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Guy Records From The Vault: The Concept Albums
by William S. Repsher

published 7/31/00

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William Repsher is a LeisureSuit.net staff writer based in Queens.



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Subj: Concept
Thick as a Brick and Passion Play. Fictitious prodigy kid and guy who dies and comes back to help people (+ the hare who lost his spectacles) Tull is mint. Concept albums should only ever be 2 huge songs

-- V. Shaw
Nov 21, 2005 at 2:09AM

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Whatever happened to concept albums? You know, those artsy records guys with peach-fuzz Amish beards and wire frames always championed. Some were clearly meant as concept albums ("Dark Side of the Moon" by Pink Floyd), and others were nothing more than a loose collection of songs that conformed to some guiding concept ("Born in the USA" by Bruce Springsteen). But whatever the artist's intent, all concept albums, no matter how wild or literary, came down to one guiding concept: please buy this fucking record.

And don't just buy it, but let the act of your owning it indicate that you don't just rock, you're a genius, too, man. I've never read I, Robot by Isaac Asimov. Why bother? I've heard the Alan Parsons Project album of the same name! Concept albums often focused on sci-fi/mythological gobbledygook. No one has ever done a concept album based on Erma Bombeck's If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, Why Am I Always in the Pits?--although I wouldn't put anything past Sting these days. That kind of silliness tends to get pawned off to Broadway musicals.

I've decided to trawl back through my collection to find 10 intriguing concept albums, going all the way back the 1960's, pre-"Tommy". Despite popular opinion, Tommy was not the first concept album--it wasn't even the first rock opera. (But give the Who credit--they started the ball rolling back in 1966 with their mini-opera, "A Quick One"--a song that, as far as I'm concerned, supercedes both "Tommy "and "Quadrophenia".) Since we live in a world where everyone under the age of 25 latches on to a narrow, obvious selection of pre-determined rock Gods handed down from aging fans who were semi-crustaceans to begin with, I hope this cross section of 10 concept albums helps shed some light on forgotten gems, and casts a discerning eye on others.

A Teenage Opera: the Original Soundtrack Recording (Various Artists, 1968)
Most concept albums of the 60's tend to be have one ulterior motive, which was to demonstrate just how apeshit British musicians got when stoned out of their gourds, which was 90% of the time in most cases. "A Teenage Opera" is more a collection of songs composed and produced by Mark Wirtz that was planned for a psychedelic movie, but never reached fruition. The album never came out and was only released as a compilation recently in the U.K.

What's left are flighty snippets and great songs like "He's Our Dear Old Weatherman" and "Grocer Jack" that rival any of the more well-known British pop of the time in terms of style and creativity. This album is Wirtz's baby, as he used a few bands over the course of the failed project, with Keith West and Tomorrow the only ones finding popular acclaim. Although they never hit it big in America, West and Tomorrow had a few major pop hits in Britain at the time. (Lead guitarist Steve Howe's next band would be Yes, and stop holding your breath, I'm not going to try to figure out what any of their albums mean.) One of the other bands, Kippington Lodge, featured a very young Nick Lowe. With a full orchestra, children's choir and numerous special effects, "A Teenage Opera" sounds like "Yellow Submarine" done Phil Spector "Wall of Sound" style.

How could something this good not be more popular? Ask the Small Faces--much of their work, including their similarly flighty "Ogden's Nut Gone Flake", barely registers a blip on the radar screen of most American pop fans. They can be forgiven, as most of this music wasn't even available to American audiences at the time, and thus hasn't seeped into our musical canon, save as cult obscurities. And that's a shame, as bands like these (not to mention the Zombies, the Move or the Idle Race) put out some of the best pop music otherwise astute fans may have never heard. At worst, they veered into Spinal Tap's "Listen to the Flower People" territory, but most of this material is criminally neglected.

(Sidenote: I won't be including what many consider the first rock opera--"S.F. Sorrow" by the Pretty Things in 1967. Why? Well, shoot me, hardcore pop fiends, but I just don't think it's a very good album. It's heart is in the right place, and head appropriately in the clouds, but the songs feel extremely dated and don't hold up all that well. Be leery of anyone praising this "unheralded gem" to the skies. If you run out and buy it only to find hazy, mediocre psychedelia, don't blame me.)

Berlin (Lou Reed, 1973)
When it comes to feel-good classics that provide chicken soup for the soul, you can be rest assured that albums like Lou Reed's album "Berlin" will serve as spiritual ptomaine to vomit it straight back up. "Berlin" has to be the most depressing album ever made, bar none. Send Roger Waters home with a note from the school nurse, give Trent Reznor a lollipop, tell Kurt Cobain to turn that frown upside down. Lou Reed can gobble all their Xanax like gumballs and make their therapists turn to Scientology. The story of an abusive drug dealer beating his self-loathing girlfriend, "Berlin" was Reed's last good album for a few years. (I'd say 1978's "Street Hassle" but won't quibble with those who go with 1976's "Coney Island Baby".)

Reed himself was having a rough time, going through various addictions, namely heroin and speed, shaving Third Reich iron crosses into his nubby hair, losing weight to the point of emaciation, turning gay, then straight again, then gay again, etc. He did his best work in the 60's with the Velvet Underground, only to find his lot in the music business so under-appreciated he had to work in his father's office for a short spell before putting out his first solo album in 1972. A year later, he was a superstar, riding on the power of "Walk on the Wild Side" and his association with Bowie. "Berlin" came off like a commercial suicide attempt (although nowhere near as shocking as 1975's "Metal Machine Music", four album sides of solid white noise). It should be noted that producer Bob Ezrin may be the unheralded hero of concept albums, as he also worked with Alice Cooper and Pink Floyd, usually adding an identifiable, orchestra-heavy sound to the material. It's to his credit that Berlin sounds like nothing else Lou Reed has done--or anyone else for that matter.

Preservation Act II (The Kinks, 1974)
Around the same time the Who was setting the world on fire with "Tommy", the Kinks were quietly making such pop masterpieces as "The Village Green Preservation Society" and "Arthur" that did nothing but damn them to obscurity in America, as they were too British and "tame" by late 60's standards. Thirty years on? We can see that Ray Davies was a genius--both for not paying lip service to hippie bullshit and for doggedly pursuing his muse when the music business was sending him strong signals that what he was doing was wrong.

Unfortunately, as with many geniuses, Ray's sense of total control over all things Kinks led him down some twisted paths, one of which ended up in "Preservation Act II". After releasing the under-rated "Muswell Hillbillies" in 1971 and an average live album the following year, Ray sunk into a dark period, stretching from 1972 to 1975, where the Kinks released nothing but silly-assed concept albums. The first, "Preservation Act I", was the best, as it had individual songs that could stand outside the context of the concept, regarding some futuristic horseshit about how mechanized and inhumane society would become in the future. A real intriguing concept--basically the same one all rock stars have harped on in one form or another, although fans buying their albums en masse from faceless corporate entities as if they were programmed automatons provided the foundation of their stardom. "Preservation Act II" was a landslide of bad ideas and poor performances--a hard album for any discerning Kinks fan to listen to. While there are fine moments ("Artificial Man," "Nothing Lasts Forever"), most of this is a complete mess more depressing than any Nine Inch Nails album. Being a double album, it only prolongs the agony of listening to a great artist who had lost his way, and wouldn't find it again until ditching concept albums and simply putting out collections of songs showcasing his usual wit and insight.

