Your favorite Concept Album

[Mr. Big Noodles]

I thought that it kind of had an overarcing theme, or maybe I'm just too much of an ELP fanboy.

Nope. It's a disconnected mish-mash of conflicting ideas from Keith Emerson and Greg lake, like every other ELP album. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of ELP, but I imagine that their writing sessions went something like this:

Keith Emerson: I have this really cool thing I wrote. Wanna hear it?
Greg Lake: No.
Keith Emerson: Okay! *plays pseudo-classical stride piano jazz experiment*
Greg Lake: Needs an acoustic ballad. Girls love my chubby face.
Keith Emerson: Well, shit, how will we ever convince people that we're deep? Let's cover some ass classical music.
Carl Palmer: EVERY ORIGINAL SONG PALMER HAS PLAYED ON FEATURES A COWBELL!

 

[ForThisGift]

I can't believe there hasn't been any mention of El Cielo by Dredg. As far as the imagery created on the album, a lot of it was taken from Dali's 'Dream Caused By the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate One Second Before Awakening', which was originally said to have been inspired by his wife's struggles with sleep paralysis. All of the lyrics on the album are actually sourced out from journal entries of people suffering from sleep paralysis.

Aside from what (I think at least) is a very cool concept to tackle, they also nailed the album from the open to close. It is definitely one of my all time favorite records, concept or not.

 

[Repner]

If any ELP album is a "concept" album, it would be Tarkus. Side B was never meant to be acknowledged, and was written purely so there wasn't a blank side of the vinyl

 

[MFB]

I feel so silly for forgetting this one. It's a favorite!

 

[Volteau]

Completely forgot about:

Possibly the best trilogy CAs out there.

 

[Buddha92]

my favorite concept album.thus far

 

[Mr. Big Noodles]

If any ELP album is a "concept" album, it would be Tarkus. Side B was never meant to be acknowledged, and was written purely so there wasn't a blank side of the vinyl

Agreed. Too bad that nobody could agree on one concept for it.

 

[Repner]

Bal-Sagoths albums are great as well. Haven't heard enough of them to tell which is my favourite though

 

[Sikthness]

Last Chance to Reason - Level 2
Dog Fashion Disco - Adultery

 

[s4tch]

Fates Warning - A Pleasant Shade of Gray

This. Fates Warning is probably the most underrated band ever.

+ Operation: Mindcrime, Remedy Lane, Be, The Perfect Element, The Wall, The Dark Side of the Moon, Dark Saga, etc.

 

[Cyntex]

 

[All_¥our_Bass]

Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Tool - Lateralus
Opeth - Damnation
Meshuggah - Catch 33
Mastodon - Leviathan

 

[GhostsofAcid]

This.

 

[ThePhilosopher]

I think I've ruined more copies of The Fragile than any of the others (damn CD players without skip protection), some great mentions here though.

 

[Volteau]

Panopticon is a ridiculously good album (like all ISIS albums). And the theme has to be one of my favorites (being a fan of Foucault's works helps).

 

[ghostred7]

Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime
King Diamond - Them

I'd also like to give special mention to Savatage - Streets: A Rock Opera (RIP Criss Oliva)

One of my fav leads and lead breaks of all time (huge Criss Oliva fan) is on track 11 (starts ~2:22), "Ghost in the Ruins"

 

[TheStockholmChainsaw]

 

[Volteau]

Taking a tour within the Nostalgia Factory has reminded me of a band which I spent a good part of my 16 year-old year listening to:

 

[heineken_fretwalker]

 

[poopyalligator]

I am surprised nobody has mentioned it, but Thrice- The Alchemy Index is an amazing concept album. It is basically 4 different eps that are inspired by earth, air, fire, and water. Each ep sounds very different and has a very distinct sound to it. I will put a song from each one on here

water


air


earth


fire