We recently celebrated the 37th anniversary of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon by calling it the greatest concept album ever. A no-brainer, judging by the hundred-plus comments we received from Wired.com readers.
But our readership also had several scintillating sonic choices of its own to add to Pink Floyd's unanimous classic. Some of them perhaps weren't, by standard definition, concept albums proper. But who cares? From Jethro Tull to Tool, all of them tickle the lobes. Read 'em and freak.
Radiohead, OK Computer, Kid A, Amnesiac
"Amazing to me that Kid A by Radiohead could be left off this list. It's widely considered the best album of the 1990s, and in my opinion, gives Dark Side of the Moon a run for its money." –jeffswhite
"Ummm, how can you expect anyone to take this list seriously without including Radiohead's OK Computer?" –tobypast
"Radiohead definitely. I'd add Kid A and Amnesiac too." –EtonaLife
"I can't believe Radiohead's OK Computer is omitted from this list. I like all these albums, but the choices really appear dated with OK Computer. Not saying it's better than any listed here, but it certainly deserves a place among them." –bwheelz54
"Comments have said OK Computer, but really it's Kid A & Amneisiac. Just a silly one-two concept emo-punch in the ear drums ... ahhhgaaaa." –itechchef
"This list is rubbish. Why? No Radiohead album. A list like this means nothing if the best band with the best albums, Kid A, OK Computer, are not on this list. Rubbish!!" –thenut81
Genesis, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
"I would say Genesis' The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Can't get much trippier than that. Unless, of course, you are Pink Floyd." –deejay
"Genesis' The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway; some will list Duke. –MattRK
"I have to add my vote to the several below for Genesis' Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Two discs full of one fantastically trippy Peter Gabriel story. A perennially underrated classic." –eyeofthechicken
"Lamb Lies Down On Broadway was always my favorite, Dark Side of the Moon coming in second." –Zozzy
"Really, guys? You include some of the most over-listened-to/over-referenced classic rock albums out there, but don't include anything from Peter Gabriel-era Genesis?" –Farofa
Jethro Tull, Thick As a Brick
After Dark Side, the best as far as I am concerned was Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick." –Lukersmith
"It's a brilliant record as well as a phenomenal poem." –MCBe7h
"Obviously. After Pink Floyd, it is certainly the one that best fits the bill." –kirkmc
"Where's Tull?" –lstaska
"I heard an interview with Ian Anderson (I think it was an extra on the remastered Thick as a Brick) that he and the rest of Jethro Tull were surprised to learn that Aqualung was a concept album. Assuming Ian isn't pulling our legs, Brick or at least its newspaper mythology of the child author, was something close to a parody of the idea. Also only Side 1 was really planned. Side 2 (which always seemed weaker to me) was more of a studio improvisation." –Oscar
"A brilliant concept album." –JonPeltier
The Beach Boys, Pet Sounds
"You have to include Pet Sounds." –robertl
"I hate to point this out, but The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds was released in May of 1966. That makes Pet Sounds the first concept album, not Freak Out! (Source: All Music Guide). Which raises the question why Pet Sounds isn't on your list. In addition to its own merits, it is (a) the first concept album and (b) according to The Beatles themselves, their immediate motivation for Sgt. Pepper's." –pjcamp
"I don't know how you can write an article about concept albums without any mention of Pet Sounds." –woodyeagle
Deltron 3030, Deltron 3030
"No love for Del's Deltron 3030?" –parallellines
"Deltron 3030, y'all. Doesn't anyone listen to good hip-hop anymore?" –milofelix
"A funky trip to the future. Great beats, lyrics and a sense of humor." –Red_beard
"Give rap some respect. 3030!" –Jimmybd11
The Mars Volta, Deloused in the Comatorium, Frances the Mute
"Cannot believe The Mars Volta's Frances the Mute (or Deloused in the Comatorium) is not on this list." –matty2431
"The Mars Volta's Deloused in the Comatorium should have been listed. Fantastic album." –distractable
Tool, Ænima, Lateralus
"Maybe something from Tool?" –rittersport100
"Speaking of Tool: 10,000 Days, Ænima" –mgrunge1967
Green Day, American Idiot
"Honorable mention (stuff that didn't show up in your list) could go to Green Day's American Idiot." –daisydog
Dream Theater, Metropolis, Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory
"Oh definitely; [Dream Theater's Metropolis, Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory is] simply amazing! –crzykid
"Without a doubt. The story has quite a twist at the end and leaves you with your mouth hanging open wondering what just happened. The way they pull riffs from all the songs to create two instrumentals is also musical genius." –kamikaze121
Marillion, Brave, Misplaced Childhood
"I was always partial to Marillion's Misplaced Childhood. But their album Brave with singer Steve Hogarth has to be the best concept album since Floyd stopped making them." –Zozzy
"Those of you that even know what I'm talking about will agree that these guys would have been on the same level as Pink Floyd, until Fish left and the whole sound changed." –Agent47
Jefferson Starship, Blows Against the Empire
"No list of great concept albums is complete without mentioning Blows Against the Empire, by Paul Kantner and Jefferson Starship. Kantner's melding of Heinlein's Methuselah's Children with hippie counterculture is a masterstroke. It was even nominated for a Hugo award, the first rock album to be so nominated." –bunkie21
Queensrÿche, Operation: Mindcrime
"Wow! I didn't see any mention of Queensrÿche's Operation: Mindcrime, which I did see performed in its entirety in concert (most bands won't do it). Also, I believe that The Warning was a bit conceptual, as it seemed to have a lot to do with warning us about the dangers of technology.... Kind of ironic, huh?" –xim1970
"Yeah, Operation: Mindcrime completely got the shaft. Mindcrime beats everyone up there except Zappa and Floyd, maybe The Who." –Taranofsky