Queen II (Queen, 1974)
This isn't a concept album per se, save that the sides are broken into "White" and "Black"--the White is Brian May's side, with a bone thrown to Roger Taylor, who wouldn't come into his own as a songwriter until the next album. The Black side belongs to Freddie Mercury, and while he may have gone on to write greater songs, this is where you'll find the unfettered expression of Freddie's core being, which was a strange hybrid of Liza Minelli, Little Richard and Mozart.

"Queen II" is also the album where Queen grew into their sound, a combination of Brian May's high-pitched, layered guitar, Freddie's classical songwriting style and the band's under-rated harmonies. "Procession" opens the album with a tour de force of May's guitar work, a phenomenal piece of quasi-baroque music that unfortunately veered off into Led Zeppelin territory for the remainder of May's songs. They weren't bad--just not as strong as the material he would write in the next few years.

They're unlike Freddie's songs on the Black side, which contains "The March of the Black Queen," an extravagant precursor to "Bohemian Rhapsody" that established the band's direction for their next three albums. It may not have made much sense, but it sounded great. The whole side is a bizarre trip through fantasy land and has what may be the worst-titled song ever: "The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke." Freddie clocks in with his first cheesy ballad ("Nevermore") and rocks hard ("Ogre Battle"). The Black side of "Queen II" can be seen as a blueprint for Queen's impending success, as their next album, "Sheer Heart Attack", broke down into shorter, more pop-friendly snippets of the same grandiose gestures. "A Night of the Opera" and "A Day at the Races" were simply more of the same, only performed progressively better each time. They don't make album's like "Queen II" anymore! That may have some heaving a sigh of relief, but it also says much about the imagination and technical proficiency, or lack thereof, for a vast majority of today's rock musicians.

The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (Genesis, 1974)
I'd wager that of all the Prog Rock bands from the 70's, none has aged as well as Genesis, even after Peter Gabriel left, but before they turned into lethargic 80's pop fluff. Post-Gabriel albums like "A Trick of the Tail", "Wind and Wuthering" and "Duke", simply stated, were good, assuming one has a penchant for Prog Rock and doesn't consider the genre laughable swill. I don't, thanks to albums like "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway." Peter Gabriel was the closest thing to a Prog Rock punk--he gave himself a reverse Mohawk at one point, with a rectangular band cut straight into the middle of his hair.

"The Lamb Lies Down" has the same problem as most concept albums--you'd need your neighbor's dog to explain it to you for it to make sense. The loose story is a New York street kid named Rael taking a fantastic journey where he finds out that if he switches the letters of his name, he's Real, man. But within that muddled concept is some great music: ballads like "The Carpet Crawlers" and harder stuff like "Back in NYC" that still sounds fresh today. Gabriel left Genesis because he sensed Prog Rock was coming to an end and wanted to be more of a pop star; songs like "Solsbury Hill" and "Games Without Frontiers" got him there. Am I the only person who thinks his first two solo albums are great, and he's made a terrible mistake veering off into this namby-pamby world music effluvia? Or am I just holding him partially responsible for all those downtown coffee shops that reek of patchouli, bad politics and NPR?

I, Robot (The Alan Parsons Project, 1977)
Alan Parsons is the godfather of concept albums--everything he did was a concept album. Parsons breaks wind, and he envisions a ship's sails billowing from his methane emission. Ah, a possible concept album on Columbus discovering the New World--quick, someone call the record company. The silliest concept album he did was 1978's "Pyramids", about, er, uh, pyramids, which were a hot topic of the late 70's. His worst concept album was 1979's "Eve", about the nature of women, with such heartwarming titles as "You Lie Down with Dogs" and "I'd Rather Be a Man." The gatefold cover was the faces of beautiful women, all sheathed in fishnet scarves, which didn't fully hide the herpes and chancre sores, cracked lips and bruises on their faces.

Wow! It was a nasty album that wouldn't cut it today, unless he made it hiphop and hid behind that genre's Teflon morality. "I, Robot" was a much better outing, with more of that futuristic nonsense that teenage kids in the 70's lapped up, whether it was "Battlestar Galactica" or "Come Sail Away." Parsons was mainly the overseer on his projects, writing the music, playing various instruments, and, most importantly, producing, as he had engineered Beatles and Pink Floyd albums. As a result, he had enough pop sense to knock out hit singles ("Breakdown") along with the Prog Rock stylings of his instrumentals. "I, Robot" was the kind of album you played to prove to your parents that Glen Miller was a joke because he didn't base his music on science-fiction novels. Bless our parents for having enough sense to laugh in our faces; I only wish more parents now had the same balls with their kids' slimy music.

Sidenote: if you tested a stereo in 1978 in-store, chances are good the cheesy salesman played the sleek "I Wouldn't Want to Be Like You," especially if you listened through headphones. That, or whatever Tangerine Dream album was out. Adventurous salesmen might try to slip a Yes album on from their personal collection, but by the late 70's, that was a risky proposition.

Hemispheres (Rush, 1978)
This was a hard album to buy at the local mall, as the cover featured a bare-assed guy dancing naked on a giant brain; in that sense it's similar to Yes' "Going for the One", which was a bare-assed guy standing in front of skyscrapers. Both albums are similar, too, in that the combined number of songs from both albums is nine. Yes, it was the age of 18-minute wonders, real heavy songs that meant something, man. They meant you had too much time on your hands and too much money to buy bad albums.

(Sidenote: why is it that only guys got this way about Prog Rock? You never saw women carrying on about "how deep" a 20-minute Yes song was, and that "you really have to listen to the lyrics, man" or some other such shit. How many times did I sit in a basement or dorm room and have some possessed moron go, "shh, listen, listen" to some key line in a song about Icarus flying too close to the sun that was supposed to change my life, but only made me wonder, "what the fuck is wrong with you--did your parents attach electrodes to your balls"?)

"Hemispheres" is about . . . forty minutes too long. I don't know what it's about. I don't care what it's about. Aside from "Trees"--a groovy song about trees having emotions--I haven't really remembered all that much about this album that I worshiped for about two weeks when I was 14, right before the Ramones and Cheap Trick blew away any semblance of my Prog Rock leanings. And I don't want anyone from Rush.com lecturing me on my ignorance, as there has to be something off about you if you're latching onto silliness like this. If you're a Rush fan, more power to you--I got some pretty weird tastes, too--but spare me the Kansas/"Dust in the Wind" take on life. Generally, one album of that stuff was all I could take.

