Story Albums?

[DrewTheXenocide]

Are there even such things? Am I talking out of my ass? Do you even know what I'm asking?

To me, "Story Albums" are albums that consistently tell one story, not through skits inbetween the songs, but in the actual songs themselves. Can anybody name some, or even their favorite? Just curious as to if they even exist.

I've been listening to Gorillaz - Demon Days for a while, and I think they're trying to tell me something, but it seemed to me that the gists of all their songs only made sense consecutively when backwards. But then I saw the video for Feel Good Inc. and El Manana together and it seems that it take place one after another. Weird.

I may not get it, but I love trying to figure out what they're trying to say, and would appreciate some more similar ones. That is, if there even is such a thing, and I'm not totally being John Nash in A Beautiful Mind.

[xakko]

Are there even such things? Am I talking out of my ass? Do you even know what I'm asking?

Are you talking about concept albums, or rock operas?

Like the Who's "Tommy", Pink Floyd's "The Wall", or "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" by Genesis, among many, many others?

Many bands also have kept to thematic albums, exploring one theme spread over several songs.

[DrewTheXenocide]

Well, there's a difference between a consistent concept or theme, and an actual story with a beginning, middle and end.

[Chiasm]

Operation Mindcrime by Queensryche

One of my favorite albums ever and it tells a story.

[Sanagi]

Aside from what's already been mentioned... There's a War of the Worlds concept album. It's mainly noted for having some songs by Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues.

The Alan Parsons Project did an album inspired by Edgar Allen Poe. It's one of the group's better works.

Demon Days has a theme of the world falling into corruption, but aside from the last three tracks, I don't know if it's coherent enough to be called a story.

[scratchie]

Some of the more well-known examples:

Tommy by the Who
Quadrophenia by the Who
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway by Genesis
The Wall by Pink Floyd
Preservation Act 1 & 2 by the Kinks
Soap Opera by the Kinks (lots of other Kinks albums from the late 60s/early 70s have storylines running through them to one degree or another)
S.F. Sorrow by the Pretty Things (considered by some to be the first "rock opera").
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars by David Bowie
Diamond Dogs by David Bowie (one story on each album side)

This sort of thing was all the rage in the 70s.

[Expletive Deleted]

In terms of recent story albums, Neil Young's Greendale and Green Day's American Idiot spring to mind.

[Eliot Johnson]

The Getty Address by The Dirty Projectors

[berk]

Some of the more well-known examples:

...
S.F. Sorrow by the Pretty Things (considered by some to be the first "rock opera").
...Has anyone ever listened to this on? I remember reading about it back in the 70's as this neglected milestone from the past, but have never heard it or talked to anyone who has. Always been curious about it. ACtually, I don't think I've heard more than one or two songs from the Pretty Things at all.

[Deathstroke]

Operation Mindcrime by Queensryche

One of my favorite albums ever and it tells a story.


And don't forget Operation:mindcrime II

SAVATAGE's Streets: A Rock Opera, Dead Winter Dead, The Wake of Magellan, and Poets & Madmen.

W.A.S.P. - The Crimson Idol

Almost every album by King Diamond.

[Jonathan Bogart]

Has anyone ever listened to this on? I remember reading about it back in the 70's as this neglected milestone from the past, but have never heard it or talked to anyone who has. Always been curious about it. ACtually, I don't think I've heard more than one or two songs from the Pretty Things at all.
I have it. It was apparently the very first rock opera ... but it's not a tragic injustice that Tommy is generally considered to be the first rock opera.

It's pretty 1968-psychedelic, which means (in my opinion) overripe, especially production-wise. There's so much going on in the songs that you can barely hear the lyrics, let alone follow the story, which is pretty incoherent anyway. I imagine the album works much better stoned or tripping.

Still, there's a few good songs. "Baron Saturday" has a great "Lady Madonna"-esque riff, and on the CD version, one of the bonus tracks is "Defecting Grey," a seven-minute single which is one of the best pieces of British psychedelia to not be produced by the Beatles or Syd Barrett.

