I certainly wouldn't place Randy Newman in the folk or prog genre.

This is a superb concept album, especially the remastered edition which has a 2nd(previously unissued)disc. The concept being "The South". Wonderful irony!

Even though Steve Earle says he's a folk singer, I don't really believe him. Quite a few of his albums could be classed as concept....particularly "The Revolution Starts Now".

"The Prison" is a country concept album - it even comes with a book that tells you the story. Great album it is, too.

Green Day's "American Idiot" could be considered a concept album, as could "Yes Sir, I will" by Crass, for your anarcho punk concept LP ("Christ The Album" could be considered, too).

Don't forget Greendale by Neil Young.

Divides people a bit, but I love it.

Another favourite concept album, and something of an "indie" one would be A Different Lifetime by Spearmint. It chronicals the rise and fall of a relationship and is fantastic writing.

Anyone remember that? I think there were some Eagles, a Band-er or two and certainly Eric Clapton involved.
And of course Desperado was supposed to be a concept album, presumably the concept being to make cartloads of dosh.

Nilsson. No idea what it was, mind.

The first Stiff Little Fingers could be considered a punk concept album. It was never marketed as such, but as a sketch of life in Ulster during the Troubles, it fulfills the conceptual brief. But I don't feel so strongly about it that I'd want to debate it.

The Osmonds album The Plan was a concept album. What genre (other than Total Bollocks) you'd file it under though, I'm not sure.

There was a folk concept album, The Shipbuilder by Bob Pegg and Nick Strutt, released in the early 70's.

...Sham 69, of all bands, put out a concept album called 'That's Life'?? I think The Jam's 'Setting Sons' has an over-arching concept too.

There's also Stevie Wonder's triple concept album (and I assure you, there's NOT one of those in 70s prog- whatever a lot of music journalists tell you!!) 'The Secret Life Of Plants' and Marvin Gaye's 'What's Going On'.

In the world of psychedelia, there are a few too- The Pretty Things' 'SF Sorrow', Nirvana's 'The Story Of Simon Simopath' (not heard this one, I must admit) and more obscure, Second Hand's 'Reality'.

Frank had a few. 'September of my years' where Frank reflects on aging.'Watertown' which tells the story of a family breakdown. 'Sings only for the lonely','In the wee small hours' and 'No one cares', are collections of melancholic songs, generally told from the point of view of the lonely man at the bar spilling his guts to anyone who'll listen.

...I believe Super Furry Animals' 'Rings Around The World' is a concept album too. As is one of my favourite albums, XTC's 'Skylarking'.

by Cud is a classic indie concept album

is neither prog nor folk but it has a sort of Sci-fi grand concept thing going on behind it - just read the sleeve notes. A dystopian totalitarian future city state with four young rebels forging their freedom through the medium of rawk... same old same old... Where are Rush when you need them?

PS For the pedants among us the concept also goes some way to explaining the oft quoted daft lyric in the album's title song. The excuse being that ALL of the town was effectively a jail. Yeah, aure!

'The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society'

Apparently TIMELESS by Goldie is a concept album.
JJ_ brilliant Mate. Sham 69's That's Life was indeed a concept album.
There are a couple of Johnny Cash ones i seem to remember reading about.
Does WAR OF THE WORLDS count ?
White Mansions-I had a second hand copy but sans booklet.
Here are some more.
The WHO-The WHO sell out. Not Prog. Rock Operas don't count.
What was that STYX one with MR ROBOTO on it ?
Both HANDSOME BOY MODELLING SCHOOL albums
Maybe DE La Soul-Three feet High and Rising-Concept of a game show.
Tom Waits-Frank's Wild Years

Ogden's Nut Gone Flake?

Side Two, at least?

...is ghastly. It was on 'Kilroy Was Here'. Styx had already done one concept album prior to that called 'Paradise Theater', which some rock fans love but I thought it was pretty bad- VERY Broadway. I own a few 70s Styx albums but I have to say despite the fact I loathe the guilty pleasures concept, I do feel a tinge of embarassment about owning them!!

David Bowie's 'Outside' has some sort of concept too, but I haven't got a clue what it is!

Isn't Mansun's 'Six' a concept album too? Again though, I'm not sure what the concept is...

Mr Zappa's take on starting out and eventually going on the road.
Although by Album three it it was running out of ideas.
Then of course there was Thingfish, mind that was all rubbish!