Hope (Klaatu, 1978)
Klaatu both gained acceptance and took a beating for the Beatles myth that sprung up around them. Their first album drew comparisons to the Fab Four. As the band was a collection of unknown studio musicians, and the world was in one of those "Beatles must regroup" phases it went through periodically until Lennon's death, critics began to surmise that Klaatu could be the Beatles, as the name "Klaatu" comes from a science-fiction movie--and a robot from that movie appeared on the cover of Ringo Starr's "Goodnight Vienna" album, man! Of course, one listen to the album makes the comparison seem ludicrous--they were clearly influenced by the Beatles, but Klaatu's goofy sci-fi imagery and once-removed melodicism came off more like one of ol' Ringo's better solo albums.

But on its own terms, Klaatu was good stuff. The first album's "Little Neutrino" is a great slice of 70's bombast, complete with vocoder vocals and full orchestra. My attention was drawn to them when the Carpenters scored a minor hit with a cover of "Calling Occupants (of Interplanetary Craft)." Their second album, "Hope", burst forth with a full sci-fi concept about the search for the loneliest creature in the universe, who turns out to be a lighthouse keeper in some far-off galaxy whose loneliness is expressed in songs that sound like primo Eric Carmen and 70's Neil Sedaka. "Hope" was "All By Myself" in space--had it been more popular, it would have made a great choice for high-school drama clubs tired of "Godspell".

And it was good--the album floored me at the time, as only cheesy albums like this can with a teenager. I still put the title track on pop compilations, and there's not one dog on the album, although the lyrics can be hard to take. They put out a few more albums after "Hope", but it became obvious with this album that they weren't the Beatles, no matter how much acid John had dropped, and Klaatu would take their place among all the reasonably-talented 70's pop groups who've faded in the mists of time.

From the Inside (Alice Cooper, 1978)
Give Alice Cooper credit--love him or hate him, he knew how to package albums. "From the Inside"'s front cover, an eerie shot of Cooper's made-up face with silver eye balls, was split in half so that it opened to reveal the inside of an insane asylum with all its colorful characters. The back side had two little doors on it that swung upon to reveal Alice and all the patients heading out the door with their release papers.

Most hardcore rock fans agree that Cooper was losing it by 1975's "Welcome to My Nightmare". That was when his original band broke up, and he began to rely on seasoned studio pros like Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner, who pushed his music into a more polished and cartoonish direction, in accordance with his notoriously elaborate stage shows. "Nightmare" is a great album, even if it did signal a retreat for Cooper from an off-kilter cultural phenomenon to a consummate professional. Earlier songs like "I Love the Dead" still rival anything punk ever came up with, but as with punk, it's hard to function on that depraved level without turning into a caricature, a lesson clearly lost these days on rap and metal audiences listening to two-decade old genres that haven't grown in any sense.

"From the Inside" is his true-life tale of a brief visit to an asylum in White Plains, New York, where he attempted to overcome his longstanding alcoholism. He beat it, although he would slip a few more times before cleaning up for good in the late 80's. I recall Lester Bangs shellacking this album in a Circus review, encouraging Cooper to "stay out of rock and roll forever!" While the review infuriated me at the time, I can see where he was coming from, as the overly smooth, synth-heavy late 70's production and arrangements haven't aged well. Starting with 1975's "Only Women Bleed," Cooper had great luck putting out ballads as singles, and this album's biggie was "How You Gonna' See Me Now?" Barry Manilow could have covered this song as-is and not had to compromise his smarmy image one iota.

The rest of the album is hit or miss. The only songs I can handle these days from the album are "The Quiet Room" and "Inmates (We're All Crazy)"--the rest of the album just feels silly, with Cooper and Elton John's lyricist Bernie Taupin concocting relatively flat character studies to populate his asylum stay. It's funny--there are certain albums I can put on now, like Cheap Trick's Heaven Tonight that still sound great, even though I feel silly listening to them in front of other people because they're so intrinsically bound to my memories of being a teenager. Then there are albums like "From the Inside", which I went to great trouble to find on CD, only to play it and realize, "Shit, I'm an adult now. How could I have possibly taken this junk seriously when I was a kid?"

The Wall (Pink Floyd, 1979)
This has to be the big one. I thought of choosing "Animals", but, er, uh, that's a concept album about . . . animals. But not really--it's also about inhumanity--aren't we all watching for shelter from pigs on the wing, man?

By 1979, everyone thought Floyd was over. New wave was kicking in, heavy metal and disco were going strong, and it seemed there wasn't much room for bands like Pink Floyd anymore, save as token reminders of their fading 70's glory, much as Led Zeppelin's "In Through the Out Door" paled in comparison to their earlier triumphs. I recall sitting in my room Thanksgiving morning, 1979, and the local AOR radio station announcing that they were going to play Pink Floyd's new album "The Wall" in its entirety. Big deal, I thought--these guys are over. Two hours later, I was sitting there with my mouth open. I ran out and bought it the following Tuesday and played it to death. Roger Waters sensed how dislocated all teenagers felt and fashioned a story that traced his isolation from a smothering mother and archaic schooling to his life as a rock star, all joined by the thread of his father who had died during World War II. (Their next album, "The Final Cut", would examine the more military side of this story; the band eventually broke up then reformed without him, as Waters had taken complete creative control, reducing the rest of the band to session musicians.)

The problem? This was not fictional--this was Roger Waters' life. And, boy, did it suck! But his life didn't suck--he was living his dream. Plenty of kids in England lost their fathers in World War II. Some of them even became rock stars, or successful in some other manner. But most of them weren't this neurotic, which should have made the adult Roger suspect that maybe his problems had as much to do with the choices he made rather than the life that was thrust upon him. But such self awareness tends to be lost on self-pitying rock stars and sheep-like teenagers--the album was a massive success, for both its relentless depression and brilliant songwriting. And much of it still stands today, even if I have to be in a certain mood (a very bad one) to play more than a track or two of 'The Wall". Another bad side effect was the way kids latched onto the hit single, "Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2." You know--"We don't need no education/we don't need no thought control."

As an intelligent kid, I saw the irony of Waters' message--that he, too, was an intelligent person, and he was attacking bad teachers and rigid school systems more than learning itself. This concept was lost on many of the goombah's who took the song as moral support and a rallying cry for their substandard grades and rotten attitudes. These kids needed education--and thought control. Dark sarcasm in the classroom was lost on these mutants. (I kind of liked dark sarcasm in the classroom.) They needed parents and teachers to pay attention to them--not sheltered rock stars to romanticize their self-loathing. The truth was Roger Waters cared less about them than even the worst teacher or most negligent parent. That was the whole point of "The Wall"--the protagonist had ceased caring about anything, much less himself.

That song hasn't aged well for me, although I recognize it's better than the regressive horseshit kids are chowing down on today via hiphop and metal. And I certainly don't want to hold Roger Waters responsible for anything, although I'd gladly point out this song is deeply manipulative and cynical. Everything he's done has been a downer in some sense; by the same token, he has moments of genius. I think that's his giant brain on the cover of "Hemispheres".


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Name: V. Shaw
Subject: Concept
-- Nov 21, 2005 at 2:09AM
Thick as a Brick and Passion Play. Fictitious prodigy kid and guy who dies and comes back to help people (+ the hare who lost his spectacles) Tull is mint. Concept albums should only ever be 2 huge songs

Name: An LS.n Reader
Subject: Alan Parsons
-- Oct 31, 2003 at 11:27AM
When a guy starts calling his band a Project get away from it.