"The other album that is not mentioned and in my opinion is a rock masterpiece specifically as a concept album is Operation: Mindcrime by Queensrÿche. I know its not in the same league popularity-wise but at least warrants a honorable mention." –Gobblygook
"A gritty story of manipulation and betrayal." –norsehauk
Roger Waters, The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking, Radio KAOS, Amused to Death
"Amused to Death. Superb." –plamby12
"Roger Waters' The Pro and Cons of Hitchhiking and Radio KAOS are right up there also." –dakine
King Crimson, In the Court of the Crimson King
"[King Crimson's In the Court of the Crimson King is] not really a concept album, but at the same time totally a concept album." –Grundelwanderer
"Verrrry apropos, then and now. While the King is gone and his 21st century schizoid man VP is still barking at the current administration, the song "Epitaph" still looms large over the landscape, just as it did in the Vietnam era." –Brighthouse
Coheed and Cambria, The Armory Wars
"The entire Coheed and Cambria discography is one long story called The Amory Wars. I have no idea why this wasn't on there. I mean, the lead singer/guitarist writes a comic book series about the story, called The Amory Wars." –Superbleederrx
"Glad to see someone else has mentioned Coheed and Cambria. Their music is awesome. When I first got their early albums, it was all I listened to for weeks, and something I come back to often." –AdamEz
Jimi Hendrix, Electric Ladyland
"Back in the day, two plates or records in a sleeve was concept. Plus, the whole album is about the Land of Electric Ladies, and I know Jimi was conceptualizing about that, and I go with him every time I listen up. I notice something every time, like concepts within the Ladyland. Two shots of 'Voodoo Chile,' please." –itechchef
The Pretty Things, S.F. Sorrow
"S.F. Sorrow by The Pretty Things is notable by its absence in your list. Probably the first concept album based on a narrative, that of a returning World War I soldier. Gripping stuff." –guvner
"It's not only an early entrant into the field (1968), but is something of a masterpiece of gloomy, cynical psychedelia." –JohnMac
"S.F. Sorrow predates Tommy by a few months. But by the time it got to America, it was considered a 'copy' of Tommy because Tommy hit U.S. shores first. Amazing album, really plays solid all the way through. –codyman
Yes (Pick an Album, Any Album)
"How's about Yes? It never released anything that wasn't a concept album. Following that, Rick Wakeman's Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Jeff Wayne's War of The World, etc." –milvus
"Close to the Edge has been mentioned, but it's just a concept side. The whole album is not a single concept work. However, Tales From Topographic Oceans might fit, though it's an album that is pretty hard to get into." –kirkmc
"Come on. Not a single post for Close to the Edge by Yes? The shame." –rdurso
"Tales From Topographic Oceans, though it's more of a concerto for guitar than just a concept album." –JonPeltier
Parliament-Funkadelic (All of It?)
"If you want to talk about the biggest concept blblubalrbalaa – that's a made-up word, folks, it symbolizes something bigger than the mind can conceive – you have to definitely give the nod to Starchild and Dr. Funkenstein. This was a concept album ... errrr, group ... errr, I guess it was a concept half-decade. I lived outside of Detroit in the '70s and year after year, Starchild and the good Dr. brought the Mothership down, took their "Bop Gun" and helped us all wage war against Sir Nose Devoid of Funk. And along with the "Brides, Bootsy and the whole P-funk army," we finally won. And while Atomic Dog was a groove, by the end of the decade we all realized that the whole Motor Booty Affair was over and the synth-pop '80s were going to [bring] the whole world back into the realm of the Maggot Brain." –Brighthouse
"Actually, come to think of it, Mothership Connection could probably qualify (and is qualified to satisfy)." –flavor13
Alan Parsons Project, I Robot, Tales of Mystery and Imagination
"Without a doubt, Dark Side still holds its place at the top of the list. But I would add to your list >Alan Parsons' I Robot. And I would also like to point out an often overlooked bit of history: Alan Parsons was the studio engineer for Dark Side of the Moon. I have been a longtime fan of both Pink Floyd and Alan Parsons and I feel that while Pink Floyd was unquestionably a brilliant band, with a distinctive sound and style in their own right, the collaboration with Parsons and his unique engineering talent took them to another level. Parsons was a master in the use of stereophonic effects long before surround sound was even a concept. His technical brilliance, plus his own musical sensibilities (which is evident in not just I Robot but all his albums) contributed to Pink Floyd's truly unique style. I have worked many years doing live sound and am also an active musician and I have found, all too often, that while the bands' talent and music are obviously important, the people behind the band (producer, engineer, etc.) can often be of equal and sometimes greater importance in the final outcome. Yet rarely do they get the credit they deserve." –antwerpe26
"The Alan Parsons Project. You can use Tales of Mystery and Imagination, I Robot, or Eye in the Sky." –purvisa
Neutral Milk Hotel, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
"Nobody mentioned Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea? I am shocked. Shocked, I say." –Lochmon
Lou Reed, Berlin
"Lou Reed's Berlin, of course. One of the great 'song' concept albums." –kirkmc
"I wonder how many got scared straight by it?" –bbbaldie
Kate Bush, Evidently More Than We Counted
"What? No love for Kate Bush? The Hounds of Love, The Ninth Wave, This Woman's Work and even the recent Aerial are all fantastic concept albums." –DrEnter
The Divine Comedy, Promenade
"Although sadly not very well-known, I would have to include The Divine Comedy's Promenade, which tells the story of a day between two lovers, starting with a bath and weaving its way through conversations about books, religion, childhood, how they first met, whilst also encompassing a meal, a film, a drinking session and lots of other stuff, all intertwining perfectly and also perfectly fitting the earlier description given of a concept album. 45 minutes of pure bliss, highly recommended." –SquatterMadras
See Also:
