Concept albums, yay or nay?

I can't think of any concept albums with narration that I like. To me, if your story requires somebody to stand their and tell it to the audience then it's not a very good concept.

If the story elements are kept short than concept albums are okay for me.
Good: King Diamond, W.A.S.P. (The Crimson Idol).
Bad: Judas Priest (Nostradamu)
Mixed: Queensryche (Operation Mindcrime)

tul wrote:

If the story elements are kept short than concept albums are okay for me.

I don't know what length has got to do with quality.

I guess you don't like Ayreon.

Lari wrote:

tul wrote:

If the story elements are kept short than concept albums are okay for me.

I don't know what length has got to do with quality.

I guess you don't like Ayreon.

Ayreon is kind of an odd duck when it comes to concept albums though. Barring "The Human Equation," most of those albums, save for the intro or coda are pretty self-contained. You could make a mix tape of Ayreon songs and it'd probably hold up pretty well.

Yep

Yay..... being a Rush nut as I am....


However if the songs SUCK who cares..... Lyrics don't make the record for me.... You can have the best story or message but if the melodies are mud and the arrangements stink.... again WHO CARES...

I don't buy MUSIC for the lyric sheet per se....

A hit and miss. As long as the music comes first, it can be great. Not at all into a soundtrack to an imaginary movie. Concepts and themes are cool. A album where the concept or story distracted from the music was Magica by Dio and Operation Mindcrime by Queensryche. The distraction was the bits between the songs. Seeing a concert and/or video with all that stuff thrown it, would probably have a completely different effect. On the other hand, Pink Floyd The Wall worked.

I've never been a huge fan of concept albums, but there are those few I really like: Genesis "Lamb Lies Down On Broadway", Queensryche "Operation Mindcrime", Iced Earth "Dark Saga" & "The Glorious Burden", etc..