Decided to change from Rock Operas to Concept Albums.

Rough draft:
1.) Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles
2.) What's Going On (unsure about this one) - Marvin Gaye
3.) Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
4.) Tommy - The Who
5.) Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie
6.) The Wall - Pink Floyd
7.) Days of Future Passed - The Moody Blues
8.) Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy - Elton John
9.) Freak Out! - The Mothers of Invention
10.) The Who Sell Out - The Who
(If What's Going On doesn't count, then Aqualung by Jethro Tull is #10

Yup, that is a great start! I'll start laying some names later but gotta get some sleep soon...

In somes cases, it's hard to judge whether or not an album is a concept album, but I think these qualify:

The Ventures in Space - The Ventures
Good Old Boys - Randy Newman
Skylarking - XTC

As I'm not sure exactly what qualifies and what doesn't, I'll just throw out ideas when I have them, and you can decide whether or not they qualify. Here are some more:

Tonight's the Night - Neil Young
An Innocent Man - Billy Joel
Running on Empty - Jackson Browne

On the latter, 7 of the songs definitely fit a concept, but the other 3 songs are somewhat questionable.

Thanks for the suggestions, Brian, I'll look into them.
I know the Ventures were noted for making instrumental concept albums in the early 60's, so I'll look into that.
Good Old Boys seems worthy, so maybe.
Skylarking is more a semi-concept, so I don't think it'll make it.
Tonight's the Night really doesn't seem like a concept album to me.
An Innocent Man... I don't know. I don't think Billy really intended it as one, and it doesn't really have a central theme. Same with Running on Empty.
I think the criteria would probably be: musical impact, influence, initial/lasting popularity, and maybe something about the album having a central theme, eg. Sgt. Pepper's is about the club band at Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club, What's Going On is about a man returning from Vietnam to America, Tommy is about Tommy the deaf, dumb and blind kid, etc.

The concept of Running on Empty is touring and being on the road. The problem is that 3 of the songs - "You Love the Thunder", "Cocaine", and "Love Needs a Heart" - don't fit the concept, and maybe an album isn't truly a concept album unless all of the songs fit. An Innocent Man is about looking back at older music. That might be too broad or too vague a concept to qualify, however. Tonight's the Night was written after the death of Danny Whitten by a drug OD, and many of the songs deal with drugs and seem vaguely related. But that might not be enough.

I think it's important to say "album with a concept" does not equal "concept album". Sinatra and Nat King Cole used to do albums with a theme, like "breakup songs". Those were NOT concept albums as we now know the term.

I doubt that anything before Pepper really would qualify, and certainly not anything before '66 or so.

..would suggest Joe Meek and the Blue Men`s I Hear a New World was recorded in 1959 and partially released in 1960 be given a footnote to this list as the first true concept album and also further of note are the recording techniques/special effects/guitar feedback etc that were found on this very unique recording from that time ... Take care

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvMRDS7Q ... re=related



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=movOhJil ... re=related

Side 1
"I Hear a New World" 2:44
"Globb Waterfall" 3:15
"Entry Of The Globbots" 3:09
"Valley Of The Saroos" 2:50
"Magnetic Field" 3:10
"Orbit Around The Moon" 2:49
Side 2
"The Bublight" 2:43
"March of the Dribcots" 2:07
"Love Dance Of The Saroos" 2:33
"The Dribcots' Space Boat" 2:16
"Disc Dance of the Globbots" 2:15
"Valley of No Return" 3:07

... another to add with some historical significance would be Moondog and Suncat Suites from 1957 which does become the foundation in some ways for the concept of I Hear a New World ....

this track from that time is well worth the listen, some might say what Pink Floyd might have sounded like in the 50`s ... Kenny Graham and His Satellites - Lullaby

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnskASlKlsA



MOONDOG SUITE
1)One Four
2)2 West 46th Street
3)Two four
4)Chant
5)Three Four
6)Utsu
7)Four four
8)Lullaby
9)Five four
10) Fog On The Hudson

SUNCAT SUITE
11)Sunrise
12)Sunbeam
13)Tropical Sun
14)Sunstroke
15)Sunset
16)Sunday

.. a few more to consider for the list ... Take care

Jethro Tull - A Passion Play
Jethro Tull - Another Brick in the Wall
Alan Parson`s Project - I Robot
Alan Parson`s Project - Tales of .. Edgar Allan Poe
A L Webber - Jesus Christ Superstar

Mass In F Minor by The Electric Prunes
The psychedelic act's third album,originally released in 1967. A concept album constructed as a psychedelic mass sung in Latin.

1. Kyrie Eleison
2. Gloria
3. Credo
4. Sanctus
5. Benedictus
6. Agnus Dei

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images ... 74&s=music

... I have mentioned these fellows a number of times in guitarist thread for their use of feedback etc ... but I believe you might be the first to mention them in regards to an album ... excellent ... so staying with that theme how about ... Renaissance by Vanilla Fudge ...... Take care

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomahawk_%28album%29 If the list gets stretched into top 100-200, this could be there.

What do you think about that top 10, people?

... you might be well served my friend to start getting a list of 50-100 strong concept/rock opera albums together and then start working them into a number order .... Take care

.. another interesting note from a recorded interview of Joe Meek from 1960 ... he refers to the album I Hear a New World as a concept album build around an outer space fantasy .... I have that on the Portrait of a Genius CD collection of Joe Meek`s material and have been checking to see if someone has put it on Youtube ...

Raw version of top 50:

1. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
2. Marvin Gaye - What's Going On (Yes, it is a concept album)
3. Joe Meek and The Blue Men - I Hear a New World: An Outer Space Music Fantasy
4. The Who - Tommy
5. David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust
6. Pink Floyd - The Wall
7. The Moody Blues - Days of Future Passed
8. Elton John - Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
9. The Mothers of Invention - Freak Out!
10. The Who - The Who Sell Out
11. Jethro Tull - Aqualung
12. The Who - Quadrophenia
13. Frank Zappa - Joe's Garage: Acts I, II & III
14. Green Day - American Idiot
15. XTC - Skylarking
16. The Ventures in Space - The Ventures
18. Vanilla Fudge - The Beat Goes On
19. Randy Newman - Good Old Boys
20. The Electric Prunes - Mass in F Minor


Jackson Browne - Running on Empty (Should this qualify? It is a live album but it has a concept.)

I'm not sure about Tonight's the Night by Neil Young or An Innocent Man by Billy Joel...

Keep up the good suggestions, people!

Renaissance is their best work IMO
but consider this for this list


The Beat Goes On - Vanilla Fudge

SIDE ONE
[2:55] Sketch
PHASE ONE:
[1:57] Intro: The Beat Goes On
[0:46] 18th Century: Variations on a Theme by Mozart (Divertimento #13 in F Maj.)
[0:46] 19th Century: Old Black Joe
[3:09] 20th Century: Don't Fence Me In; 12th Street Rag; In The Mood; Hound Dog
[1:45] The Beatles: I Want To Hold Your Hand; I Feel Fine; Day Tripper; She Loves You
PHASE TWO:
[1:32] The Beat Goes On
[6:33] Beethoven: Fur Elise and Moonlight Sonata
[1:05] The Beat Goes On

SIDE TWO
[1:00] The Beat Goes On
PHASE THREE:
[8:09] Voices in Time: Neville Chamberlain; Winston Churchill; Franklin Roosevelt; Harry Truman; John Kennedy (and other voices)
PHASE FOUR:
[1:50] The Beat Goes On
[8:57] Merchant/The Game Is Over
[2:20] The Beat Goes On