Concept Albums

I think for the most part, my favorite musical experience is that of listening to concept albums. I have always thought that music should be a movie for your ears, and a song is like the preview. Sadly though, through commercialism the three and a half minute pop song has become the focus rather than the teaser.

As a general rule, concept albums revolve around an interconnecting theme. Some storyline that connects each song to each other song on the album. Sometimes this “connecting theme” is mighty fragile, or in some cases non existent. The mighty Styx did an album called “Paradise Theater” which was allegedly a conceptual piece. Apparently it was based on the tearing down of a theater which was built to last forever. This album is a fine example of what could generously be called a “loosely connected concept album”, which is to say that most of the songs had little or nothing to do with the theater being torn down, nor with any of the other songs on the album.

Anyway, the majesty of the concept album is that you can wrap yourself up in it, get deeply involved with the story. Just like watching a movie. Pink Floyds “The Wall” is one of the better known examples of this movie making for the ears. “Dark Side Of The Moon” is another Pink Floyd concept effort, however I would bung that one in with “Paradise Theater” in as much as the songs enjoy a tenuous link at best. Not that It’s bad by any means, just not as clear and precisely connected as perhaps “The Wall”, or their “Final Cut” albums.

My top ten concept albums are as follows. I tried to only include one from any given artist, but Savatage have done so many and so well that they have to get two mentions.

Savatage, The Wake Of Magellan

The wake of Magellan is based on two real life events. The first occurred less than a year before this album was released when the captain of a freighter threw three Romanian stowaways overboard in the middle of the Atlantic. A fourth stowaway was saved by the courageous action of a deckhand, who risked his own life to protect the youth.

The second event regarded the Irish reporter Veronica Guerin who died fighting the growth of the drug trade in her country. Her death may accomplish what she could not in life.

These events are combined into the story of an old Spanish sailor, who has decided to end his life by sailing his small boat out into the Atlantic until it sinks. In his mind he has romanticized this decision as a glorious, Vikingesque way to die. When the ocean winds push him into a great storm, and he believes that his wish is about to be granted in a great dramatic fashion, he suddenly sees a man drowning in the ocean. In an instant he finds himself taking back every wish for death’s embrace, and fights to save this soul. After many twists and turns, he is able to save the stowaway that had been thrown overboard. Returning to land, he now realizes that not only every life is precious but also every hour of that life.

Jesus Christ Superstar

(yeah yeah I know what your gunna say. It was theatrical production, this may be true but it started out life as a concept album).

The original “Jesus Christ Superstar,” after all, is one of the most rock-tastic records of all-time. Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan headed up an all-star cast of British musicians that energized Andrew Lloyd Webber’s score with riff-driven prog rock and soaring power ballads. “The Brown Album,” however, is often overlooked by contemporary audiences who may be more familiar with stage adaptations or the 1973 film.

Jeff Waynes, The War Of The Worlds

Jeff Wayne’s musical adaptation of H.G.Wells classic novel The War Of The Worlds is the best known and best selling musical work of all time. To date it has sold approximately 13 million records around the world and has been adapted into several foreign language versions. It has charted in no less than 22 countries and achieved gold or platinum sales in all but 5 of them. The album has topped the charts in both English speaking and non English speaking territories, has won 2 Ivor Novello awards, and the USA best recording in Science Fiction and Fantasy. Significantly, it remains today one of the consistently best selling albums in the entire Sony/BMG catalog.

Pink Floyd, The Final Cut

Despite its complex political themes, The Final Cut is a well crafted and emotionally charged work of profound beauty. The album is also a summation of the Pink Floyd’s war themes tracing way back to the song “Free Four,” continuing on “Us and Them,” and finally realized in full on The Wall album. On The Final Cut the triumphs and tragedies from a century of warfare are personified in a poetic war memorial. It is foremost an album that refuses to romanticize or glorify war, but rather draws attention to the victorious and the vanquished for both Great Britain and Argentina; the veterans who fought bravely, the fallen heroes who made the sacrifice, and their families who continue to remember. In its eloquent prose and grandiose arrangements, The Final Cut speaks candidly to a whole new generation, all of whom as just as vulnerable to the challenges and failings of human nature as those who preceded them.

