In popular music, a concept album is an album which is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical" (Shuker 2002, p.5). Most often they are pre-planned (conceived) and with all songs contributing to a single overall theme or unified story, this plan or story being the concept. This is in contrast to the standard practice of an artist or group releasing an album consisting of a number of unconnected songs that the members of the group or the artist have written, or have been chosen to perform or cover. Given that the suggestion of something as vague as an overall mood often tags a work as being a concept album, a precise definition of the term proves problematic.

Problems with defining a concept album

In the contemporary rock era (from 1966 onwards - the point at which critics started to differentiate between "pop music" and "rock music" as a more serious form), there were, broadly speaking, two types of concept album: those that were essentially thematically-linked song cycles such, which did not claim a storyline, and those that presented a narrative that threaded the songs. Music critics of that era did not usually distinguish between the two types of concept album. An album that met either criterion was commonly referred to as a concept album. However, the distinction between the two types of concept album is important to note in respect to claims that are made as to which album may have been the first concept album in the rock era. Given this legitimate distinction, there are probably several contenders in each genre.

Another difficulty in classifying whether a given album qualifies as a concept album arises from the fact that both musicians and their listeners, through the rock era, increasingly viewed the record album as a unified art form, not simply a collection of songs. Songs on many albums may have a certain sense of cohesion even if there is no unifying lyrical theme or narrative structure. That sense of cohesion may be imposed simply by the particular lyrical or musical concerns of a composer or group of composers at the time a record was recorded. Thus, many albums that cannot genuinely be labeled concept albums in a strict sense get so designated by their fans. The album OK Computer by Radiohead, is an examples of this tendency. In each of these cases, there was no intention by the performers to produce an actual concept album. Some albums without any single theme or narrative structure may nonetheless have a deliberate structure in which the order in which the songs are heard expresses a particular artistic intention. Such an album, or other collection of songs, may be best viewed as a song cycle, a broader notion, with roots in classical music, that may encompass many concept albums.

Early examples

What could very loosely be considered the first concept albums were released in the late 1930s by singer Lee Wiley on the Liberty Records label, featuring eight songs on four 78s by showtune composers of the day, such as Harold Arlen and Cole Porter, anticipating more comprehensive efforts by Verve Records impresario Norman Granz with Ella Fitzgerald by almost two decades.^[1]

In the late '40s, Kansas City pianist Pete Johnson recorded the album Pete's House Warmin' , in which he starts out playing alone, supposedly in new empty house, and is joined there by J. C. Higgenbotham, J.C. Heard, and other Kansas City players. Each has a solo backed by Pete and then the whole group plays a jam session together.^[2]

In folk music, Woody Guthrie's 1940 debut album Dust Bowl Ballads is also an early possibility.^[3]

Frank Sinatra released many thematically programmed albums of the 1950s for Capitol Records starting with the ten-inch 33s Songs for Young Lovers and Swing Easy. Perhaps the first full Sinatra concept album example is In the Wee Small Hours from 1955, where the songs – all ballads – were specifically recorded for the album, and organized around a central mood of late-night isolation and aching lost love, with the album cover strikingly reinforcing that theme.^[4]

However, notion of a concept album did not really gel at that point, and was not widely imitated, aside from occasional examples such as country singer Marty Robbins' Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs from 1959^[5], or Ray Charles's The Genius Hits The Road (1960), where each song references one of the United States ("Georgia On My Mind", "Mississippi Mud", et cetera)^[6]. Also released that year, Johnny Cash's Ride This Train chronicled tales of Americana, woven together with narrative by Cash and train sounds. Each track begins with "Ride this train to..." and tells the story of that city.^[7]

1960s

Perhaps the first examples from rock were the albums of The Ventures. Starting from 1961's Colorful Ventures (each song had a color in the title), the group was known for issuing records throughout the 1960s whose tracks revolved around central themes, including surf music, country, outer space, TV themes, and psychedelic music.^[8]

In 1966, several rock releases were arguably concept albums in the sense that they presented a set of thematically-linked songs - and they also instigated other rock artists to consider using the album format in a similar fashion: Pet Sounds, again by the Beach Boys, a masterful musical portrayal of Brian Wilson's would-be state of mind (and a huge inspiration to Paul McCartney); the Mothers of Invention's sardonic farce about rock music and America as a whole, Freak Out!; and Face to Face by The Kinks, the first collection of Ray Davies's idiosyncratic character studies of ordinary people. However, none of these attracted a wide commercial audience.

This all changed with the Beatles' celebrated album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in June of 1967. With the release of 'Sergeant Pepper', the notion of the concept album came to the forefront of the popular and critical mind, with the earlier prototypes and examples from classic pop and other genres sometimes forgotten. The phrase entered the popular lexicon. And a "concept album" - the term became imbued with the notion of artistic purpose - was inherently considered to be more creative or worthy of attention than a mere collection of new songs. This perception of course related to the intent of the artist rather than the specific content.

