From St. Cleve to Sirius

Transcription

From St. Cleve to Sirius:
Technological and socio-cultural
trajectories of the concept album
SIMON CHR ISTOPHER WOOD
Bachelor of Arts (Music Industry)
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of:
Bachelor of Media and Communication (Honours).
Supervisor: Dr. Ed Montano
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
School of Media and Communication
25th October 2013
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Contents
5
Abstract
7
Statement of Authorship
9
Acknowledgements
11
Introduction
15
Chapter One: An overview of the concept album
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Chapter Two: Thick as a Brick by Jethro Tull (1972)
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Chapter Three: Operation: Mindcrime by Queensrÿche (1988)
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Chapter Four: OK Computer by Radiohead (1997)
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Chapter Five: The Amory Wars by Coheed and Cambria (2002-2013)
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Chapter Six: Conclusion
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Image List
73
Bibliography
77
Videography
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Discography
“From St. Cleve to Sirius”
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Simon Christopher Wood
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Abstract
This thesis investigates the development of the concept album and
examines how it is situated within contemporary music practice.
The term “concept album” is used within the discourse of popular
music to describe a type of album with some form of conceptual
unity throughout, be it musical, lyrical or otherwise. The concept
album has been challenged by modern computing technologies, such
as internet-based digital music services, which devalue the idea of
the album format by encouraging the consumption of individual
songs. Despite this, I contend that computing technologies and new
media innovations could actually provide artists with creative
opportunities that enhance their concept albums. Furthermore, a
renewed emphasis on concept albums could reinvigorate interest in
the album format within contemporary popular music. I argue that
the extended playing time, extra-musical presentation aesthetics
and narrative qualities of the concept album continue to hold value
within the digital music industry. I suggest that this is because the
concept album is a platform for artistic expression that has proven
adaptable to progressions in media technologies, and can be used to
comment or ref lect upon corresponding socio-cultural contexts.
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Statement of authorship
This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the
award of any other degree or diploma in any tertiary institution, and
that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, contains no material
previously published or written by another person, except where
due reference is made. I grant RMIT University permission to make
duplicate copies of this thesis as required.
Signed:
Date: 25th October, 2013.
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my supervisor, Ed Montano, for having faith in my
writing abilities and encouraging me to enrol in Honours. I appreciate
the guidance, time and friendship you have provided, and have enjoyed
sharing our common passion for music.
To the program director, Adrian Miles, thank you for all of your help
and suggestions. And to the new friends I have made in the Honours
lab (the brotherhood), I can’t thank you enough for your positivity and
motivation. Your tireless work this year has been inspirational, and I’m
sure you will all reap the rewards.
I would also like to give special thanks to Anne-Lise, Chris, Hanna, Laura
and my bandmates for being so tolerant and supportive, and providing me
with stability and sanity in what has been a frantic, but rewarding year.
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Introduction
This thesis interrogates understandings of the concept album,
considering what it means for an album to be conceptual, and examining
how concept albums have developed over four decades between 1972
and 2013. Several authors have engaged with the concept album through
various critical and analytical perspectives (Dozal 2012; Montgomery
2002; Shute 2013; Stimeling 2011), generating multiple definitions. Much
of the existing discussion regarding concept albums focuses on their role
within the “progressive rock” scene of the 1970s (Hegarty and Halliwell
2011: 65, Macan 1997: 58), with little attention given to the place of
the concept album in more contemporary contexts. While this thesis is
historically informed, my intention is to consider the concept album in a
more contemporary light.
This study explores two key ideas: (a) the relationship between concept
albums and media technologies; and (b) the extent to which concept
albums function as reflections of their corresponding socio-cultural
contexts. This approach is partly influenced by Anderton’s study of
progressive rock as a European meta-genre, in which he discusses the
genre in terms of its “socio-political and recording industry/media
contexts” (2010: 422). I present four case studies in order to address
these key ideas, each concerned with a rock concept album from a
different decade: Thick as a Brick (1972) by Jethro Tull; Operation:
Mindcrime (1988) by Queensrÿche; OK Computer (1997) by Radiohead;
and The Amory Wars (2002-2013), an album series by Coheed and Cambria.
My scholarship is in the field of media and communication, and thus my
goal here is to provide a contemporary evaluation of the concept album
as a form of communicative media. While previous discussions of concept
albums have concentrated on their borrowings from “high culture” and
the Romantic movement (Covach 1997; Macan 1997; Moore 1993), or
have adopted musicological frameworks and notation-based analysis to
compare their extended compositional structures to classical song cycles
(Elicker 2001; Macan 1997; Martin 1996), the use of such methods is
beyond the scope of this study.
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It is worth noting that my work is grounded in my personal practice as a
musician and recording artist within the contemporary progressive rock
music scene, as manager and drummer of the Australian progressive
rock band Kettlespider. In 2012, I coordinated the release of our
independently released concept album, Avadante. Studying concept
albums from a critical perspective has allowed me to develop a detailed
knowledge of the medium’s history and aesthetics, thereby informing
any future concept album recording I undertake.
It is important to discuss concept albums through the lens of technology.
The continued progression of media technologies has played a major
role in the dissemination of concept albums. Studies by music industry
scholars and cultural theorists (Arditi 2013; Burkart 2013; Jones 2000;
Park 2007) have indicated that contemporary media technologies have
reshaped purchasing and listening practices for music consumers in the
digital age, encouraging the consumption of individual tracks rather
than complete albums. The plethora of internet-based downloading
and streaming services that have developed since the turn of the
new millennium, such as Napster, iTunes and Spotify, have afforded
consumers the ability to easily jump between tracks by various artists
and access their desired music digitally without having to purchase a
physical album in a “bricks and mortar” record store.
Dozal suggests that the idea of the “album as a whole” has been adversely
affected by the shift to a digital music industry dominated by individual
tracks. Furthermore, he indicates, “the traditional construction of the
concept album has suffered even more” (2012: 9). The term “traditional”,
in this instance, alludes to the concept album’s construction as a
physical, self-contained artefact. Drawing upon Dozal’s observation, I
investigate the extent to which concept albums have actually “suffered”
in the digital age. I present a linear narrative throughout my case studies
that demonstrates how artists in four different decades since the 1970s
have influenced the concept album’s evolution by inventively using the
pioneering technologies of their time. I also explore how computing
technologies and media innovations have the potential to provide
contemporary artists with new creative opportunities and methods
through which to immerse audiences in concept albums.
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In addition to technology, central to my discussion are the socio-cultural
contexts in which my case study concept albums were released. Street
has identified the profound socio-cultural influence that music is capable
of having on an era (2001: 246). Many artists have engaged with social
and cultural concerns through their music, with artists such as Bob
Dylan, the Beatles, Public Enemy and Nirvana having been identified
as giving voice to the concerns of their respective generations. There
are numerous examples of concept albums that can be interpreted as
aligned with the social, political, cultural or economic circumstances
and conditions of their eras. Each of the concept albums I use as case
studies can be seen as reflective of this in different ways, be it through
their storylines, lyrical themes or visual representations. I investigate
whether this could also be an explanation for the concept album’s
continued relevance in the face of constant technological change.
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Thesis structure
Chapter One provides an overview of the history and development
of concept albums, alongside an exploration of some of the existing
literature on the topic. The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
(1967), arguably the first concept album (Macan 1997: 20), is used as a
reference point for exploring the concept album’s aesthetics and defining
characteristics, and to demonstrate how concept albums can be situated
within their technological and socio-cultural contexts.
Chapter Two (Jethro Tull’s Thick as a Brick), Chapter Three (Radiohead’s
OK Computer), Chapter Four (Queensrÿche’s Operation: Mindcrime) and
Chapter Five (Coheed and Cambria’s Amory Wars) each present case
studies of commercially successful rock concept albums, chronologically
ordered according to their time of release in four different decades: the
1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.
Each of the case studies follows a similar structure. I commence
by introducing the concept album in question, building upon the
foundations established in Chapter One and offering some background
information on the album and recording artist. I then interrogate the
relationship between the concept album and related media technologies,
and then I position the album within its broader socio-cultural contexts,
drawing upon aesthetics such as its concept, lyrics, artwork and design.
Taken together, the case studies offer a means of: (a) analysing how
artists have adapted the concept album over the course of forty years to
accommodate new media technologies; and (b) testing how these artists
have been influenced by, or have attempted to reflect, the corresponding
social and cultural circumstances of their album’s time of release.
Chapter Six concludes the thesis by considering the major trends
and developments highlighted through each of my case studies, and
discussing their implications. I detail six guiding considerations that
contribute towards a greater understanding of the concept album in
the contemporary music landscape. I also address the need for further
investigation of the topic of concept albums.
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An overview of the concept album
CHAPTER ONE
The term “concept album” has been defined in a variety of ways, yet
there are certain key characteristics that are common across these
various definitions. For example, Shuker suggests that a concept album
is “unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional,
narrative or lyrical” (1998: 5; see also Macan 1997: 20), while Elicker
describes a concept album as “an album by either one artist or a group
which contains a unifying thread throughout the songs – be it musical,
thematic or both” (2001: 229).
Montgomery offers a critical analysis of the concept album,
emphasising its association with vinyl long-playing records (2002: 82),
and incorporating interview dialogue with prominent rock concept
album producers from the 1970s such as Alan Parsons and Bob Ezrin
(2002: 183, 246). Montgomery suggests that there is a lack of scholarly
focus on the concept album, and a “greater understanding of the term
[is] of some importance to popular music history and the history
of recorded sound” (2002: 7). He outlines various definitions of the
concept album from musicological studies, journals and magazines,
condensing them into the following description:
The term concept album describes a style of presentation, or format
applied in the creation, marketing and distribution of vinyl long-playing
records. The term rock concept album refers specifically to rock LPs. An LP
considered conceptual was unified: i.e. it made a totality of linked songs
through compositional (musical and literary) and marketing (graphic and
promotional) strategies that were both thematically explicit and undefined.
