grindy

Is it?
I've read it was higly influenced by being paranoid about the possibility of a nuclear war, but nothing about this whole thing.

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Chula Vista

The Who - Tommy

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“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
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and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

Lisnaholic

^ If you're saying that Sgt. Pepper is a concept album, I agree: with the exception of Within You Without You it hangs together so well with its mixture of psychedelic/nostalgic songs. On the other hand, John Lennon agreed with Pet_Sounds and said it was just a collection of songs; he denied any connection between his Day In The Life contribution and Paul's fictional-band conceit. Personally, I put that down to JL's ego - he said it at a time when he wanted to distance himself artistically from all things McCartney.

Personally, I usually get tired of concept albums that tell a story - after all, how many times is it possible to enjoy reading/seeing/listening to the same story? I much prefer the albums like Bowie's that give a kind of kaleidoscopic impression that the listener links together in his/her own way, in his/her own head.

The prob with this definition of a concept album is, where do you stop? For instance I read that Revolver is a concept album - the concept being snapshots of everyday life in modern Britain. Unfortunately, as a concept, that applies to about a zillion other albums too.

So leaving that question hanging, I'd like to mention these albums that are clearly linked by a theme:-

Days of Future Passed
Village Green Preservation Society
Topographic Oceans (Even if Jon Anderson is the only man on planet earth who understands what the concept is)
War War War
...and pardon me for quoting myself:-

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Pet_Sounds

^
I'd certainly disagree with Revolver! Far too loose a connection IMO, and as you mentioned, if it's a concept album, so are Rubber Soul… and Pet Sounds… and most rock albums recorded post-1965.

Arthur is another Kinks album that fits the bill. I'd also mention Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run.

P.S. Did you see my PM, Lisna?

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Lisnaholic

^ Yes, old Ray Davies really got hooked on the concept album format !
Born To Run is an album of great songs imo, and a good example of kaleidoscope-style concept album. One benefit of this approach is that you don't have to put in some uninspired song that just serves to advance the story. For me, Tommy and The Wall both have low points for that reason...

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, Pet_Sounds - checked your inbox lately by any chance?

PS: lol your location, "the other side". Have you broken on through?

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"Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953

Chula Vista

Those both suffered because of the double album format. If each had been paired down to a single disc they would have been much better.

Still both deserve to be mentioned when discussing the best concept albums ever.

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“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

YorkeDaddy

this is a sweet ass album, thank you for posting

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Lisnaholic

^ Yes, for a songwriter, a double album is a challenging amount of blank time to fill I imagine. Unless you are John Cage, you need to come up with an awful lot of good ideas. Also a double rather stretches the attention span of the audience - to be involved in the same saga for so long. In fact, for me The Wall , especially, holds out pretty well; it's only the Worms/Trial section that I don't care for.

Talking of sagas that don't hold your attention reminds me of Paul Simon's The Capeman. It has a few decent tracks, but was slammed by the US critics, I believe. Then again, it's the soundtrack for a stage show- and I think people usually exclude those when discussing concept albums, though I'm not sure why.

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"Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953

Pet_Sounds

How about Graceland? It's got no storyline, but is often called a concept album because of its African themes.

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Moss

Simon did "borrow" some African Themes on that one.