concept album

What A Concept! (4)

Ian Alterman — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 14:45:00 +0000

What A Concept! (4) Ian Alterman September 8, 2020 - 10:45

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What A Concept! (3)

Ian Alterman — Tue, 01 Sep 2020 00:07:28 +0000

What A Concept! (3) Ian Alterman August 31, 2020 - 20:07

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In Part 1 of this series (see hyperlink), I provided the "narrative" concept albums. In Part 2, I provided the "thematic" concept albums from A-J. Now we're on to "K" through "P," and it is appropriate that we should start with The Kinks' superb paean to the "British Way" -- as much a must-hear album as Sgt. Pepper or Pet Sounds.

The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society (The Kinks).

The Kinks were the masters of British slice-of-life and internal history stories. Only early Bowie (who was contemporaneous), and XTC (who were influenced by The Kinks) could come close. But Ray Davies is the undisputed king of this genre. This wistful paean to a lost way of British life is nothing short of breath-taking. Every song is a concise "memory," brilliantly conceived and executed. This is a truly unique album in rock and a must-listen for anyone who has never heard it.

Hope (Klaatu).

Klaatu came onto the scene in 1976 with many people asking "Is this the Beatles reunited?" -- such was the writing, arrangement, production, and especially vocals and harmonies they created. Although they clearly were not the Beatles, the band fed the rumor (deliberately?) by refusing to release any information about themselves or the recordings. It came out years later that they were three Canadian musicians and a producer/engineer. Their debut single, "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft," was as Beatle-esque as anything could possibly be, and also revealed their penchant for space-themed songs. (The song was covered by, of all groups, The Carpenters, whose version is actually very good.) Their debut album was a mish-mash of songs influenced by the Beatles, Beach Boys, Pink Floyd, ELO and others. And their ability to channel those influences into something brilliant and listenable was truly extraordinary. Their second, concept album straddles the line between narrative and thematic: it is narrative in the sense that it is a "story"; however, while there are characters, it lacks the "personal" story aspect of narrative concepts. The story is about a planet that has been destroyed both from within (as a result of some sort of fascism) and without (as a result of interstellar war). The sole survivor of the planet is the lighthouse keeper, who uses a massive laser to warn approaching spaceships of the dangerous amount of debris circling the planet. Using rock band, orchestra, and some truly jaw-dropping studio effects, they create the kind of concept album that The Beatles might well have created had they remained together.

Misplaced Childhood (Marillion).

Marillion has had two lives: the first was with its original founder and songwriter, Fish, with whom they wrote four albums (and helped create the neo-prog subgenre); the second is with its newer songwriter, Steve Hogarth (h), with whom they wrote their ultra-brilliant narrative concept album, Brave. Misplaced Childhood was the band's third album with Fish, and arguably their best. Conceived during a 10-hour LSD trip, this autobiographical account of Fish's childhood is about as genuine and intense as this theme can be written. As an aside, "Heart of Lothian" is one of my favorite prog-rock songs of all time.

Deloused in the Crematorium (Mars Volta).

Uber-progressive rock trio Mars Volta burst onto the scene in 2003 with this uber-radical concept album based on a short story by its founders, about a man who goes into a coma after overdosing on morphine and rat poison. (It was based on the actual death of a friend of one of the group's founders. And in a case of extremely horrific irony, one of the other founders died of a heroin overdose just one month prior to the album's release.) Even for progressive rock aficionados, the "music" and arrangements on this album were very extremely heady stuff when they appeared.

Dirty Computer (Janelle Monae).

Not quite rock, not quite hip-hop, not quite rap, this unique -- and daring -- entry is nevertheless brilliantly well-crafted and infectiously listenable. Prince produced the single ("Make Me Feel"), and also worked on the concepts and music for the album just prior to his death. (His "touch" is definitely present.) The theme, according to Monae, is "an homage to women and the spectrum of sexual identities." Per Wiki: "The album's 14 tracks can be grouped into three loose categories: Reckoning, Celebration and Reclamation. The first deals with Monáe's recognition of how she is viewed by society, the middle explores her acceptance of 'the cards she has been dealt,' and the closing tracks deal with her reclamation and redefinition of American identity. Overall, the album is Monáe's attempt to 'step into a more authentic self.'" The final track, "Americans," is incredibly apropos of the recent protests over the murder of George Floyd.

