Tales of Mystery and Imagination ftw. I Robot really had nothing to do with the book except the title track. I really can't find any conection between the songs and the book. Turn of a friendly card is much more of a concept album than I Robot, imo. Even Eve.
I agree totally but I think pete like most people see wasp as hair metal which I don't think they were. They are much heavier and blackie is a great song writer. That debut is a masterpiece Imo plus crimson idol.
Pete mentioned before that he's not much of a WASP fan, but based on his taste, I really think he should give the later WASP stuff a listen. Everything from Headless Children to Golgotha (Except Helldorado - That one sucked!)... and I'm not sure if KFD would qualify as a concept album, but I think it's even better than Crimson!
One of the best concept albums ever is: 666 from Aphrodite's Child.A musical interpretation of the last book in the bible: The Apocalypse.I think the album was released in 1971. The Band started as a kind of Pop-Rock band and had several hits in Europe.Well known members of the band were: Vangelis Papathanassiou & Demis Roussos.Yes the famous Vangelis who composed several Soundtracks an a lot of Solo-Albums.He composed the whole Album. It's Prog-Rock at it's best.Also influenced by Greek Music,Jazz,Avantgarde,Rock.The most popular song of this album is: The Four Horsemen.I'm now 60 Years old and i've listened probably a several hundred times to this album. Don't miss it!
I have always loved Alan Parson's Project's TALES OF MYSTERY AND IMAGINATION. It is a concept, yet also not a concept album as all of the songs are based on Edgar Allen Poe's stories.
absolutely one of my favorites, and stellar recordings of all time. for the record, although Alan Parsons' (NOT the "Project" - especially noting Eric Wolfson's death several years ago), post-project solo albums are defiantly NON-thematic, Alan has stated that his upcoming next solo album due early in 2019, will actually be a concept album... he won't announce the concept until autumn.
Streets by Savage is one of the most coherent of any concept album, it's extremely visual, I loved this upon release but actually have grown to enjoy it a hell of a lot more in the past few years
Excellent list...Pain of Salvation's The Perfect Element, Remedy Lane and Be are great...I can listen to Yes Tales any time... I own so many of these you showed... I love a great concept album!
Porcupine Tree's Deadwing probably my favourite concept album by them. A Matter of Life and Death by Iron Maiden. Amused to Death by Roger Waters is mind blowing especially if you spend a little time setting your speakers up correctly (Read about it in the sleeve notes). Eagles Desperado awesome.
Back in the early 90's, some friends of mine had a band (I wrote some lyrics for them) and they wanted to do a 'classic' type of prog concept album. I was given two lines for one of the songs, and I wrote the rest of it. It was called 'Nowhere Boulevard'. After working on it for a while, I finally had all the lyrics complete...right when they found a new lead singer who wrote his own lyrics, so 'Nowhere Boulevard' was never made. Bummer, I've haven't really gotten over it to this day.
My favourite concept album of all time is Tommy by The who, along with Seventh son of a seventh son by Iron Maiden, imagines by Blue Öyster Cult, and The rise and fall of ziggy star dust, and the Spiders form Mars by David Bowie.
The story was written by Jon Anderson, which was interesting to me because I always thought this and "Olias of Sunhillow" were somewhat a pair in temperament.
King Diamond released a couple of concept albums??!!?? Ummm, every album King Diamond ever released are full concept albums other than Fatal Portrait and The Spider's Lullaby. And even those are a concept for half the album. lol
indeed. Camel is criminally underappreciated. Although not a concept album in full, Mirage is by far my favourite and Lady fantasy is possibly my favourite track ever recorded.
The Snowgoose is a phenomenal piece of music. It's the 3rd of 4 Camel classics! CAMEL. MIRAGE. The SNOWGOOSE & MOONMADNESS. Andrew, Pete (RIP), Doug & Andy... The original & the best ♥️🐪🎶
Knocked it out of the park Pete! A few of my faves not mentioned: Jon Anderson - Olias of Sunhillow Flaming Lips - version of DSOTM Glass Hammer - Lex Rex is a good one Genesis - Duke Tull - Too Old to Rock & Roll... Kansas - Point of Know Return Oldfield - Songs of Distant Earth Lou Reed - New York Rundgren Healing Sufjan Stevens - Illinois The Tubes - Remote Control Wakeman - Journey to the Centre.... Great job, think I’ll throw I Robot on now....
Thanks for introducing me to Orphaned Land, I have never heard of them before! Listening to Mabool is such a great experience, some of the passages and progressions make my eyes well up, beautiful!
"Operation Mindcrime" by Queensryche is a flawless, perfect masterpiece concept album and an easy #1 favorite for me. Thanks for all of the others you talked about, it gives me some albums to look into....
MAR-ILL-ION !!! That's a fine list of concept albums! A wide variety in your list, and I appreciate you doing the work!!! Reminds me of albums I have not heard in ages and some I've never even heard of! Thanks!
Tommy and quad are always mentioned but sellout is basically a concept album where all the songs are aired on the wonderful radio London haha basically a concept album in a sense
Marillion “Marbles” and F.E.A.R., I think Marbles is their best album with Hogarth. Also, you should give Pendragon some love, they have a few concept albums.
I want to mention from "Blind Guardian" the album "Nightfall in Middle Earth". The album has an epic flair that only few bands can achieve. Lots of powerful, dramatic melodies, great guitars and an unique singer.
Ouf! Many great albums. But to me, I'm totally in awe of Operation Mindcrime from Queensryche! It's perfect for me, the best vocal ever and a magnificient combinations of music and lyrics. My absolute favorite forever. lol!!
Great job, but one Jethro Tull concept album you forgot to mention is Too Old to Rock and Roll, Too Young to Die. The storyline and songs are based on the escapades of Ray, a fictional character who closely resembles Ian Anderson. The original LP had an open-fold album cover containing a 2-page comic strip story. As the storyline progresses, all the song titles are written in bold face in either the narration or dialogue. There are many amazing songs on this album, and it is so often overlooked, probably because the title track has been so overplayed, and it's not as great as the rest of the LP.. If you don't know this album, you must check it out!
