Chula Vista

Great review!

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Pet_Sounds

Interesting contributions so far, gentlemen. How about an album like Dark Side? It doesn't have a storyline, per se, but the songs share the theme, and it has a united feel.

My personal favourite is probably Ziggy Stardust, and another classic that nobody has mentioned yet is The Who Sell Out.

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Trollheart

Thank you sir!
That's a good one. I'm not so sure DSotM qualifies as a concept album, though it does satisfy my second stated criterion. I never really thought of it as a concept album, but I'm sure someone who's more of a Floyd nut here will tell me if I'm wrong (wouldn't be the first time) --- by the same token, The Final Cut should be viewed as a concept album too. And if Ziggy is one (and I guess it is) is not Diamond Dogs also?

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Pet_Sounds

I agree about Dark Side. For similar reasons, I don't consider the oft-claimed Sgt. Pepper's to be a concept album either.

Diamond Dogs certainly is, and I think it follows its concept even better than Ziggy. Bowie actually wanted to produce a musical of 1984, but couldn't acquire the rights.

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Plainview

A lot of Bowie's Discography is to me, if only because they're written from the perspective of a certain character, in much the same way as Sgt Pepper being a fictional band.

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Janszoon

A concept album is one that's united conceptually. That can be in form of a narrative or it can be tied together simply in terms of theme, like Animals by Pink Floyd or The Murder Ballads by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds.

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Time & Place

25 Albums You Should Hear Before the Moon Crashes into the Earth and We All Die

last.fm

midnight rain

Ween's 'nautical' album The Mollusk is fantastic, and is a good example of a theme concept vs. a narrative

Urban Hat€monger ?

No bull**** story, no stupid theme repeated in every song, the first track isn't called 'Prelude' and the final track isn't called 'Finale' (Something I loathe in concept albums).

Just a trip on ecstasy done to music.

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Frownland

This Heat's Deceit is largely done to emulate what music sounds like when you're high and drunk, so that's a theme.

Do personas in hip hop records count as a concept? I think Billy Woods' Dour Candy fits the bill in that regard. Also Armand Hammer's Race Music sticks to a few overarching themes, but mainly race and racial conflict. Misleading title, I know.

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ZRFTS

I have a very odd definition of concept albums.

For one, they have to have a consistent theme and not be a collection of singles; it has to explore a consistent theme (or related themes), it has to has a consistent sound and it has to experiment a bit.

I don't know if stories count or not but that's my qualifications for a concept album.