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my diatribe about concept and thematic albums and recommendations therein
Holly wrote:
> I was reading through the lists of various concept
> albums. Two that come to mind are Queensryche
> Operation:Mindcrime and Iron Maiden-Seventh Son of
> A Seventh Son. Guess my roots are showing....
concept albums rock... being heavy on the progressive
and metal genres back in my college days, i've got a
lot of concept albums and thematically driven albums.
it even spills over into some pop circles, but i'd
definitely say that there are *tons* of concept and
thematic albums in the metal scene... i chalk that up
to the classical music and storytelling style that is
condusive to metal music, in general.
wow... i sense an exorbitant amount of text is about
to flow from my fingers... *braces himself...
some of my favorite concept and thematic albums...
26 total.
**WARNING**
useless trivial knowledge and possible musical
recommendations coming up... i'm just like this...
i've accepted my fate... 26 total. skip it if
you don't wanna read for a while
-> Tori Amos _StrangeLittleGirls_ (Atlantic, 2001)
i truly adore her idea here... covering 12 songs
originally done by men, and adopting a woman
character to go along with each song. she's
dressed up like each character in the liners.
she's quite a wacko (i say lovingly), and i bet she
actually embodied the character while recording
these cover tunes... i'm still getting used to the
album (it just came out last month), but i dig her
covers of Eminem's "'97 Bonnie & Clyde" & Depeche
Mode "Enjoy the Silence" (even the flubbed lyric).
-> Srgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band debut (EMI,
1967) the Beatles as a faux band. the "Beatles" is
not on the spine or on the back, just in flowers in
the ellaborate cover art. fav tune "A Day in the
Life."
-> Canticles of the Plains: A musical based on the
life of St Francis of Assisi by the kid brothers of
St Frank (Ragamuffin, 1997) some of Rich Mullins'
last works and writings captured and recorded by
Mitch McVicker, Kevin Max Smith & Michael Tait (of
dc Talk), and Leigh Bingham-Nash (of Sixpence).
the subtitle captures what the concept is about.
fav tunes... mainly the Kevin ("If I Could Make it
Work") & Michael ("Oh My Lord") ones- great vocals.
-> Alice Cooper _The Last Temptation_ (Epic, 1994)
this album was a freakin' brilliant concept. it
got me into Alice Cooper my freshman year at a
Baptist college... :) there was a 3-issue comic
book series (illustrated by Michael Zulli) that
went along with the album and followed the story.
i had it at one point, read it, sold it on eBay a
few years ago... :( it's about a kid who gets
messed up with a weird cast of characters, deals
with trials and temptations, and renounces them
all at the end. this is really good music, too.
i never knew that i liked Alice Cooper. guest
bgv's by the dude from Soundgarden on a song or
two... fav tunes "Stolen Prayer" and "Cleansed by
Fire." "Lost in America" is a fun tune, too...
-> Dream Theater _Awake_ (EastWest, 1994) my fav DT
album. i know it forwards and backwards. i still
find new musical nuggets with each listen. it's
so textured musically. note sgoing in and out.
*gush it's also Kevin Moore's last album with the
band on keyboards. the went way downhill with
replacements. Kevin could not be effectively
replaced, IMO. anyway, this album is a thematic
album. it doesn't tell a story as a whole, but
it's got parts that relate. every song has some
depiction on the cover in some form or another.
also, the "A Mind Beside Itself" triology of songs
is a 22+ minute mini-epic. they got the idea after
listening to Extreme's IIIrd side (see below) too
many times on their tour bus. fav tunes "Lie"
"Lifting Shadows Off a Dream" "Scarred" and "Space-
Dye Vest" (my favorite song of all-time, period).
-> Dream Theater _A Change of Seasons_ (EastWest,
1995) this "EP" is almost 58 minutes long. the
title track is a 23-min story about Mike Portnoy's
(drummer) mother and her dying in a plane crash and
the lessons and things surrounding that struggle.
definitely a "cherish your life while you're still
around" feel. the line mid-song "i love you...
goodbye" gives me chills the way that James LaBrie
delivers it. the rest of the "EP" is full of live
covers from a special show(Zepp/DPurp/Floyd/Queen).
-> Dream Theater _Metropolis 2: Scenes from a Memory_
(EastWest, 1999) a follow-up album to "Metropolis I:
The Miracle and the Sleeper" from their 2nd album
(Images and Words, 1992). this was discussed for
YEARS on the Dream Theater YtseJam Mailing List.
finally the band told us that they were gonna to
work a sequel out. that's what you get when you
title something "Part I" with no real concrete plans
for a sequel yet- you get bugged about it constantly.