Yo Pete, one of the earliest, if not the first Concept/Rock Opera Album was Pretty Things - S.F. Sorrow. Released in 1968, almost a full year before the Who's - Tommy. Released in May 1969. A wonderfully depressing story of a young English lad who sinks into depression in his service during the first world war. A great album recorded in The Beatles Abby Road Studio in November 1967. A place, in time, where so much great musical magic was created.
You definitely discussed some classics, and I own a fair number of them. For part 2, one of my favorites is Nightfall in Middle earth, by Blind Guardian (based on The Silmarillion). Then there's some others to suggest, such as The Call of the Wreched Sea by Ahab (Moby Dick), Magica by Dio, Thane to the Throne by Jag Panzer (Mac Beth), The Secret of the Runes by Therion (Norse Mythology), all three albums by The Great Old Ones (each based on a different H.P. Lovecraft story), Blood on Ice by Bathory, Born Loka by Skalmöld, Let Battle Commence by Doomsword (Danish invasion of York in 866), and Voimasta ja Kuniasta by Moonsorrow. Cheers!
As someone who likes both "The Astonishing" by DT and "The Final Cut" by PF, I still really enjoy your videos! (I'll agree with you on the Kiss album, though ;))
Well done! The Concept Album is probably my favorite form of music. You mentioned some that I've never heard of. I've got some exploring to do. Did you know David Bowie's OUTSIDE is a concept album? Incidentally, great shirt!
The first true concept album was in fact Pretty Things “S.F. Sorrow” which came out before “Tommy”, also for consideration “The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society” and The Kinks “Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)”. “Tales From Topographic Oceans” is about various religions and spirituality.
Can't believe I'm watching the vid and you include Vanden Plas!! LOVE that band. I was starting to think I was the only American fan they had. Nice inclusion.
I can't resist the opportunity to mention a few of my thematic/conceptual favorites - many more exist, of course - and noting that I'm huge fan of The Alan Parsons Project with 10+ concept albums to their name: - SAGA - "Generation 13" (note: the band has announced its retirement) - KATE BUSH - "The Ninth Wave" (although this is a mini-album, 2nd side/half of the "Hounds of Love" album with a running time of about 26 minutes) - KATE BUSH - "A Sky of Honey" (similar format as "The Ninth Wave" as the 2nd side/half of the "Aerial" album with a whopping running time of about 42 minutes - a full-length album in its own right) - CAMEL - Pete mentioned "The Snowgoose" which I rightly enjoy, like most of this band's output, and with several other concept albums they've done, I highly recommend "Nude" - DAVID BOWIE - "Outside" - dark, very dark; and with composition help from Eno too- ELO - "Time" for all you sci-fi/futuristic fans out there - THE BUGGES - "The Age Of Plastic" - yet another one for all you sci-fi/futuristic fans (although their 2nd album "Adventures In Modern Recording" is a better album - IMHO) - ALICE COOPER - "From the Inside" co-written with Bernie Taupin and David Foster and very pop-melodic, but it's a fun listen
DAMN! I knew I missed one on my (just) posted list! Saga - Generation 13! When I stumbled on that album (thinking they called it quits) in 1995 - it was if they said to their fans; "Oh you want us to go back to our roots, well how about we just do a full out concept album" :D.
Grave digger Knights of the cross/Tunes of war/The last supper Great selection starting with Nektar and finishing with Genesis!!! Camel's Snow Goose is amazing!!!
Preservation Act I and II, and the prequel Schoolboys in Disgrace by The Kinks. Pure genius. The story of a shady real estate developer and his rise and fall, from the 70s but sounds kind of familiar right now...
WOOHOO, Frank Zappa get's a mention. THANK YOU. Joe's Garage is a masterpiece. Yes - Tales From Topographic Ocean's is a celestial journey into the power of the mind. There you go, that about sums that Yes album up for me. I'd have to add 'The Mars Volta - Deloused In the Cromatorium', 'The Flaming Lips - Yashimi Battles the Pink Robots.', 'Styx Killroy Was Here', 'King Crimson - Larks Tongues In Aspic.', 'Roger Waters Radio KAOS, The Pro's and Cons of Hitchhiking and the stunning Amused To Death(Roger is the KING of concept albums and these 3 are his best. The lastest Roger Waters releases have been a massive let down but I've been there to support him never the less. I think Frank Zappa's One Size Fit's All would be a great concept album, the track Inca Roads is a masterpeice and the whole album works as a collective whole.
Radio Chaos and Pros & Cons were the only 2 albums he made solo that I can listen to. I can't even listen to PFs the Final Cut. He was an extremely important part of PF when it was a more collaborative effort. Not so much on his own or on TFC. Actually I think The Wall is a lesser quality album than at least the 5 previous albums, but is still considered to be their 2nd greatest album.
Peter Gabriel 3/Melt is an awesome concept album focused on mental illnesses and psychopathy. Not prog but it fits into ecclectic prog, post prog, post punk, etc. Groundbreaking album. Camel had a bunch of great concept albums after The Snow Goose: Nude, Stationary Traveller, Dust and Dreams and so on until the last one. Supertramp's Breakfast in America is also a fantastic album that could be catalogued as conceptual. People going to America to live the dream, ultimately failing. Religion, the hard partying society in the big city, sex, etc. Mark Knopfler's Sailing to Philadelphia on a similar note, phenomenal album of americana, beautiful tribute album to the U.S. all songs connected by historical events, places, customs, etc. Kansas' Monolith, Steve Walsh tribute to his indian heritage. King Crimson's Beat might be their only theme based - conceptual album about the Beat Generation, also worth mentioning. I might threading paths of heresy but I'll mention Sting's Soul Cages. A very personal album about his childhood and his father whose death sparked Sting's most introspective and even proggish work to date. David Bowie's 1.Outside is also a concept album that unfortunately failed to deliver a sequel that was planned. Very innovative stuff from Bowie and Eno. Steve Hackett's Voyage of the Acolyte, his debut solo album inspired in the tarot. How could you forgot that one? Roger Waters' Amused to Death. Water's masterpiece that could have been a great Pink Floyd album. You gotta hear that one. It has nothing to do with The Final Cut. Phenomenal album
Spot on with Mindcrime. I too think it was their best effort although Rage For Order was pretty darn close. It would have been cool had you included Pink World by Planet P. Not that many concepts were double albums. Check that one out, it has a lot of great stuff on it.
