Concept album

In popular music, a concept album is an album which is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical" (Shuker 2002, p.5). Most often they are pre-planned (conceived) and with all songs contributing to a single overall theme or unified story, this plan or story being the concept. This is in contrast to the standard practice of an artist or group releasing an album consisting of a number of unconnected songs that the members of the group or the artist have written, or have been chosen to perform or cover. Given that the suggestion of something as vague as an overall mood often tags a work as being a concept album, a precise definition of the term proves problematic.

In the contemporary rock era (from 1966 onwards - the point at which critics started to differentiate between "pop music" and "rock music" as a more serious form), there were, broadly speaking, two types of concept album: those that were essentially thematically-linked song cycles such as Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon which did not claim a storyline, and those that presented a narrative story that threaded the songs - such as Pink Floyd's The Wall or The Who's Tommy. Music critics of that era did not usually distinguish between the two types of concept album. An album that met either criterion was commonly referred to as a concept album. However, the distinction between the two types of concept album is important to note in respect to claims that are made as to which album may have been the first concept album in the rock era. Given this legitimate distinction, there are probably several contenders in each genre.

Another difficulty in classifying whether a given album qualifies as a concept album arises from the fact that both musicians and their listeners, through the rock era, increasingly viewed the record album as a unified art form, not simply a collection of songs. Songs on many albums may have a certain sense of cohesion even if there is no unifying lyrical theme or narrative structure. That sense of cohesion may be imposed simply by the particular lyrical or musical concerns of a composer or group of composers at the time a record was recorded. Thus, many albums that cannot genuinely be labeled concept albums in a strict sense get so designated by their fans. The albums Argus by Wishbone Ash, Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen, and Rust In Peace by Megadeth are examples of this tendency. In each of these cases, there was no intention by the performers to produce an actual concept album. Some albums without any single theme or narrative structure may nonetheless have a deliberate structure in which the order in which the songs are heard expresses a particular artistic intention. Such an album, or other collection of songs, may be best viewed as a song cycle, a broader notion, with roots in classical music, that may encompass many concept albums.

Early examples

What could very loosely be considered the first concept albums were released in the late 1930s by singer Lee Wiley on the Liberty Records label, featuring eight songs on four 78s by great showtunes composers of the day, such as Harold Arlen and Cole Porter, anticipating more comprehensive efforts by Verve Records impresario Norman Granz with Ella Fitzgerald by almost two decades.

In the late '40s, Kansas City pianist Pete Johnson recorded the album Pete's House Warmin' , in which he starts out playing alone, supposedly in new empty house, and is joined there by J. C. Higgenbotham, J.C. Heard, and other Kansas City players. Each has a solo backed by Pete and then the whole group plays a jam session together.

In folk music, Woody Guthrie's 1940 debut album Dust Bowl Ballads is also an early possibility.

Frank Sinatra, both with early albums originally released as 78s for Columbia Records such as The Voice of Frank Sinatra from 1945, and continuing through his thematically programmed albums of the 1950s for Capitol Records starting with the ten-inch 33s Songs for Young Lovers and Swing Easy, is generally credited with both popularizing and developing the concept album, and it was at this time that the specific term was first used. Perhaps the first full Sinatra concept album example is In the Wee Small Hours from 1955, where the songs – all ballads – were specifically recorded for the album, and organized around a central mood of late-night isolation and aching lost love, and the album cover strikingly reinforced that theme.

Most of Sinatra's albums from the 1950s were based around a theme - for example, Come Fly With Me featured songs with a geographical theme, Come Dance with Me! featured songs about dancing, Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely featured songs about loss and solitude.

However, notion of a concept album did not really gel at that point, and was not widely imitated, aside from occasional examples such as country singer Marty Robbins' Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs from 1959, or Ray Charles's The Genius Hits The Road (1960), where each song references one of the United States ("Georgia On My Mind", "Mississippi Mud", et cetera).

Perhaps the first examples from rock were the albums of The Ventures. Starting from 1961's Colorful Ventures (each song had a color in the title), the group was known for issuing records throughout the 1960s whose tracks revolved around central themes, including surf music, country, outer space, TV themes, and psychedelic music. Another notable example is Little Deuce Coupe (1963) by The Beach Boys, where each of the album's twelve songs was about America's car culture.