:) anyway, this concept album elaborates more on the
story about two brothers who are in love with the
same woman. a homicide of the girl and "suicide"
occurs... years pass. the story comes to someone
through hypnotherapy, and the plot unravels in their
dreamtelling to their psychiatrist/hypnotist (who
happens to be the *other* brother who killed his bro
and lover). it's way complex... but fun to figure
out. a progressive rock masterpiece.
-> echolyn _Suffocating the Bloom..._ (echolyn/Bridge,
1992) one of my long-time favorite albums. i can
pull this out anytime and enjoy it. great stuff.
echolyn is a truly great neo-progressive band from
the 90s, similar to Gentle Giant in the 70s. very
keyboard driven, rather than guitar, but not 80s
keyboard-driven. it's different. anyway, this is
a thematic concept about other people's influences
suffocating ones creativity. i wrote a prose piece/
poem like this back in college (only three people
have seen it... *blush). anyway, i dig this album
entirely too much. they also have a rare live album
that goes along with this called _and Every Blossom_.
i can't find it. _Suffocating the Bloom_ is also
hard to find. they released it indie, but signed to
Sony. Sony bought the masters, because they were
gonna release it. they didn't. the band can't re-
release it due to Sony owning it now. it's getting
dusty in some vault somewhere. fucking big labels.
things like this piss me off. i got a "hush-hush"
small reprint of it (2,000 copies) by the band. no
one knows about it. i have to kill you all now.
-> Extreme _II:Pornograffitti_ (A&M, 1990) a loose
story about a boy confronted with the evils of life.
more of a thematic album. classic tunes "More Than
Words" and "Hole Hearted" (a very Ecclesiastical
song) show up on this record. this pinned Extreme
as the "More Than Words" band, and lumped them in
the hairband who does ballads realm. it's all bull-
shit. they're really more of an artrock band, but i
guess they had their 15 minutes, and they got money
to do their next album, which was a masterpiece.
fav tunes off of _Porno_ are "It('s a Monster)" and
maybe "Get the Funk Out" and "Hole Hearted."
-> Extreme _III Sides to Every Story_ (A&M, 1992)
musical and lyrical and conceptual genius. all
words by Gary Cherone and music by Nuno Bettencourt
(my other hero). three sides to this record: Yours,
Mine, and the Truth. the Ist Side (YOURS) is mainly
songs from a war and political slant. more of the
sarcastic tone of Gary Cherone. the IInd Side (MINE)
has more peaceful, spiritually-based songs. THE
TRUTH is their epic IIIrd Side. 23 minutes long
"Everything Under the Sun," broken into three parts:
"Rise 'n Shine" "Am I Ever Gonna Change?" and "Who
Cares?" i like to lead in with the final track from
the IInd Side, entitled "God Isn't Dead?" it makes
the trilogy more powerful, IMO. the IIIrd Side is
way Ecclesiastical... some lines are quite direct
paraphrases from King Solomon's book. plus it's
surrounded by lush orchestration & emotive playing.
-> Fantomas _Amenaza al Mundo_ (Ipecac, 1998) Mike
Patton's (Faith No More and Mr. Bungle) brainchild.
no lyrics. just him on vocals/noise, Dave Lombardo
(Slayer's drummer), Buzz Osborne (Melvins' bassist),
and Trevor Dunn (of Mr Bungle) hammering out some
weirdshit. it's 30 tracks, or frames. there is a
comic book-esque murder-mystery story in the liners.
each track of mayhem relates to a frame of the comic.
weird stuff. their follow-up was much more "normal"-
weird covers of horror, sci-fi, and gangstar movie
themes. :)
-> Fates Warning _A Pleasant Shade of Gray_ (Metal
Blade, 1997) an album as a song thing... one song...
kinda long. :) it's alright. i mainly bought it
because Kevin Moore (my hero) guest keyed on it. i
remember buying this album at the Blockbuster Music
in Nashville on the day of release, driving back to
my hotel and putting it on in my headphones and lying
on my bed, soaking it in. it's a great headphone
album. i was in a delightful daze for the rest of
the day.
-> Fear Factory's last 3 albums _Demanufacture/
Obsolete/Digimortal_ (Roadrunner, 1995/1998/2001) man
being overthrown by machines in a police-state kind
of atmosphere. that's Fear Factory's only angle. i
dig their music totaly, though. so it's alright that
they repeat themselves incessantly. :) some of the
best electronically-influenced heavy metal out there.
