Hello Again Kats & Kittens, Friend & Fiend,
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Today we exam the CONCEPT ALBUM……thing is, all albums are some form of concept, right? Very correct oh wise one…but where did it start? Some say WOODY GUTHRIE started concepts with “Dust Bowl Ballads”, 1940, the album had a theme….mostly sad songs about dusty times, the effects on people & the places they live…like 30s Oklahoma.
So…Concept Albums have a theme……check.
Moving forward…some have opined FRANK SINATRA a vanguard in concept albums with “The Voice of Frank Sinatra”, 1946 (who’s gonna tell him no FRANK you’re not?). BING CROSBY also recorded albums with themes. But the big push in concept albums came mid 60s into early 70s…we chatted about this a few days back in GLAMland, remember?
1966 BEACH BOYS=”Pet Sounds”…1967 BEATLES=”Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club”…the BIG DADDY hits town in ‘69, THE WHO’S “TOMMY”. A story is told, ROCK OPERA is now a thing…”Quadrophenia” is 4 years away.
Oh look…we have that….button below.
So……A theme & a story………check.
Gloomy Prog-Boys couldn’t leave well enough…HAWKWIND, BLUE OYSTER CULT, GENESIS, RICK WAKEMAN & of course the top of the tops, PINK FLOYD join the concept…PINK FLOYD’s library is pretty much all concept LPs…”Dark Side of the Moon”, fantastic!…(take into account the mixing of said album…itself a work of art…this was pre-computerized boards & no Pro-Tools…five people, analog, all hands on the mix board, cross fading into the next song. If you messed up, roll tapes back, start over. The engineer? ALAN PARSONS…no slouch, engineered “Let It Be”. Had his own run of concept albums…The ALAN PARSONS PROJECT ”Tales of Mystery and Imagination (Edgar Allen Poe)” comes to mind.
JETHRO TULL got into the act with “Thick as a Brick”, March 72. Most listeners were not in on the joke…the entire album is a poke at Prog-Rock, Concept albums, his band, the audience, the music media…its really one long song. The "troubles” started on release of “Aqualung”, 71, a music critic described the record as a concept album…Band leadsman IAN ANDERSON would have none of it…wrote “TAAB” as “the mother of all concept albums” in the vein of surreal funny men Monty Python.
We’d say it worked.
TULL………please put the foot down Ian!…Witnessed these Kats at COBO Arena, March 1977….DEEtroit!
So……A theme, a story, mixed as one……check…mate.
GENESIS with PETER GABRIEL were an art band with prog-theater dressing. Without Mr. GABRIEL?…meh…we know “Blasphemor!” But they were better with PETER. This was to be the last album GABRIEL would record with GENESIS, it was decided, “we need to create a grand story concept so let’s make a double LP! & call it “The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway”…(so this is where SPINAL TAP got ideas). GABRIEL wanted the album story planted in America as to not repeat the last LP, so less UK bent. This journey of self-discovery begins with a boy, RAEL, half-Puerto Rican New York City kid, who endures several bizarre predicaments & weirdos. Beginning-Middle-End.
Does RAEL die at the end? You have to listen in & find out.
PHIL COLLINS stated the album “was about split personality. Individual songs also make satirical allusions to mythology, the sexual revolution, advertising, and consumerism.”
PETER GABRIEL demanded he write all the lyrics….and did! With PETER off alone scribing, the BAND rehearsed without him… not one of them was happy.
Add to this mess, Filmster BILLY FRIEDKIN unwittingly added more stress by inviting GABRIEL to help write a screenplay that never materializes.
From 1974 with all its pomposity.
So……A theme, a story, mixed as one, beginning-middle-end……Funk is from Outer Space? Check?
Godfather of Funk hisself, MR. GEORGE CLINTON & his PARLIAMENT FUNKADELIC Space Machine says so…here’s two albums tied…”Dr. Funkenstein“ (76) & “Funkentelechy VS Placebo Syndrome” (77) as one. Seems Funk Music hurtles to earth from the outer galaxy, to save mankind from something known as Placebo Syndrome…we veg out on commercialism…rendering us flaccid & weak…FUNK revives the spirit & soul!………riiiiiight.
Earthlings beware! Papa Clinton is here!
GEORGE & Baddass Bassman BOOTSIE COLLINS!
Yep….Funk is from Space…
OK so…A theme, a story, mixed as one, begin-midpoint-ending, funk is from space…metal also travels to Space & Russia?…hmmmmmmmmmmmmm…where’s PINK FLOYD?
A hard metal concept album…OK…we think so… ‘Lanta, Peach State’s MASTODON has a few…this is “Crack The Skye”, 2009. Skye was drummer BRANN DAILOR’S 14 year old sister, lost to suicide …BRANN tells the tale of what this concept is about…”the record would tell a story dealing variously with the art aesthetics of Tsarist Russia, astral travel, out of body experiences & Stephen Hawking's theories on wormholes”……theme? Ok…your story.
Athemeastorymixedasonestartfinishfunk&metalfromspace……oh and animated too……WTF? Shoulda put RICK WAKEMAN’S “The Six Wives of Henry VIII” in the mix.
Let’s get animated…with UK’s GORILLAZ…”Humanz” is th album, 2017. DAMIAN ALBARN heads the cast of traveling musos & singers…made across the globe, ALBARN made tracks sometimes on Garageband, (thank you Apple), then sent a loaded iPad to a guest muso in say, Paris…they record, send iPad back, mishmash the album together…Boom record!
The overall theme leans into political in a “what happens emotionally in the aftermath of an unexpected world-changing event?”… how does that sound familiar?…pick one from the last few years…we have several.
The album is surpisingly up…but if you listen closely the words dagger in…
SOOOO…..themestoryonestartfinishfunkmetalspaceanimated….is that concept? Nope, you forgot Microtonal…
OZland’s KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD is here to help. “Flying Microtonal Banana”, 2017, was recorded in quarter tone tuning, meaning an octave divided into 24 (logarithmically) equal-distanced quarter tones; (we’ll see your mumbo & raise your jumbo). Originally conceived to play on a Turkish seven string baglama, band members used instruments specifically modified for microtonal tuning. THAT is the theme. Microtuning! Album title is from STU MACKENZIE'S custom-built yellow guitar, fitted with additional microtonal frets…hence Microtonal Banana…why it flies we are not sure.
By the by…this was the first album KG&TLW released in 2017, four more records were released that same year…That’s 5 full length albums in 12 months… More like microdosing. Play on!
What………a………long………strange………trip! Hope it was fun…it was from here.
Thanks for listening, until tomorrow.
Peace & Distance.
