Concept Albums

     I like concept albums. I like environments and concept albums create an environment in which to dwell. Rock Operas, like movies, are too structured and don’t allow the listener to have his or her own adventure. They have a script with a beginning, a middle, and an end. They don’t have a “what if?” Concept albums supply a setting, sometimes a time period and characters and the freedom to imagine whatever stories you want.

    Some of my favorite concept albums aren’t concept albums at all, at least according to their creators. John Lennon said that Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band started with the idea of writing songs about the Beatles’ childhoods but after Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane got hijacked by the record company because they wanted a new single the concept fell away. But Sgt. Peppers is one of the greatest concept albums of all. Sgt. Peppers creates a Victorian Era world with everyday events (Good Morning, She’s Leaving Home, Being For The Benefit of Mister Kite, Lovely Rita, A Day In The Life) and populated with average citizens. Even a track that may seem at first to be out of place, George Harrison’s Within You Without You, represents the mysticism of India which during the Victorian Era was a big part of the English Empire, India, not mysticism.

    Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon concerns mental health. Jethro Tull’s Aqualung concerns English society and religion, the Eagles’ Desperado is about a western outlaw gang and to round out my list, in no particular order, of my favorite concept albums are; Deja Vu by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, School Boys In Disgrace by The Kinks, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars by David Bowie, In The Court of the Crimson King by King Crimson,  The Nylon Curtain by Billy Joel, Born To Run by Bruce Springsteen, Waiting for the Heart of Saturday Night by Tom Waits, Past, Present and Future by Al Stewart, and the greatest concept album of all time; Rocktasia by The Tooners (available on iTunes or as an enhanced CD from www.rocknrollrehab.com).

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