Modern Concept Albums

Ah, the concept album.

Music has always been used as a medium to tell stories. From the bards of times past to the musicians of today, stories and messages have been told through song. Jilted lovers, silly break ups, society's flaws, true love, true pain, anguish, politics, drunken antics, heroes, villains, various kinds of sex, nothing has been left out of song. In most albums, however, each song is its own little self contained story. In a concept album, each song is like a chapter of one story. Each one follows a theme or plays a part in the narrative of the album. One very well known concept album is The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars by David Bowie.

Many artists have done their own concept album including Ray Charles (The Genius Hits the Road), Johnny Cash (Ride This Train), The Beatles ( Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ), pretty much everything by Pink Floyd, Styx, Alice Cooper, ELO, The Kinks, Everclear, Cursive, Green Day (American Idiot), The Mars Volta, Explosions in the Sky, My Chemical Romance (The Black Parade), Jay-Z (American Gangster), and even Frank Sinatra (In the Wee Small Hours). I didn't mention all of the artists because that would take too much space. I just wanted to give an idea of the variety of artists that have done concept albums. Anyways, I'm just going to talk about some of the concept albums made recently. "Recently" being past couple years. I'm not going to talk about all of them, just ones I've listened to or heard about from friends.

Say Anything - ...Is a Real Boy/In Defense of the Genre (2004/2007)

Max Bemis' punk rock musical about a boy in a sucky band who can't stand the vast hypocrisy in society and especially the punk scene. One day, a magical power overtakes him and forces him to shout out his innermost feelings in the form of fully orchestrated rock anthems. As he gains popularity, his ability forces him to speak out about the world around him, ending relationships and creating others. With witty lyrics and clever instrumentation (influenced by musicals), it's a joy to listen to. It sounds different, but it's decent stuff. Stuff that came from the mind of one man. Max Bemis played every instrument on the album except drums. The second album, In Defense of the Genre, returns to the same character as he develops a new romantic relationship and experiences the complications involved. He also struggles with mental instability, as paranoia and hallucinations begin to interfere with his life.

http://www.myspace.com/sayanything


Coheed and Cambria - Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World for Tomorrow (2007)

This is the final chapter in Coheed and Cambria's science fiction epic. There are 4 parts to the story. Three have been released so far, with the band's next album telling the first part of the story. The story is about the Keywork, interconnecting beams of energy that holds 78 planets together. The main character is Claudio, the son of Coheed and Cambria. He's destined to become The Crowing, a messianic figure who will save the souls of the Keywork by destroying it. The albums center around his travels, his romances with Newo, coming to terms with his destiny, eventually embracing it, and finally avenging the death of his parents and destroying the Keywork. Thankfully, you can listen to the music without even paying attention to the story since it's not very specific on details. It's just one of those things where you can go back and look at the album a totally different way.

http://www.myspace.com/coheedandcambria

The Dear Hunter - Act II: The Meaning of , and All Things Regarding Ms. Leading (2007)

After a young man's mother, Ms. Terri (an ex-prostitute), dies, he goes off on his own. He enters a nearby bordello in hopes of learning more about his mother's past since he was a product of her occupation. There, he falls in love with the prostitute, Ms. Leading. Eventually, he can't cope with her chosen profession and their relationship falls apart. The album is clearly ambitious. It explores a variety of musical styles, genres, and influences including orchestral rock, country blues, jazz-pop, ragtime piano, and prog rock. The instruments range from pianos, guitars, harps, trumpets, and strings, to banjos, shakers, synthesizers, and various backup singers. The lyrics are even well written and flow very well with the music. The singing is even pretty damn impressive. His voice is a little unique, but he does sing well.

http://www.myspace.com/thedearhunter


The Good Life - Help Wanted Nights (2007)

The Good Life is the side project of Cursive front-man, Tim Kasher. The album was written as a musical counterpart to an actual screenplay he was writing. There's less storytelling in it than in his usual albums, but the big ideas are all there. It's about a stranger whose car breaks down in a small town for about a week. He hangs around the town bar and gets wrapped up in the sordid lives of the regulars. The songs explore love, lust, sex without the love, love without the sex, coming alive in the arms of another, and letting go. The lyrics are a highlight here, honest and raw, as is the stripped down acoustic/folk approach. You can almost feel how desperate he is when he sings "I need you so bad. I mean right now, you're all I have".

http://www.myspace.com/thegoodlife


The Hold Steady - Almost Killed Me/Separation Sunday/Boys and Girls in America/ Stay Positve (2004-2008)

In the third album, Boys and Girls in America, The Hold Steady continues the story of the characters from Separation Sunday with a less narrative approach than that album. Separation Sunday was about a character named Holly and her quest to find a balance between Catholicism and rock and roll through drugs and a metaphorical resurrection. Boys and Girls in America follows Holly and other characters through fun times, high times, darkly romantic times, and things in-between. Though, you could call the albums after Separation Sunday loose concept albums at most. Craig Finn's lyrics are great. They're often funny but also smart. The music has a fun, catchy, classic rock feel to it. They have a new album out called Stay Positive. Craig Finn has said it still explores the previous characters but from a more mature viewpoint.