Defining considerations, therefore, are both musical and non-musical, as well
as material and aesthetic. (2002: 33; see also Stimeling 2011: 389)
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Letts observes that many music scholars and reviewers treat the term
“concept album” as self-evident, “trusting that most people know what a
concept album is without taking the time to define it” (2005: 9). The task
of defining the concept album is one of Letts’ primary motivations, done
so through a discussion of Radiohead’s OK Computer (1997), Kid A (2000)
and Amnesiac (2001). Letts also observes how the concept album’s
commercial potential as “a commodity with social-critical import” is
often overlooked (2005: 14). By eschewing singles, artists “forced”
listeners to consider their concept album as a whole, but also “forced”
them to buy it as a whole (2005: 12).
Letts also introduces a categorisation system with which to consider
different types of concept albums. Letts’ system comprises three
categories of concept albums, based on their musical or lyrical parts
and structures: “narrative”, “thematic” and “resistant” (2005: 18).
Dozal introduces a hierarchy system that categorises concept albums
according to the depth and complexity of their concept, and the
extent to which it is embedded in not only the music, but also in the
supplementary material and additional media associated with the
album. He suggests four ranks of concept album: “low”, “mid”, “high”
and “ultra” (2012: 96-97).
Shute notes that concept albums “attempt to harness the unabashed
energy of popular music, while simultaneously stretching the scope of
this musical style to its limit by incorporating extended themes and
storylines” (2013: 7). He examines the concept album’s history over
fifty years, analysing the work of key artists including Pink Floyd, Yes,
David Bowie and Genesis, before addressing the use of the medium in
post-millennial music. Shute describes his book as offering “the first
in-depth, critical account of the concept album, from its highest creative
moments to its most pretentious, flailing abominations” (back cover).
This claim indicates the mixed critical reception directed towards
concept albums over the years.
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Figure 1: Album Cover. Genesis. The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. Charisma, 1974.
Concept albums and progressive rock in the 1970s
Hegarty and Halliwell observe that “[t]hrough the 1970s, several
high-profile albums made the concept album synonymous with
progressive rock” (2011: 65). One such example is The Lamb Lies
Down On Broadway (1974) by the English progressive rock band
Genesis (Figure 1). Holm-Hudson, in his book-length analysis of this
album, states: “the concept album was one of the most prominent and
distinctive manifestations of rock’s ‘art’ impulse in the late 1960s
and early 1970s” (2008: 8). A lot can be gained from attending to the
affiliations between concept albums and (symphonic) progressive
rock music, which are addressed by scholars such as Macan (1997),
Martin (1998) and Stump (2010).
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Macan provides a socio-musicological history of progressive rock,
investigating its history and close relationship with the English
counterculture of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Martin, drawing upon
a philosophical approach to the arts, distinguishes a ten-year period
between 1968 and 1978, which he refers to as “the time of progressive
rock” (see also Anderton 2010: 418). Stump employs a broad historical
approach, making frequent reference to Macan’s arguments as a basis
for further exploration.
Macan suggests that progressive rock’s emergence in Britain amidst the
countercultural politics and aesthetics of the late 1960s and early 1970s
depended on a subculture of highly educated young people (1997: 147).
Subsequent youth subcultures also developed in other areas of Europe
and the bands that emerged from these subcultures shared a common
appreciation for high culture, classical music and the arts (such bands
include Magma from France, Premiata Forneria Marconi from Italy and
Aphrodite’s Child from Greece). These impulses are evident in many
progressive rock concept albums.
For Stump, progressive rock “scorned convention and was in a state of
permanent evolution - contrasting with the mercenary, stereotypical
pop pap against which it was marketed” (2010: 7). The concept album
embodied “the Romantic imagination underpinning the Progressive
project” (Stump 2010: 138) and became a “physical symbol of rock’s
anti-commercial rhetoric” (Stimeling 2011: 390). Progressive rock
artists such as Yes, Jethro Tull and Emerson, Lake and Palmer used the
concept album to engage in creative and expressive practices atypical
of popular music up to that point. In Martin’s study on the band Yes, he
observes how concept albums like Tales from Topographic Oceans (1973)
resembled the point at which “the music, production, cover art, and so
on come together as a complete work of art” (1996: 22).
Ahlkvist observes that “scholarly writing on 1970s progressive
rock typically presents the symphonic style as synonymous with
‘progressive rock’ in general” (2011: 640). For my research, symphonic
progressive rock studies like the texts discussed above proved useful,
as the symphonic bands active throughout the 1970s helped to define
the concept album’s characteristics.
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The Alan Parsons Project, for example, successfully embraced the
concept album almost exclusively throughout their career. HolmHudson (2002) offers a collection of short essays on progressive rock by
numerous authors. The collection provides a broad view of progressive
rock, with the intention to “reconsider progressive rock in a way that
transcends commonly held stereotypes of the genre” (2002: 1).
In addition to identifying the links between 1970s progressive rock
and concept albums (Anderton 2010: 419), it is also necessary to
acknowledge the opposing influence that the punk movement had on
concept albums in the late 1970s. While punk was a reaction to the social
circumstances and right-wing politics in England at the time, it was also
a back-to-basics rejection of the musical virtuosity and upper-middle
class social status of progressive rock (Macan 1997: 136-7). Bennett
notes how progressive rock was described by subcultural theorists at
the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies:
[I]ts complex musical style and often cryptic lyrics made it almost exclusively
the preserve of middle-class students and hippies whose ‘educated’ listening
ability and skill in the use of hallucinogenic drugs, it was argued, enabled
them to fully appreciate the meaning and significance of progressive rock
songs. (2000: 173)
Holm-Hudson states that “[w]hen punk became an ascendant force in
popular culture in 1976-77, the excesses and high-cultural pretensions of
progressive rock made it an easy target, hastening its demise” (2002: 2).
A select few concept albums achieved commercial success during punk’s
revival of “the cultural values of rock and roll” (Keister and Smith 2008:
448), such as Pink Floyd’s political concept album and associated stage
production The Wall (1979). Yet concept albums were generally seen as
a commercial risk and “dismissed as pretentious and overblown” due to
their complex and grandiose nature (Anderton 2010: 422).
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Concept albums after progressive rock’s commercial
decline
Rycenga laments the way that many progressive rock bands neglected
the concept album by the end of the 1970s, abandoning experimental
long forms for more traditional song styles (2006: 237). Covach
observes that as “progressive rock faded from view by the dawn of the
1980s; groups either broke up (Gentle Giant, ELP) or took a markedly
more commercial turn (Genesis, Yes, Asia)” (2000: 15). In spite of this, it
is important to acknowledge the continued affiliations between concept
albums and progressive rock beyond the 1970s.
The 1980s gave rise to the “neo-progressive rock” genre typified by
bands like Marillion (Figure 2) and IQ (Figure 3). The symphonic
progressive rock influence was prominent within this new genre, with
concept albums becoming “a staple” (Ahlkvist 2011: 651). While some
considered neo-progressive rock be a watered down, illegitimate and
less musically ambitious version of symphonic progressive rock (Keister
and Smith 2008: 434), this new period in the genre’s history provided
progressive rock fans of the 1980s with the closest semblance to its
predecessor (Sheinbaum 2008: 30).
Progressive rock and concept albums endured throughout the 1990s,
with “prog revival” bands such as Spock’s Beard, Echolyn and The
Flower Kings successfully reinvigorating and modernising elements of
the symphonic progressive rock style (Ahlkvist 2011: 640). Bands such
as Yes and Emerson, Lake and Palmer released albums in the 1990s
that gestured strongly towards their 1970s progressive heritage. Other
genres related to progressive rock also emerged in the 1990s, such as
“math-rock” and “post-prog”, which have both embraced the concept
album form (Holm-Hudson 2002).
Covach describes the advent of an “international progressive
underground” in the 1990s, driven by a global network of progressive
rock fans and musicians who would use the internet, exclusive fanzines
and mail-order businesses to circulate news about the genre and
distribute “an impressive variety of new and old recordings” (1997: 6).
Atton (2001) examines eight 1990s British progressive rock fanzines,
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drawing upon Frith’s concept of value discourses in music to suggest
that while progressive rock of the 1990s was no longer the commercial
commodity it had been in the 1970s, it had become a rather exclusive,
high-art music style preserved and celebrated by a subculture of
devoted fans.
Hegarty and Halliwell (2011) provide a contemporary analysis of
progressive rock music, devoting an entire chapter to the topic of
concept albums (2011: 65). In addition to offering a retrospective
retelling of progressive rock’s definitive years and exploring the work
of the genre’s renowned 1970s artists, the authors succeed in reflecting
their study’s title, Beyond and Before. They consider the 1950s “preempting of progressive rock” (2011: 22), noting the use of conceptual
themes and extended song structures in the works of jazz artists
such as Duke Ellington and Miles Davis. Equally important are the
authors’ explorations of “neo-progressive rock” and the “progressive
metal” genre that started with the release of Queensrÿche’s Operation:
Mindcrime (1988) (2011: 272). Now spearheaded by virtuosic bands
such as Dream Theater, Between the Buried and Me, Porcupine Tree and
Symphony X, progressive metal is a genre in which concept albums are
extremely prominent.