Name: William S. Repsher Responds
Subject: Re: Response.
-- Jul 21, 2003 at 8:42AM
KISS's "Farewell Tour" will be in 2038 -- with Gene and Paul, in spandex and full make-up, falling out of their wheelchairs, keeling over dead onstage. They just can't give it up ... and the concept of guys approaching 50 dressed like bats, blowing fire and vomiting blood onstage ... it's just kind of lame, don't you think? This stuff should have disappeared by 1982. These guys would be legendary if that were the case. As it is, the world now finds them shilling coffins on their website. It was never meant to come to this -- but I guess once you get used to pulling in a few million every year, it's hard to break the habit. And they're certainly no less guilty than plenty of other musicians who should have taken a back seat a long time ago instead of charging $120 per ticket.

Name: Aaron Thacker
Subject: Response.
-- Jul 21, 2003 at 2:22AM
First off,thanks for the response but believe me I didn't expect to get that much of a commentary but...yeah I think I can relate to what you're saying there Mr.Repsher.

I grew up in school and church with some children who had that sort of problem themselves and that's due to some sort of inabilty or unwillingness to grow up out of a bad habit,heck I even know some jerk or two who used to harrass me at school.

One of them I know works at this comic book store I go to and before I go he makes a noise I always hated him and others to do to me back at school and I shout at him--GROOOW UP!(I can't discuss the personal details on the noise it's personal and painful to even bring up.)

So there you see is something I guess we best not do huh? I'm not a married man yet,but I promise you I will not steer my kids to any bad examples of others in any way,and no neither I nor my parents put kiss mak-up on and go to Kiss concerts so I grew up to hopefully be a better person and not a ****head as you put it.

And I don't think you have to worry about KISS anymore anyways pal,I keep hearing they're in the farewell tour and have probably completed by now(Ya know they had someone else dressed as the Beast King drummer/Peter Criss after he left in 01?)

Kiss however will live on in video games,action figures with their new Creatures line and of course the new comic book from Dark Horse is definitely worth seeing IMO.
Nice chatting with ya as well Mr.Respher your opinions are well noted.

Name: William S. Repsher Responds
Subject: Re: Comment and question.
-- Jul 14, 2003 at 6:56AM
Well, The Elder applies. It is a concept album -- problem is, I've never heard it. I've always thought KISS was a joke. They do have some great songs (Christine Sixteen, Rock and Roll All Nite, Beth, Hard Luck Woman, Firehouse), but I know I can get them all onto one 70-minute CD-R with room leftover.

I was just the right age to like them, too -- basically a kid in the mid-70s. Problem was, even then, I knew they were over-rated and relied mainly on their gimmick of make-up/hidden identity. I couldn't help but notice that mainly dumb, easily impressionable kids were heavily into KISS. I could generally agree with kids like this on good stuff like AC/DC and Led Zepp, but KISS was just such an obvious joke that I couldn't go for them. Still can't. When I see adults getting dressed up in KISS make-up and taking their kids to concerts in make-up ... those are just people who forgot to grow up, or most likely never reached any sort of level of emotional or mental maturity that would require them to do so. That's the problem with the world, Aaron -- everyone wants to be a teenager forever, leaving us now with adults who are complete shitheads, often raising kids who are even bigger shitheads.

The Moody Blues? Yeah, everything they did was a concept album. They sure as hell go down a lot easier than KISS.

Name: Aaron Thacker
Subject: Comment and question.
-- Jul 14, 2003 at 2:16AM
Dear Mr.Repsher,I like your site I do,and even though I listen to good rock music I have no concept albums at this time and yeah THE WALL is always worth mentioning I had no idea it was that much about his life. Anyway, there was one I was wondering if you knew anything about,probably not one worth bringing up--but please don't hold it against me if I do--KISS:THE ELDER.I was wondering if you know anything about it and if it is/isn't worth a listen. I'm not really much into KISS but I love their new comic and i've read at other sites about the good/bad of the a,bum but world without heroes sounded nice,just wondering how the rest of it goes.
If you don't have anything on this sorry to bother you and thanks for the info on what concept albums are really about.Oh,one more album I want to know if it's a concept album cause my mom has a tape version of it--THE MOODY BLUES:DAYS OF FUTURE PAST/nights in white satin.

Name: William S. Repsher Responds
Subject: Re: Present Concept Albums
-- Feb 28, 2003 at 8:34AM
I'm not quite sure what the concept for OK Computer is ... it's about an OK computer? I don't know -- I thought that was a fairly pop album -- stuff like No Surprises sounds a bit like Sonny and Cher. Kid A and Amnesiac, sorry to say, sound like the emporer's new clothes to me -- bad Brian Eno imitations that add absolutely nothing to the ambient music genre. I'm hoping they remember how to write songs one day.

Tool -- not really my cup of tea, whereas I know Jordan Hoffman is a huge fan, noting their prog-rock leanings.

There are plenty of bands out there still doing vaguely concept-ablum material. Like a whole genre of new prog rock bands that I haven't really paid much attention to (Spock's Bear, Porcupine Tree, etc.). I wouldn't be surprised to find they were doing interesting stuff.

As per Bowie, sorry, just can't get behind the guy in the 90s. Stuff like Ziggy Stardust and Diamond Dogs has simply become legendary over the year. And for good reason -- they were damn good albums. Ditto, Floyd -- Waters was the man. Gilmour -- a great guitarist who comes up with interesting stuff on occasion, but not in Waters' league as a composer. And I've sort of lost track of Waters over the past few years -- not sure if he's doing anything anymore.

Name: Chad
Subject: Present Concept Albums
-- Feb 27, 2003 at 2:57PM
There have been a few other notables in my opionion, and none of these bands has had mention as of yet. Radiohead's OK Computer signaled a change in their musical stylings, and especially Thom Yorke's lyrics. Funny thing is the last track on their previous album "The Bends" contained the words "fade out." I believe this was done to let listeners know the band had two "pop" albums finished and now had the clout to record any type of music they pleased ("Kid A" and "Amnesiac" are proof). Also, a little band named Tool has one of the strongest, unadvertised followings of any of today's acts. "Aenima", "Undertow" , and their most recent "Lateralus" ; are easily three of the best modern-day concept albums out there. Although at first listen it seems like some really pissed off crazies, you come to find that Maynard (lead singer) is really a very subtle satirist and actually voices empathy through his words. Besides, his voice is amazing. And what's the kicker with both these bands? Each of them has a sound like no other. I can only hope up-and-coming bands take a cue from these guys and do their own thing.

Name: BerSerk
Subject: 90's concepts
-- Feb 25, 2003 at 9:39AM
How bout some of the newer more interesting concepts from the 90's: "Outside" by Bowie, and my personal favorite, "The Division Bell" by Pink Floyd. For more on that check out this URL: http://www.angelfire .com/co/1x137/enigma .html

Name: William S. Repsher Responds
Subject: Re: 70's Kitsch
-- Dec 16, 2002 at 1:12PM
Johnny, you got me on that one. I'm afraid to hear this album. When it comes to talking songs/narrators, if it's not William Shatner or John Wayne, I don't want to hear it!