http://www.myspace.com/theholdsteady


Forgive Durden - Razia's Shadow: A Musical (2008)

After the rest of the members quit the band, Thomas Dutton decided to make his side-project idea a reality. Composed by him and his brother, this musical explores a world that's been divided into Light and Dark by the mistakes of angels. A prophecy is foretold about two people whose love will be so strong they will reunite the Dark and the Light as one. The story continues many years later. Two brothers in the Dark half, Adakias and Pallis, have differing views on how to fulfill their destiny. Pallis stays in the kingdom while Akadias leaves. He eventually falls in love with a princess from the Light half. His brother finds him and tries to bring Akadias back to the kingdom by testing the Princess' love for him. Upon finding that the Princess' love is true, Pallis tries to kill her to take Akadias back. Akadias blocks him, impaling himself on Pallis' blade. Pallis realizes his brother's true destiny and regrets what he's done. Akadias asks them not to cry for him as he dies, and the two halves of the world become one once more. It's definitely an ambitious project with many guest singers playing each character. The music is inspired by musicals, and it has a certain Tim Burton-esque sound at times. As such, it can be quite off-putting if you're not used to musicals. I was put off for a couple tracks, but it got quite better as it went on. So either the quality of the music got better, or I just became more used to it. I'm just not terribly keen of Dutton's voice.

http://www.forgivedurden.com/blog/


Right Away, Great Captain - The Bitter End (2007)

Andy Hull's (Manchester Orchestra) acoustic side-project about a 1600s sailor and his 3 years at sea. Each song is an entry in his journal to his family at home or his captain. The Bitter End is the first part of a planned trilogy. The second part, The Eventually Home, will be released on Nov. 11th. Before a young sailor leaves for his 3 year trip, he sees his wife cheating on him with his brother from the window. He doesn't tell either of them what he saw, kisses his children goodbye, and leaves for the ship. He deals with loss, missing things, the wonder of adventure at sea, and his feelings with betrayal while beginning a friendship with the captain of the ship. The captain tells him that love is nothing more than an action. He shouldn't put his faith in something so unreliable. The sailor grows more insane as time goes on. His depression slowly mixes with bitterness and hate. Eventually, the ship docks. He sees his wife, son, and daughter waiting for him. For an instant he falls back in love with her. He forgets all the hateful things he wanted to say to her. He's faced with the decision of either spending his life at sea, or being tortured by her betrayal and of what he might do to her. He comes to the conclusion that he's not ready to forgive her and returns to sea. The album concludes with the Captain's death, and the sailor becoming the new Captain.

http://www.myspace.com/rightawaygreatcaptain


Thrice - The Alchemy Index: Volumes I, II, III, and IV: Fire, Water, Air, and Earth (2007/2008)

Thrice's four-disc concept album was split between two releases. The first was Fire and Water. The second was Air and Earth. Each song is about the respective element they represent. Each disc has its own unique sound. The Fire album has an aggressive rock sound. The Water album has soothing waves of sound with electronic aspects. The Air album focuses on atmosphere with songs as heavy as a hurricane and as passionate as a loving breeze. The Earth album takes a stripped down approach with acoustics, banjos, and such. It's a very ambitious and experimental effort. It is one that seems to have paid off for the band. I think it's great they can explore many facets of their sound through each album and not get bogged down by a genre's expectations.

http://www.myspace.com/thrice


Circa Survive - Juturna/ On Letting Go (2005/2007)

Though not really concept records, their albums do follow themes in some of their songs. It could easily be argued that Juturna is a concept record about cocaine and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The songs contain many references to Anthony Green's own struggles with drug use and to the movie though it's not a concept on purpose. Some of the songs directly talk about erasing someone you loved from your mind or recognizing a stranger in the street, so yeah. I'm not sure, but it's food for thought. Though when your album closes with "Meet Me in Montauk" it seems a little obvious. Their second album, On Letting Go, deals with the theme the title suggests. It's about loss of friendship, struggles with religion, and letting go of the emotions we struggle with everyday. The anger we feel. The loneliness we feel, not just from friends but God as well. We have to let go to move on to something new and better. However, there are those who believe the album is a concept about the New Testament. It's all about interpretation, and Green's words are quite accommodating.

http://www.myspace.com/circasurvive


The Gutter Twins - Saturnalia (2008)

Also one of those "concept but not really" albums. I could've put in The Twilight Singers - Powder Burns in as an album wholly about drugs, which it is, but this album is more recent. Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan team up to deliver us a darkly atmospheric album about religion and the evils that men do. Many of the songs sound as if they are about the Rapture, and the plight of those left behind without one to lead them. Then some of them talk of getting in or out of heaven because of the things they've done. Though the songs share a common theme, Dulli has said it was not intended as a concept album. This is a beautiful album. It's ominous in its tone, with unsettling guitar sounds, creeping strings, soothing back up vocals, the crass baritone of Lanegan, and the lush sound of Dulli.

The Gutter Twins- Idle Hands (download)

www.myspace.com/theguttertwins