Before we continue, as noted in my synopsis of Nektar's Journey To the Center of the Eye, some artists actually "specialize" in thematic concept albums, some for whom their entire oeuvres are comprised of them. In the next section, in addition to some remaining one-offs (and two-offs), we will take on these groups, including The Moody Blues, Nektar, Alan Parsons and Pink Floyd.

Days of Future Passed (Moody Blues).

Simply the recounting in music of a day in the life of an Everyman, this 1967 release was among the albums that would lead to the formal christening of "progressive rock." It was also the second of three albums (the first was The Who's Quadrophenia, see above) for which a special recording studio was built specifically to record it (Deram Records' Panoramic Sound Studio).

In Search of the lost Chord (Moody Blues).

With an umbrella theme of "quest and discovery," this album touches on spirituality, philosophy, music and several other topics.

On the Threshold of a Dream (Moody Blues).

Widely considered their best album, this 1969 release is essentially a psychedelic journey through inner space. (Sorry, but I've wanted to write that sentence for some time. And it is perfectly descriptive of the album.)

To Our Children's Children's Children (Moody Blues).

A meditation on children, child experiences, growing up, and getting old.

A Question of Balance (Moody Blues).

The "balance" here is of manifold opposites: day and night, life and death, happiness and sadness, love and hate, war and peace, truth and lies.

Remember the Future (Nektar).

See my comments about Nektar in the narrative section. This was their first thematic concept album, released in 1973. It is a loose indictment of what we are doing to the world. It tells of Bluebird, a mentor/teacher, giving advice to a young boy. As an aside, the members of Nektar were fervent environmentalists. Their narrative album dealt partly with nuclear war. This album deals with overall concerns about our planet. And Recycled (see below) also deals with environmental themes.

Down to Earth (Nektar).

Even a bunch of serious environmentalists have to have some fun at some point. More "straight' rock than progressive psychedelia and musical experimentation, this wonderful paean to circuses is simply brilliant, and great fun, and has their "catchiest" and most uplifting songs.

Recycled (Nektar).

Okay, enough fun. Back to environmental concern. But this time with a slightly lighter tone. Using a combination of the "straight" rock used on Down to Earth and some elements of progressive rock, this may be Nektar's best album overall. From my synopsis of the album in my "Absolutely Essential Progressive Rock Listening Guide" here on Culture Catch: "With Recycled, the band finally mastered a crucial element: the use of keyboards and the recording studio to create textures and atmospheres that truly enveloped the music. With ecology and the environment as their theme, Nektar delivered a masterwork of beauty, poignancy, and complexity, centered around guitarist-songwriter Roye Albrighton's unique and compelling guitar style."

Downward Spiral (Nine Inch Nails).

Just bordering on narrative concept, this unexpected concept album from industrial/metal rock band Nine Inch Nails deals with a man who finds himself in a "downward spiral" as a result of the society he lives in and the cards he was dealt, and ends with his death by suicide.

Mothership Connection (Parliament).

George Clinton "codifies" the infamous mythology of P-Funk. Not your mother's concept album, but a real hoot.

Tales of Mystery and Imagination (Alan Parsons).

This clever album uses music and lyrics to relate some of Edgar Allan Poe's greatest and best-loved stories.

I Robot (Alan Parsons).

Loosely based on Isaac Asimov's stories under the same title, Parsons was forced to modify the album when Asimov's estate informed him that the title had been optioned by a film/TV company. The upshot is that he had to remove the comma between "I" and "Robot," and had to make the stories somewhat more generic. Even given this, it went on to become his second biggest-selling album.

Pyramid (Alan Parsons).

A meditation on Ancient Egypt, centered around the Pyramids of Giza.

Eve (Alan Parsons).

