Concept album

[6][8] Fiona Sturges of The Independent stated that the concept album "was originally defined as a long-player where the songs were based on one dramatic idea – but the term is subjective.

[10] The most common definitions refer to an expanded approach to a rock album (as a story, play, or opus), or a project that either revolves around a specific theme or a collection of related materials.

"[11] Author Jim Cullen describes it as "a collection of discrete but thematically unified songs whose whole is greater than the sum of its parts ... sometimes [erroneously] assumed to be a product of the rock era.

Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), and the Who's Tommy (1969) are variously cited as "the first concept album", usually for their "uniform excellence rather than some lyrical theme or underlying musical motif".

The Beach Boys' first six albums, released over 1962–64, featured collections of songs unified respectively by a central concept, such as cars, surfing, and teenage lifestyles.

"[27] The 100 Greatest Bands of All Time (2015) states that the Ventures "pioneered the idea of the rock concept album years before the genre is generally acknowledged to have been born".

[28] Writing in his Concise Dictionary of Popular Culture, Marcel Danesi identifies the Beatles' Rubber Soul (1965) and the Who's The Who Sell Out (1967) as other examples of early concept albums.

"[31][nb 2] Musicologist Allan Moore says that "Even though previous albums had set a unified mood (notably Sinatra's Songs for Swingin' Lovers!

[35] Music critic and journalist Neil Slaven stated that Frank Zappa's Absolutely Free, released the same day as Sgt.

[38] Author Jim Cullen states: "The concept album reached its apogee in the 1970s in ambitious records like Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon (1973) and the Eagles' Hotel California (1976).

[39] Pink Floyd's The Wall (1979), a semi-autobiographical story modeled after the band's Roger Waters and former member Syd Barrett, is one of the most famous concept albums by any artist.

[1] In addition to The Wall, Danesi highlights Genesis' The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) and Frank Zappa's Joe's Garage (1979) as other culturally significant concept albums.

[6][16] NME's Emily Barker cites Green Day's American Idiot (2004) as one of the "more notable" examples,[1] having brought the concept album back to high-charting positions.

[49][50] In the 21st century, the field of classical music has adopted the idea of the concept album, citing such historical examples as Schubert's Winterreise and Schumann's Liederkreis as prototypes for contemporary composers and musicians.

[51] Classical composers and performers increasingly adopt production and marketing strategies that unify otherwise disparate works into concept albums or concerts.

"[53][54][independent source needed] In a year-ending essay on the album in 2019, Ann Powers wrote for Slate that the year found the medium in a state of flux.

In her observation, many recording artists revitalized the concept album around autobiographical narratives and personal themes, such as intimacy, intersectionality, African-American life, boundaries among women, and grief associated with death.

Legacy!, Rapsody's Eve, Jenny Lewis' On the Line, Julia Jacklin's Crushing, Joe Henry's The Gospel According to Water, and Nick Cave's Ghosteen.