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Figure 2: Album Cover. Marillion. Misplaced Childhood. EMI, 1985.
Figure 3: Album Cover. IQ. Subterranea. Import, 1997.
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Characteristics and aesthetics of concept albums
Released amidst the creative art impulses of the psychedelic movement,
Moore (1997) suggests that the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club
Band (1967) represents the highpoint of the Beatles’ recording career.
Notably, the album is often recognised as the “first concept album”
(Macan 1997: 20). Smolko observes the “spirit of inventiveness” that
emerged in the three years between the release of Meet the Beatles!
(1964) and Sgt. Pepper’s (1967) (2011: 3). While acknowledging that both
are rock and roll albums, he refers to the former as a “dancing” album
and the latter as a “listening” album (2011: 4). James Miller contends
that with Sgt. Pepper’s, the Beatles transformed rock and roll into “a
music of introspective self-absorption, a medium fit for communicating
autobiographical intimacies, political discontents, spiritual elation,
inviting an audience, not to dance, but to listen - quietly, attentively,
thoughtfully” (1999: 227-8).
Sgt. Pepper’s (Figure 4) acquired its conceptual reputation because its
music, artwork and packaging encouraged audiences to believe that the
album was not performed by the Beatles, but was instead a theatrical
performance by their Sgt. Pepper’s alter egos (Dozal 2012: 6). According
to Moore, Sgt. Pepper’s established how the “concept” of an album rested
on two key factors: its musical contexts and its non-musical contexts
(1993: 84). Using similar reasoning, Montgomery suggests that Ballads of
Sacco and Vanzetti by Woody Guthrie (recorded in 1947 and released as
a detailed box set in 1960) could theoretically be considered as the first
concept album (2002: 85). With this in mind, it is important to identify
that there are contrasting opinions as to who recorded the first concept
album. Shute suggests that singer-songwriters such as Lee Hazlewood
and Johnny Cash may have released the first concept albums (2013: 10).
Additionally, Frank Sinatra recorded albums such as Come Fly With Me
(1958) in the 1950s, which can be seen as precursors to the concept
album due to the thematic links between their music and packaging
(Hegarty and Halliwell 2011: 66, Montgomery 2002: 7). However, despite
Montgomery’s broader considerations, he concedes that Sgt. Pepper’s is
the “prototypical rock concept album, and thus the obvious physical and
musical model for a hypothetical definition” (2002: 18).
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During the recording of Sgt. Pepper’s, George Martin redefined the
creative possibilities of four tracks of analogue tape, utilising advanced
studio techniques such as multi-track recording and overdubbing to give
the instruments and particularly the vocals a thicker, layered sound.
Martin calculatedly ordered the album’s songs and substituted the LP’s
characteristic pauses between songs for musical segues and studio
effects, allowing the songs to play in a musically continuous sequence.
Martin’s deliberate reprise of the album’s opening song at the end of
the album extended the overarching theme of the fictional Sgt. Pepper’s
band over the course of the entire album and suggested to listeners that
the album should be enjoyed as a cohesive whole.
Figure 4: Album Cover. The Beatles. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Parlophone, 1967.
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Artwork and visual representation
Sgt. Pepper’s is widely regarded as a revolutionary studio achievement,
yet it was also a “merchandising triumph” (Montgomery 2002: 62), due to
its “combination of segued tracks . . . with Peter Blake’s groundbreaking
collage cover” (Heatley 2008: 70). Inglis’ study on the album covers of the
Beatles identifies four functions of the vinyl record sleeve: it protected
the record it contained; it advertised the recordings; it accompanied the
music; and it could be seen as a commodity in its own right (2001: 83).
Jones and Sorger identify the way that Sgt. Pepper’s “set the standard for
experimentation and artistic accomplishment against which subsequent
covers would be judged”, as it was the first vinyl album with a designed
inner sleeve, printed lyrics and a card with cut-outs (1999: 76).
The album cover of Sgt. Pepper’s appears to depict a funeral gathering, at
which the Beatles are “surrounded by an audience of around sixty of the
group’s friends, heroes and mentors . . . wearing the satin style military
uniforms of a Northern brass band” (Inglis 2001: 88). Included in the
crowd are other popular music icons of the era, such as Bob Dylan and
the Rolling Stones, as well as references to the psychedelia movement,
which are reflective of the socio-cultural context of the time.
Macan draws a comparison between the album cover of Sgt. Pepper’s
and Wagner’s conception of the Gesamtkunstwerk, “in which music,
words and visual art are all combined to convey a specific concept or
program” (1997: 58). Osborne (2012) claims that the artwork for Sgt.
Pepper’s signified two breakthroughs in the packaging of recorded
music. By devoting the majority of the packaging to images and text
related to the band, the Beatles assumed control of the album sleeve
(2012: 171). Secondly, by dressing up as their Sgt. Pepper’s alter egos, the
album represented “the dissolution of the Beatles’ conventional image”
(2012: 172). The floral wreath in the image spells “Beatles”, as though
the band are the deceased at the funeral, leading Inglis to suggest that
with Sgt. Pepper’s, “[t]he Beatles are encouraging us to re-evaluate our
assumptions about who they are” (2001: 88).
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In the wake of the psychedelic explosion of the late 1960s, record
companies regarded elaborate packaging and album cover designs as
integral to a band’s marketing strategy, particularly for progressive
rock bands, whose concept albums were complemented by these nonmusical aesthetics (Jones and Sorger 1999: 77). Stump views concept
albums as an “adjunct to cinema and literature and as a means of forming
narratives” (2010: 136), evaluating the relationship between “the music
and the image, and their symbiosis” on albums such as Jethro Tull’s
Aqualung (1971), Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon (1973) and Yes’ Tales
From Topographic Oceans (1973) (2010: 139). However, if the artwork of
a progressive rock album cover did not represent its concept, it would
typically relate to the theme of the album’s longest or most significant
track (Macan 1997: 58). Yes’ Close to the Edge (1972), for example, uses
Roger Dean’s artwork to depict a mixture of science fiction, fantasy,
realism and magic (Griffiths 2010) which accompanies the album’s
18-minute title track. Hegarty and Halliwell suggest that Dean’s artworks
on Yes albums such as Tales from Topographic Oceans (Figure 5) “involve
the music listener in a separate, self-contained world signalled in the act
of opening up the internal surfaces of the double cover” (2011: 70).
With Sgt. Pepper’s, the Beatles provided a template for others’ creative
work, which would later result in the fully-fledged concept album.
However, creative aesthetics and conceptual ideas were not restricted
to the confines of an album and its packaging. The worlds envisioned
in many concept albums extended to their accompanying videos,
live stage productions, lighting displays and the costumes worn by
performers. As a total audio-visual package, concept albums captured
the imagination of listeners unlike anything else in the pop and rock
markets (Montgomery 2002: 24-5). While album artwork, packaging
and extra-musical materials are perhaps overlooked in the existing
literature on concept albums (Dozal 2012: 13), these elements are
essential in engaging audiences, and constitute defining characteristics
of the concept album today. With this background information on the
concept album’s history in mind, I now introduce the first of my four
case studies, an album referred to by its chief creator as “the mother of
all concept albums” (Ian Anderson, Thick as a Brick CD: 1997).
27
Figure 5: Album Cover. Yes. Tales From Topographic Oceans. Atlantic, 1973
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Jethro Tull’s
Thick as a Brick (1972)
CHAPTER TWO
Figure 6: Album Cover. Jethro Tull. Thick as a Brick. Chrysalis, 1972.
Jethro Tull’s fifth album Thick as a Brick (1972) is one of the band’s most
famous works, reaching number 1 on the Billboard Top 40 chart.
Conceptually, it was described by NME as “an assault on the mediocrity
and harshness of lower-middle-class existence in ‘70s Britain” (Tyler
1972). The album fused hard rock music with folk influences and key
traits of the progressive rock genre, much like Jethro Tull’s previous
album Aqualung (1971), which was considered a concept album by many
fans and rock journalists due to its detailed packaging and socially and
religiously concerned lyrical themes (Gerson 1971).
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While Jethro Tull’s lead singer and flautist, Ian Anderson, prefers to
view Aqualung as merely a “collection of songs” (Stump 2010: 144), he
describes how the goal of Thick as a Brick was to create “the mother of
all concept albums” (Thick as a Brick CD: 1997). Thick as a Brick defied
the traditional album release method in a number of ways, using a
range of musical and supplementary materials to articulate the album’s
concept.
Morris observes that “[m]usically and lyrically, Thick as a Brick takes
old literary, classical and pop conventions and distorts them into a
virtually unrecognizable form” (2000: Cup of Wonder). Holm-Hudson
outlines the breadth of obscure literary inspirations behind rock music
in the early 1970s (2002: 15). King Crimson used Homer’s Odyssey as
inspiration for their album Islands (1971) and Ian Anderson revealed
in an interview with Crawdaddy (1971) that some of the religious
themes on Aqualung were inspired by the occult writings of Aleister
Crowley. With Thick as a Brick, however, Jethro Tull “took the literary
preoccupations of their peers to satirical extremes” (Holm-Hudson
2002: 15). The album was “a musical undertaking on a far grander and
more elaborate scale than anything close to what the group had taken
on previously” (Covach 1996: Progression).
The lyrical narrative of Thick as a Brick is primarily concerned with
an eight-year-old poet, Gerald “Little Milton” Bostock, who wins a
literary award for his complex poem, “Thick as a Brick”. The poem (also
the album’s lyrics) expresses Bostock’s disdain with English society.