Cant remember the singer, Brit traditional folk apparently it is brilliant.Anyone shed any light on this??

How about Mansun's much maligned epic Six?

Sounds Folk to me. And the Phrase "by the abovementioned Fairport Convention" could really fit into any thread on here,Couldn't it ? So what is the Great Lost Fairport Convention Rap Album ? I'm not accepting the "What We Did on Our Holidays-Pete Rock remix album"

There's a few hippity hop concept albums. The best known is of course The Streets' A Grand Don't Come For Free which appears to be about someone losing a wad of cash down the back of the telly and then wandering around London streets, clubs and holiday resorts looking for it.
Also see Ugly Duckling - Taste the Secret which is about a fast food chain which specialises in 'meat shakes', The Mouse and the Mask by Dangerdoom which is all about an American animated TV series called Adult Swim and Skinnyman's extraordinary Council Estate of Mind which is all tied together by some Tim Roth film about a skinhead ne'er do well who can't deal with authority.

Just thought it would be nice to go through a thread without somebody taking it in a "FOLK" direction That's all.This is not a Challenge by the way.I mean your people no harm.
I've tried some of the Fairport stuff reccomended on here but it just ain't me.
I am spending way too much time thinking of threads that can't be hijacked by "Thompson Fundamentalists".Remind me to avoid Real Ale pubs for a while.
Haven't been here for long so missed the Bonzo's thing.
Hip Hop concept albums-Fear of A Black Planet by Public Enemy,is considered to be one I believe.

None taken, Paul!

Josh Rouse - Under The Cold Blue Stars: Thematically this collection of songs, loosely focused on a 1950s couple's fractious relationship, feels like a distant cousin of Frank Sinatra's Watertown (mentioned above by Andymac).

Saint Etienne - Tales From Turnpike House: A day in the life of the residents of an East London housing estate, beginning with Sun In My Morning and ending with Goodnight.

Candidate - Nuada: Music Inspired By The Film The Wicker Man / Under The Skylon: You could describe these albums as new folk, which I suppose would place them right on the cusp of the folk/prog cut-off point. The concept of Nuada is self-explanatory. Under The Skylon is a mid-20th century love story that takes place in the vicinity of The Skylon - a 250 ft tall, futurist structure (an elliptical rocket ship with insect legs) that enjoyed brief tenure on London's south bank, as part of the 1951 Festival of Britain.

Robbie Robertson - Storyville: A tale of love and redemption set in the Storyville district of New Orleans.

The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree: Not a concept album in the truest sense of the word. Many of the songs deal with vocalist John Darnielle's relationship with his violent and abusive stepfather. The album closes with Pale Green Things in which Darnielle wrestles with mixed feelings upon hearing of his death:

My sister called at three a.m.
just last December.
She told me how you'd died at last,
at last?

Lisa Germano - Geek The Girl: The dark tale of a young girl's awkward transition into womanhood. Notable for A Psychopath which, in lieu of a proper chorus, opts for a recording of a terrified woman on the phone to the police, as an intruder breaks into her home.

Scanner - Delivery: Robin Rimbaud's blend of electronic music and intercepted mobile phone calls feels like an eloquent summation of our inability to communicate with each other, in the era of mass-communication.

Pony Club-Home Truths (Not to be confused with "New Young...") and wasn't Jilted Johns first (only?) album a concept album?

I found four on my Itunes library. All brilliant, but are they all concept albums?
The Crane Wife by The Decemberists
Dazzle Ships by OMD
The Sophtware Slump by Grandaddy
Yoshemi Battles the Pink Robots by The Flaming Lips
Do they count?

Lou Reed - New York/Magic & Loss/The Raven: Reed has described New York as an album intended to be heard in one sitting and treated as if it were a book or a movie. Magic & Loss concerns itself with the deaths of two of his close friends. The Raven was an attempt at retelling the stories of Edgar Allen Poe.

Donald Fagen - The Nightfly/Kamakiriad: The Nightfly, in Fagen's own words, "represents certain fantasies that might have been entertained by a young man growing up in the remote suburbs of a northeastern city during the late fifties and early sixties, i.e., one of my general height, weight and build." Kamakiriad is a futuristic odyssey whose focal point is a steam powered car with its own hydrophonic farm in the back.