Name: The Editors Respond
Subject: Re: 70's Kitsch
-- Dec 14, 2002 at 11:08AM
Good call!

Name: johnny
Subject: 70's Kitsch
-- Dec 14, 2002 at 4:32AM
How about Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds. He goes back to Wells - not Welles - has Richard Burton as Narrator and some god-awful though somewhat compelling Muzak. For what it's worth . . .

Name: Rach
Subject: Guy Records From The Vault: The Concept Albums
-- Dec 12, 2002 at 5:18PM
Queensryche Operation:Mindcrime definately deserves a mention. Maybe not the type your're going for.. but its truly amazing

Name: guy
Subject: concept
-- Dec 5, 2002 at 9:13PM
true, wakeman's project was a total failure, but the album is still pretty cool

Name: William S. Repsher Responds
Subject: Re: concept
-- Dec 2, 2002 at 8:42AM
Yeah, yeah, Tull, Wakeman, etc. Basically, every prog-rock album is a concept album. I didn't include Wakeman because I never could bring myself to buy King Arthur on Ice, or whatever that thing was. Prog-rock and ice skates don't mix!

Name: guy
Subject: concept
-- Dec 1, 2002 at 7:39PM
oh yeah---what about jethro tull? "thick as a brick" "a passion play" and "aqualung" are all up there too.

Name: guy
Subject: concept
-- Dec 1, 2002 at 7:37PM
What about rick wakeman?he's got a couple up his sleeve. Not to mention Yes. A more recent concept album you should check out is Dream Theater's "scenes from a memory"

Name: William S. Repsher Responds
Subject: Re: the who
-- Nov 4, 2002 at 6:56AM
I skipped all the great Who concept albums because they've been done to death -- or at least were while I was growing up, although all anyone writes about now is how old the Who are. Rest assured, we had Tommy, Whos Next and Quadrophenia shoved down our throats in the 70s and 80s. All fine albums, and hats off to Townshend -- but I honestly didn't have much urge to write about them.

Name: erftg
Subject: the who
-- Nov 3, 2002 at 9:59PM
you missed out whats probably the greatest rock and roll concept album of all time - quadrophenia by the who.

Name: William S. Repsher Responds
Subject: Re: Syd stuff
-- Jul 21, 2002 at 10:19AM
To use your definition of a concept album, Girls Girls Girls by Motley Crue is a concept album. "Musically" ; does not count in my book as a concept -- every album should hold together thematically when it comes to music. For me, it will always be about lyrical intent -- what story the recording artists want to tell via an album.

Another concept album person that no one views as such: Tom Waits. And that's because he's actually made stage shows of a few of his albums (Frank's Wild Years, Alice, The Black Rider, etc.). And hiphop albums -- a bunch of jackasses pretending they're gangsters and having assholic white critics gush over them as representing the "black experience," when a country band writing about trailer park trash would represent the same "white" experience yet receive nothing but derision from the same critics. But I digress.

You know what we need? A concept album about white upper middle class people. Because that's what most rock stars are. Springsteen needs to write an album about what it feels like to be insanely rich and living a dream life, yet finding himself in therapy and questioning everything about his existence. Roger Waters needs to write about being a talented egomaniac living in a mansion who has alienated everyone from his past band. (The Wall doesn't count.) I want to hear about child support payments. Private school bills. Bitchy CEO neighbors who constantly bicker over shit like the state of their hedges and lawns.

I don't want to hear anything more about drug abuse or rock stars or fairies or nymphs or pyramids or the rugged street life of "niggas" or spaceships or insane asylums. I want to hear about brie and IKEA and SUVs and property taxes and country clubs and Ivy League colleges and swimming pools.

Work on this with your four-track recorder. Tales of the Topographic Suburbs.

Name: James O.
Subject: Syd stuff
-- Jul 20, 2002 at 6:09PM
When I was referring to Syd's stuff it was the Pink FLoyd stuff and the early Pink Floyd stuff was all concept albums (I'll admit Piper is a close call, (I like to see it as "The Syd Barret Experience" in reference to what Jimi did with his debut but anyway...), A Saucerful of Secrets comes off as a Psychedelic Nightmare concept (but again that maybe a close call, I don't follow lyrics, I only listen to tones and other musical noises, hence a Mothers fan!), Ummaguamma or Atom Heart Mother: how aren't they?
I'd say that Trout Mask follows in the same theme as Piper or Experience, an intense view of an artist's state of mind, philosophies and out look on the world around him.
It seems that there maybe a mix up in the idea of what a concept album is, I always thought it delt with a general theme, wheather lyrically or musically, I feel you cannot argue that all the said albums do share a general theme, is there some rule they have to be serious (Napoleon Complex)?
anyways, I'm sure you'll tear me up for this one but back to the recording machine for me ('plain fucking weird psychedelia doesn't make itself....not yet anyways.....)
'Rebuild the Wall' rocks!

Name: William S. Repsher Responds
Subject: Re: what about the Mothers?
-- Jul 20, 2002 at 5:15PM
True about the Mothers -- but when it comes to Zappa, I tend to think of him more in a satricial light, even though many of his works were concept albums. If I were to include one here, it would have been my favorite, Joe's Garage. The early Pink Floyd albums were not concept albums, nor was the Syd solo stuff -- that stuff was just plain fucking weird psychedlia. Napoleon Complex? Joke band stuff -- yes, great fun, but concept albums?

What's the concept to Trout Mask Replica -- in 100,000 words or less? While I dig that album, I wouldn't call it a concept album.

Not to offend, but if you want to level a charge against all those bombastic late 70s concept albums (and they sure as hell were bombastic), you ought to provide examples of genuine concept albums, rather than quirky stuff that doesn't really qualify as a concept album, i.e., isn't about one particular theme or story.

And lone weirdos on the web reading this -- be sure to buy a copy of Luther Wright & the Wrongs "Rebuild the Wall" album that just came out -- they're a Canadian band doing a country version of the entire Floyd album The Wall -- and they've done a great job of it.

Name: James O.
Subject: what about the Mothers?
-- Jul 20, 2002 at 3:32PM
wheather you want to avoid a pandora's box or not, if you wanna talk concept albums, give the Mothers of Invention their due, they may have came up with the very first one (Freak Out) and their follow up, Absolutely Free may stand as the greatest soundtrack of the underground, let alone any of their other brilliant concepts (Uncle Meat: soundtrack to a movie that we couldn't make) or Crusing with Ruben and the Jets, considering a psydenoum band was territory that even the Beatles wouldn't venture says something.
While on the topic of avant-garde, what about the Syd/early Pink Floyd records? or Napoleon Complex (a compilation of variations on, "They're Coming to Take Me Away")? or possibly "Trout Mask Replica" by Captain Beefheart?
Not to offend, but there is a whole world of concept albums much more diverse and inventive than the pretentious works of the late 70's.

