of the day Les Preludes is just kind of a plodding orchestral essay without any of Liszt's notes to imbue "meaning" to the music, and it's more honest and sensible to put text in your music if you want there to be any specific meaning to it. Otherwise, it's just the experience of the sounds, but that may not really need saying because Stravinsky said it in that quote but also in several decades' worth of music that demonstrate his point quite thoroughly.)
posted by LooseFilter at 8:00 AM on October 22, 2022

It's funny, i read Jethro Tull's "Aqualung" as a concept album at the time, but "Passion Play" has some of their best music. "Tumbleweed Connection" too. Loreena McKennitt's Silk Road album, "An Ancient Muse" and Leonard Cohen's Sufi album "Recent Songs" are up there. I'm not sure if Dread Zeppelin is a concept or a gimmick but i love them. Maybe my favorite of all is Fatima al-Qadiri's "Asiatisch": an imaginary genre, sinogrime.
posted by graywyvern at 7:55 AM on October 24, 2022