Concept albums have certainly evolved over time. So I would include
Merle Travis' 1947 "Folk Songs of the Hills" (as well as the later "Songs
of the Coal Mines,"). There's also Johnny Cash's americana albums such as
"Ride This Train," "Bitter Tears," and "Mean as Hell." And I might also
add "Night Life" to that list as well.
Compared to an album like "Red Headed Stranger" or "Tommy," these may seem
only vaguely like concepts but I'd argue that what makes them concept
albums is the point of the album is the whole presentation and not merely
a parade of the songs that make it up.
Doug Young wrote:
> The Music must be capable of standing on
> it's own without all that other stuff. Unless , of course, we dealing with
> another art form instead of music.
The idea that every song committed to a CD has to stand up as a single is
silly. There is not one way to listen to music. Do we extend that
criteria to other at forms? If I walked through the impressionist wing of
the Musee d'Orsay in Paris and said, "That sucked, those pictures were
blurry," people would think I was an idiot.
"Red Headed Stranger" and "Phases and Stages," for example, are great
albums if you listen to them straight through. But if you play them with
your CD play set on random, a whole lot of the good stuff suddenly sounds
like filler. Which I dont think is any comment on the worth of the albums
so much as that they were not meant to be listened to randomly.
Will Miner
Denver, CO