In fact, as pointed out by many critics since its original reception, Sgt. Pepper is a concept album only by some definitions of the term. There was, at some stage during the making of the album an attempt to relate the material to an obscure radio play about the life of an ex-army bandsman and his shortcomings but this concept was lost in the final production. While debate exists over the extent to which Sgt. Pepper qualifies as a true concept album, there is no doubt that its reputation as such helped inspire other artists to produce concept albums of their own, and inspired the public to anticipate them. Lennon and McCartney distanced themselves from the "concept album" tag as applied to that album.^[9]

The Who Sell Out followed with its concept of a pirate radio broadcast. Within the record, joke commercials recorded by the band and actual jingles from recently outlawed pirate radio station Wonderful Radio London were interspersed between the songs, ranging from pop songs to hard rock and psychedelic rock, culminating with a mini-opera titled "Rael".^[10]

The album S.F. Sorrow (released in December 1968) by British group The Pretty Things is generally considered to be among the first creatively successful rock concept albums - in that each song is part of an overarching unified concept -- the life story of the main character, Sebastian Sorrow,^[11]

Released in April 1969, was the rock opera Tommy composed by Pete Townshend and performed by The Who. This acclaimed work was presented over two discs (still unusual in those days) and it took the idea of thematically based albums to a much higher appreciation by both critics and the public. It was also the first story-based concept album of the rock era (as distinct from the song-cycle style album) to enjoy commercial success. The Who went on to further explorations of the concept album format with their follow-up project Lifehouse, which was abandoned before completion, and with their 1973 rock opera, Quadrophenia.^[12]

Five months after the release of Tommy, The Kinks released their own rock opera Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) (September 1969), written by Ray Davies. It was the first of several concept albums released by the band through the first few years of the 1970s. These were: Lola versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One (1970), (1973), (1974), Soap Opera (1975) and Schoolboys in Disgrace (1976).^[13]

1970s

Concept albums are considered de rigueur in the progressive rock genre of the 1970s, hence the name of the genre itself. Most notably, Pink Floyd recast itself from its 1960s guise as a quirky psychedelic band into a commercial mega-success with its classic series of concept albums, beginning with The Dark Side of the Moon from 1973, followed by Wish You Were Here, Animals, the rock opera The Wall, and The Final Cut, with Roger Waters behind the themes and storylines.^[14] Yes also put out various concept albums during the 70's, most notably Tales from Topographic Oceans, which would become a defining album of prog rock but whose critical backlash would lead to the genre's decline and the rise of punk rock.^[15][16] Another progressive rock act, Genesis, with Peter Gabriel in the lead, released the concept album The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway in 1974, a double disc that told the story of the street punk Rael.

1972 also saw the arrival of David Bowie's legendary concept album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars, which told the story of an extra-terrestrial rock star who attempts to bring peace and love to Earth through rock music, but ultimately becomes a martyr to his cause. Some hold the opinion that this album constituted the last high point of the rock concept album's heyday (and even of the rock era in general) before the genre began to decline as many of it's greatest figureheads were claimed by early deaths or break downs, bands disintegrated and the art suffered.

1980s

Though the progressive rock genre was beginning to disappear, concept albums had become a medium that continued. The progressive bands that were still around were still having major successes with concept albums. Styx had multiplatinum albums with 1981's, Paradise Theater (a concept album about a decaying theater in Chicago which became a metaphor for childhood and American culture) and 1983's Kilroy Was Here (a science fiction rock opera about a future where moralists imprison rockers).^[17]

80's metal bands released albums like Queensrÿche's ; which tells a story of a heroin-addict joining a cult, seeking help, and finding those close to him dead by his own hands,^[18] and Iron Maiden's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son; which follows the folklore and myths of a seventh son of a seventh son having mystical powers, such as being clairvoyant, enjoyed major successes in the 80s.^[19]

The eighties also brought back an earlier form of the concept genre - albums with unifying themes, not necessarily coherent stories. An example is Journey's Escape in which all of the songs had to do with rebellion and escaping from one's present situation.

1990's - Present

With the invention of the World Wide Web and other multimedia technologies concept albums entered an era where much of the concept would extend beyond the album. An early example of this is The Smashing Pumpkins album Machina/The Machines of God. The album's storyline was told through many outlets: the album, its artwork, the band's web site, and cryptic fliers handed out at concerts. .^[20]

In 2007 this was taken to new heights by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. Months before the release of the bands Year Zero album an alternate reality game began telling the story of group of future rebel fighters sending messages to the past. Tracks from the album were hidden at concerts on USB drives, clues led to more web sites which all explain more details of the story.^[21]

See also

• Program music – the classical music analogue
• Rock opera

References

• Shuker, Roy (2002). Popular Music: The Key Concepts. ISBN 0-415-28425-2.

External links

• Musicweb article on concept album

References