1960s rock

In 1966, several rock releases were arguably concept albums in the sense that they presented a set of thematically-linked songs - and they also instigated other rock artists to consider using the album format in a similar fashion: Pet Sounds, again by the Beach Boys, a masterful musical portrayal of Brian Wilson's would-be state of mind (and a huge inspiration to Paul McCartney); the Mothers of Invention's sardonic farce about rock music and America as a whole, Freak Out!; and Face to Face by The Kinks, the first collection of Ray Davies's idiosyncratic character studies of ordinary people. However, none of these attracted a wide commercial audience.

This all changed with The Beatles' celebrated album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. With this release in June of 1967, the notion of the concept album came to the forefront of the popular and critical mind, with the earlier prototypes and examples from classic pop and other genres sometimes forgotten. The phrase entered the popular lexicon. And a "concept album" - the term became imbued with the notion of artistic purpose - was inherently considered to be more creative or worthy of attention than a mere collection of new songs. This perception of course related to the intent of the artist rather than the specific content.

In fact, as pointed out by many critics since its original reception, Sgt. Pepper is a concept album only by some definitions of the term. There was, at some stage during the making of the album an attempt to relate the material to an obscure radio play about the life of an ex-army bandsman and his shortcomings but this concept was lost in the final production. On it, the Beatles supposedly adopt fictionalized personae, and the title song, styled as the theme song of the fictional "Lonely Hearts Club Band", wraps around the rest of the album like bookends. However, most of the songs on the album are narratively unrelated to the theme, and the fictional characters have little life beyond the introduction of Ringo Starr as "Billy Shears" in the segue between the first two tracks. On the other hand, the slice-of-life character miniatures and short story structure of many of the songs, especially those penned primarily by Paul McCartney, echo elements commonly found in other thematic works such as musicals and opera. This feeling was reinforced by the album's device use of running musical tracks one after the other (without a pause) or linked with transitions rather than the customary silent space between tracks. Even more striking was the album's opulent cover, packaged inserts, and full lyrics printed on the back, all of which suggested a unified work more than just a collection of songs. In any case, while debate exists over the extent to which Sgt. Pepper qualifies as a true concept album, there is no doubt that its reputation as such helped inspire other artists to produce concept albums of their own, and inspired the public to anticipate them. Lennon and McCartney distanced themselves from the "concept album" tag as applied to that album.

Released just a week after The Rolling Stones' Their Satanic Majesty's Request was The Who's ...Sell Out, which took its concept as a pirate radio broadcast. Within the record, the band attempted to play each song in a different musical style, as if being performed by different bands. The tracks were then interspersed with short jingles as commercial advertisements for various products, both fictional and real, including Heinz Baked Beans, Track Records and Premier Drums among others. The cover art continues this theme, with each of the four band members presented as a model in individual adverts.

The album S.F. Sorrow (released in December 1968) by British group The Pretty Things is generally considered to be among the first creatively successful rock concept albums - in that each song is part of an overarching unified concept -- the life story of the main character, Sebastian Sorrow. Despite its effective production qualities and strong material, and although it received almost unanimously glowing reviews on release, the album was not a major commercial success. However, the fact that the album format had now been effectively used to present a threaded storyline was noted by other artists such as Ray Davies of The Kinks - who was already working on his own project in this genre, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society. In this respect, the Pretty Things' album did have an impact on some influential artists and on rock culture itself. Prior to this release - the band had been considered an R&B (rhythm and blues) band - but their venture into producing a concept album did at least result in the band being re-cast in general perception as a progressive rock band - an important and valuable transition at that time.

Released in April 1969, was the "rock opera" Tommy composed by Pete Townshend and performed by The Who. This acclaimed work was presented over two discs (still unusual in those days) and it took the idea of thematically based albums to a much higher appreciation by both critics and the public. It was also the first story-based concept album of the rock era (as distinct from the song-cycle style album) to enjoy commercial success. The Who went on to further explorations of the concept album format with their follow-up project Lifehouse - which was abandoned before completion and with their 1973 rock opera, Quadrophenia.

Five months after the release of Tommy, The Kinks released their own rock opera Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) (September 1969), written by Ray Davies. It was the first of several concept albums released by the band through the first few years of the 1970s. These were: Lola versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One (1970), Preservation Act 1 (1973), Preservation Act 2 (1974), Soap Opera (1975) and Schoolboys in Disgrace (1976).

Two albums released in the autumn of 1967 were also concept albums - though they did not get the same media attention later accorded to The Who's Tommy.

Days of Future Passed (1967) by the Moody Blues, alternated songs by the group with orchestral interludes to document a typical "everyman's day".