Just as a general overview, the Pretty Things started out trying to be the early Rolling Stones, and actually out-sleazed them for a while in 1965/66. Their early stuff is as tough as British blues got. Then they decided they wanted to be the Beatles circa Sgt. Pepper's, then in the 70s they were pretty much an amalgam of the Moody Blues and Mott the Hoople. If you like those influences, they're a good band, but they remain unknown in the States for good reason: they disappear futher up the ass of British psychedelia/progressive/glam than American tastes are generally willing to follow.

I'd guess that Queen was heavily inspired by them, though.

[ghostrider666]

Well, there's a difference between a consistent concept or theme, and an actual story with a beginning, middle and end.


Ok, so you are NOT talking about concept albums, like King Diamond's "Abigail" which is a "story" album. Rite? I think you mean an album like Iced Earth's "Horror Show" where each song is about classic monsters. A theme throughout. Is that correct?
If so, why the distinction?

[Austin]

Somebody already mentioned the Kinks, but their "Arthur or the Decline of the British Empire" is a fantastic album and a great example of "Story Albums"

Also:
Drive-By Truckers "Southern Rock Opera"
And both Hold Steady albums feature the same characters in a small town.

[DonC]

Iron Maiden's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son isn't a really coherent story, but it is technically a concept album.

Didn't KISS do a concept album early on?

[Ayo]

Drew: there are a handful of rap albums that constitute "story albums," however they utilize skits along with the songs themselves.


A Prince Among Theives by Prince Paul and a whole bunch of rappers is the first one to really do this (although Organized Konfusion's Equinox had priorly attempted to somewhat do this).

Then Sticky Fingaz of the mid-'90s group Onyx released his solo album Black Trash: The Autobiography of Kirk Jones which told the story of the fall and...um...further fall of Jones' character. The storyline kind of, sort of disintegrates in the second half, but the main framework is there.

[Weapon Ick]

It's odd how Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band was considered to be a concept album by everyone except the Beatles.

Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde is supposed to be a concept album about a love triangle.

Personally, I think The Kinks' Lola vs The Powerman is a concept album about a band's rise and trials in the music business.

I also think The Dandy Warhols' 13 Tales From Urban Bohemia is a concept album. But what it's about I don't know.

Oh yeah, and there's also Frank Zappa's Joe's Garage

[DrewTheXenocide]

Somebody already mentioned the Kinks, but their "Arthur or the Decline of the British Empire" is a fantastic album and a great example of "Story Albums"

Also:
Drive-By Truckers "Southern Rock Opera"
And both Hold Steady albums feature the same characters in a small town.

Sweet. I've already been jonesing on the Kinks' collection album, so I'll deffinitely try that one out.

And Ayo, I've slowly been wading in the pool of rap, so I'll give those a shot.

[scratchie]

Drive By Truckers: Good call, I forgot about this one when I was posting earlier.

Kinks, Arthur and Lola: I was debating including these albums but neither one of them has a "cut and dried" storyline the way Preservation or Soap Opera does. Still, they're both great albums and certainly deserving of inclusion in any rock collection.

S.F. Sorrow: I've never actually heard the album but the Boston Rock Opera theatre company staged a production of this album a few years ago. Unfortunately, the word that most describes my reaction is probably "underwhelmed".

[juggalotus]

music albums with stories that have a beginning middle and end.
one band that has not been listed is RUSH.
back in the early 70s they put out two that i know of.
2112 is awesome. It tells the story of a future where music is a forgotten art.
Until someone finds a guitar... the first track is overture then the story is
told through the next 5-6 songs or so, the end of the album has some stand alone tracks but the first half tells a cohesive story.
ANother is Caress of Steel. The first three tracks are stand alone followed
by the tale of the necromancer.
These are the best two rush albums IMO

[Yellowjacket]

Since no one else has mentioned it, Scenes from a Memory by Dream Theater is an absolute masterpiece.

[PunkMC]

I might be mistaken, but I believe every album Coheed & Cambria put out is one giant story, broken down into sort of chapters for each album. First album is the first chapter up till now the 4th one.

[ocelotrevs]

I might be mistaken, but I believe every album Coheed & Cambria put out is one giant story, broken down into sort of chapters for each album. First album is the first chapter up till now the 4th one.
Got in one Mr MC.
The entire story is known as 'The Bag Online Adventures', and altogether will consist of 5 albums.
The first volume of the 5 albums hasn't been released yet. But the
2nd (Second Stage Turbine Blade),
3rd (In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth:3)
and 4th (Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV: Volume One from Fear Through the Eyes of Madness) have been released.

