Saved by the Concept album - Progressive Rock Music Forum

friso wrote:

Now, my hypothesis is:
Making a concept album helps a band to make a better (focussed, meaningful composition, fresh ideas, more depth in lyrics) product
...

I don't know, and I don't think so.

Amon Duul 2 put together a concept album for "Made in Germany" and aside from the opening and the first 3 pieces, it's a mess and a bunch of songs, and that they are related is ... relative to something or other, but ... I doubt it is related. "Phallus Dei" and "Yeti" were much less "conceptual" per se as albums, and yet, they spoke much louder and importantly than otherwise.

Ian Anderson concentrated on the two pieces that were "conceptual" for his band, "Thick as a Brick" and then "Passion Play", and by the 2nd attempt he got trashed so bad, that he gave it up forever. In other words, it wasn't about the music or the concept ... it was about his ego and what he wanted to do!

YES, focused so much for Tales of Topographic Oceans, that even though many of us love it dearly, at least one member still trashes it badly.

CAMEL goes out of its way to illustrate the better written English version of Jonathan Livingston Seagull -- we're talking about the Snow Goose, and their musical interpretation was really beautiful and it got hammered by rock idiots and critics, that have no appreciation for "music" itself at all ... and it killed the band ... it hurt, and while they survived, they never were able to get back up to the heights they had climbed. One piece of music, hurt them ... it is now accepted as nice and fine, but then, you should have seen the reviews ... it was not only sad, it was down right mean and abusive.

In the end, it is great for the listener and shows that there is an interest in doing something better and more valuable with the music, but the rest is heresay, wishful thinking and hopeful everything else.

Besides the fact that sometimes a "concept" is just an idea in the composer's head ... and the listener picking up on what's inside that head? ... not gonna happen and it is not fun, and many times gets artists upset that the audience is telling them what to do.

To me, a long piece, is no different than putting on Beethoven, or Mozart, or Stravinsky ... and this is something that most folks in this board, and most music listeners that I have ever met ... are not capable of assimilating ... this rock music, that we call "progressive" is the classical music of my time! ... that simple ... even if Dean does not agree! A bunch of it is just rock and pop ... but there are just as many pieces that are not. And tha's also like saying that Mozart did not have his own "songs", because he had more than anyone else!

Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
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Concept albums seem to be either loved by all or completely loathed there is rarely a middle ground, A Passion Play - Dark Side Of The Moon

Concept album means there is some commitment usually, usually ruling out contractual obligation, bands in the process of familiarizing themselves, pop ambitions, etc.

Concept albumaneering is a product of a certain type of stage of music making that is more liked by us here at Prog Archives.

Spread my message far and wide.

The best concept albums are those that aren't spoon fed to us.

Dark Side still has many interpretations, whereas something like Animals, to use an example from the same band, is a bit too "this is what this album is about.... look how clever our observations are".......

I do love the music on Animals but I feel that the concept is so easy and simple to understand that it may as well be a book and not an album! Of course you could say the same about say, The Six Wives of Henry VIII or Holst's The Planets, but what makes them good is that they are just musical (ie. no lyrics) interpretations of related things.

When you try and tell a story, I think it's possible that you can go too far.... and end up writing a book with some quite-frankly unrelated music going on in the background. And when that is the case, you will have more success making a film of it than an album (see: The Wall).........!

I think what I'm trying to say is that Rock Opera should be confined to the stage or the big screen. The stuff that goes onto our CDs and records should only musical interpretations (ie. actual concept albums)....... and they should be in their pure medium, music. Not theatrics or narrative or, god forbid, giant inflatable pigs!

Of course there's nothing wrong with a good "collection of unrelated songs" either.

Originally posted by topographicbroadways

topographicbroadways wrote:

Concept albums seem to be either loved by all or completely loathed there is rarely a middle ground, A Passion Play - Dark Side Of The Moon

I quite like A Passion Play :/

I absolutely love the idea of a concept album, taking a topic that could be discussed in merely one song and expanding it into album length proportions is just genius. However, I'm not sure every concept album truly brings the band together but I'm not sure. You could be right.

Three rather unknown concept albums everyone should know:

Nik Turner - Xitintoday

Mother Gong - Fairy Tales

Peter Hammill - The Fall of the House of Usher (1999 version):

All three albums can completely be listened to on YouTube; give them a try. "The Fall of the House of Usher" uses the inside of the cover as picture on YouTube, which looks like this:

Edited by BaldFriede - April 02 2011 at 11:14

BaldJean and I; I am the one in blue.

You don't need a concept album to make great music, but when a band or artist succeeds and on top of great music you have a great concept embracing it, it just simply adds one more strong point to the whole set, something more to admire and enjoy, so yes, great concept albums are frequently better than great non-concept albums.

Aren't all pop albums/CD concept?

In fact if you take out the songs about love you end up with errrr - nothing....

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