SF Sorrow by The Pretty Things is one of the first Concept albums, Tommy was inspired by it. There were other things like The Story of Simon Simiopath by British band Nirvana but it was considered to be a sort of pantomine than a concept record. It is not great, where SF Sorrow is a masterpiece. Also Aphrodite's Child 666 is a great concept album but lists and choices are completely subjective. It is hard to condense an overview of the best Concept albums as there are so many. Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds is another classic Concept album. As you can see the list just goes on. I did not even read the comments, someone probably has already mentioned this in respect of Tommy.
My immediate thoughts were Tales From Topographic Oceans and the Lamb Lies Down on Broadway but for some reason I didn't think of either Tommy or Quadrophenia. Shame on me. At a time when it was the fashion to release solo albums Jon Anderson was the only member of YES to come up with a concept album, that being Olias of Sunhillow and an absolute gem at that. Mike Oldfield's Ommadawn was another classic. In more modern times, Nightwish came out with Imaginaerum, a brilliant masterpiece and they made a film of it too. Tuomas Holopainen came up with the Life And times Of Scrooge (McDuck,) superb from start to finish. Going back to the early 70s again. Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come came out with a timeless classic called Journey, a fabulous adventure in timetravel. Concept Albums - how many, I wonder, will think of The Small Faces with Ogden's Nutgone Flake? Supertramp's Crime of the Century was by far their best work I feel. That'll do for now I think.
Joseph, in 1976 Patrick Moraz could have been included with his concept album The Story Of I but he managed to get himself fired. Rick Wakeman had formed the English Rock Ensemble and released a non concept album No Earthly Connection. He rejoined YES later that same year.
Operation Mindcrime, Animals, Eye in the Sky, 666, Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Thick as a Brick are my favourite concept albums, with Animals not only being my personal pick of best album from Pink Floyd, it's just the best album I've ever listened to, full stop.
It took watching all the way to the mid twenty minute mark, but there it was! Abigail by King Diamond is probably my all time favorite concept album. I was also thrilled to see my favorite album of all time, Styx Paradise Theater! It was also great to see Streets from Savatage, often overlooked and arguably the beginning point of all the ambitious works of Paul O'neill. TSO Christmas Eve and Other Stories is one of my all time favorite albums, but let's not forget Beethoven's Last Night. I was surprised as others have been to not see The Crimson Idol, but clearly your knowledge of good music is obvious and it's hard to include everything. I would recommend Insomnium's Winter's Gate, which is absolutely brilliant. It was nice to see Iced Earth in there, and I would include Night of the Stormrider with Glorious Burden (Gettysburg Trilogy is amazing!) as well as the Something Wicked works. Last two I would mention would be Nevermore Dreaming Neon Black, which helped reinvigorate my love of metal in the late nineties after grunge had done it's damage, and if you like death metal, Exumed Death Revenge released in 2017 is fantastic. Great list Pete!
My fav album of all time is The Lamb. One of my other top four is a concept album by post hardcore outfit Thrice-The Alchemy Index. Four six track discs, 1, Fire, 2, Water, 3 Air, 4, Earth. -check it out it's a must have album.
Favorite concept albums that you didn't mention - David Bowie - Outside (possibly the most underrated concept album of all time) Between the Buried and Me - Coma Ecliptic Fear Factory - Obsolete Cradle of Filth - Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder Nevermore - Dreaming Neon Black Dimmu Borgir - In Sorte Diaboli Threshold - Legends of the Shires Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness WASP - The Crimson Idol (shocked you didn't mention this one)
Pete. My fav 'concept album' from Gentle Giant is, "The Power and the Glory". I imagine the story of a politician. From running for office, "Proclamation", to asking for another term, "Valedictory".
Just a great, great list. Any list that includes “Operation: Mindcrime,” “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son,” and “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” is a heckuva list. Great choices. I always liked Lizzy Borden’s “Master of Disguise” and think it would have fit in well with your list.
Using Eagles and Desperado as an example I loved it. Then when I saw all the unused photos in a mag it added to the experience. Later a fan magazine told the full story of the Dolton Gang this really added a new dimension. They could have added all this upon initial release. All concept albums should do this. Think of the fans not just sale figures.
The breath of styles & genres you touch on is truly impressive, but even so you seem to have overlooked Lou Reed, who's had a handful of notable concept albums over the years. An early one is Berlin, his largely forgotten 1973 follow-up to Transformer (produced by future Wall producer Bob Ezrin) that some insist is a lost classic. Much later on in 1990 he & John Cale teamed up for Songs For Drella, a sort of musical biography of their former mentor, the recently deceased Andy Warhol. This is IMO Reed's strongest concept album, told mostly from Warhol's POV (although Reed does recall his sometimes contentious relationship with Warhol in his own voice as well). Immediately following this was Magic & Loss, an album about dealing with death inspired by a couple of real life friends dying of cancer. It's certainly an album deeply immersed in it's subject matter, but it's not exactly a fun listen. Then there's 2003's The Raven, an album of songs & spoken word pieces that are basically re-written Edgar Allen Poe stories & poems, pretty much an identical concept as the Alan Parsons Project's Tales Of Mystery & Imagination but with radically different results. Finally there's his infamous team-up with Metallica, Lulu. Lulu may or may not someday be reassessed as another forgotten masterpiece, but for now I think the best you can say about it is that it confuses the hell out of most people.