and it's surprisingly melodic as well, due to Burton
C. Bell's range of vocal stylings.
-> Galactic Cowboys _At the End of the Day_ (Metal
Blade, 1998) sort of a thematic album, but i mainly
bring this up for the sake of their tracks 4-10 on it
combined as "The Machine Fish Suite." it deals
mainly with their struggles regarding their label
contract with the David Geffen Co. i useta actively
maintain a site for GC, before they broke up after
giving us 5 great albums. :( http://www.dlm.net/gc/
(experiencing some technical difficulties now- check
back soon)
-> King's X _Gretchen Goes to Nebraska_ (Atlantic,
1989) based on a magical story of a young girl going
to an imaginery land called Nebraska written by Jerry
Gaskill (drummer). it's Lion, Witch and Wardrobe-
esque. the lead off track "Out of the Silent Planet"
is also named after a C.S. Lewis book. fav tunes are
"Summerland" "Pleiades" and "The Burning Down."
highly regarded in the musician realm as one of the
best underrated bands around. grunge, before it was
grunge. forefathers with no credit thrown their way.
but they're still around today making great music
after being a band for almost 20 years (1st demo in
1982), so that makes me happy. :)
-> Marilyn Manson _Antichrist Superstar_ (Nothing,
1996) i might get flack for this, but this is a
brilliant album. i don't care what you say, it's
great. this is by far the best thing that Trent
Reznor's name has been on (he produced it). well,
maybe NIN's _broken_ is better, but anyhow. this
album got flack from the religious right. it's a
story. don't take everything so seriously.
musically, it's quite good, and scarily done.
great industrial, newwave-hate-metal. (i love
coming up with weird labels of music) :) some-
times i get pissed off at Brian (Mr Manson) for
ripping off David Bowie so much, but ya know...
it's still a good album. not as much of a Bowie
ripoff as the follow-up _Mechanical Animals_.
-> Pink Floyd _Meddle_ (Capitol, 1971) last track
"Echoes" fits *exactly* with the final chapter
("Jupiter and Beyond" or something) of Stanley
Kubrick's _2001: A Space Odyssey_. it was written
for it, i guess. it's unparalleled.
->Pink Floyd _Obscured by Clouds_ (Capitol, 1972)
written for the film "The Valley" as a score of
sorts. kinda cool, but i'm not completely familiar
with the album that well.
->Pink Floyd _Dark Side of the Moon_ (Capitol, 1973)
fits in with "The Wizard of Oz" if you start it
after the third lion roar, let it repeat in your
CD player to go through twice and it'll pick up
new things that it didn't the first time. it does
work.
->Pink Floyd _The Wall_ (Columbia, 1979) concept
double-album about Roger Waters' life? i don't
know. i love Pink Floyd, but this album (as a
whole) doesn't grab me, so i'm not gonna speak on
it as if i know something. i don't know. Chris
Emery? you around?
->Pink Floyd _The Final Cut: A requiem for the post
war dream_ (Columbia, 1983) per subtitle, i'd say
that it's based on someone's post war dream... :)
-> Queensryche _Operation:Mindcrime_ (EMI, 1988) big
brother is watching. this Orwellian sotry of a man
trapped in a situation of love and being ordered to
kill by the powers that be. i used to be WAY into
Queensryche, and i could spout off the themes and
subplots in this album... it's been a while, though.
i like it more on the song-level now... as QR kinda
gets on my nerves sometimes... fav tunes are "The
Needle Lies" and "Eyes of a Stranger." Jimmy P.
Brown II of the speed metal band Deliverance liked
to rip off Geoff Tate... i remember he ripped off
some O:M stuff... :)
-> Savatage _Dead Winter Dead_ (Atlantic, 1995) a
modern story about the bomb-ridden Sarajevo at
Christmas time. good stuff. very classically
driven.
-> Tran-Siberian Orchestra _Christmas Eve and Other
Stories_ (Atlantic, 1997?) this is Savatage, but
more radio-friendly. the popular track "Christmas
Eve" came from Savatage's _Dead Winter Dead_ album,
and basically, they made a whole new band in that
style (hardrockin' orchestral christmas music). it
kinda tires me, since _Dead Winter Dead_ was such a
great album.
-> Saviour Machine _II_ (Intense, 1994) thematic album
about apocalyptical themes... also deals some with
singer Eric Clayton's problems with the Christian
music industry and his arrest for "inciting a riot"
at a venue after the plug was pulled. fav tunes are
the 16-minute "The Stand" "American Babylon" "Love
Never Dies" and "Saviour Machine I/II."
-> Saviour Machine _Legend Trilogy_ (MCM/Massacre,
1997/1998/2001/2002) 4-CD trilogy based on Eric
Clayton's interpretation of the book of Revelation.
classical, goth-opera at its finest. and the black
jewel cases are so fancy... :) i liked SM's first 2
albums better, but i like this concept and that they
are following through with it. Legend III:II comes
out sometime next year... it'll be over 4 hours in
total, and they plan to do a Legend Concert (maybe
tour), theh they'll probably break up. no, they
will break up. i know it.
*cracks knuckles...
whew! i'm a music junkie,
Dan
np: megadeth - youthanasia and dream theater -
images and words
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