After Bostock’s victory, the poem is deemed profane and seemingly
beyond his years in its syntax and complex themes by the “Society
of Literary Advancement and Gestation” (S.L.A.G). Bostock’s poem is
disqualified due to his “extremely unwholesome attitude towards life,
his god and his country” (Thick as a Brick CD: 1997), with the award
given to a young lady whose poem, “He Died to Save the Little Children”,
praises the values of Christian ethics. This plot-line allows Jethro Tull
to address their concerns regarding England’s dominant religious,
governmental and educational systems in the early 1970s.
30
With the release of Thick as a Brick, Jethro Tull maximised the potential
of the media technologies available to them at the time, particularly
the functional properties of the 12-inch vinyl record, the dominant
sound carrier of the 1970s. Montgomery emphasises the important
relationship between concept albums and vinyl long-playing records
(2002: 82), widely considered to have started with the release of the
Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). The artistic
intention behind long-playing concept albums on vinyl records was that
“[t]he listener, or audience, must experience the album from beginning
to end without interruption. The time it takes to flip the album stands
in place of an intermission” (Montgomery 2002: 30). Moore suggests
that concept albums like Thick as a Brick (1972) and its follow-up
A Passion Play (1973) were regarded as such because they “played
unbroken from beginning to end, with a musical and lyrical continuity
sufficiently strong to lead from one quasi-song into the next” (1993: 82).
Indeed, Thick as a Brick was conceived as a single song that spanned
the two sides of a vinyl LP, with a total duration of over 43 minutes. In
Gerson’s review of Thick as a Brick in Rolling Stone (1972), he notes:
What marks this album as a significant departure from other Jethro Tull work,
and rock in general, is the organization of all its music into one continuous
track. Albums like Sgt. Pepper or Tommy were complete entities in themselves,
but still chose to use songs as their basic components. (Gerson 1972)
Although Jethro Tull composed musical segues and “link-sequences”
to transition between the various movements and verses of Thick
as a Brick, its flow and continuity benefited significantly from the
technologies available to the band in the recording studio. The 16-track
recorders available in major studios by 1972 allowed for multitrack layering of particular instruments, and for the overdubbing of
additional tracks and effects to tie musical segments together. The use
of signal processing units and tape splicing methods to merge different
passages together further facilitated the album’s seamless playback.
31
Covach explains that “the piece is not a forty-minute-plus medley of
songs . . . but a single work in several sections, complete with motivic
and thematic returns that structure the musical aspects of the album
in conjunction with its ambitious lyrics” (2000: 14). The use of this
“one continuous track” approach proved so successful that Jethro Tull
adopted it a second time on their next album A Passion Play (1973),
which also topped the Billboard chart in 1973.
The development of media technologies in the 1970s also had a
significant influence on the way that concept albums could be printed
and packaged. The design of an album’s cover became central to its
appeal, with much of a concept album’s value inscribed within its
gatefold sleeve (Atton 2001: 36). For the release of Thick as a Brick,
Jethro Tull enlisted specialist printing press services and packaged
the album in a striking, meticulously detailed LP sleeve that folded out
to be a 12-page newspaper known as the St. Cleve Chronicle & Linwell
Advertiser (Figure 7), modelled on the Evening Standard newspaper (Ian
Anderson 1979: BBC Radio).
The 12x12 inch cover space of an LP sleeve served as an eye-catching
advertisement for albums in the 1970s, with scope to implement myriad
combinations of artwork, text, imagery, drawings, logos and even
comics. Album covers increasingly became artistic spectacles, featuring
subtle messages that worked in tandem with the music (Figure 8).
Eventually these creative high-art impulses even extended to the design
of the records themselves, with special edition vinyl in unusual colours
or odd shapes proving popular. As Smolko observes with regards
to the importance of album artwork in the 1970s, “[a]lbum covers
did for musicians in previous decades what music videos and online
websites do for artists now – attract attention to the artist and their
music” (2011: 20). Jethro Tull’s Thick as a Brick, along with other album
covers from the era, such as Yes’ Tales from Topographic Oceans (1973),
Genesis’ The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) and Emerson, Lake
and Palmer’s Brain Salad Surgery (1973) were not just containers and
protective sleeves for the records they contained, they could be seen as
“art works in their own right” (Osborne 2012: 176).
32
Figure 7: “
Figure 8: Packaging Design. Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Brain Salad Surgery. Manticore, 1973.
33
Jones and Sorger note the words of musician Patti Smith, who said:
“If you want to see where the world’s been, just look through some
old album covers” (1999: 70). They note the effectiveness of the vinyl
long-playing record as a “forum for the development of a rich sense
of cultural, artistic, and social history” (1999: 70). Keister and Smith
(2008) discuss how progressive rock artists often addressed sociocultural issues within their albums. Jethro Tull’s ambitious decision to
release an album of conceptual music in the form of The St. Cleve Chronicle
and Linwell Advertiser is one such example, demonstrating just how
“malleable and expressive” the vinyl LP could be (Smolko 2011: 19-20).
Covach interprets Thick as a Brick as a glimpse into the life of the
average middle-class Englishman, dealing in turn with birth, youth
(including sexual awakening), school, military service and organized
religion (1996: Progression). Morris furthers this interpretation,
viewing the album’s conceptual underpinning as an “artistic attack on
nearly everything in mainstream society, including attitudes toward
children, art, war, and general materialism” (2000: Cup of Wonder).
Thick as a Brick is critical of the supposed ignorance and stupidity of
English society, as Ian Anderson outlines:
The phrase ‘thick as a brick’ is a North English colloquial term meaning
‘stupid.’ Like the religious themes on Aqualung, the theme of Thick As a Brick
came out of my adolescent feelings about society and how it tries to bend
you away from your will and toward its will, as if you’re not bright enough to
make your own choices. (1999: Guitar World)
The album’s lyrics are printed as the centerpiece of the newspaper,
in the guise of Gerald Bostock’s award-winning poem. These lyrics
come across as rather obscure, shifting between first, second and
third person viewpoints, However, when considered together with the
additional extra-musical content featured in the album’s packaging,
Jethro Tull’s lyrics can be understood as a cleverly disguised
commentary on the state of affairs in England during the early 1970s,
implying that English society are being strangled of independence by
the country’s government, education systems and dominant religions,
34
giving rise to a collective “average”. Smolko suggests that many of the
album’s lyrical passages highlight “the importance of individuality and
free thinking, and how those with political power can stifle the voice of
the poor and undereducated” (2011: 36).
Martin has described the packaging of Thick as a Brick as “a great sendup of English pomposity, provinciality, and the class system” (1998: 211).
The newspaper features bizarre headline stories that expand upon the
album’s concept and themes, as well as games, puzzles, a faux review of
the album, advertisements and even fictional eulogies. Covach suggests
“the album packaging is almost as important in figuring out the themes
addressed in the lyrics as the lyrics themselves; and this creates a
crucial interdependence between the music, lyrics, and packaging that
was unprecedented in its day” (1996: Progression). The St. Cleve Chronicle
packaging provides further context for the lyrics, themes and moods
of the music it contains and has ultimately become an iconic artefact of
1970s rock music.
Furthermore, in keeping with Jethro Tull’s conception of the work as a
stand-alone 43-minute piece, the album’s track listing, on both the LP
sleeve and the vinyl record itself (Figure 9), simply reads “Thick as a
Brick”. Perhaps even more intriguing was the band’s decision to perform
Thick as a Brick in its entirety on their 1972 tour, often experimenting
with its instrumentation and arrangements. Since audiences at the
beginning of this tour had not yet become familiar with the elaborate
work, the band made the live concert experience into a lightly theatrical
affair by integrating comical interludes between songs, donning
costumes and making references to the album’s concepts and lyrical
themes. It should also be noted that a similar approach was adopted
on their subsequent tour for A Passion Play (1973), with various media,
including image projectors, also enhancing the performance.
Thick as a Brick remains relevant today due its intriguing concepts and
packaging, its tongue-in-cheek delivery and its complex yet accessible
music and lyrics. There is also a certain nostalgic fascination with the
album, as evidenced by the success of Ian Anderson’s Thick as a Brick 2
(2012), a sequel that theorises what may have happened to Gerald Bostock
in the 40 years that have passed since the original album’s release.
35
Thick as a Brick is a landmark album release in terms of the production,
marketing and presentation of recorded music in the early 1970s, and
also in the way that Jethro Tull reflected socio-cultural concerns within
Britain at the time. The album is an ideal case study for this thesis,
representing the importance of the concept album within popular
culture of the 1970s.
Figure 9: Thick as a Brick Vinyl Label, UK First Issue. Jethro Tull. Thick as a Brick. Chrysalis, 1972.
36
Queensrÿche’s
Operation: Mindcrime (1988)
CHAPTER THREE
Figure 10: Expanded Album Cover. Queensrÿche. Operation: Mindcrime. EMI-Manhattan, 1988.
Operation: Mindcrime (1988) is Queensrÿche’s third studio album and
their first concept album, or “science-fiction-influenced mini-opera”
(Christe 2003: 230). It has been viewed as a key release in the history of
concept albums (Shute 2013: 122), delivering its narrative across a
range of media. The critical acclaim Queensrÿche have accumulated for
Operation: Mindcrime (1988) since its release has seen it featured in
“best albums of all time” lists by leading music publications such as
Classic Rock (2001) and Kerrang (1998).
The concept of Operation: Mindcrime warrants some explanation, as
the narrative is rather complex and multi-dimensional. The central
protagonist is Nikki, a heroin abuser who is manipulated by a corrupt
37
religious revolutionary known as Dr. X to become an assassin and
political radical in exchange for an ongoing supply of drugs. Nikki is
responsive to Dr. X’s trigger word “mindcrime”, which prompts him to
carry out assassinations and actions against humanity uncontrollably.
