Top Five...

Greatest Concept Albums of All-Time

With Muse, The Decemberists, Grizzly Bear, Mos Def, Animal Collective and many more coming out with concept albums in 2009, I found it relevant to rate my favorite. The top two albums also have cover to cover reggae versions that are fairly genius.

Number (5) The Mars Volta's De Loused In The Comatorium



Year: 2003
Genre: Prog Rock
Theme: A man who tries to kill himself by overdosing. After which, he experiences visions. After waking, he jumps to his death.
Most telling track: Roulette Dares
Most telling lyric: 'Everyone knows the last toes are always the coldest to go' Televators

Based on a short story written by lead singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala and sound manipulation artist Jeremy Michael Ward, the album is an hour-long tale of Cerpin Taxt, a man who tries to kill himself by overdosing on a mixture of morphine and rat poison. The attempt lands him in a week-long coma during which he experiences visions of humanity and his own psyche. Upon waking, he is dissatisfied with the real world and jumps to his death. The story of Cerpin Taxt is based on the death of El Paso, Texas artist - and Bixler-Zavala's friend - Julio Venegas. This album was produced by master Rick Rubin.

Number (4) Liars' The Drum's Not Dead



Year: 2006
Genre: Experimental Rock
Theme: Mt. Heart Attack and Drum are the two characters that represent an opposite state of being
Most telling track: The Other Side of Mount Heart Attack
Most telling lyric: 'I can always be found. I will stay by your side, And I want you to find me, so I'll stay by your side'
The Other Side of Mount Heart Attack

Drum is assertive and productive, the spirit of creative confidence. With two drum kits integral to many of these percussive, propulsive, highly rhythmic convulsions, Drum came to be acknowledged as a fourth member of the band. Conversely, Mount Heart Attack is the reaction to Drum's action, the embodiment of stress and self-doubt. Both became key elements in the creative process. Succeeding rather than regressing or retreating, Liars have had the last laugh: Drum's Not Dead is a majestic victory lap, and on all levels, a total triumph.


Number (3) Outkast's Aquemini



Year: 1998
Genre: Hip Hop
Theme: global warming, emancipation, drug addiction, problematic relationships (including the bands own dichotomy), the bleakest aspects of humanity
Most telling track: Aquemini
Most telling lyric: 'Nothing is for certain. And nothin' lasts forever. But until they close that curtain, it's just him and I' Aquemini

Easily the greatest hip-hop album of all time, Outkast's third studio album marks the height of a genre as well as the band. It's interesting to think of the glaring hypocracy that generally runs rampid in Hip Hop. I am mainly speaking about the Tu Pac's of the world rapping about murdering in one song to how much he loves his mother in another. It creates awkwardness that I have never been able to swallow completely. Then comes Outkast, mixing a blend that is true to the genre but also pushes it to such a great height that it seems it will never be lived up to again. The unique dichotomy of the blend between Andre and Big Boi can be summed up with tracks 4-6. The enduring tragedy of OutKast's apparent and perhaps inevitable parting of the ways derives from the fact that once upon a time, Andre and Big Boi seemed inseparable, unstoppable, forever. "Aquemini" is bookended by two tracks that offer an interesting meta-commentary on the group's unity in division. That they flank their statement of fluxing constancy with duets with Raekwon ("Skew It on the Bar-B") and George Clinton ("Synthesizer") Raekwon alternates between nihilism and scintillating verbal pointillist abstraction. But he's a proponent of the Wu-Tang gangsta worldview, so let's put him in Big Boi's camp. In the other corner, we have George Clinton—the galactic highfather of g-funk. Boi's style owes Mr. Clinton something major, but let's slot him with Andre as a wild-eyed revolutionary. So: George Clinton and Raekwon, the yin and yang, examples both of the wide chasm between Andre and Boi and the tiny leap necessary to bridge it. Ultimately, the downfall of hip-hop (contradiction) is the reason why this album transcends to epic heights.

Number (2) Radiohead's Ok Computer



Year: 1997
Genre: Alt Rock
Theme: technology, insanity, death, modern life, globalization, and capitalism
Most telling track: Let Down
Most telling lyric: 'Hey man slow down, slow down. Idiot slow down.'

The band themselves have stated that this album is not a concept album and any clear story is unintentional. Where the themes may not be overt, this album is meant to be heard as a whole and only after you hear it in its entirety do the songs transcend into a life changing experience. In that regard, it is a concept album. Lead singer Thom Yorke stated of his lyrics, "It was like there's a secret camera in a room and it's watching the character who walks in - a different character for each song. The camera's not quite me. It's neutral, emotionless. But not emotionless at all. In fact, the very opposite." The end result is a summation of where technology is leading the human race. It's a terrifying ride that we can't seem to get off of.

Number (1) Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon



Year: 1973
Genre: Prog Rock
Theme: conflict, greed, ageing, death, and mental illness
Most telling track: Time
Most telling lyric: 'There is no dark side of the moon really.
Matter of fact it's all dark.'

One of the first ever concept albums just happens to be the best. This was also the first album to utilize a sequencer (little trivia fact). Beyond it's innovation in technology, which would be worth putting it at number one alone, what resonates the most after all of these years is the subject matter the album deals with, the nature of the human experience. The album begins and ends with a human heartbeat and has only one noticeable break in it. This was due to it's release on vinyl at the time. What's strange is that the older I get the more the lyrics resonate. "And you run and you run; to catch up with the sun; but it's sinking; racing around to come up behind you again. The sun is the same; in a relative way; but you're older. Shorter of breath, and one day closer to death."