Best Ever Albums

Re: Best conceptual albums

ButterThumbz — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:27:32 GMT

Author: ButterThumbz

Posted: 01/21/2013 17:27

purple wrote:

Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady

Hey, why didn't I think of that? I'm listening to it right now!

Re: Best conceptual albums

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:24:29 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 01/21/2013 17:24

Joanna Newsom - Ys

Talk Talk - Laughing Stock
something biblical

Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
Lost and/or imaginary love.

Dirty Three - Ocean Songs
The Ocean.

Talk Talk - Spirit Of Eden
Greed.

Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
Everyone's dancing, and I'm just sitting here masturbating.

William Basinski - The Disintegration Loops
Making music of destruction while filming destruction.

Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over the Sea
Something about having sex with Anne Frank.

Sun Kil Moon - Ghosts of the Great Highway
There's around 20 boxers name-dropped throughout this, and this great highway thing is mentioned a few times.

Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Read somewhere that this was about communication or WWII or some shit.

Sun Ra - Atlantis
Mythical places. Sun Ra wasn't even in space on this one, he was out of the plane of existence.

Avalanches - Since I Left You
Chasing the love of your life around the world.

Re: Best conceptual albums

ButterThumbz — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:13:29 GMT

Author: ButterThumbz

Posted: 01/21/2013 17:13

Does In The Aeroplane Over The Sea count? I don't pretend to know what it's about but it feels like a concept album.

Re: Best conceptual albums

ButterThumbz — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 11:25:42 GMT

Author: ButterThumbz

Posted: 01/21/2013 16:25

Another vote for Ziggy.

And these are probably obvious choices but neither has been mentioned. The Kinks' Village Green Preservation Society and Arthur (Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire).

Also, if anyone is unclear as to what constitutes a concept album, have a listen to Small Faces' Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake. Arguable, it's probably only the second half that adheres to a concept but it's about as concepty as you can get.

Re: Best conceptual albums

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 10:56:17 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 01/21/2013 15:56

Robert Anton Wilson wrote:

In retrospect me too.

I guess I was attempting to produce a highly conceptual, overblown and overambitious forum response. Unfortunately my ambition proved greater than my capacity. I am pretty sure it will make more sense once the movie is released. In the meantime, the hit single will serve to whet your appetites, it will be called "BEA - Another post in the thread, part II."

🤣

Brilliant.

Re: Best conceptual albums

Robert Anton Wilson — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 10:54:28 GMT

Author: Robert Anton Wilson

Posted: 01/21/2013 15:54

swedenman wrote:

I'm confused, which parts of this were in response to me?

Re: Best conceptual albums

Shadow23 — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 14:55:07 GMT

Author: Shadow23

Posted: 01/20/2013 19:55

The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band
The story of Sgt. Pepper, his band and his concert. Being the first concept album ever this is also the concept album every concept album wants to be when they grow up. This is music for every mood, every day, every year, every time, everywhere, everything.

David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
David Bowie never misses a good depression and the Stardust album is a very sad one, mostly, but it contains fantastically beautiful, sad songs like Five Years and Soul Love. It's indeed a rise and a fall...

Pink Floyd - The Wall
One of the most depressing albums, and it is extremely frightening. The story about the wall and the social exclusion will always cover a current theme. It contains magnificent strong songs like Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2) and beautiful songs like Hey You

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
Another one about social exclusion, losing friends, love, loss and life. It's fantastic.

Re: Best conceptual albums

paladisiac — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 11:10:45 GMT

Author: paladisiac

Posted: 01/16/2013 16:10

TracyJacks wrote:

Absolutely agree. It is one of my favourite if not my favourite album (#2 on my chart)

my top 2, including Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness , are concept albums, although the concept on Mellon Collie is a lot more loosely defined. The Lamb's concept is told as a story with each song a fascinating chapter in the tale.

Re: Best conceptual albums

TracyJacks — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 10:39:34 GMT

Author: TracyJacks

Posted: 01/16/2013 15:39

paladisiac wrote:

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway by Genesis

Absolutely agree. It is one of my favourite if not my favourite album (#2 on my chart)

Re: Best conceptual albums

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 23:13:09 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 01/16/2013 04:13

Robert Anton Wilson wrote:

Quote:

lethalnezzle wrote:
Pink Floyd - The Wall (1979)

Actually, this is just a mess. There's no concept of any sort, just a bunch of masturbatory guitar and production techniques that are thrown in to prove just how rich we are and thus how much money we can spunk on a novelty album. That's right, it's a novelty album, and all of our fans will buy it anyway and proclaim its' genius despite us just trolling them. Being Pink Floyd is fun.