Each album tells a part of, plus the songs can stand by themselves as a little story.
The singer (Claudio Sanchez) has also released some comics based on '2nd Stage...' and a Graphic Novel of 'Good Apollo...' on Evil Inks (http://www.evilinkcomics.net/)

[PunkMC]

Whoo hoo I love being sorta close to being right haha.

[Pinball]

Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite

[DDM]

Eurythmics, Be Yourself Tonight (1985) (a love letter more or less of Annie Lennox & David Stewart's love for Motown).

Eurythmics, Savage (1987) (a more semi-autobiographical look inside Annie & David's music relationship coming apart at the seams)

[leonaozaki]

Rick Wakeman used to do this sort of thing all the time: he had one album about King Arthur, another about the British Empire...but they were all universally bad.

My favorite concept album that isn't by Pink Floyd (THE WALL's already been mentioned) is of course David Bowie's OUTSIDE. The story doesn't make any sense, but there is one there, and it's just a great album regardless. Of course I also adore ZIGGY STARDUST and DIAMOND DOGS.

rob

[berk]

Still, there's a few good songs. "Baron Saturday" has a great "Lady Madonna"-esque riff Baron Saturday, as in Baron Samedi of Voodoo-fame?
Just as a general overview, the Pretty Things started out trying to be the early Rolling Stones, and actually out-sleazed them for a while in 1965/66. Their early stuff is as tough as British blues got. My impression was that they were contemporaries of the early Stones, and were just part of a broader movement of early-60's British blues/rock bands (e.g. The Animals), all of whom, including the Stones, were into the same sort of music, rather than everyone else imitating the Stones. But I'm not really up on the period.
Then they decided they wanted to be the Beatles circa Sgt. Pepper's, then in the 70s they were pretty much an amalgam of the Moody Blues and Mott the Hoople. If you like those influences, they're a good band, I do, and you've pretty much convinced me to try to track down some of their stuff.
I'd guess that Queen was heavily inspired by them, though.And that did it! Any recommendations apart from S.F.Sorrow?

[ocelotrevs]

Whoo hoo I love being sorta close to being right haha.
Well you're great anyway mentioning the words Coheed and Cambria.

The story is really interesting actually, and pretty deep.

[leonaozaki]

Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde is supposed to be a concept album about a love triangle.



Who says?

rob

[DonC]

Also, Trans-Siberian Orchestra's CDs actually come with novellas detailing the stories of the CDs.

[Jonathan Bogart]

Who says?
Oh, everyone's always got a theory about Dylan. The back cover of [b]Blood on the Tracks[/i] spouts annoyingly philosophical about a collection of songs that Dylan's autobiography suggests was inspired by Chekhov's short stories, not his personal life or the state of the world.

[Jonathan Bogart]

Any recommendations apart from S.F.Sorrow?
Try that first, and see what you think. I'm not really a big fan of the band; I've just heard a lot. Frankly, the earlier stuff is more appealing to me; the later stuff seems underwritten and overbaked. They're not really as good as the Moody Blues, Mott the Hoople, or Queen; and I'm not even a big fan of those bands. But they do tend to round out one's picture of the period.

[bert]

Didn't KISS do a concept album early on?


not TOO early on. . "the Elder" came out in the early 80's (1980-81 if I'm recalling correctly). . so it's at least a dozen albums into thier career.

GREAT album, but not near metal enough to satisfy thier fans, many of whom had already started to abandon them due to the "disco" sound of "Dynasty" and "Unmasked" (the two immediately preceeding albums).

I like all kinds of music, and "the Elder" is one of my favorite albums by them (easily in the top two or three (the others would be "Revenge" and "Destroyer").


anyways. . if you can get the Japanese or Mexican imports on vinyl, do so, since the American pressing changed the order of the songs, and kind of messed up the story they were telling.

the re-issue on CD corrected this problem, so the CD should be OK.

[PanzerMega]

Not a big fan of concept or story albums.

Mindcrime was great, though.

