The Smiley Smile Message Board

These are the only ones i've heard so far that i love.

Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
The Kinks - The Village Green Preservation Society
Pink Floyd - Animals
The Who - Quadrophenia
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Beach Boys - Smile
The Kinks - Arthur

The definition of concept album seems sketchy at best. For me, though, I can't think of something as a concept album unless it announces itself as such in some particular way, rather than needing a listener to try and force a concept onto it. With that in mind, I personally can't think of Pet Sounds or Smile as concept albums and maybe I'm dim but I have a hard time thinking of Village Green that way too. These albums are thematic, no doubt, but I would question them as concepts. I would throw in:

Side A of Bookends by Simon and Garfunkel
Side B of Ogden's Nut Gone Flake by The Small Faces
Good Old Boys by Randy Newman

and if children's albums count, I'd say:

The Rheostatics - Harmelodia
Harry Nilsson - The Point!

Until the rock opera craze of the late 1960s and 1970s, when I think "concept album" I think Songs For Swingin' Lovers, Little Deuce Coupe and such. Pink Floyd's 1973-83 stuff would count. Genesis, too.

All Summer Long
Shut Down Volume II
Summer Days and Summer Nights
Surfer Girl
Surfin' USA
Little Deuce Coupe
Surfin' Safari

And oh yeah -- Pet Sounds

i don't think u get wat i'm talking about by "concept album" lol..all of those albums don't stick to the theme lol
excluding pet sounds :)

no i don't think u get wat were talking about lolz concept albumz hav been around since teh 50s.

They are summer/car concept albums. :wall

Those albums follow a theme as much as Pet Sounds does.

Those albums have mismatch songs that don't belong in those albums.
Do i have to point out which songs?

Let me explain the concept for you, concept albums are albums that all have a central theme that their songs generally follow.
The Beach Boys meet this requirement on several albums:
surfin usa- surfing
surfer girl- surfing/summertime
LDC- Hotrod cars
all summer long- summer of 1964
Today- young romance/growing up
Summer days- summertime
pet sounds- ups and downs of romance
SMiLE- Americana?

And you listed Sgt. Pepper? Please, man.

My favourite would be Frank Sinatra's Watertown.

The Beatles themselves said that Pepper wasn't a concept album beyond the title track and its reprise.

I don't think The Beach Boys ever did one, too. Little Deuce Coupe would come closest. If Pet Sounds is a concept album, then so is Please Please Me. Or Back To Mono. Hell, I don't think just saying 'Ups and downs of love' counts as a concept. Most songs, and the albums they belong on, are about love, or girls, or boys, or whatever. Are they grand concepts?

Funkentelechy vs. The Placebo Syndrome, by Parliament. Now THAT'S a concept album.  :lol

On the pre pet sounds albums ..they have a few songs that fit the title and theme but they also have random songs that don't belong there..i know the beach boys werent going for a theme. sgt. pepper f***ed up a couple times too

Exactly. Like I said, I can't think of something as a concept album unless it announces itself in some way as having some kind of narrative. And while Pepper really only has one song that relates to the concept (the title track which is later repeated somewhat differently), its concept is basically a flowery band of old people putting on a concert (announced both in that track and in the cover), so there doesn't really need to be a repetitive theme for it to be a concept album. Pet Sounds, on the other hand...

Thanks to those who defended and elucidated on the listing of those pre-Pet Sounds Beach Boys LPs.  Hell yeah they are concept albums! 

To posit a more "traditional" choice, I'd say Love's "Forever Changes."  Arthur Lee's vision of his death (which did not come at that time) being the "forever change".

Sleeper -- the Kinks' "Schoolboys in Disgrace".  Their most underrated in one of the world's most overlooked bodies of work.

I always considered concept albums to be those that tell a story through the songs. Certainly those of the late 60s to mid 70s.
There have been some really bad ones. Preservation Act II by the Kinks springs straight to mind (oddly I found Act I really grew on me). I've never heard it but I hear Music From The Elder by Kiss is appalling.
What was the question again? Oh yeah, favourite concept album. Must give a shout out to Joe's Garage by Frank Zappa.

SMiLE, Quadrophenia, Tommy, Who's Next/Lifehouse, Dark Side Of The Moon, Psychoderelict, Brain Salad Surgery.

The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin

Most of those 70s Kinks concept LPs were better seen live -- I saw the "Soap Opera" tour and it was great fun, but as a record it was pretty lame.  "Preservation Act One" and "Schoolboys in Disgrace" hold up for me because they each contain several great songs and tracks. 