The Story of Simon Simopath by UK band Nirvana, produced by Island Records' founder Chris Blackwell, was issued in October 1967 in a gatefold cover which presented a text giving the storyline of the album - described as a "science fiction pantomime". The album attracted positive critical attention but did not enjoy big sales in the UK. Astral Weeks, released in 1968 by Van Morrison, was another album that was loved by the critics but didn't initially sell well. It frequently crops up in lists of the best albums of all time. The Small Faces put out what might be considered half a concept album, in Ogden's Nut Gone Flake, the more unique for having the first round sleeve, printed to resemble a large tin of tobacco. One side of the album was The Story of Happiness Stan, a series of songs linked by the unique narrative of comedian Stanley Unwin.

1970s progressive rock

Concept albums are considered de rigeur in the progressive rock genre of the 1970s, hence the name of the genre itself. Few "prog" bands reaped a lasting commercial or critical legacy from their albums' thematic storylines, mainly because they involved fantasy elements. This was the case, for example, with the German band Triumvirat which released an album called Spartacus based on the story of the Roman gladiator. Although the album is considered by some to be a classic example of a prog rock concept album, the band enjoyed only limited success. Most notably, Pink Floyd recast itself from its 1960s guise as a quirky psychedelic band into a commercial mega-success with its classic series of concept albums, beginning with The Dark Side of the Moon from 1973, followed by Wish You Were Here, Animals, The Wall and The Final Cut, with Roger Waters behind the themes and storylines. Yes also put out various concept albums during the 70's, most notably Tales from Topographic Oceans, which would become a defining album of prog rock but whose critical backlash would lead to the genre's decline and the rise of punk rock. Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull wrote a number of concept albums, notably "Thick as a Brick" which had lyrics about how society can influence people with ideologies, and which included material intended to spoof the concept album genre.

Prog concept albums generally had elaborately-futuristic cover art, most notably Yes's art, done by Roger Dean.

Alice Cooper's classic album Welcome to My Nightmare is a concept album is basically a journey through the mind of a psychotic killer. He has released numerous other concept albums since then including Brutal Planet, Dragontown and Nightmare's follow up The Last Temptation.

One might think that only white artists had issued concept albums if one had not heard of Marvin Gaye's legendary 1970 long-player What's Going On. Many argue that Gaye and David Van de Pitte (the album's arranger who had contributed significantly to its production) had created the best example thus far of an album that held together both sound and theme. The album is regularly cited in "Best of all time" polls.

Outside of the prog rock arena, glam rocker David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972) represents another well-known example of a concept album. It tells the story of "Ziggy Stardust", a martian who comes to earth to liberate humanity from banality. Its consistent overarching theme traces Ziggy's journey from his arrival upon earth (which is then five years away from destruction), through his rise and subsequent self-destructive fall as a rock star. The album is today considered by some to be a definitive album of the '70s rock and has garnered many awards.

Country-rock band Kenny Rogers and the First Edition released The Ballad of Calico in 1972, which tells the true story of a silver mining town. Though the album failed to reach the top 10 of the pop charts it has since picked up a cult following. Later in the decade, following the group's split, Rogers would go on to have a major chart hit with another concept album, The Gambler.

Progressive rock band Genesis released in 1973 and in 1974 their most critically acclaimed albums: Selling England by the Pound and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. The first does not tell a story, but it is unified around the basic concept of the shrinking and the decline of the British Empire. The album starts with Genesis frontman, Peter Gabriel, posing the question "can you tell me where my country lies," which will be answered over the course of the album. In the following year, Genesis released The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway: a sprawling multimedia production that ran over an hour and a half and featured an intricate surrealistic story of Rael in New York City. Peter Gabriel wrote the novellaesque lyrics, and often blurred the lines between live performance, concept album and theatre by dressing as the title character while some one thousand slides of accompanying photographs were projected behind him.

In 1976, Rush released their concept album 2112. The title track was a 20 minute long piece that told the story of a totalitarian world in the future where free speech and creative thinking are non-existent. Some people believe that the story was based on the political climate of Soviet Russia during the early 20th Century. The story was heavily influenced by Soviet emigree Ayn Rand's novella Anthem; in fact, the lyrics section on the LP sleeve state: "With acknowledgement to the genius of Ayn Rand". The rest of the album consisted of songs that were unrelated to the 2112 plot. The album was the band's first multi-platinum release.

