I just played American Idiot and The Wall from start to finish. For me, both are absolute masterpieces. I wouldn’t be able to say which is better than the other.
What’s the best concept album for you?
The Wall is good but I like Animals more. The mood hits a bit harder imo.
Yeah but there’s a film of The Wall and all the tracks are different versions, plus Bob Geldof, plus animation by Gerald Scarfe
A genuine work of art
Oh for movie night it’s gold!
Not the best, but Joe’s Garage by Frank Zappa is one of the oddest
Sturgill Simpson - Sound and Fury.
Especially if you watch the anime that was created specifically for it on Netflix. Flat out amazing.
Great suggestion, but I’d actually say The Ballad of Dood and Juanita and Sailor’s Guide to Earth are better concept albums from Sturgill Simpson. Although, OP seems to lean toward rock more than bluegrass/country, so Sound and Fury might be a better place to start.
Time by ELO
Kendrick Lamar - Good kid M.A.A.D. city
I’ve listened to most of the other concept albums mentioned in this thread, but I believe deep in my heart of hearts, this album has the strongest story and emotional impact.
My favorite is Queensrÿche’s Operation: Mindcrime. It gets pretty regular listenings still.
Hemispheres (the first side is one long concept piece, but the flip side is awesome too) - Rush
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Act II: The Father of Death, by The Protomen.
The story, the music, it all works for me.
Fantastic album, would love to see them live at some point
666 by Aphrodite’s Child is pretty awesome.
It’s a concept album based on the Book of Revelation. This is also the band that Vangelis was in before he started scoring movies.
Chill Out by the motherfuckin’ KLF
That is a really, really good pair.
21st Century Breakdown also does a good job, it’s a little different but it’s got the same album story.
Deltron 3030 is a stellar album about an intergalactic rapper. It’s produced by Del tha Funkee Homosapien and Dan the Automator, seriously, killer.
And before the Flobots came, there was Johnny 5 and Yak who made Onomatopoeia, another stellar album. It’s an underground 2000’s set though, so it gets gritty. But it’s very real and so well composed. That of course led to Flobots Fight with Tools, which may just be the best political album of all time.
My favorite is Get Equipped by The Megas. It’s the soundtrack of Mega Man 2 turned into a rock opera.
The Kinks are The Village Green Preservation Society. (Also the first concept album if I remember correctly).
If you’re into indie rock, I highly recommend Separation Sunday by The Hold Steady and The Monitor by Titus Andronicus.
They’re both very high-brow (or pretentious, depending on who you ask), but for my money the musicianship and the lyrics just keep me coming back.
Separation Sunday is all about growing up and doing sketchy stuff, finding/losing the faith you grew up with, and finding/losing friends to death, jail, and life.
The Monitor uses the story of an ironclad from the American Civil War as a metaphor for the internal struggle of a 19yo trying to leave his blue-collar roots behind and go to an Ivy League school. If you’ve ever felt that internal divide between who you are and who you want to be, it’s a fantastic album. Shades of Bruce Springsteen with some modern punk.
Speaking of Springsteen, Born to Run could be considered a concept album and it’s a classic, especially if you’ve ever felt the bone-deep need to get away from everything about your home town.
There are a lot of other great suggestions in this thread (especially Good Kid, MAAD City), but they’re mostly the standard “best 50 concept albums of all time” that you see in lots of music journalism, so I wanted to make sure my favorites got seen, too.
