Best concept album?

[Buleste]

With all the talk about Pink Floyd on another thread it got me thinking. What do you think id the best concept album??

I think Jeff Waynes War of the Worlds is my favorite but what do you think?

[Tiago]

What is a concept album...? sorry... my engl...

[Buleste]

A concept album is where they take a theme or idea that runs through the whole album like a story. Examples are The Wall by Pink Floyd, Bat out of Hell. Most of them were made in the 70's and they had only a few tracks that went on for about 8+ mins.
For a good definition goto http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concept_album

[Tiago]

Ok, i see,

so the best ones for me:

Pink Floyd - The Wall
Dream Theater - Scenes From a Memory

[Demon Cleaner]

Voïvod - Nothingface

[v85rawdeal]

Pink Floyd - The Wall is a 'no-brainer' (at least for me)

Bad News - Bad News

Queen - A Night At The Opera

Jean Michel Jarre - Aero

But that's just my oh-so-humble (oh yeah! humble??? RIGHT!!!) opinion!

EDIT: I forgot to include The Rocky Horror Picture Show!!!

[Demon Cleaner]

Bad News - Bad News

These guys are just hilarious

[Buleste]

Bad News - Bad News

Now there's a blast from the past. "On a clear day i can see my *****" - thats a quote from whan of the talking section of Bad News.

[Tiago]

Pink Floyd - The Wall is a 'no-brainer' (at least for me)

What do you mean with "no-brainer" ...?

[Harrison]

As already mentioned in the Floyd thread one of mine is The Wall. I love that album and can listen to it over and over again. I think this has to be up there as one of the best. Plus many of their other albums are right alongside in the same category.

Another group I have to mention is The Beatles, especially the Sgt. Pepper album, which was one of the very first concept albums to push music forward beyond standard pop music of the time. With their later albums you can really see a shift in ideas, Their first few albums were just a collection of songs, whereas their later albums contained themes and common threads that were reflected throughout the albums.

Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush are two others that have explored the concept album idea extensively with many of their albums. Kate Bush especially with many albums focusing around a central theme. The Red Shoes being possibly the biggest to explore this, being completely based on the Hans Christian Andersen story about a ballet dancer.

And who could talk about this without mentioning Iron Maiden! Seventh Son of a Seventh Son has to be one of the best concept albums ever! Plus a few others like Somewhere in Time do sort of follow a story/theme throughout.

Oh and Fields of the Nephilim. Albums like Revelations and Elizium explore the Nephilim, as do all of their albums. Same is true for many other gothic groups. Could you include the Sisters of Mercy's Floodland album here?

A very different style has to be instrumental concept albums. Jean Michel Jarre must be the greatest for me with each of his albums being completely conceptual in natural and exploring themes and ideas. For me the early album Equinoxe is my favourite, followed by Oxygene.

What else? How about Steve Vai and Joe Satriani? and I can't finish without mentioning Led Zeppelin!