Engineer and producer Alan Parsons created the Alan Parsons Project with Eric Woolfson in the mid '70s, continuing through the '80s using many session musicians to achieve Parsons' plans. The group has focused exclusively on creating concept albums that explore a specific theme. Project albums each explore a general theme rather than a narrative storyline. Topics covered (in chronological order) include: the horror fiction of Edgar Alan Poe (Tales of Mystery and Imagination); the future of humanity inspired by the science fiction of Isaac Asimov (I, Robot); the creation and role of great wonders built by man (Pyramid); the effect of women on men in society (Eve); the corrosive effect of gambling on society (The Turn of a Friendly Card); the effect of surveillance on society (Eye in the Sky); the effect of sin (Ammonia Avenue), consumerism (Vulture Culture) and fame (Stereotomy) on people and society; and an album exploring the architecture of Gaudi (Gaudi). The 'trademark' of APP albums is the inclusion of one or more instrumental tracks that provide a soundscape for the theme, attempting to capture the mood of the album in music without telling a story with words. Some of the Project's most well known songs are some such instrumental tracks, e.g. "Sirius" from Eye In The Sky.

Concept albums in the 1980s and beyond

Though the progressive rock genre was beginning to disappear, concept albums had become a medium that continued. The progressive bands that were still around were still having major successes with concept albums. Styx had multiplatinum albums with 1981's, Paradise Theater (a concept album about a decaying theater in Chicago which became a metaphor for childhood and American culture) and 1983's Kilroy Was Here (a science fiction rock opera about a future where moralists imprison rockers).

Pink Floyd had what was to become one of their most popular albums, The Wall, which also became a movie. This was followed up by their The Final Cut album, based on the military experiences of Roger Waters' father.

Albums like Queensrÿche's Operation: Mindcrime; which tells a story of a heroin-addict joining a cult, seeking help, and finding those close to him dead by his own hands, and Iron Maiden's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son; which follows the folklore and myths of a seventh son of a seventh son having mystical powers, such as being clairvoyant, enjoyed major successes in the 80s. Spoof "band" Spinal Tap made a career out of lampooning aging prog/concept rockers. (Spinal Tap itself can be considered an example of conceptual art.)

The eighties also brought back an earlier form of the concept genre - albums with unifying themes, not necessarily coherent stories. Bands like Journey would have an album like "Escape" in which all of the songs had to do with rebellion and escaping from one's present situation. Perhaps the most obvious example of this is with U2. All of U2's albums center on a theme. The songs all reflect this theme. In concert, U2 create their stage shows to showcase the theme of the album the tour is supporting. This could be seen, quite easily, in the Zoo TV, Popmart, and Vertigo tours.

Punk and New Wave also got in on the act. Black Flag had cult success with the Damaged album, about a psychological breakdown. The Dead Kennedys had one of their best known albums with Plastic Surgery Disasters, a concept album about modern society's shallowness. Hüsker Dü's Zen Arcade follows a boy who leaves home to face a harsh and unforgiving world. Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation (1988) addressed the Cold War and its influence on creativity. The Police's Synchronicity was a loose concept album based on the writings of Carl Jung.

The Residents have also been a band that released lots of concept albums. These are, among others, Not Available, Eskimo, The Commercial Album, God in Three Persons, Wormwood: Curious Stories from the Bible and Demons Dance Alone.

GWAR has several concept albums which they play out in there elaborate live shows. The first concept album was there third release called America must be destroyed since then most of the albums have at least a underlining concept (such as War Party)or all out rock operas (such as Beyond Hell).

In 1994, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails released The Downward Spiral. This story-based concept album portrays a character, assumed to be Reznor himself, losing one valuable element in his life after another. Topics covered in the album include lost religion, malice in the media, flawed relationships, drug use, violence, self-destruction and eventually suicide. Nine Inch Nails is planning on releasing another concept album, Year Zero, of which Reznor is already discussing plans to base a major motion picture on it.

Influenced by his mentor Reznor, and also Bowie's 'The Rise & Fall Of Ziggy Stardust', goth rock band Marilyn Manson released Antichrist Superstar as their second album, which focussed on the rise & fall of a character named Worm. The group's next two albums, Mechanical Animals and Holy Wood (In The Shadow Of The Valley Of Death) formed a loose trilogy with Antichrist Superstar. David Bowie also released a concept album, 1995's Outside, the theme of this album being set in 1999 in which there is a new underground craze of murder as art. The album follows a nonlinear narrative of segues in which Bowie portrays different characters including "Ramona A. Stone", "Baby Grace Blue", and "Nathan Adler". This album was originally meant to be the first in a series of five concept albums following a loose narrative (hence the full title '1.Outside'), released each year up to the year 2000, where Bowie would perform a live piece at the millennium. However, the idea was scrapped.