Marillion, Brave

The story of the concept of Brave was inspired by a news flash about a girl wandering around the M4 near the Severn Bridge that connects England and Wales. Since she refused to or could not speak the police requested the public to contact them in case they knew who she was. Steve Hogarth worked out a story that explained what drove the girl to the bridge.

Alice Cooper, From The Inside

For those who think “Nightmare” is Alice’s quintessential work, it could well be they’ve never heard “From the Inside,” Alice’s 1978 masterpiece.
Surrounded by Producer David Foster and company (Toto personnel, Chicago personnel, and some of Elton John’s cronies- including Kiki Dee and lyricist Bernie Taupin) Alice puts forth his best work ever- a dark, brooding, sometimes comical work inspired by his brief stay in a mental institution circa- late 1977.

Tran Siberian Orchestra, Beethoven’s Last Night

On a late night in the spring of 1827 the city of Vienna is experiencing the largest lightning storm in its long history. Within a large disheveled room, Ludwig Von Beethoven is slumped over his piano and on the piano sits the just completed manuscript for his Tenth Symphony. It is his final, and he is certain, his greatest work.

From the shadows a beautiful spirit, Fate, and her deformed dwarf son, Twist, emerge to inform Beethoven that this is to be his last night on earth. They are accompanied by numerous spirits and ghosts from his past, and he finds their babbling unbearable. He begs them to leave, but Twist tells him that as shadows they only exist by the light that Beethoven’s life has cast and that light is slowly dimming. With each successive crack of lightning the spirits all draw closer.

At the stroke of midnight, Mephistopheles suddenly appears and informs Beethoven that he is there to collect the composer’s soul. Beethoven, faced with eternal damnation, is terrified and claims that it cannot be his time, that he has yet to complete his Tenth Symphony. Mephistopheles looks at the manuscript and then, with seemingly uncharacteristic generosity, offers to give him as much additional time as he needs as long as he will tell him now what parts he plans to add or change. His bluff called, Beethoven is forced to admit that he would not change a single note.

Kansas, The Sprit Of Things

A frankly astounding record. For their MCA Swansong the band teamed up with legendary producer Bob Ezrin to create the best Kansas album since Leftoverture. The breadth of vision apparent here is immense, from the evocative, Walsh-led opener Ghosts to the crashing epic grandeur of the massively underrated Bells Os St James this is, quite simply, genius. And it sunk without trace. One of the all time great crimes of popular music. Every Kansas fan, or in fact every music fan, should own this album.

Aragon, Mouse

We are talking major concept album here, and the album can not be judged by the tracks themselves, because there’s no track-like approach here: the atmosphere and the conveyance of the story matter, nothing else. The album contains a lot of sound effects and not everything is original: a bassline here, a melody there (usually taken from their own work).

Stylistically Aragon has always been on the darker side, notwithstanding the few up-tempo tracks on Don’t Bring the Rain. If you’re looking for references it’s best to think of The Cradle, The Crucifixion and both parts of Company of Wolves from their debut album. The vocals are as always very emotional and also very harsh, so I can imagine people not liking it. Sometimes the musically can be playful as well.

Savatage, Dead Winter Dead

This is just a magnificent album, and marks as one of the band’s best efforts yet. They took what they started with “Handful of Rain” and simply took it to the next level. Everything is extraordinary from the lyrics and story to the musicianship to the vocal performances to the production. Savatage have once again proven themselves to be trendsetters, crafting an exceptional piece of music that should not only appeal to metal fans, but people of all musical tastes

Honorable mentions….

Marillion, Misplaced Childhood
Styx, Kilroy Was Here
Dio, Magica
Iron Maiden, Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
Alice Cooper, Welcome To My Nightmare, The Last Temptation
Bob Catley, Legends
Nikolo Kotzev’s Nostradamus
Roger Waters, Amused To Death
Frank Zappa, Joes Garage