Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

CONCEPT ALBUM

Material recorded for an album intended to be an integrated set of statements on a theme. In the 78 era there were not many 'albums' in popular music; the buyer paid extra for the album itself, which held a few 'singles'. In the LP era jazz musicians were the first to take advantage of longer playing time (an LP could resemble a live set) but others began to record albums as opposed to singles; and contrary to the orthodoxy that album sales became more important than singles only in the '60s, grown-ups bought albums from the beginning of the microgroove era which are still in print today (singles were for juke boxes, radio and kids) and albums were always more important to the record company's profits than singles. The first concept album is often said to be Frank Sinatra's In The Wee Small Hours '55 (on two 10]im[ LPs at first), but Sinatra and his producers had been the first to make proper albums ever since his first: ten years earlier The Voice had eight songs purposely recorded to go together in a set, yet ten years after Wee Small Hours a 'pop' LP was still usually a couple of hits plus B-sides and failed singles. This began to change with the Beatles, whose Sgt Pepper '67 is the best-known concept album of all. In the country music market the customers still bought singles, and still today the albums are often named after the current hit, while in pop the artists were expected to produce enough material of musical value for an album from which singles are drawn, rather than the other way around. The concept album began to induce yawns in the '70s, as acts such as Camel, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd and Yes worked it to death. An album which was too obviously a concept was often a failure; the tracks have be good enough to stand alone, as in Emmylou Harris's The Ballad Of Sally Rose '85. The singles market is dead in the '90s and the album is the concept, the running order of the tracks more important than ever.