Baby Bird - I Was Born A Man/BadShave/Fatherhood/The Happiest Man Alive/Dying Happy/The Black Album: It's a stretch, but Stephen Jones' sextet of home-recorded demos could be taken as a musical journey from birth to death and beyond.

Baader Meinhof: Typically perverse Luke Haines project. Minimalist funk chronicling the murderous exploits of the Baader-Meinhof gang.

The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs/I/Distortions: Stephin Merritt's trio of stylised concept albums, consisting of an exhaustive anthology of love songs, a collection of songs whose titles all begin with the letter ‘I' and a further collection in which every instrument except the drums has been distorted.

Sufjan Stevens - Enjoy Your Rabbit/Michigan/Illinois: Respectively, a song-cycle based on the Chinese Zodiac and a pair of albums concerned with two states of America. Stevens has also released a box set of Christmas EPs.

Counting Crows - Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings: Fifteen tracks spread asymmetrically between Saturday night (self-absorbed rockers) and Sunday morning (slower, more reflective songs; the kind of thing that typically plays at the end of an episode of Scrubs).

The Divine Comedy - Promenade: A day in the life of two young lovers. The departing track Tonight We Fly races over the horizon and into the sunset at an appropriately galloping pace.

Satellite Party - Ultra Payload: Environmentally-themed concept album set in outer space, courtesy of Jane's Addiction frontman - Perry Farrell.

Rachel's - Music for Egon Schiele/The Sea and the Bells/Systems Layers: Post-rock group specialising in modern chamber music. Their instrumental albums have explored the life of the Austrian figurative painter - Egon Schiele and nautical themes, inspired by the poetry of Chilean writer, Pablo Neruda. Systems/Layers saw them expand their palette, incorporating environmental field recordings in what felt like a musical documentary, following the lives of eight people over the course of a day.

Hüsker Dü - Zen Arcade: The abrasive prototype for Green Day's more polished American Idiot. A teenager flees from a broken home, searches in vain for something that will give his life meaning, finding nothing returns home, then wakes up and realises that it was all a dream. Or something like that.

Aimee Mann - The Forgotten Arm: A tale of love and addiction on the open road.

The Auteurs - New Wave/After Murder Park/How I Learned To Love The Bootboys: New Wave seemed preoccupied with the margins of showbiz. After Murder Park was a determined attempt at airing Cool Britannia's dirty laundry in public, covering topics such as domestic violence, child brides, drug abuse, murder and alcoholism. How I Learned To Love The Bootboys appears to be a backward glance at Britain in the late 60s and 70s. In interviews Auteurs frontman, Luke Haines, has claimed the album is about branding.

The most half-baked concept album of all time:

The Gun Club - The Las Vegas Story: "This is the Las Vegas Story…" intones Jeffrey Lee Pierce on the album's self-titled opening track. "…The story of a couple of gre…"

At this point he is cut-off in mid-sentence and the album continues with no further narrative or any kind of discernible storyline.

Two concept albums spring to mind, both causing music critics at the time to hoot with derision like Dickensian street-urchins!

Bowie - Outside. It was intended to be - and here I quoteth from the CD - a "non-linear gothic drama hyper cycle" (not sure what old Bromley Dave means bythat, praps an episode of Hollyoaks spruced up in HTML), about a detective called Nathan Alder. Bowie does the frankly deranged voices on little soliloquys between the tracks - my favourite is Algeria Touchshriek hah hah! You can find more info on Wiki :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outside_%28album%29

Billy Idol - Cyberpunk. Now I can't say how awful or alright this was because I've only ever heard the one single "Shock to the system", but it was universally panned by the music press. I recall that the concept was some futuristic society were everything turned out shite again - I believe the exact word is 'dystopian'. All very William Gibson no doubt.

I've just checked the list and can't see any mention.....????

Loads of other Townshend stuff - Lifehouse (Who's Next) = Psychoderelict, White City

Maybe a touch on the proggie side?

Seem to remember that the UNKLE album had a "theme"

Elvis Costello says it has a story running all the way through.

Buggered if I can see it.

Backwards7. yes spot on as per usual.Unbelieveably i was listening to it after "RED HEADED STRANGER".

A Grand Don't Come For Free was a concept album, I believe.

"Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy" was a concept album
As "The Imagined Village" is sold as "world music" does that beat the folk embargo ?
Another "world" music album - 1 Giant Leap - was definitely a concept
Lemon Jelly - 64-95 - loosely speaking in that all the tracks are numbered after years