Nikki questions what has come of his life when Dr. X coerces him to
rebel against the church by murdering the local priest, Father William,
and one of the sisters, Mary, with whom Nikki is in love. Aware that his
drug supply will cease if he neglects Dr. X’s orders, Nikki is divided as
to whether to follow his heart or succumb to his damaged mind. Nikki
proceeds to murder the priest, but cannot bring himself to kill Mary due
to the love he feels for her. When Mary is found dead shortly after, it is
unclear whether Mary committed suicide, was murdered by somebody
else in the story, or was ultimately killed by Nikki in his “mindcrime”
state. The album begins and ends by depicting Nikki, dazed and in
a mental asylum, struggling to remember the events that occurred
surrounding Mary’s death.
Concept albums released by heavy metal bands in the 1980s often
combined the music style’s powerful sound with mystical and
fantastical themes derived from literature. For example, Iron Maiden’s
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988) appropriates its conceptual
direction from Orson Scott Card’s Seventh Son (1987), a fantasy novel
based on the folkloric tale that a seventh son born to another seventh
son possesses extraordinary magical abilities. Similarly, Venom’s At
War with Satan (1984) draws influence from John Milton’s Paradise Lost
(1667), recasting Milton’s classic poem to create an alternative version,
wherein evil triumphs over heaven and angels fall into hell. While the
narrative of Operation: Mindcrime is the work of lead singer Geoff Tate,
some aspects of the album’s dystopian world can be seen as allusions
to famous literary works such as George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four
(1948) and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World (1932). Queensrÿche
developed a unique sound by merging the virtuosity, theatricality and
eclecticism of progressive rock music with the more aggressive sound
and ethos of heavy metal, initiating the progressive metal genre, which
has spawned numerous concept albums, and influencing bands such as
Dream Theater and Symphony X.
38
The 1980s was a period of significant technological shifts in the
music industry, with formats that emphasised convenience and
portability overtaking vinyl LPs to become the dominant sound carriers
(Bartmanski and Woodward 2012; Elborough 2008; Gibbs 2010; Laing
1990). Jones surmises that “[a]s a metaphor for the eighties, the CD is as
good as any” (2005: 112). The gentle handling, dusting and flipping of
sides associated with vinyl records was substituted with the simple act
of loading the album in the tray and pressing play.
Compared to vinyl LPs, the remodeling of concept albums to suit the
CD and cassette tape was carried out with varying degrees of efficacy,
due to “the lack of spectacle of the small images on the packing and
the unreadability of [the] sleeve notes in necessarily tiny print sizes”
(Gibbs 2010: 329). The visual properties and conceptual aesthetics of
the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, for example, were not
nearly as alluring on the album’s condensed reissues. Likewise, Thick
as a Brick’s iconic newspaper could not be faithfully reproduced on
the CD format (Smolko 2011: 29). Queensrÿche serviced the consumer
demands of their era by distributing Operation: Mindcrime on vinyl, CD
and cassette, and ensured that the presentation of all three distribution
formats was designed to adequately reflect the album’s concept.
The sonic properties of rock music changed significantly in the 1980s,
as producers experimented with the latest studio technologies and
production techniques. Neo-progressive rock artists updated the sound
of the 1970s symphonic progressive rock acts from which they drew
inspiration. Concept albums such as Pallas’ The Sentinel (1984) and
Marillion’s Misplaced Childhood (1985), for example, heavily utilised
delay and reverb effects, synthesisers and digital technologies such as
MIDI, particularly for drum and percussion sounds.
Operation: Mindcrime combines some of these neo-progressive sonic
tendencies with Queensrÿche’s heavy metal heritage. Geoff Tate has
discussed the pivotal role that producer Peter Collins played in the
making of the album (Operation: LIVEcrime DVD: 2001).
39
Collins introduced the band to many people that contributed to the
album, including Pamela Moore, who provided the voice of Sister Mary.
He developed the album’s unique production style, characterised by
multi-tracked guitars and vocals and the unmistakable “crack” of Scott
Rockenfield’s layered snare drum sound (half natural/half electronic),
and was also responsible for the complicated task of integrating the
Operation: Mindcrime concept.
The opening minutes of the album are an example of Collins studio
expertise, as he manipulates the stereo headspace and utilises the
multitude of recordable audio tracks available to position the listener
within the mental hospital at which the story’s protagonist, Nikki, is
being monitored. Before Queensrÿche launch into the instrumental
overture, “Anarchy X”, a layered, cinematic sound sequence sets the
scene for the Operation: Mindcrime narrative to unfold, beginning with
the combined sounds of a nurse’s footsteps wandering the corridors
and a bypasser whistling the melody of “The Mission”, a later track
on the album. These footsteps (panned across the mix) lead us into
Nikki’s room, where a TV news report can be heard in the left speaker,
commenting on the string of murders that propel the album’s narrative.
The nurse administers a sedative injection to a struggling Nikki, and an
eerie synthesiser drone fills the stereo space, creating dramatic tension.
Nikki’s words, treated with reverb, then contextualise the opening
sequence as a retrospective account of what ultimately unfolds in the
album’s concept: “I remember now … I remember how it started … I can’t
remember yesterday … I just remember doing … what they told me.”
(Operation: Mindcrime CD: 2003).
Operation: Mindcrime benefited from gapless playback technology,
which provided flexibility for listeners on its CD version, as the album
played seamlessly in album sequence to emphasise the concept, but its
songs could also be skipped or repeated more easily than on a cassette
or vinyl LP. Transitions between songs were strengthened by the use
of layered soundscapes, field recordings and narrative passages rather
than silent gaps. The soundscapes depict various settings for the story
to unfold, from the busy streets of the city, to the choir at the chapel,
to the sirens approaching a crime scene. These auditory environments
help carry the concept of Operation: Mindcrime, although the concept
40
perhaps reaches its apex when the story is articulated through the
album’s promotional videos, or combined with the theatrical melodrama
of Queensrÿche’s concert performances.
Chief among the technological innovations in the music industry of the
1980s was the music video (Sheinbaum 2008: 31). By the latter half
of the decade, rock bands and their management companies invested
heavily in the production and promotion of music videos, in the hope
of being broadcast on MTV. Geoff Tate notes that the single act of MTV
broadcasting the “Eyes of a Stranger” video on the Headbanger’s Ball
program served as an incredible sales stimulant for Operation: Mindcrime
(Operation: LIVEcrime DVD: 2001). This gave the band confidence to
extend the album’s promotional tour, which culminated in a series
of career-defining concerts in which the band performed Operation:
Mindcrime live in its entirety. The Operation: LIVEcrime show was highly
technology-driven, accompanied by cinematic footage and vignettes on
film screens. Trained actors and singers were not only featured in the
film footage, but were also integrated into live performances, to act out
the album’s story and enhance the concept (Figure 11).
As well as the increasing importance of music videos and live performance
technologies, one of the biggest shifts observable in the progression
of concept albums from the 1970s into the 1980s was the success of
Operation: Mindcrime’s singles. Progressive rock artists from the 1970s,
such as Yes, Genesis and Camel, rarely, if ever, released music from their
concept albums in the form of singles, thus lending emphasis to the
album as a complete body of work.
concept album intended for full-length listening, Operation: Mindcrime
gave rise to three distinct singles: “Revolution Calling”, “I Don’t Believe
in Love/The Needle Lies” and “Eyes of a Stranger” (with the 10-minuteplus “Suite Sister Mary” released as a special edition 10-inch vinyl). While
these songs were essential to the cohesion of the Operation: Mindcrime
narrative, they became stand-alone hit singles.
Queensrÿche’s conceptual intentions can be compared to the way
Stimeling views the concept albums of Willie Nelson: “an attempt to
extend narratives and character development beyond the limits of a
three-minute single while also creating singles that would be suitable
41
for radio airplay” (2011: 406-407). By featuring Operation: Mindcrime’s
album logo and elements of the album’s narrative within the music
videos and promotional materials for “Eyes of a Stranger” and “I Don’t
Believe in Love”, these singles promoted their “mother” album to
audiences, and served as samples of what could be expected from the
Operation: Mindcrime concept album experience.
Figure 11: Still from “Suite Sister Mary”. Operation: LIVEcrime DVD. Prod. Queensrÿche. EMI Records, 2001.
42
Anderton has observed that “the relationship between heavy metal and
progressive rock is often regarded as antagonistic” (2010: 431). Macan
positions progressive rock as “upper-middle class” music—the domain of
a sophisticated, socially aware audience prepared to explore alternative
spiritual paths (1997: 136-7), as opposed to heavy metal, a “workingclass” music (1997: 136–7), associated with a hedonist, nihilistic
subculture (1997: 86-87).
Queensrÿche melded Macan’s two classes together in the 1980s, and
created a “progressive/heavy metal genre hybrid” (Anderton 2010: 431).
The band established themselves as a heavy metal act in their early
years, before adopting a more progressive influenced sound on Rage
for Order (1986), which featured unconventional time signatures and
philosophical lyrics. Queensrÿche’s formulation of Operation: Mindcrime
as a politically aware concept album re-affirmed their progressive
tendencies, closely aligning their music with the social criticism of Jethro
Tull’s Thick as a Brick and arguably positioning the band as out of step
with the commercially-driven heavy metal bands of the time, such as Def
Leppard, Bon Jovi and Guns N’ Roses (Barron: 2004).
Queensrÿche developed Operation: Mindcrime’s narrative and settings as
vehicles through which to comment on key issues affecting lifestyle and
culture in America in the late 1980s, notably “the decline of American
society during the Reagan administration” (Elicker 2001: 223). In the
lyrics of the song “Spreading the Disease”, personal themes such as
religion and sex are depicted by singer Geoff Tate as “powerplays”, and
America’s economy is described as engineered so that the “rich get
rich”, the “poor stay poor” and “the once percent rules America”. Taylor
identifies how the Operation: Mindcrime story addresses “themes of social
and political control, humans serving as tools for a hidden system of
power, and technoscience’s capacity for mind manipulation” (2006: 55).
These Orwellian themes of restricted thought and external interference
are reflected in Operation: Mindcrime’s striking artwork (Figure 10).
The centerpiece is a vibrant yellow logo, seemingly depicting the act of
“mindcrime”, in the form of jagged lines passing through a skull from
both sides, against the backdrop of a parade of demonstrating protesters.
43
Figure 12: Logo. “Black and White
Figure 13: Album Cover. Yes.
Advert for Operation: Mindcrime”.
90125. Atco, 1983.
The vivid, direct iconography used to represent Operation: Mindcrime
(Figure 12) possesses visual similarities with the releases of Yes in the
1980s, such as 90125 (1983) and Big Generator (1987). These album
covers abandoned the elaborate Roger Dean landscapes that had made
their past album sleeves so visually distinctive, and adopted brightly
coloured, computer generated imagery stereotypical of much graphic
design and advertising within commercial culture of the 1980s (Figure
13). The attention-grabbing Operation: Mindcrime logo was attractive to
consumers and well-suited to the size constraints of the CD and cassette
tape. However, despite the decline of vinyl LPs throughout the 1980s, the
large size of the out-of-vogue vinyl sleeve was also an effective channel
through which to present Operation: Mindcrime, providing audiences
with additional contextualising content (liner notes, artwork) relating to
the album’s concept.
Audiences were provided with further context with the release of
Video: Mindcrime (1989), a 40-minute video which allowed Queensrÿche
to capitalise on the communicative effectiveness provided by music
videos and enhance the Operation: Mindcrime storyline. Video:
Mindcrime transforms Operation: Mindcrime into a multimedia
experience, combining an edited version of the album’s music with
footage of the band performing live and clips of actors assuming the
roles of characters in the story.
44
The video presents strong political themes and propaganda-influenced
messages depicting the subversive revolution that the story’s
demagogue, Dr. X, is attempting to impose.
Interviews with former Queensrÿche guitarist Chris De Garmo reveal
that the politically-grounded concept of the album confused some fans,
who misinterpreted the artistic intentions behind Operation: Mindcrime.
While on tour in the United Kingdom, controversy arose as some fans
believed that the band were planning a subversive revolution against
the U.S. government. De Garmo responds to this point with some
sarcasm: “We’ve got nothing against the right-wing, conservative, fascist
governments that run the United States” (Queensryche-Chris De Garmo
and Geoff Tate: YouTube 2006). In an interview featured on the Operation:
LIVEcrime DVD, Geoff Tate recalls:
I can remember performing Mindcrime at Long Beach Arena in Southern
California, and the fans just going crazy, and lighting fires in the arena. The
whole place looked like some kind of war scene, fires going off, smoke alarms
going off. . . . People are getting carried out in stretchers, it was just unreal. . . .
At the time I was thinking, what are they doing? They’re not listening, they’re
just reacting in a different way perhaps. (2001)
This dialogue from Tate and De Garmo is suggestive of the socio-cultural
implications faced by the band after releasing such a socially and
politically aware concept album in the 1980s. The Operation: Mindcrime
logo became a cult image in some ways, representative of the album’s
concept and emblematic of Queensrÿche and the strong themes that the
album projected. The logo was emblazoned onto every form of publicity
related to the album, from clothing merchandise, to street posters, to
bootleg videos. This allowed Queensrÿche to communicate the idea
that their album contained a strong conceptual message. The strength
of Operation: Mindcrime’s concept, and the enduring political issues it
addresses, have been pivotal to the album’s continued relevance since its
release (for example, music from the album was used during the recent
“Occupy Melbourne” protests in Australia).
45
Operation: Mindcrime captured a point in time at which numerous media
technologies were both prominent and profitable in the marketplace,
new sounds and production styles were achievable in the studio
and the socio-cultural circumstances of Reagan-era America were
a matter of global concern that affected many people. Furthermore,
Operation: Mindcrime lent further emphasis to the concept album form
within heavy metal music and ultimately played an important role in
maintaining the concept album’s presence within the music industry
beyond the 1980s.
46
Radiohead’s
OK Computer (1997)
CHAPTER FOUR
Figure 14: Album Cover. Radiohead. OK Computer. Parlophone, 1997.
While Radiohead’s first two albums, Pablo Honey (1993) and The Bends
(1995), helped to establish them as a commercially successful alternative
rock act, their third album OK Computer (1997) gave them the reputation
of being an “artistically advanced band” (Von Appen and Doehring 2006:
34). This reputation was bolstered by the album’s impressive production
values and, as Letts (2005) has argued, its concept. The album features
many key characteristics (both musical and non-musical) of the concept
album form, despite the band regularly denying associations with it.
47
As guitarist Johnny Greenwood has stated: “[T]his album is too much
of a mess to sum up. It’s too garbled and disjointed, and the title is only
supposed to introduce you to the record” (cited in Letts 2005: 28).
Holm-Hudson (2002) and Letts (2005) identify parallels between OK
Computer and progressive rock, although Radiohead “actively seek to
distance themselves from associations with the genre” (Holm-Hudson
2002: 16). Parallels include the use of Mellotron keyboards, the subtle
cartoon-style parody of Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here (1975) artwork
on the album sleeve and the “hypermetric complexity in cross-rhythms
and time signatures” evident throughout the album’s songs (Letts 2005:
5). Moreover, the lyrical themes and social commentary of OK Computer
can be likened to progressive rock albums such as Pink Floyd’s The Wall
(1979) and Animals (1977), and Jethro Tull’s Aqualung (1971) and Thick
as a Brick (1972), which have all been associated with the “concept
album” tag (Letts 2005: 5).
The discernible concept of OK Computer is primarily concerned with
the dehumanising effects of technology and modern culture, and
the anxieties felt by many as the new millennium approached. Letts
describes OK Computer as “a musically unified depiction of man’s
alienation in modern society” (2005: 5), while Hubbs considers it to be
a “concept album that immerses the listener in images of alienated life
under techno/bureau/corporate hegemony”, noting that “a vivid flavor
of alienation and disaffectedness . . . is built up by layers over the course
of twelve album tracks” (cited in Letts 2005: 24).
Figure 15: “Photo: St. Catherines Court”, where OK Computer was recorded.
48
The influence of technology throughout the music industry in the 1990s
was ever-present. Wikström and Burnett note that by 1992, “only a
decade after the introduction of CD technology, the LP format was almost
completely replaced, and digital technology was well established as the
main technology for music distribution” (2009: 506). Cassette tapes also
declined in the commercial marketplace, as they lacked the audio quality,
durability and digital functionality of CDs, which the music industry
had started promoting extensively as the dominant format. Many
music consumers of the 1990s found themselves shifting their listening
practices exclusively to the CD, often reinvesting in albums they already
owned in other formats. This ensured that the music industry’s major
record labels achieved significant capital gains in the latter half of the
20 th century from back-catalogue album sales (Park 2007).
with digital studio equipment, computer functionality and electronic
instruments becoming both more advanced and more prominent. It can be
argued that involvement in the writing and production of popular music
became more widespread in the 1990s, as recording equipment became
more accessible, increasingly mobile and less attached to the hiring
of expensive recording studios. With assistance from producer Nigel
Godrich, Radiohead took advantage of the increased mobility of recording
musical equipment necessary for the recording of OK Computer, at a 16th
century manor owned by actress Jane Seymour (Figure 15). This allowed
the band to escape the time constraints and distractions of an inner-city
studio and exert greater control over the production of their music.
Ambient noises, sampling, programmed drum loops and overdriven,
heavily processed guitar tones are among the techniques and
technologies used to shape the album. The recurring use of these
sonic aesthetics across the album’s songs can be seen as threads
that help tie the album together as a cohesive whole. Ironically,
while Radiohead were questioning the potentially dehumanising
effects that technological expansion could have on society, they were
49
simultaneously relying on and experimenting with the available studio
and media technologies of their time.
Osborne believes that when artists are pushing technological as well
as musical boundaries, “sound recording is most in touch with its own
times” (2012: 183), something which is arguably reflected in Radiohead’s
OK Computer. The album’s intricate production and technology-driven
sound evoked a sense of identity and originality absent from the largely
revisionist work of other popular British bands in the 1990s such
as Oasis and Blur. Moore and Ibrahim have stated that OK Computer
“gain[ed] its age-defining status through a combination of both musical
and sonic exploration. . . . It is both a timely and a timeless record,
unmistakably Radiohead but still managing to express sentiments
shared by people in all walks of life” (cited in Letts 2005: 25).
The album also functions as a musical document of its times. It features
artwork, lyrics and an album title that all serve to ref lect its time of
release three years before the turn of the new millennium. OK Computer
is presented as forward thinking and technology-driven. A short
experimental piece, “Fitter Happier”, marks the mid-point of the album
and is particularly important in contextualising the album’s recurring
theme of technological impact. The musical content of “Fitter Happier”
is minimal, featuring a two-chord piano progression and static sound
effects, while the track’s central focus is on an emotionless, computer
generated voice typical of computing technology in the late 1990s.
OK Computer’s recurring themes of technological alienation and the
strains of modernity are conceptually similar to David Bowie’s concept
album, 1.Outside (1995). The music, lyrics, album artwork, music
videos and live performances of both albums combine to construct
“a space which is analogous to society at the end of the millennium”
(Greco 2000: v). On OK Computer, everything from the album’s sonic
experimentation, to its accompanying inner sleeve, not to mention the
angst-ridden cartoon-animated music video for “Paranoid Android”,
with its disaffected protagonist, gives the impression of capturing and
reinforcing the album’s conceptual themes. The very act of relying on
a variety of technologies and media outlets to depict OK Computer’s
dystopian and overtly technology-driven world, however, can be seen as
50
somewhat contradictory. The question remains as to how Radiohead’s
critique of technology and its potentially dehumanising effects on
society would have been received had the band themselves been
deprived of the many modern technologies they so heavily depended
upon to construct the album.
Each of the band’s releases since OK Computer have championed the
expressiveness, extended playing-time and musical continuity of the
album format, innovatively utilising media technologies to aid their
production and distribution processes (for example, the “pay what you
think it’s worth” model used for the band’s self-release of In Rainbows
(2007)). Hegarty and Halliwell suggest that Radiohead have continually
attempted to salvage the album format (2011: 236). Their experimental
legacy can be witnessed in the sonic explorations of bands such as
Coldplay and The Mars Volta, who have each embraced the album format
and conceptual themes.
Figure 16: Fitter Happier Litany featured in Select Magazine. July, 1997.
51
Some commentators have noted the presence of thematic resonances
and a conceptual underpinning in OK Computer (Hegarty and Halliwell
2011; Letts 2005). However, interpretations of OK Computer’s
concept (or concepts) are varied. In such debates, one thing that
remains consistent is the view that OK Computer can be seen as social
commentary and a reflection of life in pre-millennial English society.
Stubbs suggests that OK Computer is “a protest, in a sense, against a
time of plenty, a time of great material wealth” (Radiohead: OK Computer
DVD: 2006), reflecting the state of economic affairs in Britain in the
late 1990s. Songs such as “Electioneering” and “Karma Police” grapple
with matters relating to politics and justice. The release of OK Computer
in May 1997 coincided with the election of Tony Blair as British Prime
Minister. In the case of “Electioneering”, “the sentiment behind it
perfectly sums up the New Labour project and its effect on modern
politics” (Clancy Sharp - narrator, Radiohead: OK Computer DVD: 2006).
Hegarty and Halliwell describe how the album is “thematically linked
as a series of meditations on the state of the individual in a highly
technologized consumer society run for the benefit of a small group
of its members” (2011: 235). Similarly, Azad claims that OK Computer
“dared to deal with themes of urban alienation and technology’s effect
on the human psyche” (2007). Ross suggests that with OK Computer,
Radiohead “caught a wave of generation anxiety”, encapsulating the
time of the late 1990s by crafting an album that “pictured the onslaught
of the information age and a young person’s panicky embrace of it”
(cited in Letts 2005: 26).
The album’s title instantly provokes technological thought, and
additionally, as Griffiths observes, “[t]here is a lot to be gained [from]
attending to the artwork of this particular album” (Radiohead: OK
Computer DVD: 2006). The album cover lacks vibrancy and is itself
computer generated and indicative of a digitised existence, working
in tandem with the album’s title. The text “lost child” (in the upper
right hand corner of the album cover) could be seen as attached to the
theme of urban alienation. The focal point of the artwork depicts bland
highway infrastructure and street signs, with the nose of an aircraft
52
noticeable on the right hand side. Transport and travel are themes that
are addressed throughout OK Computer’s lyrics and sonic explorations,
and the importance of these themes in the context of the album is
reflected in the album’s artwork (Figure 14), as well as on the cover of
the single, “No Surprises” (Figure 17). Hegarty and Halliwell summarise
the presence of the conceptual thread of transport throughout the
album, “beginning with the car crash of the opening track, ‘Airbag’, a
plane crash in the penultimate track, ‘Lucky’, and the instruction to ‘slow
down’ on the closing ‘The Tourist’” (2011: 235). According to Footman,
the recurring theme of transport in OK Computer is closely tied to
technology, and represents “the various kinds of movement that modern
life imposes on humanity” (cited in Hegarty and Halliwell 2011: 235).
Ogg comments on singer Thom Yorke’s “paranoia about cars”, suggesting
that the highway of the album’s cover and the lyrics of songs such as
“Airbag” express “unease with being in metal boxes being shunted along
highways” (Radiohead: OK Computer DVD: 2006). In another sense,
the lyrics to “Airbag” could be a rare instance on the album in which
Radiohead acknowledge technology’s benefits. The song describes
technology’s role in a car accident, whereby the car’s airbag saves a life
in a moment of tragedy. This perhaps suggests that the band were not
completely damning of technology’s role in modern society, but merely
“alarmed”.
Letts compares the role of the aforementioned “Fitter Happier” on OK
Computer to the way the Moody Blues used “eloquently intoned poems” to
interconnect the songs on some of their albums (2005: 25). The automated
computer voice of “Fitter Happier” dictates a litany of guidelines for an
idealised human existence (Figure 16). Since computing technology in
the late 1990s exerted less influence in daily life than it does today, the
element of the unknown with regards to its development and potential
future impact on society caused much anxiety. In the case of “Fitter
Happier”, the presentation of this computerised voice as all-knowing with
regards to how humans should lead their lives could be seen as a comment
on the technological anxiety of the time, presenting a dystopian world
view reminiscent of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (1948).
53
In Von Appen and Doehring’s “meta-list” of “the best pop and rock
albums of all time” (2006: 22), the results of 38 “top albums” lists
published internationally between 1985 and 2004 are compiled to
create a canon of exemplary pop and rock albums. The albums featured
in the meta-list are those by artists who “produce records that are
judged as innovative, original, expressive, diverse but also full of
‘well-written songs’” (2006: 34). Radiohead’s OK Computer is one of
only a handful of 1990s albums featured, with the majority of the list
consisting of influential albums released in the “vinyl era” of the 1970s
and 1980s. OK Computer’s multi-platinum status and regular inclusion in
polls and lists of the “best albums of all time” (Letts 2005: 27) indicate
the major influence the record has had on a broad mainstream audience,
and on the full-length album format in contemporary music. As Griffiths
advocates: “OK Computer might in time be a focal point for historians of
life at the end of the close of the twentieth century” (2004: 114).
Figure 17: Single Cover. Radiohead. No Surprises. Parlophone, 1997.
54
Coheed and Cambria’s
The Amory Wars (2002-2013)
CHAPTER FIVE
Figure 18: The Amory Wars Illustration.
In contrast to Radiohead, the American progressive rock band Coheed
and Cambria have welcomed associations with the concept album.
According to the band’s chief songwriter and frontman Claudio Sanchez,
“Coheed and Cambria is a conceptual band . . . there is an overall thread,
our story arc called The Amory Wars, that sort of runs through all of the
albums, and the albums play the chapters in that story” (Coheed and
Cambria on the Story Arc: FuseTV 2013).
55
The Amory Wars (2002-2013) is a unique subject of study, as the focus
need not be directed towards a single album, but rather towards
a career-spanning body of work, consisting of seven interlinked
concept albums and a host of other related media through which the
concept is disseminated. While a detailed synopsis for the complex
plot developments, characters and settings of The Amory Wars story
is beyond the scope of this research, it is important to include a basic
overview of this science-fiction inspired narrative, and to explain how
it has been implemented across Coheed and Cambria’s concept albums.
The Amory Wars is set in an alternate universe known as “Heaven’s
Fence”, consisting of 78 planetary systems connected by a triangular
beam of energy known as the “Keywork”, which is powered by the
seven “Stars of Sirius”, as represented in Coheed and Cambria’s band
logo. Heaven’s Fence is inhabited by three races: mages (militant
rulers), prises (guardians of the Keywork) and humans, and much
of the narrative of The Amory Wars is concerned with the power
struggles, deception and injustice circulating between them.
Although a variety of complex sub-plots, characters and settings
are introduced with each instalment of The Amory Wars saga, the
main character is arguably Claudio Kilgannon (named after Claudio
Sanchez). Claudio embodies the role of the “hero”, escaping the
bloodshed and drama inf licted within his family after his parents,
Coheed and Cambria Kilgannon, are manipulated into believing that
a malicious virus known as the “Sinstar” has infected their four
children. Claudio sets out to seek vengeance for his family’s collapse,
and to save Heaven’s Fence from the possibility of future threats.
The seven albums in The Amory Wars saga to date have intentionally
been released in a non-linear sequence, most recently culminating in a
two-part prequel series titled The Afterman (2012, 2013).
56
The Amory Wars narrative sequence thus far is best interpreted as follows:
1. The Afterman: Ascension (2012)
2. The Afterman: Descension (2013)
3. Year of the Black Rainbow (2010)
4. The Second Stage Turbine Blade (2002)
5. In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 (2003)
6. Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the
Eyes of Madness (2005)
7. Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World for Tomorrow
(2007)
Similar to the Star Wars science-fiction movie franchise, in which the
first movie released, A New Hope (1977), is intended as the fourth
“episode” in the series, Coheed and Cambria’s first album release, The
Second Stage Turbine Blade (2002), is not intended as the first chapter
of The Amory Wars narrative. It is, however, an effective launch to the
band’s concept, as it establishes the story’s universe, central themes and
important characters.