Barcelona by Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Cabelle, damn hard to find a copy though
Feline by the Stranglers concept in sound
Vladimir Chronicles by the Strangers and solo combinations then run the songs in sequence to tell the story

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway.
And on a completely different note, I think I am the youngest on the board, not newguy.

 David Bowie – The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars

I have yet to hear a better concept album about a European Officer and his love affair with a camel. I doubt I ever will.

of Montreal's 'The Gay Parade' and 'Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies: A Variety of Whimsical Verse'

 :lol :lol

Wild Honey

The Osmonds 'The Plan' ... yep, seriously  ::)

Right, how the hell is that a concept album? Is there a narrative? An overarching theme developed over the course of the record? Anything that marks it as different from any other 1967 album full of girl/boy songs.

????????????????

???.......oh i get it it's a joke you're just kidding  :lol

"Music to cool out by...."  Sounds like a concept to me!

Me too! love your name too! :D

anyway my favorite is probably the who sell out. that was the album that started me being interested in "albums" and not "songs"

This thread irritates me, because bar a few exceptions you are all fantastically wrong. As rocknroll points out....


I mean, it should be really obvious to you lot why The Point! by Nilsson (to pick a bonafide non prog example)  is a concept album and Nilsson Schmilsson isn't. There is a difference between an album with thematic consistency (Little Deuce Coupe, say) and a 'concept' album.

The Shaming of the True by Kevin Gilbert.  Lesser known perhaps, but definitely fits the bill.

http://kevingilbert.com/disco.htm#tsottspecial

Tanks Little Bird!

Strictly defining what is or isn't a "concept" album is not high on my list of life's  priorities.  That said, I don't believe there is a strict definition, so folks should be able to interpret it their own way.  Including not being super serious about it.

Pet Sounds is called by many one of the first concept albums.  Whether it is or isn't is not important to me.  But on the one hand there is a loose thread if not narrative.  The arc of young love.  Sloop John B stands as a topical intrusion -- although musically the sound is coherent within the mix.  And therefore could be construed as part of Brian's other "concept" for the album, that of his "pet" sounds.  So is Pet Sounds a concept album?  Damned if I know!  But why not!?

Is a concept album a rock opera per se?  A united theme?  A narrative?  Theatrical piece?  I really dunno.  And I'm not going to tell anyone else what to think.

Words of Wisdom for a Message Board....

I like the Lexicon of Love by ABC and An American Prayer by The Doors

As does Let's Go Away for Awhile, I Know There's An Answer, I Just Wasn't Made for These Times, Pet Sounds and That's Not Me includes one line about a relationship but the song is more about a guy who confronts his own mistakes in trying to break free from his past (a small part of that includes a relationship). So nearly half the album does not connect with this theme. An album with seven songs about different kinds of love/romance (young naive love in Wouldn't it be Nice, troubled love in You Still Believe in Me, possible pre-relationship in I'm Waiting for the Day, a song told from the perspective of a person who believes that love is always doomed in Here Today) is not all that unusual.

Wikipedia quotes Roy Shuker when it notes that,


I have some problems with this definition though. As soon as you say simply that a concept album is unified by a theme, then about 80% of albums could be interpreted as concept albums. And herein lies the problem - you shouldn't really have to interpret that something is a concept album just as you shouldn't have to interpret whether a movie is science-fiction. Is Star Wars science fiction? Yes. Is Doc Hollywood? "Well, there is a moment where they look up at the stars..." No. Drop it.

Of course, people can interpret the term however they want, but to me, if it's going to have some kind of legitmacy and if we're going to use it, then we should be somewhat clear as to what it is. We should need someone to say, "Let me explain to you why this is a concept album." And again, a lot of the examples here just fall flat precisely because people have to make a case for it. The Wild Honey case is particularly problematic. A poster noted that "music to cool out to" sounds like a concept. Most significantly, that's not even what Carl meant. He was not referring to the listeners. The statement was only about how the music on the album required much less work from Brian than Smile and Pet Sounds. He didn't have to pore over every note or build really complex harmonies or try to figure out how he was going to make a flute sound like a train.  Thus the album was a breather for him. Carl's comment had nothing to do with the sound of the music or the listener reaction to it. But this tends to be what happens when one has to make a case for something being a concept album. It has the same sort of consequences of someone trying to make the case that Steve Martin's The Jerk is, actually, a horror film.

I sacrifice my c0ck on the altar of silence.

In referring the Wild Honey 'concept" as "music to cool out by" I forgot to put a little smiley face emoticon to indicate light hearted intent to the literalists and I-dotters.  As I am guessing did the poster of the original suggestion.  Otherwise, enough already!  Okay, which emoticon....?