Like you said, all Ayreon albums are great, but for me The Human Equation stands above them all, because of the emotional resonance of the story and gorgeous, powerful music. One of my all-time top 10 albums, and the live version is maybe even a little bit better.
1. Twelve dreams of dr. Sardonicus. Spirit 2. Tommy The Who 3. Dark Side of the Moon 4. Sergeant Pepper 5. The rise and fall of Ziggy Stardust and the spiders from Mars 6. Days of Future Past 7. Stones. Their majesties request 8. Brain Salad Surgery. Emerson Lake and Palmer 9. Yes Tales From topographic oceans 10. Queen a night at the Opera The 12 dreams of dr. Sardonicus. Spirit I would have to say by Leaps and Bounds this is my all-time forever favorite concept album I know that many people have never heard of it. This album is like dropping a hit of acid in 1972 it is psychedelic like the Jefferson Airplane it is Progressive like Emerson Lake and Palmer it is jamming like Led Zeppelin it is really classic rock and it is very much under ground and well produced with awesome artwork great sound effects for the early 1970s this is my all-time favorite classic rock concept album far more than Dark Side of the Moon This is a rock and roll psychedelic acid album
I've only just found your channel Pete, and glad I did!! Very enjoyable to hear your views. May I suggest one to include as a good example of a concept album? "The Alchemist" is an early '70's album by a little known English band called Home; which had a young guitarist named Laurie Wisefield, who later went on to replace Ted Turner in Wishbone Ash Mk2. I think I'm right in saying that Home only made two albums, The Alchemist and their eponymous first. Keep up the good work!
A few to add: * Nightwish - Endless Forms Most Beautiful * Alpha And Omega - A Life * Magica - The Scroll Of Stone (this band was named after the Dio album) * Unleash The Archers - Apex and Abyss (two successive albums) For what it's worth, the first concept album was Woody Guthrie's Dust Bowl Ballads in 1940, so nearly 30 years before Sgt. Peppers or Tommy defined the genre.
Operation Mindcrime is my favourite out of these, it's probably my all time favourite album
Its the best metal album ever...def agree
@@giantsfan8872 Absolutely, epic. Suite Sister Mary is one of my favs. That and Eyes Of A Stranger.
TheLochs the whole album..its hard to pick one but eyes of a stranger was alaways my fave
Definitely in my Top 5 all-time.
The benchmark concept album
Ayreon - Into The Electric Castle ♥️
As much as I love I Robot by The Alan Parsons Project, my pick from them would be Tales of Mystery and Imagination.
Tales of Mystery and Imagination ftw.
I Robot really had nothing to do with the book except the title track. I really can't find any conection between the songs and the book.
Turn of a friendly card is much more of a concept album than I Robot, imo. Even Eve.
Just for The Raven alone is worth it.
i just listened to I Robot yesterday on headphones start to finish for first time. incredible.
W.A.S.P.'s 'The Crimson Idol' deserves a mention. Came out around the same time as 'Operation Mincrime'. A little stronger, musically, in my opinion.
I agree totally but I think pete like most people see wasp as hair metal which I don't think they were. They are much heavier and blackie is a great song writer. That debut is a masterpiece Imo plus crimson idol.
WASP rules. It's too bad they get lumped in with hair metal.
@@thewal1ofsleep Stratovarius ???
Pete mentioned before that he's not much of a WASP fan, but based on his taste, I really think he should give the later WASP stuff a listen. Everything from Headless Children to Golgotha (Except Helldorado - That one sucked!)... and I'm not sure if KFD would qualify as a concept album, but I think it's even better than Crimson!
Pete should really give crimson idol a chance. Later albums too.
I love Kamelot. One of my favorite bands ever. Epica & The Black Halo are their best albums, and both are concept albums.
Roy khan times ..
One of the best concept albums ever is: 666 from Aphrodite's Child.A musical interpretation of the last book in the bible:
The Apocalypse.I think the album was released in 1971.
The Band started as a kind of Pop-Rock band and had several hits in Europe.Well known members of the band were:
Vangelis Papathanassiou & Demis Roussos.Yes the famous Vangelis who composed several Soundtracks an a lot of
Solo-Albums.He composed the whole Album.
It's Prog-Rock at it's best.Also influenced by Greek Music,Jazz,Avantgarde,Rock.The most popular song of this album is:
The Four Horsemen.I'm now 60 Years old and i've listened probably a several hundred times to this album.
Don't miss it!
Exceptional comment and Album
I Agree....it's incredible
I have always loved Alan Parson's Project's TALES OF MYSTERY AND IMAGINATION. It is a concept, yet also not a concept album as all of the songs are based on Edgar Allen Poe's stories.
absolutely one of my favorites, and stellar recordings of all time. for the record, although Alan Parsons' (NOT the "Project" - especially noting Eric Wolfson's death several years ago), post-project solo albums are defiantly NON-thematic, Alan has stated that his upcoming next solo album due early in 2019, will actually be a concept album... he won't announce the concept until autumn.
The greatest debut album of all time in my opinion
Surprised no one has mentioned Triumvirat. Spartacus and Pompeii are 2 great concept albums. Spartacus may be the better of the two.
Agreed! Love Triumvirat))
Spartacus!!! OMG
Love those two albums and the group. So glad you mentioned it.
Love your T-shirt , one of the greatest guitar player ever!!!
Streets by Savage is one of the most coherent of any concept album, it's extremely visual, I loved this upon release but actually have grown to enjoy it a hell of a lot more in the past few years
Excellent list...Pain of Salvation's The Perfect Element, Remedy Lane and Be are great...I can listen to Yes Tales any time... I own so many of these you showed... I love a great concept album!
