Operation: Concept Albums – an epic Nigel Tufnel Top Ten

Concept albums!  A marathon session with a five person panel. The best concept albums in the history of music (the earliest dating back to 1918). Genre busting lists. A rush of inspiring music, from hip to elders.

Aaron kept tabs on the titles and I’ll post them when I get a chance.  There was one album that was a clear winner, and one subject that crossed over multiple albums.  You’ll just have to watch to see for yourself.*

There was some preamble chat about the latest episode of WandaVision, and a bit on Desmond Child.  We hit the lists at 0:21:30 of the stream.

Thanks for checking it out!  Tune in next week for Top Bootlegs with Harrison Kopp, John T. Snow, Buried On Mars and maybe more.  Cheers!

* If you don’t want to see for yourself, you can try to read Aaron’s hand-written notes below!

35 comments

      1. Hey! It was a concept album show, and I thought Meat’s tape had the best concept, simply because Eric is hilarious and I enjoy tasteless humor. To a degree that it alienates me from people who are more well adjusted. There’s my defense of the “stupid” pick. I knew the concept, if not the execution.

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        1. I think you kind of confused Meat and I when you dropped your comment about it. I was thinking, “Must be Tom, because who else has heard that tape?” I definitely assumed you were Tom, Meat had no idea who you were.

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  3. It turns out after reading these lists, I could’ve had a Top 10. I didn’t realize some were concept albums though. I came in around Aaron’s on Radiohead and could only hang until your pick on War of the Worlds. Really learned a lot in that short time. And lastly, so glad you picked The Elder!!! It would’ve made my list for sure even if it isn’t a good Kiss album it is still a good concept album.

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    2. I definitely wanted to retort the comments about Kid A, as I love that album, and maybe it’s a concept album too! Thanks for tuning in when you could John. Now let’s start getting our bootlegs ready!

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      1. Me too on Kid A. I’ve been playing the later radiohead records (especially Hail To The Thief through A Moon Shaped Pool) while I work out and they’re growing on me like a fungus. I’m beginning to see the brilliance behind it all and it’s like a whole new world opens up when it happens! It quickly goes from ‘yeah that sounds like them’ to ‘wow that was really a deft move there,’ to ‘HOLY SMOKES!’

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  4. Hey Mike, thanks again for having me on, it’s always an honour!

    We ended before we got to them (not a problem), so here are my Also-Rans:

    Styx – Kilroy Was Here
    Small Faces – Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake
    Lou Reed – Metal Machine Music
    Rheostatics – Whale Music
    Iron Maiden – Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
    Pink Floyd – The Division Bell

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      1. Yeah I wasn’t gonna include the Maiden because I wasn’t totally sold on the concept and there were stronger albums, but it still made the list because of course. The one I do sorta regret and might have included in a parallel universe was the Metal Machine Music. Ah well.

        If I had fallen down and hurt myself, it wouldn’t have been the first time, though probably the first time on your stream! That headphone cord decided it was time for some f*ckery, is all. I wasn’t even using them in the chat! Ah well, no autopsy, no foul! ;) I did appreciate the concern, though!

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        1. It doesn’t get more concept than Metal Machine Music. Berlin is also an excellent choice, especially if you like Alice Cooper since it was produced by Ezrin and features the playing of Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner, but overall I thought that New York held together best.

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        5. Kinda the same as me, and why I ranked it lower — I wasn’t totally sold on the 7th Son concept. But hey, I could do an entire show with just the runners-up from my list and I’m sure you could too!

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        2. I’ll take your word for it because I’m not familiar with his catalog. Great show by the way, I had no idea what a concept album was before watching that episode. I also found it cool that you all chose the same Rush album (great minds think alike eh?).

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  8. This was yet another fun episode! I know it was a long one but it flew by for me. When we started wrapping up I looked at the counter and couldn’t believe we were recording for almost three hours already!

    For the record, the ones that almost made it are:

    Rush – Cygnus X-1 Books 1 & 2 on A Farewell to Kings/Hemispheres
    Iron Maiden – 7th Son
    Metallica – …And Justice For All

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      1. The album title is taken from the Pledge of Allegiance. The lyrics for each song center on social issues. Justice, freedom, war, politics, censorship, environmentalism, etc. I know, its like I just described every RATM album, lol

        Frayed Ends of Sanity and Dyers Eve are kind of outliers too, so that’s why it didn’t make it into my top 11.

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