In 1997, Ween's The Mollusk and Space Needle's The Moray Eels Eat The Space Needle were released as both homages to, and spoofs of, 1970s prog rock concept albums; Moray even featured cover art by Roger Dean. Both albums had nautical themes as well.

Radiohead's OK Computer (1997) and Kid A (2000), as well as other Radiohead albums, have sometimes been considered conceptual, though lacking the tightly-formed narratives of most concept albums. Commonly cited "concepts" of OK Computer are often thought to be technology and the conformity of modern life, while Kid A has been seen as politically relevant with regard to war and globalisation, or even as an album about the "first human clone". The band denies there was a single concept to these records. [1]

The 2002 album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots by The Flaming Lips is often considered a concept album. It follows a broad narrative of a young Japanese girl fighting an army of man-eating pink robots. The lyrics throughout the album allude to death, love, pacifism, and perspective, all while telling the obscure story of Yoshimi. The sounds of the album are based in harmonizations by the lead singer, Wayne Coyne, and various synthesizer melodies. The final track on the album, Approaching Pavonis Mons by Balloon (Utopia Planitia) won a 2002 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.

An oft debated concept album arrived in 2002, entitled Songs for the deaf by Queens of the Stone Age. Much like The Who's ...Sell Out album, the songs are played as if from a radio station. The album is complete with radio interference, changes of channel and introductions to various songs on the album.

Alice in Chains' 1992 album Dirt was about tribulations with heroin, for which "dirt" is a slang term. Within the progressive metal genre, Dream Theater released Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from A Memory in 1999. This concept album was a sequel to their original song from their 1992 album Images and Words, about a present day man's nightmares of his death in his previous life in 1928.

Example of a techno concept album is Metropolis by Jeff Mills (2001), yet another alternative score for the movie of the same name. German electronic band Kraftwerk released their latest concept album Tour de France Soundtracks in 2003, the main theme of which is cycling.

Tori Amos released Scarlet's Walk, which was a sonic travelogue across the United States in search of America's soul. The character Scarlet, perhaps an alter-ego of Amos, encounters other characters in situations such as pornography, prostitution, insanity, suicide, rebellion, terrorism, death and childbirth. The album included a map which traced the travels of Scarlet, each song belonging to a specific geography, passing through and corresponding to all 50 states. The album has 3 discernible "chapters" of 6 tracks each.

Progressive band Coheed and Cambria have released a series of concept albums: The Second Stage Turbine Blade, In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3, and Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness. The albums tell an epic sci-fi story about two superhuman cyborgs named Coheed and Cambria and their involvement in the fate of the universe.

In 2004, Green Day released American Idiot. The album tells the story of a young suburban man (the "Jesus of Suburbia") who leaves his hometown, creates a new identity, falls in love, receives a break-up letter, and realizes that the world is not as it was portrayed to be.

Since the 1980s, concept albums have been frequent in the power metal and doom metal genres. One of the most notable power metal bands to use the concept album is Kamelot. Kamelot's last two releases, Epica and The Black Halo, are two parts of a tale following the protagonist Ariel and his interactions with the evil Mephisto; the two-album story is based on Goethe's Faust. Another example is Nightfall in Middle-Earth by the German metal band Blind Guardian.

Heavy Metal band King Diamond makes frequent use of albums with coherent storylines. All but two of their albums tell a story from beginning to end, and the remaining two dedicate part of the album to a narrative.

In 2005, Canadian post-hardcore band Protest the Hero released the album Kezia, which is about the execution of a young woman named Kezia from three different points of view: a prison priest, a prison guard, and Kezia herself. The album was critically acclaimed.

In 2006, My Chemical Romance released The Black Parade, a concept album about death via cancer.

In 1990, MCMXC a.D., a concept album created by the musical project Enigma, was released. It was Enigma's debut album and one of the most influential albums ever produced in the New Age genre. The main theme in MCMXC a.D. could be interpreted as the struggle that one faces in life, between religion and sexuality. The main song of the album ("Sadness (Part I)") questions the personal beliefs of the Marquis de Sade, who had an affection towards torture as pleasure (sadism). Other themes that appear on the album were based on Christian beliefs, and the end of the world from the Book of Revelation.

The difficulty of creating a unified work without discord can stop artists from creating a true concept album. For example, Billy Corgan commented during the recording of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness that the album would be "the The Wall of the '90s", but other material crept into the work and the final product lacked the cohesiveness required and it wouldn't be until the recording of Machina/The Machines of God that The Smashing Pumpkins would realize their dreams of a true concept album.

