"unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical."
I've always thought of a concept album that way... Like something that somehow all ties in together. My favorite kind of albums are albums that are completely conceptual -- aesthetically, lyrically, etc.
Like Visions by Grimes is definitely a concept album , aesthetically. I think pretty much every album Bjork has made could be considered concept albums.
I think that concept albums tend to be more inaccessible, as they tend to be longer and unrelenting in their motif.
I like to regard concept albums as something where everything ties in together, and there is an underlying theme that courses through on every conceivable level. I personally believe every album should be a concept album. It feels like buzzword terminology and heresay, but oh well.
Deloused in the Comatorium by The Mars Volta is something I would consider a concept album.
My favorite album of all time is...
Shaking the Habitual by The Knife... I think you can look at that album as a concept album in every conceivable way. The underlying message of the album is to question what we perceive as fact and to try to look at things from different angles. It is meant to be regarded in a political sense, but I guess they felt that it would be hypocritical to urge people to question their innate beliefs and how they have been conditioned to view things like gender and sexuality while making an album that didn't question normality in a compositional, aesthetic sense. It's an album that essentially questions everything it can possibly question and foregoes any sense of normality, simultaneously contradicting itself by featuring a series of very linear, drawn out drone and dance pieces, but there are also very dynamic tracks, an allusion to the idea that even dynamic sounds can because normality.
The result is a slightly left field pop duo that completely turns pop on it's head and makes the most abrasive album ever conceived in the realm of electronic pop.
|