Name: William S. Repsher Responds
Subject: Re: What about Kraftwerk?
-- Jun 24, 2002 at 9:21PM
Well, there you go -- I think everything Kraftwerk did was a concept album. But wouldn't you rather put on a pair of mirror shades, a scarf and some driving gloves then get down to I Robot?

Name: Jaregger
Subject: What about Kraftwerk?
-- Jun 24, 2002 at 6:12AM
Have you thought of including Kraftwerk's "Radioactivity& quot; That's a concept album in its own right...

Name: OldPink
Subject: Rise And Fall
-- Feb 28, 2002 at 3:41AM
What about David Bowie's "The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars"?

Name: William S. Repsher Responds
Subject: Re: more concepts
-- Feb 18, 2002 at 3:25PM
While I like those Waters solo albums, they're not on the same level as his Floyd work. And they're weird. Besides, the concepts are real loose. KAOS, was just plain weird, and Hitch-hiking had no recognizable story line, but at least two classics (title track and Every Strangers Eyes) and a blonde with a great ass on the cover.

He should do a concept album about how blessed his life as a rock star has been, and how grateful he is to be wealthy and able to do exactly what he wants creatively. Then again, does reality have a place in Roger Waters' concept albums?

Name: Granny_Weatherwax
Subject: more concepts
-- Feb 17, 2002 at 11:55AM
Loved reading yourbit about Floyd & the Wall, but what about roger Waters solo albums? Radio Kaos, The Pros & cons of hitch-hiking & Amused to death are all by definition concept albums! Ok so the Wall was a classic not to mention infamous alubum, but Roger went on making great music even after Floyd. Yes/No?
PS: Operation Mincrime is also a classic!

Name: An LS.n Reader
Subject: Guy Records From The Vault: The Concept Albums
-- Jan 2, 2002 at 1:14AM
Nope!

DVD!

j/k

Did you know that you can play Dark Side 2 and 1/2 times during Oz and still get the magical and mystical results?

Name: William S. Repsher Responds
Subject: Re: Dark Side
-- Jan 1, 2002 at 9:45AM
Maybe you didn't get high, but I suspect you had Wizard of the Oz on the VCR the whole time!

Name: Roger Gilmour
Subject: Dark Side
-- Dec 31, 2001 at 10:29PM
It's about how the pressures of life can lead to insanity.(In a nutshell)

Speak to me- Foreshadows the entire album. Also sets the mood for the album.

Breathe- Symbolizes a man's birth, and the promise that he will "race towards an early grave". He basically overworks himself to isolation and death.

On the Run- Never-ending struggle to move from place to place. The man's psyche begins to develop paranoia also.

Time- The sheer pain of knowing we can't control time, there is never enough, and our lives seem to revolve around time and its tyrannic presence.

Breathe(Reprise) - It's about the central character's increasing dependence on isolation from his worries. Also about how organized structures of power can be a great pressure.

The Great Gig in the Sky-Reflects the constant pressure of the fear of dying--or losing anything or anyone.

Money- Expresses the truly unending struggle to provide money to survive. It can also express the fact that certain excesses can lead to a mental decline.

Us and Them- Uses battle as a metaphor for the power and success struggles among men, leading to the central character's eventual break from the rest of the world.

Any Colour You Like- The man breaks off all ties with the world, and makes one of his own. But it leads to his mental deterioration, resulting in mental hospitalization.

Brain Damage- The character's choice (or he is forced) to check into a mental hospital. However, his paranoia leads him to become violent ("the lunatics are in MY hall..."), leading to a zombie-inducing lobotomy ("you raise the blade, you make the change...").

Eclipse- Because of his mental decline and lobotomy, the man knows nothing, has lost the knowledge of all he loves--"Everyth ing under the sun is in tune, but the sun is eclipsed by the moon."

-An anylization by Bud Sturgeuss

Obviously, I couldn't get it under 100 words but at least i didn't get high!

Name: William S. Repsher Responds
Subject: Re: floyd
-- Dec 31, 2001 at 9:57AM
An important question: what exactly is the concept of Dark Side of the Moon, in 100 words or less, with less than five bong tokes? WHAT IN THE HELL DOES IT MEAN?!

As for Operation: Mindcrime, you said it best ... LIKE The Wall. The Wall rules, man! I saw that at the midnight movies back in the early 80s, man, and fell asleep during the marching hammer animation scene!

Name: Roger Gilmour
Subject: floyd
-- Dec 30, 2001 at 11:31PM
You got to have Dark Side man!

Have you even considered Operation: Mindcrime? This has a storyline like The Wall. It's not like Sgt. Pepper, where all the songs just share a common theme. Just filling you in!

Name: William S. Repsher Responds
Subject: Re: Concept albums
-- Jul 23, 2001 at 9:19AM
Mark, I'll keep up the "self indulgent pap" if you keep up the pitifully esoteric blather that makes the internet go 'round more than anything I'll ever write will. You have to understand, I didn't write that article for the handful of people in America or so who actually know who GONG is (I do, vaguely -- along with all those other early 70s prog rockers -- Gentle Giant, Caravan, Hawkwind, etc.).

Sounds like there's a wonderful article to be written by someone like you about the REAL concept albums, man. And there are maybe a dozen people, at least in America, who would appreciate it. Knock yourself out! And may you eat the mole off Lemmy's face.

Name: Mark
Subject: Concept albums
-- Jul 23, 2001 at 6:44AM
Presumably you're a Queen fan? I mean, what other reason is there to choose Queen II while admitting it's not a "real" concept album when there are all those other treasures out there to celebrate? I mean Rick Wakeman is god, man (note the sarcasm). Besides, you might as well have chosen Blue Oyster Cult's "Tyranny And Mutation" -- that had a "Red Side" and a "Black Side". And so on.

Let's get this straight. There are two kinds of concept album. There are the "bunch of songs with what might be a common theme if we all squint together" concept albums -- early ones might include Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changing" (clue for people who think he's a genius: IT'S ALL AN ACT) or The Beatles' "Sgt Pepper" (album as live performance as album as live performance -- yeah right).

Then there are the REAL, hard core concept albums -- the "narrative" ; ones. The first narrative concept album was probably "The Story of Simon Simopath" by Nirvana (no, not the boring 80s wrist-slashers) in 1967. All chirpy space journeys and wanking (in a guardedly English way) but too wimpy to mention, really. "S F Sorrow" is just a poor imitation. Those old space journeys reach their apogee in Gong's "Radio Gnome Invisible" -- yes concept fans, a triple album narrative concept album which pre-dates Frank Zappa's "Joe's Garage". And not a magical pig in sight. Ain't that what living is all about? (etc)

You're right about "The Wall", though. Messed me up for years. Still, when all my school mates were prancing about in their Two Tone suits (a thoroughly English phenomenon, I'm sure) smoking dope and listening to Pink Floyd made you an object of ridicule. Now you're the coolest kid in the school. Who's the joke on now, you garage attendant assholes?

Keep up the ludicrously self-indulgent pap. It's what fuels the web.

