First conceived within the Sixties, idea albums modified the way in which we listened to music, they usually proceed to encourage new generations of artists, as our newest rundown confirms
Phrases by Barry Web page
The concept that a group of songs must be listened to collectively fairly than individually has actually divided music lovers and critics over time, and the idea album is seen by many as an emblem of bombast and pretension – a signifier of extreme hubris and overblown ambition. However it’s a format that has continued to thrive since its industrial pinnacle within the Seventies, one which has afforded many artists and bands to understand their inventive aspirations through a unifying theme or narrative. With a rule of 1 file per act, listed here are 20 thematic pop albums that transcend each musical genres and eras…
17 Alexander O’Neal – Rumour (1987)
Recent from their success with Janet Jackson and The Human League, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis devised an idea album with Minneapolis buddy Alexander O’Neal that envisaged the debonair singer because the amorous host of a home get together. It’s an unconventional pay attention, its stream interrupted by musical interludes and scene-setting snatches of dialogue from a forged of revellers and gossipmongers, however it spawned a number of hits, together with UK High 5 smash Criticize.
16 Prince – Artwork Official Age (2014)
True to his prolificacy, Prince launched two albums in 2014, each underneath licence to Warners, the label he as soon as declared he’d been a slave to. In a deal that included possession of his masters, Artwork Official Age signalled a industrial rebirth and religious awakening. A futurist electro-funk LP based mostly on the concept that, after 45 years in suspended animation, he’d woken in a world that “doesn’t require time”, the place individuals talk telepathically and dividing phrases like “me or mine” don’t exist.
15 Coldplay – Mylo Xyloto (2011)
Centred on two lovers and their revolt in opposition to a totalitarian authorities, Coldplay’s fifth studio album was an bold rock opera that utilised a broad palette of latest sounds. Encouraging the band to experiment, Brian Eno helped craft the tracks. “He’s like Gandalf,” Chris Martin informed Mojo. “He is available in, weaves all his magic, causes chaos, then disappears. Then he comes again, and he’s been to Kazakhstan to find out about horseback wrestling.” Now that’s an idea.
14 Duran Duran – Danse Macabre (2023)
Upon realising the second of two scheduled Las Vegas exhibits fell on Halloween, Nick Rhodes pushed for Duran Duran to play a novel set that evening, incorporating new songs, covers and deep cuts that adhered to a supernatural theme. Thus, an idea for his or her sixteenth studio album was born, which included visitor appearances from former guitarists Andy Taylor and Warren Cuccurullo. Launched on Simon Le Bon’s sixty fifth birthday, with an appropriate eerie classic séance photograph adorning the sleeve, it’s ghoulishly good enjoyable.
13 David Bowie – Outdoors (1995)
After reuniting with Brian Eno – who as soon as once more deployed his Indirect Methods playing cards as a manner of inducing creativity – David Bowie crafted one of the difficult albums of his profession. The singer adopted an array of personas to replicate a fractured storyline centered on a homicide in a fictional city, à la Twin Peaks. A radical Pet Store Boys mixture of Hallo Spaceboy grew to become a success, with Neil Tennant reintroducing Main Tom, who he imagined as being caught on an deserted Russian spaceship.
10 Gorillaz – Plastic Seaside (2010)
Damon Albarn first conceived the thought for the third Gorillaz album after recognizing plastic on a seashore close to his Devon residence, however the title was derived from the moniker given to Hawaii’s notorious Kamilo Seaside, on account of its excessive quantity of marine waste. Having envisioned themselves as inhabitants of a rubbish-infested island named Level Nemo, the digital act enlisted a jaw-dropping array of visitor stars to get their message throughout, which is happily enjoyable and playful, fairly than downbeat and preachy.
05 Insanity – The Liberty Of Norton Folgate (2009)
Insanity had been writing about London all through their profession, however this late-period basic was the closest they got here to utilizing the capital as its central premise. Embracing its range and tradition, the deep-rooted historical past was celebrated within the epic title observe, impressed by a strip of land in Spitalfields and Shoreditch as soon as freed from governance. “All of the tracks are interlinked by the truth that we stay in an advanced metropolis of endless tales and alter,” Suggs informed Uncut journal.
04 Heaven 17 – Penthouse And Pavement (1981)
Heaven 17 reduce their debut album on the similar studio The Human League had been concurrently recording, however whereas Dare might have emerged because the gross sales victor, Penthouse And Pavement was way more audacious. Knowledgeable by the band’s left-wing leanings, this was a consciously political work, with (We Don’t Want This) Fascist Groove Thang setting the tone. Elsewhere, the trio contact upon Chilly Struggle paranoia, nuclear disarmament, capitalism, and the burgeoning yuppy tradition, the sleeve depicting them as sharp-suited businessmen.
03 Janet Jackson – Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989)
Janet Jackson’s profession had been revitalised by the hit-packed Management album, however she resisted calls to repeat its chart-winning system, as a substitute devising an idea that touched on the social problems with the day, together with gun violence, poverty and racism. Shopping for into her imaginative and prescient was the returning manufacturing staff of Jam and Lewis, whose broad musical palette was equally progressive. Involved file label chiefs had been appeased with a lot of lighter songs within the second half of the strategically sequenced LP, which spawned 4 US No.1s.