It's really cool the way you embrace Classic Rock as well as more modern rock/metal styles, talking about bands such as Mastodon. Great video!
I always have loved Jeff Wayne's "War of the Worlds". Kinda poppy like ELO and a bit proggy. But it is good stuff.
My personal favourite musical based off of my second favourite book
I am so glad the you mentioned BOC's IMAGINOS. It is a killer disc. I keep hoping that you will do a BOC retrospective.
Porcupine Tree's Deadwing probably my favourite concept album by them. A Matter of Life and Death by Iron Maiden. Amused to Death by Roger Waters is mind blowing especially if you spend a little time setting your speakers up correctly (Read about it in the sleeve notes). Eagles Desperado awesome.
Tales from Topographic Oceans has all the clues. A reminder that we evolved from stars
Also a reminder that as much as I love Yes, and have been a fan since the mid-70s, Anderson's lyrics are sheer nonsense.
@@andrewkeats8247 Martin Popoff said in a recent SoT that listening to Jon Anderson's lyrics made him feel like he was joining some sort of cult lol
Dream Theater, Metropolis part 2 is my #1
Same
Back in the early 90's, some friends of mine had a band (I wrote some lyrics for them) and they wanted to do a 'classic' type of prog concept album. I was given two lines for one of the songs, and I wrote the rest of it. It was called 'Nowhere Boulevard'. After working on it for a while, I finally had all the lyrics complete...right when they found a new lead singer who wrote his own lyrics, so 'Nowhere Boulevard' was never made. Bummer, I've haven't really gotten over it to this day.
never too late !!!
My favourite concept album of all time is Tommy by The who, along with Seventh son of a seventh son by Iron Maiden, imagines by Blue Öyster Cult, and The rise and fall of ziggy star dust, and the Spiders form Mars by David Bowie.
A little known album.... Patrick Moraz "Story of I" one of my all-time favorites!
Horribly underrated musician. "Story" of I" is an amazing and emotional album with a fabulous ending.
not underrated to me !! as a HUGE YES fan I have all the solo stuff. I play this at least a couple times a year..fantastic concept throughout
The story was written by Jon Anderson, which was interesting to me because I always thought this and "Olias of Sunhillow" were somewhat a pair in temperament.
King Diamond-Abigail
King Diamond released a couple of concept albums??!!?? Ummm, every album King Diamond ever released are full concept albums other than Fatal Portrait and The Spider's Lullaby. And even those are a concept for half the album. lol
Someone here may have mentioned it but - Gong - Their 3 album concept - Radio Gnome - I concur with many of them here, but for me Gong is the ultimate
"Ocean" by Eloy...such a masterpiece!
Camel Snow Goose is Gorgeous!!!
certainly is! Actually, most of those early Camely albums are awesome.
Latimer really scratches that Gilmour itch. Wish they'd cross the pond.
indeed. Camel is criminally underappreciated. Although not a concept album in full, Mirage is by far my favourite and Lady fantasy is possibly my favourite track ever recorded.
@@anthonyferraro664 ,' Harbour of tears' is even better in my opinion
The Snowgoose is a phenomenal piece of music. It's the 3rd of 4 Camel classics!
CAMEL. MIRAGE. The SNOWGOOSE & MOONMADNESS. Andrew, Pete (RIP), Doug & Andy... The original & the best ♥️🐪🎶
Great to see Clutching at Straws get some love. Pallas’ The Sentinel is my other favorite concept album from the 80s.
Zappa - Joe’s Garage.
"Wow there's nothing fun to do since they made music illegal."
Imaginos! Yes!
Ayreon, Aina, Avantasia, Rhapsody ( newer fans call them Rhapsody of Fire), Domine, Blind Guardian, etc all have made amazing concept albums.
Knocked it out of the park Pete!
A few of my faves not mentioned:
Jon Anderson - Olias of Sunhillow
Flaming Lips - version of DSOTM
Glass Hammer - Lex Rex is a good one
Genesis - Duke
Tull - Too Old to Rock & Roll...
Kansas - Point of Know Return
Oldfield - Songs of Distant Earth
Lou Reed - New York
Rundgren Healing
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
The Tubes - Remote Control
Wakeman - Journey to the Centre....
Great job, think I’ll throw I Robot on now....
Planet P Project: Pink World
Beyond the Cold War backdrop, "The Stranger" is even more relevant today.
Remedy Lane by Pain of salvation is a masterpiece. Glad you mentioned it!
Thanks for introducing me to Orphaned Land, I have never heard of them before! Listening to Mabool is such a great experience, some of the passages and progressions make my eyes well up, beautiful!
"Operation Mindcrime" by Queensryche is a flawless, perfect masterpiece concept album and an easy #1 favorite for me. Thanks for all of the others you talked about, it gives me some albums to look into....
MAR-ILL-ION !!! That's a fine list of concept albums! A wide variety in your list, and I appreciate you doing the work!!! Reminds me of albums I have not heard in ages and some I've never even heard of! Thanks!
Tommy and quad are always mentioned but sellout is basically a concept album where all the songs are aired on the wonderful radio London haha basically a concept album in a sense
So glad you included Spock's Beard - Snow... Such a great album and criminally unsung
Marillion “Marbles” and F.E.A.R., I think Marbles is their best album with Hogarth. Also, you should give Pendragon some love, they have a few concept albums.
I was waiting...and waiting...thank goodness you mentioned The Similitude Of A Dream, for me the strongest concept album since The Lamb.
Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds!
The lamb..genesis
I want to mention from "Blind Guardian" the album "Nightfall in Middle Earth". The album has an epic flair that only few bands can achieve. Lots of powerful, dramatic melodies, great guitars and an unique singer.
Ouf! Many great albums. But to me, I'm totally in awe of Operation Mindcrime from Queensryche! It's perfect for me, the best vocal ever and a magnificient combinations of music and lyrics. My absolute favorite forever. lol!!
SCORPIONS: Humanity-Hour 1
One of their best works in years from 2007! Stellar concept album from an absolute superb, iconic, and legendary band!
Another early concept album was "The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society"
Great job, but one Jethro Tull concept album you forgot to mention is Too Old to Rock and Roll, Too Young to Die. The storyline and songs are based on the escapades of Ray, a fictional character who closely resembles Ian Anderson. The original LP had an open-fold album cover containing a 2-page comic strip story. As the storyline progresses, all the song titles are written in bold face in either the narration or dialogue. There are many amazing songs on this album, and it is so often overlooked, probably because the title track has been so overplayed, and it's not as great as the rest of the LP.. If you don't know this album, you must check it out!
Yo Pete, one of the earliest, if not the first Concept/Rock Opera Album was Pretty Things - S.F. Sorrow. Released in 1968, almost a full year before the Who's - Tommy. Released in May 1969. A wonderfully depressing story of a young English lad who sinks into depression in his service during the first world war. A great album recorded in The Beatles Abby Road Studio in November 1967. A place, in time, where so much great musical magic was created.
Opeth's "Still Life" and "My Arms Your Hearse" are concept albums, "Ghost Reveries" also (to some extent)
And Blackwater Park I thought?
@@gamerdad3070 Mikael once said it's based on how much he despises people... 😂😂. But it doesn't follow a storyline.
@@DaveGOfield Interesting, thanks for that, I've never paid that much attention to the lyrics, but it is a kick ass album!
You definitely discussed some classics, and I own a fair number of them. For part 2, one of my favorites is Nightfall in Middle earth, by Blind Guardian (based on The Silmarillion). Then there's some others to suggest, such as The Call of the Wreched Sea by Ahab (Moby Dick), Magica by Dio, Thane to the Throne by Jag Panzer (Mac Beth), The Secret of the Runes by Therion (Norse Mythology), all three albums by The Great Old Ones (each based on a different H.P. Lovecraft story), Blood on Ice by Bathory, Born Loka by Skalmöld, Let Battle Commence by Doomsword (Danish invasion of York in 866), and Voimasta ja Kuniasta by Moonsorrow. Cheers!
Yeah, I had considered a few of those, but there's just too many to cover.
As someone who likes both "The Astonishing" by DT and "The Final Cut" by PF, I still really enjoy your videos! (I'll agree with you on the Kiss album, though ;))
Nice Trower t-shirt!
Well done! The Concept Album is probably my favorite form of music. You mentioned some that I've never heard of. I've got some exploring to do. Did you know David Bowie's OUTSIDE is a concept album? Incidentally, great shirt!
Love your list!!!! Where to start to praise you for this. Great work.
The first true concept album was in fact Pretty Things “S.F. Sorrow” which came out before “Tommy”, also for consideration “The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society” and The Kinks “Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)”.
“Tales From Topographic Oceans” is about various religions and spirituality.
Captain Fantastic one of my favorite Elton John albums
Went straight to #1 as I recall
was sure that you would mention Olias of Sunhillow by Jon Anderson
Awesome choice with Imaginos
I was thinking Secret Treaties
But this is a great one too
Love Blue Oyster Cult
Fantastic vid Pete really interesting and enjoyable congrats
Winter's Gate by Insomnium became one of my favorites.
Can't believe I'm watching the vid and you include Vanden Plas!! LOVE that band. I was starting to think I was the only American fan they had. Nice inclusion.
No, you are not. Christ0 was the album that got me into them and that was a present from a friend.
I can't resist the opportunity to mention a few of my thematic/conceptual favorites - many more exist, of course - and noting that I'm huge fan of The Alan Parsons Project with 10+ concept albums to their name:
- SAGA - "Generation 13" (note: the band has announced its retirement)
- KATE BUSH - "The Ninth Wave" (although this is a mini-album, 2nd side/half of the "Hounds of Love" album with a running time of about 26 minutes)
- KATE BUSH - "A Sky of Honey" (similar format as "The Ninth Wave" as the 2nd side/half of the "Aerial" album with a whopping running time of about 42 minutes - a full-length album in its own right) - CAMEL - Pete mentioned "The Snowgoose" which I rightly enjoy, like most of this band's output, and with several other concept albums they've done, I highly recommend "Nude" - DAVID BOWIE - "Outside" - dark, very dark; and with composition help from Eno too- ELO - "Time" for all you sci-fi/futuristic fans out there - THE BUGGES - "The Age Of Plastic" - yet another one for all you sci-fi/futuristic fans (although their 2nd album "Adventures In Modern Recording" is a better album - IMHO) - ALICE COOPER - "From the Inside" co-written with Bernie Taupin and David Foster and very pop-melodic, but it's a fun listen
DAMN! I knew I missed one on my (just) posted list! Saga - Generation 13! When I stumbled on that album (thinking they called it quits) in 1995 - it was if they said to their fans; "Oh you want us to go back to our roots, well how about we just do a full out concept album" :D.
Wow!! Serious great choices here on kate bush, SAGA, Time by ELO but especially Outside by david bowie
You are a real one for sure !!
Another great: Rock Opera, "Jesus Christ Superstar"
I believe Jesus Christ Superstar is the best Rock Oprea by far. Also, Evita, is really great too.
@@Leery_Bard Agree
Definitely! Plus Andrew Lloyd Webber has progressive rock influences in his writing, especially his earlier stuff.
i really LOVE Music From the Elder.
I love IT too.
Great stuff.Aphrodites Child 666 ?
I was going to mention this but you beat me to it.
Grave digger Knights of the cross/Tunes of war/The last supper
Great selection starting with Nektar and finishing with Genesis!!! Camel's Snow Goose is amazing!!!
Thanks for touching on Kamelot a fabulous band and Khan is a great vocalist..
Preservation Act I and II, and the prequel Schoolboys in Disgrace by The Kinks. Pure genius. The story of a shady real estate developer and his rise and fall, from the 70s but sounds kind of familiar right now...