 :-\ :afro ;) :thewilsons

;)

I guess the Wild Honey "concept" is "white people trying to do R&B music and somewhat suceeding". But I guess that could also describe any Hall and Oates record.

Animals. Hands Down. Most Underrated as well.

The Moody Blues — Days of Future Passed

Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys

It paints the most beautiful and vivid picture of love and life.

Viva la Vida - Coldplay

It paints the most vivid picture of love, life, and death.

One of my favorites as well.

I love the motif interludes.

The spoken word parts are awesome with the deep ideas presented in poetry by the members.

Utopia - Deface The Music

I'm so with hypehat and rockandroll here, you people who suggest Surfer Girl or Little Deuce Coupe to be concept albums, I think are stretching the idea of what a concept album is too far.
There are so many albums that for instance just contain love songs - it doesn't necessarily make them concept album because of that.

thank you :) i agree with everything you said. "Little Deuce Coupe" IS NOT A CONCEPT ALBUM. LOL

Little Deuce Coupe is a concept album  LOL, LOL,  LOL, LOL, LOL :wall :angry :pirate :ohyeah :smash :old

I like Four Seasons' Imitation Life Gazette.

I'm not sure it qualifies, but it's a great album anyway.

The only way pet sounds could be a concept album in my personal opinion would be if there was actual pet sounds on each and every song.....like the galloping horse on god only knows and the dog on.....(forgot which song it is).

I Like "Little Deuce Coupe" just as much as you or maybe more but It Isnt! Lol

Nobody reads what anyone actually says here do they?  They just post.   :p

LMAO.

The definition of concept album: an album with a unified theme (whether it be compositionally, narratively, lyrically, etc). Young kids driving cool cars is the unified theme of Little Douce Coupe. Thus it is a concept album.

Uh, no that's Wikipedia's definition of a concept album. Not good enough. So an album which is lyrically just about love is a concept album? Nah, not necessarily so.

Check out Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart.

2 cheers 4 U LOL

Are you of the age of 12 or 13 like i think newguy is?

heyyyyyy!! i'm not 12 k! i'm older! :]

Erm, actually that's from dictionary.com

Concept means a general idea derived from specific instances; a thought or notion; a plan.

The specific instances in Little Douce Coupe being kids driving cars having fun....the general idea being cars.

I mean, I get what you're saying, but we'll never agree on semantics here. The album is unified with a concept....that's what I see.

Dictionary.com happens to be cribbing their definition from Wikipedia who sourced that same definition to one's guy's book. This is hardly official and for my money, it's a bad definition for reasons I already explained.

The definition of 'Concept' (which I got from The American Heritage Dictionary) still proves my point. Believe what you want - I mean I get where you're coming from and all, but based off the word concept the album Little Douce Coupe, from my perspective, is in fact an album with a concept behind it.

the whole album isnt even about cars maybe a couple but not the whole thing. lol

Little Deuce Coupe
Be True To Your School (mentions driving)
Car Crazy Cutie
Cherry Cherry Coupe
409
Shut Down
Spirit Of America
Our Car Club
No Go Showboat
A Young Man Is Gone
Custom Machine

Yeah, maybe a couple ::)

That leaves all but one that doesn't mention a car or driving.

if you could see my face right now you'd know that you got me lol...-------> :-X

Look at Sinatra, all 16 Capitol studio albums are considered concept albums. Concept in the sense that the themes and arrangements were well thought out before going into the studio to record. If albums like In The Wee Small Hours, Songs For Swingin' Lovers and Sings For Only The Lonely are concept albums, then an album like Little Deuce Coupe would fall into the concept album category for the same reasons.

Very good example -- I forgot about Sinatra.

How about Save For A Rainy Day?

I've got to agree with you.  If that's the definition of a concept album, then the Beach Boys weren't the first like lots of people stretch to say they were... I mean Jackie Gleason even had concept albums before that.  Anybody in the 40's or 50's who put out a "Songs For Lovers!" album made a concept album.  Any Jazz album could be a concept album, etc. 

(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61VVzc1z2-L._SS500_.jpg)

Ah! In Search Of The Lost Chord!!!!!!

Jordan: The Comeback by Prefab Sprout. In the strictest sense it may not be a concept album but the four movements revolve around four intertwining themes (commonly sited as "Love, Death, God and Elvis" although there's always room for interpretation).

I'll leave the arguing about the definitions of a concept album to you guys, you're doing a pretty good job.