I have not heard this album yet. According to Wiki, "The album's focus is on the strengths and characteristics of women, and the problems they face in the world of men."

Dark Side of the Moon (Pink Floyd).

As with Sgt. Pepper, there is little that has not been said about this album. It has been deconstructed so many times, in so many ways, that If someone does not know about it -- or even have heard most or all of it -- then that someone must be living under a rather large rock. Still, as noted in the introduction to this article, it deals with "the depression and/or madness that can follow as a result of various elements and aspects of human experience and society." And for those who want to try it, if you are going to listen to it as the "alternative soundtrack" to The Wizard of Oz, you need to start the album immediately after the MGM lion's third roar. (Don't forget to turn the sound off on whatever device is playing the film.) And while my attempt at this worked pretty well, and while it does not quite work as a true "soundtrack," there are several moments when the coincidence of lyrics and/or music with the film are truly stunning.

Animals (Pink Floyd).

Loosely based on Orwell's Animal Farm, the "Dogs" are society's predators, the "Pigs" are the greedy capitalists, and the "Sheep" are the mindless, obedient members of society who allow the behavior of the other two. This vicious screed is among the band's best works.

The Final Cut (Pink Floyd).

This follow-up to The Wall was originally intended to be the third disc of that album, but the record company had no stomach for underwriting a 3-album set, and discord between Roger Waters and David Gilmour delayed the recording anyway. If The Wall was a quasi-autobiography of Waters' life, then The Final Cut is an even more personal account of what he views as Britain's betrayal of its armed services, including his father's service in WWII, by engaging in the Falklands War.

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What A Concept! (2)

Ian Alterman — Mon, 24 Aug 2020 15:38:35 +0000

What A Concept! (2) Ian Alterman August 24, 2020 - 11:38

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In Part 1 of this series (see hyperlink), I provided the "narrative" concept albums. So now let's take a look at some of the best and most fun thematic concept albums. Even at its current length, this is not an exhaustive list, so please forgive me if I left something out. (I am happy to addend this list, if suggested.) This list is alphabetical by artist, and is broken into three parts.

Pet Sounds (Beach Boys).

This album may or may not have been the very first concept album in either category. As noted above, even as a "thematic" concept album, it uses that term a little loosely. Composer Brian Wilson admits that Pet Sounds was inspired by the Beatles' Rubber Soul, and in particular by John Lennon's song "In My Life." (Wilson was quoted as saying he would like to be able to write one song as good as that before he died) "In My Life" was the first Beatles song that expressed "introspection" and self-assessment; these would end up being the themes of Pet Sounds. The lyrics on the album are sometimes a tad immature, but successfully serve to get the theme across. The songs run the gamut from very good to masterpiece, with elements such as sudden changes in tempo, unusual chord progressions (especially for what became known as California rock), and complex orchestrations. However, there are three things that make Pet Sounds particularly important and influential. First, although George Harrison beat him to it by using a sitar on "Norwegian Wood," Pet Sounds was the first album to feature multiple non-standard rock instruments, beyond saxes. For example, it was Wilson's -- and rock's -- first use of the Theremin (predating "Good Vibrations" by several months). It also included such disparate things as French horn, accordion, ukulele, bass harmonica, banjo, glockenspiel, and bicycle horn. [N.D. Maybe Pet Sounds was an influence on P.D.Q. Bach?] It also used lots of percussion other than a simple trap set. Second, the production values on the album broke ground in several ways. For example, Wilson said that he was attempting to mimic Phil Spector's famous "wall of sound" technique; yet Wilson pulled it off much more successfully than Spector himself, by avoiding the "bombast" that became associated with Spector's work. Wilson also used what was then state-of-the-art recording equipment in ways that had never been attempted, something that would directly and heavily influence Sgt. Pepper. Third, in this last regard, Paul McCartney notes that Pet Sounds "inspired" Sgt. Pepper. (McCartney also cited "God Only Knows" as one of the greatest songs ever written.) And although the Beatles had already begun playing with sonics and studio techniques on Revolver (which was released just three months after Pet Sounds, and was thus contemporaneous with it), the band saw Pet Sounds as a "musical and production challenge." Little did anyone realize just how much further the Beatles would push the envelope.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (The Beatles).