The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society + Preservation Act 1 + Preservation Act 2 - MASTERPIECE
WOOHOO, Frank Zappa get's a mention. THANK YOU. Joe's Garage is a masterpiece. Yes - Tales From Topographic Ocean's is a celestial journey into the power of the mind. There you go, that about sums that Yes album up for me. I'd have to add 'The Mars Volta - Deloused In the Cromatorium', 'The Flaming Lips - Yashimi Battles the Pink Robots.', 'Styx Killroy Was Here', 'King Crimson - Larks Tongues In Aspic.', 'Roger Waters Radio KAOS, The Pro's and Cons of Hitchhiking and the stunning Amused To Death(Roger is the KING of concept albums and these 3 are his best. The lastest Roger Waters releases have been a massive let down but I've been there to support him never the less. I think Frank Zappa's One Size Fit's All would be a great concept album, the track Inca Roads is a masterpeice and the whole album works as a collective whole.
Radio Chaos and Pros & Cons were the only 2 albums he made solo that I can listen to. I can't even listen to PFs the Final Cut. He was an extremely important part of PF when it was a more collaborative effort. Not so much on his own or on TFC. Actually I think The Wall is a lesser quality album than at least the 5 previous albums, but is still considered to be their 2nd greatest album.
Opeth "Still Life" and great to see our friends NEKTAR here..
Peter Gabriel 3/Melt is an awesome concept album focused on mental illnesses and psychopathy. Not prog but it fits into ecclectic prog, post prog, post punk, etc. Groundbreaking album.
Camel had a bunch of great concept albums after The Snow Goose: Nude, Stationary Traveller, Dust and Dreams and so on until the last one.
Supertramp's Breakfast in America is also a fantastic album that could be catalogued as conceptual. People going to America to live the dream, ultimately failing. Religion, the hard partying society in the big city, sex, etc.
Mark Knopfler's Sailing to Philadelphia on a similar note, phenomenal album of americana, beautiful tribute album to the U.S. all songs connected by historical events, places, customs, etc.
Kansas' Monolith, Steve Walsh tribute to his indian heritage.
King Crimson's Beat might be their only theme based - conceptual album about the Beat Generation, also worth mentioning.
I might threading paths of heresy but I'll mention Sting's Soul Cages. A very personal album about his childhood and his father whose death sparked Sting's most introspective and even proggish work to date.
David Bowie's 1.Outside is also a concept album that unfortunately failed to deliver a sequel that was planned. Very innovative stuff from Bowie and Eno.
Steve Hackett's Voyage of the Acolyte, his debut solo album inspired in the tarot. How could you forgot that one?
Roger Waters' Amused to Death. Water's masterpiece that could have been a great Pink Floyd album. You gotta hear that one. It has nothing to do with The Final Cut. Phenomenal album
Spot on with Mindcrime. I too think it was their best effort although Rage For Order was pretty darn close. It would have been cool had you included Pink World by Planet P. Not that many concepts were double albums. Check that one out, it has a lot of great stuff on it.
W.A.S.P.’s Crimson Idol is very underrated.
No one has mentioned Horslips "Book of Invasions " An under appreciated prog masterpiece.
You showed a great choice on concept albums, i would include Savatage dead winter dead and transatlantic the whirlwind
Great List!! I love Neal Morse and Mike Portnoy so I would mention Transatlantic's Whirlwind.
Thanks for turning me on to some really great bands I'd never heard of before.
My favorite concept album of all time is Shadow Gallery - Tyranny
Had a feeling someone was going to mention that one- it was on my original list but couldn't find my CD to show.
I love “part 2” as well, Room V. Definitely a great band.
SF Sorrow by The Pretty Things is one of the first Concept albums, Tommy was inspired by it. There were other things like The Story of Simon Simiopath by British band Nirvana but it was considered to be a sort of pantomine than a concept record. It is not great, where SF Sorrow is a masterpiece. Also Aphrodite's Child 666 is a great concept album but lists and choices are completely subjective. It is hard to condense an overview of the best Concept albums as there are so many. Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds is another classic Concept album. As you can see the list just goes on. I did not even read the comments, someone probably has already mentioned this in respect of Tommy.
My immediate thoughts were Tales From Topographic Oceans and the Lamb Lies Down on Broadway but for some reason I didn't think of either Tommy or Quadrophenia. Shame on me. At a time when it was the fashion to release solo albums Jon Anderson was the only member of YES to come up with a concept album, that being Olias of Sunhillow and an absolute gem at that. Mike Oldfield's Ommadawn was another classic. In more modern times, Nightwish came out with Imaginaerum, a brilliant masterpiece and they made a film of it too. Tuomas Holopainen came up with the Life And times Of Scrooge (McDuck,) superb from start to finish. Going back to the early 70s again. Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come came out with a timeless classic called Journey, a fabulous adventure in timetravel. Concept Albums - how many, I wonder, will think of The Small Faces with Ogden's Nutgone Flake? Supertramp's Crime of the Century was by far their best work I feel. That'll do for now I think.
Good choices!
I dunno ... Wakeman did pretty much nothing *but* concept albums. 😂
Joseph, in 1976 Patrick Moraz could have been included with his concept album The Story Of I but he managed to get himself fired. Rick Wakeman had formed the English Rock Ensemble and released a non concept album No Earthly Connection. He rejoined YES later that same year.
Gentlemen by Afghan Whigs is a great concept album as well.
Operation Mindcrime, Animals, Eye in the Sky, 666, Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Thick as a Brick are my favourite concept albums, with Animals not only being my personal pick of best album from Pink Floyd, it's just the best album I've ever listened to, full stop.
Thanks for the recommended picks of music! Have to check it out!
On the heavier side of things, Carach Angren's "Death Came Through a Phantom Ship" is a impressive concept album as well.
What about Planet P Project - Pink World? From a man who played on your favorite Rainbow Album.