Nevermore's Dreaming Neon Black is good too.

[scratchie]

Also, Trans-Siberian Orchestra's CDs actually come with novellas detailing the stories of the CDs.Thanks for the warning! :D

[Ilash]

Not much to add here but for a different kind of story album, check out Dylan's John Wesley Harding - which is like an album version of a themed short story collection.

[DrewTheXenocide]

Drew: there are a handful of rap albums that constitute "story albums," however they utilize skits along with the songs themselves.


A Prince Among Theives by Prince Paul and a whole bunch of rappers is the first one to really do this (although Organized Konfusion's Equinox had priorly attempted to somewhat do this).

Then Sticky Fingaz of the mid-'90s group Onyx released his solo album Black Trash: The Autobiography of Kirk Jones which told the story of the fall and...um...further fall of Jones' character. The storyline kind of, sort of disintegrates in the second half, but the main framework is there.

Wait, just to clarify, is this the same Sticky Fingaz that is going to star in the Blade series?

[Kirayoshi]

Pete Townshend did an album in the late '80s/early '90s called "The Iron Man: The Musical", a story album based on the Ted Hughes children's book "The Iron Man"(same source material as the animated feature The Iron Giant, but Pete stuck more closely to the original book). For some reason this album featured an overblown cover of "Fire" by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. It also marked the first time that Pete, Roger Daultrey and John Entwhistle recorded original tracks together since The Who broke up(Daultry did some vocals, along with John Lee Hooker as the voice of the Iron Man, while John played bass). Not Pete's best work, but not bad.

Around that time he also recorded a couple of Tommy-esque rock-operas, "White City: a Novel" and "Psychoderelict".

[the film freak]

I once read a record review of Built to Spill's Keep It Like a Secret where the reviewer was convinced the albulm was about Watergate Scandal told from the point of view of Nixon's secretary Rose Mary Woods. When BTS frontman Doug Martsch was asked about this he had no idea what they were talking about.

[berk]

Rick Wakeman used to do this sort of thing all the time: he had one album about King Arthur, another about the British Empire...but they were all universally bad.I love the King Arthur album and Six Wives of Henry VIII is even better. What's the one about the British Empire called?

[K'Nort]

http://i.realone.com/assets/rn/cms/2004/album_170x170/Red_headed_stranger170.6598751.jpeg

[TinMan]

Mastodon's Leviathon is a "story" album. It basically tells the story of "Moby Dick".

http://www.hifi.nl/gfx/Mastodon_cover_151204.jpg

[The Real Nemo]

There's also NIN's The Downward Spiral, not really my type of thing but I learned about it researching Johnny Cash's cover of the song Hurt.

[Karl H]

A Grand Don't Come for Free by The Streets is a concept/ story album telling a genuine tale of a young guy's strife in 21st century London.

[Farrar]

For story albums, the one band that springs to mind is Coheed and Cambria... Every album is part of one big story, which are going to be explained in the comic sereis that starts in june. They tell a sci-fi story of a married couple and their son... all kinds of crazy stuff about han solo style spaceship captains who are obsessed with sniper rifles, talking bycycles and the like... good stuff

[Ilash]

Pete Townshend did an album in the late '80s/early '90s called "The Iron Man: The Musical", a story album based on the Ted Hughes children's book "The Iron Man"(same source material as the animated feature The Iron Giant, but Pete stuck more closely to the original book). For some reason this album featured an overblown cover of "Fire" by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. It also marked the first time that Pete, Roger Daultrey and John Entwhistle recorded original tracks together since The Who broke up(Daultry did some vocals, along with John Lee Hooker as the voice of the Iron Man, while John played bass). Not Pete's best work, but not bad.

Around that time he also recorded a couple of Tommy-esque rock-operas, "White City: a Novel" and "Psychoderelict".

I've heard of all of these of course but I've heard they're pretty bad. What's your take on these albums, quality-wise.

[SlightlyMad]

Oh yeah, and there's also Frank Zappa's Joe's Garage

Not forgetting Apostrophe & Thingfish (although the latter was an unmakeable musical, rather than a story).


Rick Wakeman used to do this sort of thing all the time: he had one album about King Arthur, another about the British Empire...but they were all universally bad.