Name: Paloma
Subject: Queen II
-- Jul 5, 2001 at 7:37PM
You are so right, they don't make albums like Queen II anymore, it's my favorite, MOTBQ is awesome! I saw a recording of Queen performing it on the net and was completely won me over!

Name: William S. Repsher Responds
Subject: Re: Your rants
-- Jul 2, 2001 at 9:15AM
Sorry, Save, but I won't be explaining everything to you, as I gather that unless I get down on my knees and fellate you over how great the Alan Parsons Project was, you're not going to be pleased, and even then with stipulations. Having written about music for awhile, I know your type: a person living in a vacuum regarding the artistic merit of a cult artist. You can't say anything bad about this artist -- unless you discuss him in terms that Jane Austin would fine erudite. There are entire websites dedicated to goobers like you and their chosen false idol, filled with arcane trivia that no one else rightfully gives a shit about. So why don't you get on your tricycle and peddle down the information superhighway to whatever goofy Alan Parsons Project website there is out there to sate your perverse appetite.

Speaking your mind? What mind? You need to sit inside a pyramid and read I Robot, man.

Name: Dave
Subject: Your rants
-- Jul 1, 2001 at 11:50PM
I'm sorry, but I believe in speaking my mind.

And you talk absolute SHIT.

By some coincidence of fate a search engine brought me to your venemous views on the Alan Parsons Project, and while I could see some background logic (occasionally) the rest of your comment was pure rant.

Name: vibes
Subject: squigly bob
-- May 1, 2001 at 3:15PM
with a little bit of woo waa and a little bit of sqiggy. Ithink we caan all get along with each other

Name: William S. Repsher Responds
Subject: Re: Hemispheres
-- Dec 8, 2000 at 6:47AM
Well, Mike, you know my mind is not for rent, to any god or government, always eat burgers in a pup tent, give up guilt for Lent. Or something like that. Is that incense I smell quietly burning away in the dorm room of your mind?

Name: Mike
Subject: Hemispheres
-- Dec 8, 2000 at 12:08AM
well you said not to write to you about rush. i am, and i'm sorry. but i'm not criticizing you. it's like negative attention is still attention right?? i'm exstatic to see rush on the same list as the wall from pink floyd, and even more thrilled to hear you once obsessed over hemispheres, even if it was two weeks. i know it may be hard to understand, but just realize, that rush's lyrics always have an underlying theme, and that just because you don't grasp it, doesn't mean i, or the rest of the world of rush fans i speak for when i say thank the lord for neil peart. take it easy and thank you for putting rush on the list!!!

Name: Sam
Subject: Pack Up The Cats - Local H
-- Nov 15, 2000 at 7:17PM
The concept album seems like a thing of the past. Pack Up The Cats by Local H is a perfect flowing concept album that goes through the story of a man making it in the music industry and moving on.

Name: William S. Repsher
Subject: willem4's list of most depresseing albums
-- Aug 10, 2000 at 1:27PM
Good show, willem. For those not following the link, here's the list with my commentary:

Here, according to NME, is the best music to accompany a bout of the blues:

1. "Sister Lovers" -- Big Star

No argument here -- a drag of an album from a deeply troubled man, Alex Chilton.

2. "Closer" -- Joy Division

British poseur music -- I don't care if the lead singer killed himself. But, since it's the NME, I imagine they'll have that British slant.

3. "Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space" -- Spiritualized

Next! This album isn't very depressing. Shit, most of it's instrumental.

4. "In Utero" -- Nirvana

Commercialized depression. Admittedly, Cobain was a depressed little lout, but this was more cathartic release (at best) and naked self pity (at worst). Again, no bonus points because the lead singer offed himself.

5. "Songs Of Love And Hate" -- Leonard Cohen

Fair game -- Leonard Cohen is depressing, although not half as depressing as his fans.

6. "Lady In Satin" -- Billie Holiday

Give me a break -- a sure sign that snoot, asshole critics are around is the inclusion of Billie Holiday albums.

7. "In The Wee Small Hours" -- Frank Sinatra

This album isn't depressing. It's an album that's made for you to listen to and commiserate with when you are depressed. If that was part of the criteria, every blues album ever made tops anything on this list.

8. "Pink Moon" -- Nick Drake

See Sinatra -- again, no bonus points for the singer offing himself.

9. "Bubble And Scrape" -- Sebadoh

?? Is this like one of those "four out of five dentist" polls on toothpaste commercials where the poll was literally based on five dentists?

10. "Unknown Pleasures" -- Joy Division

Why are critics such assholes? Two Joy Division albums. No Smiths ablums. No Pink Floyd. No Lou Reed. These three make Joy Division come off like the Archies. And they're still alive! That's the key -- depression goes on living, it doesn't put a shotgun in its mouth one lonely night. You have to be alive to feel depressed. Which is more than I can see for these arsehole British music critics.

Name: William S. Repsher
Subject: Jefferson Starshite
-- Aug 7, 2000 at 10:17AM
Hyerbolian, you stumped me there -- good one! All those Jefferson Starship side projects in the 70's certainly were goofy enough to qualify. I seem to recall Marty Balin doing a rock opera at the time, too, and Kantner indulging in a few silly projects of this ilk.

For the record, I also forgot another classic -- Children of the Sun by Billy Thorpe. There's a lot I've forgotten -- for which I am very grateful.

Name: Hyperbolian
Subject: Did you consider...
-- Aug 7, 2000 at 9:50AM
You mention that many concept albums had sci-fi themes. Did you include "The Planet Earth Rock & Roll Orchestra", a project including Grace Slick, or "The Inter-Galactic Touring Band"?

PER&RO featured a sort of dystopic vision, Mad Max on an interplanetary scale, IGTB is more hopeful, covering a wider variety of themes. Or were they just not goofy enough to make your list? IGTB's polyester feel should have made it a shoo-in.

~Hyperbolian~

Name: William S. Repsher Responds
Subject: Re:
-- Aug 4, 2000 at 7:31PM
I often utter the phrase, "It's only rock and roll -- gobble my cock, you sick bunch of freaks."

And then the bells start ringing, and I see Jim Morrison riding a two-headed llama down the street.

Rush? I have only one thing to say about Rush:

BY TOR AND THE SNOW DOG RULEZ!

(What you're not seeing now is me furiously making "sign of the devil" horns with my fingers.

Name: Zel
Subject: Concept albums
-- Aug 4, 2000 at 10:52AM
I am one who has often uttered the phrase, "It's rock and roll--don't take it too seriously and don't over-analyze it." That being said, I have been a sucker for some concept-type music, especially Rush's. The thing that saves Rush from the pretentiousness of their lyrics is their incredible talent as musicians. Not only are they technically proficient, but they also KICK ASS, MAN! How about 2112 for a concept album? "Attention all planets of the Solar Federation ... We have assumed control." Now that's beautiful.