Indy band Murder by Death's second album Who Will Survive and What Will Become of Them is a concept album based upon a story the leader singer/theology major wrote. The story deals with the devil incarnate coming to a small western town and one of his own betraying him. The devil is portrayed as somewhat mortal and as having the appearance of a normal man. Many literary and cultural references are alluded to such as The Devil and Tom Walker as the lyrics give the devil the name "Scratch" repeatedly and the townfolk relate to Tom Walker.

Concept Albums in Hip Hop and Modern R&B

Many hip-hop albums are loosely linked by themes or skits, however there are some which aspire to true concept-album status. Of these, perhaps the most popular are the trio of albums released by the Fugees, both alone and together, The Score, The Carnival, and The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. The title of The Score is a play on words, referring both to a heist and to the musical score for a movie. Accordingly, the album is a mock-soundtrack (but not one with a coherent narrative). The Carnival and The Miseducation are both collections of songs strung together with narrative skits. In The Carnival, the narrative imagines Wyclef Jean as being prosecuted for vague crimes against society. In The Miseducation, the setting is a classroom.

Although not a huge commercial success, Prince Paul's A Prince Among Thieves (1999) received critical acclaim upon release for its ambitious adaptation of the rock-opera concept-album format. The album is conceived as the soundtrack to an imaginary movie tracking the misadventures of a naive rapper-turned-drug dealer and his more street-wise friend and rival. Prince Paul also released a previous concept album, Psychoanalysis:What Is It?.

Other "rap-opera" style albums include Cage Kennylz & Camu Tao's 2001 release of Are The Nighthawks and Cage Kennylz & Tame One's 2004 release of Waterworld. The Nighthawk's album was a trip into the darkside of being a cop, while Waterworld was a blast of PCP induced rhymes, being referred to as a drug related themepark.

Rapper Nas had planned for his third release to be a double-album entitled I Am... that would detail the birth, death, and resurrection of a Jesus-like character known as Nastradamus, but heavy bootlegging forced him to change plans and release two separate albums with many new songs. Many of the songs that did not appear on either album were subsequently released on 2002's The Lost Tapes.

Rapper Masta Ace released two albums relating to a single story line. On his 2001 LP, Disposable Arts, his character is released from jail and subsequently enrolls in a hip-hop college. The following release, 2004's A Long Hot Summer, tells the story of the summer preceding the previous CD, which landed the character in prison.

Except for George Clinton's P-Funk albums from the 1970s, the first recent R&B concept album is TP.3 Reloaded, by R. Kelly released in 2005, which features 5 chapters of the "Trapped... in the Closet" soap opera. The album received a great deal of press for being ground breaking in the R&B genre. Kelly subsequently released a Trapped... in the Closet DVD of music videos containing chapters 1-12, completing the rambling tale of unfaithful lovers.

Producer Dan the Automator, rapper Del the Funkee Homosapien and DJ Kid Koala teamed up in 2000 to create the sci-fi concept album Deltron 3030. It is considered a landmark in the acid rap scene.

The Streets told the story of losing £1000 on the album A Grand Don't Come for Free.

Musicals in concept

Many musicals make their first appearance as a concept album, because of the lowered cost of recording an album over mounting an entire stage production. Notable examples of this are Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar (Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber) and Chess (Rice and Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson). Albums recorded in this form are used to prove profitability - both to attract investors and to raise capital through album sales. This also allows the composer to tweak the final musical production, such as when the sympathetic portrayal of Eva Peron in Evita was changed as a result of public reactions in 1977.

Similar plans

A subset is the historical album, which is more closely tied with specific historically-accurate references to persons or places.

An ambitious extension of the concept album idea could be realized in a series of albums which all contribute to a single effect or unified story. Contemporary examples include Gruvis Malt, who in 2005 released Maximum Unicorn, the final installment in a four-album arching storyline (spanning 8 years); Coheed and Cambria, who are sometimes referred to as a concept band because their current form and name is to be used solely for their current four-album "epic"; and Sufjan Stevens, who has so far released two of a purported series of fifty albums based on the United States.

The concept album genre overlaps with rock opera, of which the most famous early example is The Who's aforementioned Tommy. The genre also overlaps to a lesser extent with rock musical, of which a famous early example is Hair (1967).

See also

• List of concept albums (narrative)
• Program music – the classical music analogue
• Rock opera

References

• Shuker, Roy (2002). Popular Music: The Key Concepts. ISBN 0-415-28425-2.

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