It took watching all the way to the mid twenty minute mark, but there it was! Abigail by King Diamond is probably my all time favorite concept album. I was also thrilled to see my favorite album of all time, Styx Paradise Theater! It was also great to see Streets from Savatage, often overlooked and arguably the beginning point of all the ambitious works of Paul O'neill. TSO Christmas Eve and Other Stories is one of my all time favorite albums, but let's not forget Beethoven's Last Night. I was surprised as others have been to not see The Crimson Idol, but clearly your knowledge of good music is obvious and it's hard to include everything. I would recommend Insomnium's Winter's Gate, which is absolutely brilliant. It was nice to see Iced Earth in there, and I would include Night of the Stormrider with Glorious Burden (Gettysburg Trilogy is amazing!) as well as the Something Wicked works. Last two I would mention would be Nevermore Dreaming Neon Black, which helped reinvigorate my love of metal in the late nineties after grunge had done it's damage, and if you like death metal, Exumed Death Revenge released in 2017 is fantastic. Great list Pete!
Question: Have you ever done a video of your favorite collaborations in music?
Gojira- From Mars to Sirius. Phenomenal album!!!
So glad you mentioned IQ. I got into them from your album ranking video. Fantastic band. The Road of Bones is epic.
My fav album of all time is The Lamb. One of my other top four is a concept album by post hardcore outfit Thrice-The Alchemy Index. Four six track discs, 1, Fire, 2, Water, 3 Air, 4, Earth. -check it out it's a must have album.
Favorite concept albums that you didn't mention -
David Bowie - Outside (possibly the most underrated concept album of all time)
Between the Buried and Me - Coma Ecliptic
Fear Factory - Obsolete
Cradle of Filth - Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder
Nevermore - Dreaming Neon Black
Dimmu Borgir - In Sorte Diaboli
Threshold - Legends of the Shires
Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
WASP - The Crimson Idol (shocked you didn't mention this one)
Pete. My fav 'concept album' from Gentle Giant is, "The Power and the Glory". I imagine the story of a politician. From running for office, "Proclamation", to asking for another term, "Valedictory".
Just a great, great list. Any list that includes “Operation: Mindcrime,” “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son,” and “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” is a heckuva list. Great choices. I always liked Lizzy Borden’s “Master of Disguise” and think it would have fit in well with your list.
Using Eagles and Desperado as an example I loved it. Then when I saw all the unused photos in a mag it added to the experience. Later a fan magazine told the full story of the Dolton Gang this really added a new dimension. They could have added all this upon initial release. All concept albums should do this. Think of the fans not just sale figures.
The breath of styles & genres you touch on is truly impressive, but even so you seem to have overlooked Lou Reed, who's had a handful of notable concept albums over the years. An early one is Berlin, his largely forgotten 1973 follow-up to Transformer (produced by future Wall producer Bob Ezrin) that some insist is a lost classic. Much later on in 1990 he & John Cale teamed up for Songs For Drella, a sort of musical biography of their former mentor, the recently deceased Andy Warhol. This is IMO Reed's strongest concept album, told mostly from Warhol's POV (although Reed does recall his sometimes contentious relationship with Warhol in his own voice as well). Immediately following this was Magic & Loss, an album about dealing with death inspired by a couple of real life friends dying of cancer. It's certainly an album deeply immersed in it's subject matter, but it's not exactly a fun listen.
Then there's 2003's The Raven, an album of songs & spoken word pieces that are basically re-written Edgar Allen Poe stories & poems, pretty much an identical concept as the Alan Parsons Project's Tales Of Mystery & Imagination but with radically different results. Finally there's his infamous team-up with Metallica, Lulu. Lulu may or may not someday be reassessed as another forgotten masterpiece, but for now I think the best you can say about it is that it confuses the hell out of most people.
Have you ever listening to "AIRBAG"?
Love this Band so much.
Like you said, all Ayreon albums are great, but for me The Human Equation stands above them all, because of the emotional resonance of the story and gorgeous, powerful music. One of my all-time top 10 albums, and the live version is maybe even a little bit better.
1. Twelve dreams of dr. Sardonicus. Spirit
2. Tommy The Who
3. Dark Side of the Moon
4. Sergeant Pepper
5. The rise and fall of Ziggy Stardust and the spiders from Mars
6. Days of Future Past
7. Stones. Their majesties request
8. Brain Salad Surgery. Emerson Lake and Palmer
9. Yes Tales From topographic oceans
10. Queen a night at the Opera
The 12 dreams of dr. Sardonicus. Spirit
I would have to say by Leaps and Bounds this is my all-time forever favorite concept album I know that many people have never heard of it.
This album is like dropping a hit of acid in 1972 it is psychedelic like the Jefferson Airplane it is Progressive like Emerson Lake and Palmer it is jamming like Led Zeppelin it is really classic rock and it is very much under ground and well produced with awesome artwork great sound effects for the early 1970s this is my all-time favorite classic rock concept album far more than Dark Side of the Moon
This is a rock and roll psychedelic acid album
Sieges Even - The Art of Navigation by the Stars is one of my favourite...
I've only just found your channel Pete, and glad I did!! Very enjoyable to hear your views. May I suggest one to include as a good example of a concept album? "The Alchemist" is an early '70's album by a little known English band called Home; which had a young guitarist named Laurie Wisefield, who later went on to replace Ted Turner in Wishbone Ash Mk2. I think I'm right in saying that Home only made two albums, The Alchemist and their eponymous first. Keep up the good work!
A few to add:
* Nightwish - Endless Forms Most Beautiful
* Alpha And Omega - A Life
* Magica - The Scroll Of Stone (this band was named after the Dio album)
* Unleash The Archers - Apex and Abyss (two successive albums)
For what it's worth, the first concept album was Woody Guthrie's Dust Bowl Ballads in 1940, so nearly 30 years before Sgt. Peppers or Tommy defined the genre.