Name: William S. Repsher Responds
Subject: Re: concept albums
-- Aug 4, 2000 at 9:18AM
Here my dear! Now there's a ringer. For the uninitiated, Marvin Gaye got hit with divorce papers from his wife, found himself in dire need of quick cash, on top of feeling blown out emotionally, so he releases a concept album about the break-up of his marriage. The title? Here, my dear, is my explanation of what went wrong, and the financial reward. Or, maybe, here, my dear ... in another sense. Fortunately, the greek statude Marvin portrayed himself as on the cover wasn't grabbing his dick and offering a one-finger salute.

Zappa? Yes, like shooting fish in a barrel for concept ablum choices. I've only recently discovered Robert Wyatt's stuff -- and like it -- as he never caught on here. Van Morrison? Fair enough, but what does Astral Weeks mean? I have a hard enough time getting through Madame George, which is purportedly about a bunch of Belfast street kids harassing a drag queen in love with on of them. All I hear is Van going "whoo, whoo, whoo" and "eye-yi-eye, bweeb, bweeb, bweeb, uh."

Now, that Donovan would have been an interest choice, although I would have picked that box set -- something or other To a Flower. Donovan has never gotten his full due, save for Martin Scorceses tipping his hat by using "Atlantis" in that great ass-kicking barroom scene in Good Fellas.

Name: willem4u
Subject: concept albums
-- Aug 4, 2000 at 7:11AM
Good writing and insights.
(Tomorrow!/weak Pretty Things)
Indeed why didn't women dig this stuff?
as far as concept albums
go, what about
Frank Zappa: 200 Motels
Robert Wyatt: Rock Bottom
Marvin Gaye:Here my dear and, ultimately:
Van Morrison: Astral week
Donovan: Sunshine Superman!

Name: William S. Repsher Responds
Subject: Re: minor peeve
-- Aug 2, 2000 at 10:01AM
Hey, Chris, man, allow me to paraphrase Roger Waters:

I don't need no education
I don't need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the Yak Shack
Readers leave this kid alone.

Now, excuse me while I go listen to Foreigner's Head Games album on headphones, man.

Name: Chris
Subject: minor peeve
-- Aug 1, 2000 at 11:31PM
This has absolutely nothing to do w/ the article (which was in-depth and informative as always, Bill), except that I wish you wouldn't make plurals with an apostrophe (e.g. goombah's). Pet peeve of mine, is all.

Name: William S. Repsher
Subject: Concept albums
-- Jul 31, 2000 at 1:34PM
Miriam, you're more a victim of bad album-oriented radio and tasteless older folk passing their pedestrian tastes on to you than someone who's apparently delighted to "feel young" at the whopping age of 25 or less. And what to make of my current obssession with doo wop music, all of which was made before I was born?

I think time and how it works is going to make a lot more sense to you in about ten years. Time, as the Alan Parson Project once said, keeps flowing like a river. To the sea. To the sea. 'Til it's gone forever. Etc. Insert moog synthesizer solo here.

Besides, er, uh, aren't you going to name your webzine after a line from a now-obscure Helen Reddy song from, what, 1974?

Name: mg
Subject: Concept albums
-- Jul 31, 2000 at 1:26PM
Thanks! As I am nearing the big 25, I am feeling kind of old these days. But your article has given me something to smile about. 5 out of 10 albums mentioned were written before I was born. And Rush, The Kinks, Klaatu? These are not real bands are they? You must be making them up!!! I mean Pink Floyd, Queen, Alice Cooper, are still known and loved by those under 25 (including me) because they are great!!! The rest of them must of vanished into oblivion because they weren't that good to begin with.
Or maybe because only old farts can still relate to that music. Once again, thanks for making me feel young!!!

Name: William S. Repsher
Subject: Concept Albums
-- Jul 31, 2000 at 1:24PM
Jordan, I did have Ziggy Stardust on there, but you're right, I found it too respectable. I also worked up a paragraph or two on Diamond Dogs. Then I realized -- man, I'm tired of Bowie. So, I played it left hand and took my god-given ass elsewhere.

For you and AB, here's a little drill: explain to me, in 5,000 words or less what in the hell Tales of Topographic Oceans is about. For me, it was weird shit between clicks in the eight track. Yes Stories pretty much hits it on the head for me -- all the best stuff in one place. Ah. Rick Wakeman? Negro, please.

I had Joe's Garage by Zappa, but deep-sixed it at the last minute -- for anyone not "into" Zappa, this is the one to get, as it's both funny and melodic.

I'd have included Tull and ELP, but I have mental blocks about those bands, much as adults who were molested as children have towards their troubled memories.

AB, thanks for sharing your fond memories of the Berlin album -- can't say I was quite as adventurous. As for Tommy and Quadrophenia, hey, man, fuck the Who! Charging three figures per seat on their recent tour. Maybe it should have been "hope I die before I get sold"? I'd like to play the drum solo from "Wipe Out" on Townshend's head. If I had to give a nod, I'd go with Quadrophenia, as a lot of that material has aged better for me.

I will not even address Mr. Hoffman's note on Queensryche. Suffice to say, I believe I know who AB is, and like Mr. Hoffman, he has wire-frame glasses, and I'd surmise, a peach-fuzz Amish beard somewhere in his past.

Name: Hoffman
Subject: Concept Albums
-- Jul 31, 2000 at 12:08PM
Okay, Rep, here's the ubiquitous "but what about. . . " letter.

How could you leave out David Bowie's "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars"!!??!

I know why, because it doens't make you cringe to hear it!

I agree with AB that "Tales From Topographic Oceans" deserves it's own mention---though perhaps it will rate some day as it's own Guy Record From The Vault.

A little more obscure, but something I indeed investigated back in the day, was Rick Wakeman's "Journey to the Centre of the Earth." Ugh. . . .

Equally distasteful is "Tarkus" by Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Yeegads.

Two records that also would be on my list are Jethro Tull's "Thick As A Brick" and "A Passion Play." I stand by "Brick" to this day----it's good stuff, no question. "Passion" I'm less sure of.

Then there's Zappa---but I could understand wanting to keep that pandora's box closed.

I know your list didn't make it to the 80s, but Queensryche's "Operation:Mindcrime" deserves some sort of mention for trying to revive the genre.

Best-

Jordan

Name: AB
Subject: I know women who liked prog rock and I fucked all 2 of them!
-- Jul 31, 2000 at 11:52AM
A very funny article indeed. I agreed on some choices and felt a NO! on some. To not include Tommy and Quadrophenia seemed inaccurate to me though both have stories impossible to understand. I able to access the spiritual tumult of both these records early on and they both have stuck with me.
On the other choices :
Berlin - Yes. Easily the most depressing album of all time. I slited my wrists to The Kids at least twice. ( Of a personal note, a family member snorted Coke w/ Lou at this time and then made fun of his mustache so it has a great place in my heart).
Prez 2 - I always loved 1 and couldn't penetrate 2, oh well.
Lamb - A genesis freak once explained the story and I still have little idea whats it's about but what other albums are great to get stoned as this!
Rush/Yes - I never grouped them together but where is Topographic Oceans on your list?

Finding women into these records is difficult I do admit but they are out there. You have to lure them in with good drugs. Keep trying!!


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