Concept Albums

M. B. Zapelini wrote: BaldJean wrote: just a few off the top of my head: Jack Lancaster - "Marsscape" (sax-player Jack Lancaster backed up by the original Brand X, creating an instrumental portrait of the planet Mars) Jack Lancaster, from Bloodwyn Pig? This is a surprise to me... Never thought that he could release an entire concept album!!

yes, one and the same. since there are no lyrics on this album it is not much of a concept, though there are explanations to the song titles which make them fit together. and on some tracks, like "Hopper", you can definitely hear what the music is referring to, you get a mental picture.

would be a good addition to the database, by the way. here the cover, the line-up and the track list:

Jack Lancaster - Lyricons, Saxophones, Flutes, Violin, Watergong, Pan pipes
Robin Lumley - Pianos, Harmonium, Synthesizers, Autoharp, Hammond Organ
John Goodsall - Guitars
Percy Jones - Bass
Phil Collins - Drums, Percussion
Morris Pert - Percussion
Bernie Frost - Voices
Simon Jeffes - Koto
Geoff Leach - ARP Synthesizer Programming

Tracks:

1. Take Off 3:08
2. Sail on Solar Winds 2:48
3. Arrival 1:53
4. Phobos and Deimos  4:49
5. With a Great Feeling of Love 2:46
6. Olympus Mons 2:14
7. Homelight 5:22
8. Hopper 3:26
9. Dust Storm 4:21
10. Blowholes (The Pipes of Mars) 3:28
11. Realisation 3:06
12. Release 6:13

on the cover I copied into here the album is credited to Jack Lancaster and Robin Lumley, but on the cover of the version we have at home it is credited to Lancaster alone.

certainly an obscurity, just like the "Peter and the Wolf" album (which also has all of Brand X + several other musicans playing on it)

Edited by BaldJean

BaldJean wrote: just a few off the top of my head: Amon Düül 2 - "Made In Germany" (a rather satiric look at the history of Germany in the 20th century, including a fake interview with Adolf Hitler - using excerpts from speeches by him -, who is being introduced as the drummer of a rockband) Grobschnitt - "Rockpommels Land" (I don't like this album very much, but it is a concept album, and maybe you will like it. I'm just not too much into symphonic prog) Gong - the trilogy of albums "Flying Teapot", "Angel's Egg" and "You" follow a concept, telling the tale of Zero the Hero and his visit to planet Gong Mother Gong - "Robot Woman", parts 1-3 (another concept trilogy) Mother Gong - "Fairy Tales" is also a concept album in a way, since three fairy tales are being told on it, accompanied by music The Residents - "Eskimo" (allegedly a concept album based on the lives and music of the Eskimos, but you will find out after a while that it is all a hoax (definitely when they sing "Coca Cola is life" in the last track ) The Residents - "The Mole Trilogy" (another trilogy of albums) Aphrodite's Child - "666" (based on the apocalypse in the bible) Triumvirat - "Spartacus" (in the opinion of many, including me, an ELP clone) Klaus Schulze - "X" (this could be called a concept album, because Schulze tries musical biographies of several persons here) Klaus Schulze - "Mirage" (Schulze himself calls this "an electronic winter landscape", and I think the music on this album captures this perfectly. but only for friends of meditative electronic music) Jack Lancaster - "Marsscape" (sax-player Jack Lancaster backed up by the original Brand X, creating an instrumental portrait of the planet Mars)

Jack Lancaster, from Bloodwyn Pig? This is a surprise to me... Never thought that he could release an entire concept album!!

Nude by Camel is great!!!

BaldJean wrote: Amon Düül 2 - "Made In Germany" (a rather satiric look at the history of Germany in the 20th century, including a fake interview with Adolf Hitler - using excerpts from speeches by him -, who is being introduced as the drummer of a rockband)

One of my all-time favourites! Most people tend to forget Amon Düül 2's middle period albums 1973-1975. Made in Germany came in two different versions: one double LP and one single LP. On the latter the Hitler interview was edited out along with the overture and the great tracks  "Wir Wollen"/"Wilhelm Wilhelm"/"SM II Peng".

BaldJean wrote: how come I forgot to mention my absolute favorite concept album? very strange indeed. well, here it is: Peter Hammill - The Fall of the House of Usher

Another winner! I've never heard the re-worked version though, only the original from 1991. To me the original is a five-star-classic (How can it be improved?)

A footnote: Fish was a candidate for the role of Montressor, but it would not work because his voice is too close to Hammill's.

 

how come I forgot to mention my absolute favorite concept album? very strange indeed. well, here it is:

Peter Hammill - The Fall of the House of Usher

a full fledged opera. the characters:

Roderick Usher                - Peter Hammill
Montresor, his friend        - Andy Bell
Madeleine Usher              - Lene Lovich
the Herbalist                   - Herbert Grönemeyer
the Chorus                     - Sarah Jane Morris
the Voices of the House   - Peter Hammill

to be listened to in the middle of the night by candlelight. prepare yourself for some shivers; this is a gothic tale, after all! giving the house a chorus of voices was a stroke of genius by Hammill; it is really creepy when they sing "We shall not let them go". highlights are the arias "I Shun the Light" and "The Lady Sleeps", the duet Usher/Montresor "Leave this House", to which the Chorus and the House add some comments, the "lost love" duet of Montresor and Madeleine and the whole 6th act, which slowly brings the music to a shuttering climax (the arrangement of the vocals is utterly fantastic in the grand final of the 6th act). but why mention a highlight? the whole opera is great!

Edited by BaldJean

Here are some of my favorite concept albums:

-- The Inconsolable Secret, Glass Hammer

-- Lex Rex, Glass Hammer

-- The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, Genesis

-- Animals, Pink Floyd

-- Tales From Topographic Oceans, Yes

-- One, Neal Morse

-- The Sins Of Our Saviours, A Triggering Myth

-- Mei, Echolyn

-- Suffocating The Bloom, Echolyn

I could go on and on.

Apart from many mentioned above some others worth checking out

• Spock's Beard - Snow
• Glass Hammer - The Inconsolable Secret
• Glass Hammer - Lex Rex
• Jethro Tull - A Passion Play (already mentioned)

Like most concept albums they require some patience and several listenings and in the case of double cd sets I find it best to listen to one cd at a time as there is usually a lot to take in

Actually, I'm listening to The Shaming right now, thanks to the Progtologist (sort of, he knows what I mean.)

 

Progtologist, what happened to your awesome ass signature??

since you like the who I think you allready have quadrophenia. if you dont have get it and love it.

"The Snow Goose" and "Nude" - Camel.

"The Tain" and "The Book of Invasions" - Horslips

Grave New World - Strawbs

Five concept albums to die for; all masterpieces.