Seriously, what can be said about this album that has not already been said? As noted above, it was "inspired" by Pet Sounds, both musically and sonically. Yet who could have imagined the degree to which it would outpace its own inspiration? The story is well-known. Having given up touring a year earlier, and wanting to put the madness of Beatlemania completely behind them, Paul McCartney came up with the idea of writing an album as if the Beatles were an entirely different band, using a pseudonym. And contrary to much of what has been written, there was no pushback from John or the others; they all supported the idea. The reason I know this is that I had a wonderful conversation about Sgt. Pepper with George Martin at an Audio Engineering Society convention in the mid-00s. All of what I am about to relate here comes from that conversation. Sgt. Pepper had three primary influences. The first was Pet Sounds. The lads began by realizing that the songs on Sgt. Pepper had to be something even well beyond some of those on Revolver, and the production had to be beyond state-of-the-art. With regard to the writing, the second major influence was (and I hope you're sitting down) some of the "wilder" music being produced at the time, including Frank Zappa, and the avant-garde music that was inspiring Zappa and others. Both McCartney and Lennon were apparently familiar with, and listening to, such composers as Edgard Varese, Arnold Schoenberg, and even Karlheinz Stockhausen. (McCartney apparently really likes Stockhausen.) The third major influence on Sgt. Pepper was (hold on to your hats) Les Paul. His influence was large enough that Martin said to me, quite straight-forwardly, that "without Les Paul, Sgt. Pepper would not have been made." (As an aside, Martin told me that the boys absolutely revered Les. When John and Paul began playing skiffle, three of the first songs they learned were "How High the Moon," "World Is Waiting for the Sunrise," and "Vaya Con Dios.") When it came to Sgt. Pepper, Martin said that he actually spoke with Les occasionally (not necessarily specifically about the album) and once in a while Les would make suggestions for recording ideas (since Les had developed the eight-track system by then; it was also used on Pet Sounds). Some of the ideas that were taken from Les' records or from Les himself included backward looping, playing with variable speed (e.g., recording a part at 33 rpm, and playing it back at 45 rpm, or vice versa), and, most importantly, "slaving" two eight-track decks together to create the first quasi-16-track recording, allowing them to "bounce" more tracks without loss of signal: on certain songs (particularly "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite," "Good Morning," and "A Day in the Life"), there are actually 24 tracks bounced down to 8-cum-16. But, of course, as much as Sgt. Pepper advanced music and production, its greatest impact would be socio-cultural. A good argument can be (and has been) made that here is no album that has had nearly as broad and extensive an impact on the world as Sgt. Pepper.

School's Out (Alice Cooper).

A lamentation on lost youth (after high school graduation), most people missed that this was, in fact, a wonderfully conceived thematic concept album. Almost certainly his best, with every song a little gem.

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (Dream Theater).

Following up on their amazing and very well-received narrative concept album (see Part 1), Dream Theater wrote a thematic concept album. The five "shorter" songs each relate a different type of personal struggle, including alcoholism, loss of faith, self-isolation, and the sanctity of life and death. The sixth song, separated into six parts, deals with mental illness, including bipolar disorder, PTSD, schizophrenia, autism, post-partum depression, and dissociative personality disorder. The first song -- "The Glass Prison" -- begins a suite of five songs spread over five albums ("The Twelve-Step Suite") which relate drummer Mike Portnoy's personal struggle with alcohol; the songs encapsulate the 12 steps of the A.A. program. Needless to say, given its themes, this can be a very difficult album to listen to, though it is lyrically and musically quite excellent.

Octavarium (Dream Theater).

