Why do we love Prog concept albums?

I think it's all about its  combined nature. For me, there is nothing more captivating than gripping book with good storyline. When an interesting story is mixed with something I love even more, I mean prog music, how can I love something more than that?

Well the one I cannot get through is Tommy.

A good concept album not only frequently tells a story arc but also explores themes like a good novel will. Of course, if the music is not engaging, the album will become a bore, or if the theme is not clear or pedestrian. Intelligence is required to make it all work as a whole. In that way it is more than a collection of songs, it is a sequence of songs that all relate together narratively and musically. That is a great challenge. We can compare Tommy and Quadrophenia. While I like both, the latter is far the superior in every way, but then we can say Townshend learned from his mistakes (including the failed project known as Lifehouse).

Prog musicians and fans have long rebelled against the imposition of the 3-5 minute convention for song length. A concept album takes this even further because it traverses even the sporadic and unpredictable song lengths of Prog with something Zappa referred to as conceptual continuity. Forget how long any given song is, it's no longer about just one song. This, in turn, adds an extra layer to the music, making it a broader thought provoking process.

Edited by HackettFan - August 11 2014 at 19:23

I don't think we do love concept albums that much. (and straw polls such as this will inevitably turn out to be do not give an accurate picture).

threaz wrote: Well the one I cannot get through is Tommy.

Well, Tommy the original 1969 album is not a Progressive rock concept album; it's a Rock Opera and belongs to different category. Maybe two (or three) songs sounds proggy, and imo that's Amazing Journey and Sparks.
Tommy Soundtrack actually sounds more proggy.

Edited by Svetonio - August 12 2014 at 01:42

i don't

The really good concepts make the music itself so much more interesting and easy to connect to if there is some emotional/empathetic storyline or themes that you can relate to in life. It sort of adds a new dimension above the music, lyrics, production, etc. and creates a better atmosphere when they're combined IMO. That's why I love albums like "Metropolis Pt. 2" or "Quadrophenia", but find stuff like "The Snow Goose" duller and less empathetic because it's missing one of those elements (but at least makes up for it with experimentation). You could sort of compare the 2 concept/individual albums to a sketch show ("Nursery Cryme" for example, having a story in each song) or a film with a plot throughout (like "The Lamb"). Which one you prefer is completely subjective, but progressive fans, who typically have more patience and concentration than most pop or 3-chord rock fans, just have a more suited personality/listening style to concept albums on the whole. We don't all love them, but it's much easier for a prog fan like myself to get involved with the music.

Svetonio wrote: SteveG wrote: (...)So what is it about concept albums that we love so much? Personally, I love to hear that some recurring elements at an album.

I'm not that taken by the story on concept album. It's all about the music for me. The Lamb for example has some incredible music and some of the individual lyrics are also very good, but I'm inclined to agree with Tony Banks, that the concept was quite poor. It doesn't spoil my enjoyment of the music though. Then there's Tales form topographic oceans. Again, love (most) of the music, but the concept is meaningless to me.