Quote:

swedenman wrote
So true it hurts. I enjoy the music on this album, but anybody who claims it's the most brilliant concept album of all time is kidding themselves. The concept is much more of a detriment to this album than it is a supplement. The music's still good, though.

Have you seen the movie and the concert?

You say "There's no concept of any sort," ... you may not like the concept, the music, you may even find it a novelty album for yourself, but to claim there is no concept is preposterous.

Although, given you use the word "trolling" in the same paragraph ... Dang! I guess I've just been trolled.

I'm confused, which parts of this were in response to me?

Re: Best conceptual albums

Jasonconfused — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 22:02:16 GMT

Author: Jasonconfused

Posted: 01/16/2013 03:02

nutso42 wrote:

Animals. Amazing album.

Animals is great. I've only listened to it a few times so I can't comment too much on it, but I remember really enjoying it. My favorites are DSOTM and WYWH. Still haven't listened to Piper but I'm sure it'll be a good one when I get around to it.

Re: Best conceptual albums

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 21:59:13 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 01/16/2013 02:59

Jasonconfused wrote:

The Wall isn't my favorite Floyd album by any means, but there are several songs on it that I think are some of Floyd's best.

Animals. Amazing album.

Re: Best conceptual albums

Jasonconfused — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 21:10:04 GMT

Author: Jasonconfused

Posted: 01/16/2013 02:10

nutso42 wrote:

Yeah, the movie pretty much clears up any confusion as to what the concept of the album is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_Floyd%E2%80%94The_Wall

Agreed. My album listening experience changed so much after I saw the movie. I kind of play it in my head and understand it better, obviously not completely or close to that, but much better and I'm actually getting more out of it. The Wall isn't my favorite Floyd album by any means, but there are several songs on it that I think are some of Floyd's best.

Re: Best conceptual albums

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 20:39:41 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 01/16/2013 01:39

The Blue Album is a concept album about the patriarch!

Re: Best conceptual albums

pearljammer13 — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 20:38:30 GMT

Author: pearljammer13

Posted: 01/16/2013 01:38

Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not.

Re: Best conceptual albums

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 19:16:18 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 01/16/2013 00:16

Robert Anton Wilson wrote:

Have you seen the movie and the concert?

Yeah, the movie pretty much clears up any confusion as to what the concept of the album is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_Floyd%E2%80%94The_Wall

Re: Best conceptual albums

19loveless91 — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 16:50:45 GMT

Author: 19loveless91

Posted: 01/15/2013 21:50

About The Wall.

To me it's hard to reduce it to only one concept. I see it more of a "culmination" of all the themes that Roger Waters wrote with Pink Floyd. There's what lethalnezzle mentioned, an "isolation", being alienated from society (explored on Dark Side of the Moon), then there's the concept of loss/trauma, which links with Waters' personal history (the loss of his father during war, this was further examined on The Final Cut), and there are the angry, confrontational, occasionally political themes (explored on Animals), which seems to attack certain groups of people, particularly those in power.

All of which is packaged in this loosely structured story about Pink, which is more expressive in nature, rather than just being told straightforward. That means that these concepts are mostly addressed indirectly, by the means of metaphors, allegories, and such. But rather than it being a mess, I feel the story progresses quite naturally and is able to explore all of the themes in a coherent way.

Of course it's ambitious, and all of this requires an equally ambitious production. So yeah, it's pompous and all, and I can definitely understand why people see it as pretentious, but to me its grandiosity is a major part of its charm. And I think it works. I really really do. Now that I think about, it's probably my favourite album conceptually, too, even if there are other albums, deemed as "conceptual" that I love even more.

Re: Best conceptual albums

Robert Anton Wilson — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 16:32:28 GMT

Author: Robert Anton Wilson

Posted: 01/15/2013 21:32

Quote:

Re: Best conceptual albums

paladisiac — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 15:25:53 GMT

Author: paladisiac

Posted: 01/15/2013 20:25

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway by Genesis

Re: Best conceptual albums

Facetious — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 11:47:24 GMT

Author: Facetious

Posted: 01/15/2013 16:47

swedenman wrote:

So true it hurts. I enjoy the music on this album, but anybody who claims it's the most brilliant concept album of all time is kidding themselves. The concept is much more of a detriment to this album than it is a supplement. The music's still good, though.

This.