Probably the most clever thematic concept album of them all. This was the band's eighth studio album, coming after its fifth live album. There are eight white keys and five black keys in a keyboard "octave" (in the key of C), which is the musical distance between one key and the same key above or below it. The album is comprised of eight songs, each in a different key, and each segueing seamlessly into the next using sound effects or other studio tricks. The first seven songs are in the keys representing the seven "white" keys; the title song, which ends the album, is in the same key as the opening song, except that it has five parts, each of which is in one of the "accidental" keys (the "black" keys); these, too, segue into each other seamlessly. This album also contains the third in drummer Mike Portnoy's "Twelve-Step Suite."

Obsolete (Fear Factory).

Like Radiohead's OK Computer (See Part 3, coming soon), this industrial rock theme album is a fearsome warning about the rapid advance of technology and the de-humanization of society.

Duke (Genesis).

There is a great deal of debate among Genesis fans whether this was actually a thematic concept album. I'm on the fence, but leaning toward the affirmative. Written mostly by Phil Collins during his very ugly and painful divorce, the songs all seem to speak to aspects of his psyche as he lost his wife. This album has always been the most difficult for me to listen to, given that I broke up with my live-in girlfriend of 2+ years just a few months prior to the album's release.

Three Friends (Gentle Giant).

Gentle Giant came out of the starting gate as a full-blown uber-progressive rock band. Initially comprised of six multi-instrumentalist/vocalists (three of whom were brothers) whose lyrics and music expressed a very deliberate and wicked sense of humor, the band went through a couple of personnel changes early on. The first of their three thematic concept albums is the simple story of three friends whose lives take them in very different directions. However, in the end, none of them is satisfied with their lives. Do they meet up in the future? The album is left ambiguous on that score.

The Power and the Glory (Gentle Giant).

The tale of a man who proves the adage that "power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely." Wanting to do good in a political position, our anti-hero allows the power to go to his head, and becomes the very person he loathes, becoming a ruthless despot.

Interview (Gentle Giant).

Taking the (loose) form of a (inane) radio interview by a potential manager, this album is an anti-paean to the music industry in general. The title song stands alongside Pink Floyd's "Have A Cigar," Queen's "Death on Two Legs" and XTC's "Funk Pop a Roll" as among the most vicious indictments of music management ever put to music.

American Idiot (Green Day).

There is some argument over whether this is a narrative or thematic concept album. My understanding is that it did not become a true "narrative" concept until it was re-written for the band's brilliant and successful Broadway show. I am certainly willing to hear otherwise, and place it in the "narrative" category, if that's where it belongs. In any case, this "punk 'rock opera'" tells the story of "Jesus of Suburbia," a lower-middle-class suburban American teen who is unsatisfied with his life and moves to the city. His "coming of age" story is heavily influenced by his concern about the times he is living in (the GWB era), and his fear of the future. Based loosely on both Tommy and Quadrophenia, as well as West Side Story and Jesus Christ Superstar, the album was critically well-received, and went to #1 in ten countries.

Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (Iron Maiden).

One of rock's most beloved heavy metal bands gives us a meditation on good and evil, heaven and hell, and the balance of the universe.

Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (Elton John).

Many people didn't catch the thematic nature of this album. Using a Sgt. Pepper-ish idea -- i.e., that Elton John and Bernie Taupin are "different artists" than the ones we know (the psychedelic Pepper-like cover art -- years after that era was gone -- is an obvious give-away) -- the real theme here is a brilliant autobiographical sketch of their career together. Some of the songs (e.g., the title song, "Bitter Fingers," "Meal Ticket," "Writing") are specifically about them as a writing duo. In my opinion, this really is Elton's "Sgt. Pepper"; unlike Don't Shoot Me, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and other previous albums, Capt. Fantastic is not focused on hit-writing (although it is ironically difficult for Elton to write songs that don't become hits; even "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" was an "accidental" hit), but on something more serious and mature. Songs like "Tower of Babel," "We All Fall in Love Sometimes," and especially "Tell Me When the Whistle Blows" are in a different class of songwriting than most of what he and Bernie were writing previously. And because the songs were not hits (with the exception of "Someone…"), it is Elton's most continually listenable album, since the songs remain "fresh." As a former semi-professional EJ song stylist, I have a huge sentimental attachment to this album.