No way, The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (to give it it's full title) rocks, but, Journey to the Centre of the Earth is my favourite Rick Wakeman story/concept album. I also have no idea what the British Empire thing is, unless you're referring to No Earthly Connection which was by Rick Wakeman & the English Rock Ensemble.

Another great "story" album was Tarkus by Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Also Radio KAOS by Roger Waters had a fairly cohesive story to it, but like all of his solo stuff, was very average musically.

[Van Custo]

Here we go,
Once upon a time not long ago,
when people wore pajamas and lived life slow,
When laws were stern and justice stood,
and people were behavin' like they ought ta good,
There lived a lil' boy who was misled,
by anotha lil' boy and this is what he said:
"Me, Ya, Ty, we gonna make sum cash,
robbin' old folks and makin' tha dash",
They did the job, money came with ease,
but one couldn't stop, it's like he had a disease,
He robbed another and another and a sista and her brotha,
tried to rob a man who was a D.T. undercover,
The cop grabbed his arm, he started acting erratic,
he said "Keep still, boy, no need for static",
Punched him in his belly and he gave him a slap,
but little did he know the lil' boy was strapped,
The kid pulled out a gun, he said "Why did ya hit me ?",
the barrel was set straight for the cop's kidney,
The cop got scared, the kid, he starts to figure,
"I'll do years if I pull this trigga",
So he cold dashed and ran around the block,
cop radioes it to another lady cop,
He ran by a tree, there he saw this sista,
a shot for the head, he shot back but he missed her,
Looked around good and from expectations,
so he decided he'd head for the subway stations,
But she was coming and he made a left,
he was runnin' top speed till he was outta breath,
Knocked an old man down and swore he killed him,
then he made his move to an abandoned building,
Ran up the stairs up to the top floor,
opened up the door there, guess who he saw?,
Dave the dope fiend shootin' dope,
who don't know the meaning of water nor soap,
He said "I need bullets, hurry up, run!"
the dope fiend brought back a spanking shotgun,
He went outside but there was cops all over,
then he dipped into a car, a stolen Nova (?),
Raced up the block doing 83,
crashed into a tree near university,
Escaped alive though the car was battered,
rat-a-tat-tatted and all the cops scattered,
Ran out of bullets and still had static,
grabbed a pregnant lady and out the automatic,
Pointed at her head and he said the gun was full o' lead,
he told the cops "Back off or honey here's dead",
Deep in his heart he knew he was wrong,
so he let the lady go and he starts to run on,
Sirens sounded, he seemed astounded,
before long the lil' boy got surrounded,
He dropped the gun, so went the glory,
and this is the way I must end this story,
He was only seventeen, in a madman's dream,
the cops shot the kid, I still hear him scream,
This ain't funny so don't ya dare laugh,
just another case 'bout the wrong path,
Straight 'n narrow or yo' soul gets cast(?).

Good Night.


:cool:

[berk]

I've heard of all of these of course but I've heard they're pretty bad. What's your take on these albums, quality-wise.I remember thinking White City wasn't bad, particularly the title track.

Having been listening to a lot of Eno a couple weeks back, I think Taking Tiger Mountain might qualify, although Eno would more than likely deny ever having consciously tried to tell a story on the album. But you could certainly interpret several of the songs as relating to some kind of expedition against said mountain, and with a little work I think even incorporate all the songs, even the apparently unrelated ones into a kind of narrative. I picture it as a Michael Moorcock style adventure of the Jerry Cornelius variety: international esionage, commando missions, weird domestic situations all mixed together into an off-kilter story. I want someone to make the movie.

[FanboyStranger]

I once read a record review of Built to Spill's Keep It Like a Secret where the reviewer was convinced the albulm was about Watergate Scandal told from the point of view of Nixon's secretary Rose Mary Woods. When BTS frontman Doug Martsch was asked about this he had no idea what they were talking about.

That's pretty funny. I've listened to that album at least 86,000 times, and in no way did I hear any overaching theme or story, let alone one about Nixon.

A good '90s noir love story concept album is Afghan Whig's Black Love. I don't think it ever really got the attention it deserved. I guess Gentlemen has the overarching theme of the dickish lover tying it together as well, but not as coherently as Black Love.