Greatest concept albums

Rolling Stone came out a week ago with its list of 50 greatest concept albums of all time.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-concept-albums-1234604040/

It being Rolling Stone, there are quite a few hits and quite a few misses. Some of the misses:

• Arcade Fire, The Suburbs (2010). Beat Lady Gaga and Katy Perry for Grammy Album of the Year.

• ELO, Time (1981). Story of a man cast 100+ years into the future that still holds up.

• Men Without Hats, Pop Goes the World (1987). The Safety Dancers got freaky with the story of Johnny and Jenny with an assist from Jethro Tull.

To be fair, RS did give props to Genesis and Pink Floyd.

 

How nice of them. Kinda obvious, isn't it? Worse, they missed both Pink Floyd and Genesis albums on the list, depending on what a concept album really is:

Pink Floyd - "Dark Side of the Moon" and "Wish You Were Here."
Good that they got "The Wall", but not "Dark Side"? Umm ... and there was no limit on albums by one musician/group. Marvin Gaye was in twice, though if they didn't put "What's Going On" in there, that would have been as gross an omission.

Genesis - "Duke." Not the most strictly constructed concept album out there, but the bookends are there, which would also drag in "Selling England By The Pound," "A Trick of the Tail" and "Wind and Wuthering." All of which are better albums than "The Lamb," concept or otherwise.

The Alan Parsons Project - "Eye In The Sky." Obviously, Rolling Stone cannot be Sirius.

Thing is, there are concept albums and there are ... well, concept albums. Much of Stevie Wonder's classic period could be considered concept albums, starting with "Songs in the Key of Life." But "Fullingness' First Finale," "Innervisions" and "Talking Book" could be up for consideration as well. And if this flies, then a few Earth, Wind & Fire albums can be tossed into consideration.

 

I’m not navigating the shitty, shitty RS website to check, but if Zappa’s Freak Out and Joe’s Garage aren’t on it, the list sucks.

 

No Zappa on there that I saw. As usual RS tries way too hard to look hip, hoping people much younger than me keep reading.

And Quadrophenia is a much better album, concept or otherwise, than Tommy.

 

Any list of concept albums that omits "Dark Side of the Moon" is woefully compiled. Seventeen writers contributed to the list, so maybe all of them figured someone else would nominate them, so why take the long-hanging fruit lol. Incompetence.

 

The trap with concept albums is that they often become extremely masturbatory. Jethro Tull’s stuff (especially Passion Play) is a very good example of this.

Also, not sure if it’s on the list, but Queensryche’s Operation: Mindcrime is an underrated piece of work.

 

Trick question. There is no such thing as a good concept album.

 

Operation: Mindcrime is on the list. Was listening to it yesterday. Forgot how good it was. Was happy to see Hold Steady's Separation Sunday on the list. Gotta teach people how a resurrection really feels.

 

I assume Red Headed Stranger didn’t make it?

 

Red Headed Stranger did, indeed, make the list, but it was just below something by BTS. That's just wrong. (And Red Headed Stranger needs to be higher on that list.)

 

I hate getting reeled in by shit like this that is mostly designed to create arguments...

But "Tommy" is down in 5th.. "Quadrophenia" is 18th... while Green Day is second?!?

Lotta 32 year old voters for this one.