57
The internet is the centralising domain underpinning most
technologically-grounded discussion of 21st century music (Jones
2000: 222). After CD drives were integrated into personal computers
in the late 1990s, allowing CD albums to be converted into intangible
MP3 files stored on computer hard drives, the internet played a major
role in transforming computers into a means that at once facilitated
the storage, collation, consumption, access and sharing of music. The
recording industry claimed to be in turmoil by the early 2000s. The
widespread use of online peer-to-peer (p2p) file-sharing programs
(Arditi 2013: 1), such as Napster and Kazzaa, infringed copyright laws
and raised piracy issues by allowing internet users worldwide to share
their music files free of charge. The major record labels faced significant
drops in revenue by continuing to focus on physical music distribution,
until the introduction of Apple’s iTunes Music Store in 2003 solidified
the digital music industry, allowing major labels to regain some of the
industrial control that was lost in the initial transition to digital media.
iTunes offered a legal, sales-based platform for digital music, which
centralised the music marketplace by simultaneously distributing major
label artists alongside acts from independent labels and even selfmanaged artists.
While Coheed and Cambria’s debut album, The Second Stage Turbine
Blade, earned the band recognition and attracted positive reviews, their
second album, In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 (2003), established
them as a commercial entity. The album’s release capitalised on the
transitional period when digital music distribution was gathering
momentum, but CDs still dominated the market. The online exposure and
distribution of the digital album earned the band new fans, but lacked
the artwork and conceptual context provided by the CD, not to mention
the four limited edition vinyl versions of the album that were released
(and are now highly collectable). These physical versions appealed to
fans wishing to immerse themselves in The Amory Wars concept.
58
The consumer preference for singles over full-length albums in the
digital music industry has challenged the concept album form (Burkart
2013: 5). One of Apple’s portable music players, the iPod Shuffle,
for example, has significantly influenced consumer listening habits,
promoting variety-oriented listening by randomly “shuffling” a user’s
songs and detaching them from their traditional position within an
album. Atton has discussed the “shuffle” function with relation to
“difficult albums”—works that have been judged to present audiences
with confronting listening experiences (2012: 356). He suggests that
while some albums are so musically experimental that they are almost
“impossible to listen to” in their entirety, their songs can perhaps be
appreciated more when listened to on contemporary MP3 players “in
fragmented form”, alongside other less “difficult” songs (2012: 356).
Concept albums are usually produced with the intention of being
listened to in their entirety. In this regard, the “shuffle” function
disrupts the traditional start-to-finish listening practices associated
with concept albums.
Figure 19: Album Cover. Coheed and Cambria. No World For Tomorrow. Columbia, 2007.
59
The construction of concept albums as engaging, tangible artefacts has
been threatened, as physical music distribution has plummeted and the
online distribution of recorded music has rapidly grown (Wikström
2012: 8). Coheed and Cambria have made concerted efforts to package
their physical albums in an engaging manner relevant to The Amory
Wars concept. Their fourth album, No World for Tomorrow (2007), for
example, was widely distributed as a double-disc gatefold-style CD
package, including an extensive booklet and a bonus DVD with special
features (Figure 19). In the years since, the digital music industry
has further revolutionised the way we think about and access music,
providing us with a “celestial jukebox” of music to choose from (Burkart
2013). Artists releasing concept albums have needed to adjust to the
changes and find innovative ways to engage audiences with their works.
O’Reilly, Larsen and Kubacki argue that “[t]he emerging music consumer
is less interested in owning a physical product like a CD, than in
having access to music everywhere through a portable music player,
smartphone, tablet or laptop” (2013: 24). This demand has been fulfilled
by subscription-based online streaming services, such as Spotify and
MOG, which feature extensive music libraries from which songs can
be listened to, but not downloaded. These services represent what
Wikström calls the “access model” of music distribution, functioning in a
manner similar to service-centred industries such as hotels, restaurants
and banks, as opposed to the “ownership model”, which is aligned with
the acquisition of physical formats of distribution media (2012: 10).
Streaming services allow for songs to be individually consumed and
separated from their parent albums, providing users with “the freedom
to create their own compilations of a musician’s catalogue” (Dozal
2012: 9). This disrupts the conceptual unity of many concept albums
and compromises the artistic intentions behind them. Notably, in a
similar vein to the singles from Queensrÿche’s Operation: Mindcrime,
many of Coheed and Cambria’s songs are produced with an emphasis
on achieving continuity and narrative relevance in the context of The
Amory Wars, while also functioning as singles in their own right.
60
This is a favourable approach to implement, as it allows for the songs to
be enjoyed even if they appear out of context in a shuff le playlist, or in
the listener recommendations feature of a streaming service, and could
be seen as demonstrative of the band’s awareness of contemporary
trends in music consumption.
While digital music collections lack the “materiality” and “visual
aspects” of their physical counterparts (Giles, Pietrzykowski and Clark
2007: 440), it has been argued by Kibby that materiality and personal
meaningfulness can be attached to digital collections through tags,
menus and playlists (2009: 433). A contrasting argument is that the
digitisation of music “has made the packaging of physical products seem
more precious” (Osborne 2012: 161). On this point, it is interesting to
note that a new generation of consumers is gravitating towards vinyl
records (Bartmanski and Woodward 2012), a nostalgic trend that could
promote the ongoing value of concept albums in the 21 st century.
According to U.S.-based sales tracking system Nielsen SoundScan, there
were more sales of vinyl records between 2008 and 2012 than there
were in the entire period between 1993 and 2007 (Bartmanski and
Woodward 2012: 2). Coheed and Cambria have released their entire
back catalogue on vinyl and benefited considerably from the resurgent
interest in the format. Vinyl is currently in vogue in music scenes
ranging from hip-hop to dance to psychedelic rock, and consumers are
making the most of the vast range of both past and present repertoire
being issued on vinyl, enjoying its arguably superior sound quality
over that of MP3s (Anderton, Dubber and James 2013: 155). A range of
technologies are capitalising on the commercial revival of vinyl, with
the video game DJHero and the AirVinyl iPad app recreating vinyl’s
sound by simulating analogue harmonics (Osborne 2012: 2).
The presentation of The Amory Wars story arc has flourished on the
sizeable packaging of the format, offering fans tactile and experiential
advantages that CDs and digital albums cannot provide. The gatefold
sleeves of Coheed and Cambria’s concept albums can be seen as valuable
artefacts in their own right, loaded with imagery, text and artwork
designed to illuminate and provide surrealistic interpretations of their
respective concepts, while linking them to the broader Amory Wars
61
universe to which they belong. The deluxe hardcover box-set edition
of The Afterman series is particularly lavish, featuring the two albums,
Ascension and Descension, on silver and gold coloured vinyls (Figure 20),
along with a 64-page book written by Claudio Sanchez offering a song-bysong account of the story, with accompanying artwork and lyrics for each.
Vinyl provides an effective physical complement to the digital download
in the face of an increasingly digitised music industry (Osborne 2012:
2). Conversely, modern digital technologies are now being effectively
used to accompany and enhance vinyl releases. The vinyl editions
of Coheed and Cambria’s The Afterman albums, for example, come
bundled with digital download codes and internet-based content. In
this regard, Coheed and Cambria have serviced the demands of the
digital generation, delivering value and convenience to fans by allowing
for their albums to be accessed digitally and played on portable music
players, while also satisfying those consumers who appreciate the
tangibility of vinyl records.
Figure 20: “Coheed Limited Deluxe”. Promotional photo for The Afterman Box Set.
62
The socio-cultural inspirations and personal messages driving The
Amory Wars are less obvious than in the previous case studies. This is
because they are intentionally veiled behind a fantasy narrative made
up of fictional characters within an imaginary universe. Maher (2012)
has investigated how Claudio Sanchez uses the fictional landscape and
various characters of The Amory Wars as vehicles through which to
communicate his personal experiences, feelings and emotions. Maher
suggests that these “Representations of the Self” are difficult to interpret
due to the regular shifts in character perspective vocalised by Sanchez
and the variety of media used to tell the story. Yet she notes that Sanchez
is perhaps most personally conflated with the “messianic figure”, Claudio
Kilgannon, and the story’s narrator, The Writer (2012: 145).
While it is common for artists to draw upon autobiographical
experiences as inspiration for their concept albums, Sanchez prefers not
to make the socio-cultural themes ingrained in The Amory Wars explicit
to listeners:
[O]perating within an alternate reality is kind of just who I am. When I
created the concept for Coheed and Cambria, I was having a difficult time
shifting into adulthood and handling all of the emotions and perceived
judgments of that time period, so to be able to write songs and stories within
a conceptual world felt much simpler to me than to deal with communicating
those changes. With each album and chapter, the mythos of my own life
expands and . . . I find it easier to create under the safety of a pre-existing
mythos. (City Weekend Shanghai: 2013)
Contemporary popular culture has an unabating fascination with
science-fiction, both in a nostalgic sense and through society’s
identification with its prominent themes of computers, advanced
technology and virtual reality (Roberts 2000: 15). The modern
television revival of Doctor Who and the popularity of feature-length
film adaptations of classic Marvel comics such as Spiderman and X-Men
are just some examples of this fascination.
63
Coheed and Cambria’s conceptual “mythos” also reveals strong sciencefiction and fantasy influences, as represented through concepts, lyrics
and artwork. “IRO-Bot”, “On The Brink” and “Gravity’s Union” are songs
that closely deal with science-fiction themes and the “alternate reality”
through which Sanchez operates. The Amory Wars narrative allows
Sanchez to convey his personal feelings and emotions about life in 21st
century society, while providing audiences with an absorbing sciencefiction narrative.
The Amory Wars also continues a trend observable in Radiohead’s OK
Computer, whereby social and cultural trends are increasingly becoming
conflated with technology, particularly computerisation and the global
connectivity provided by the internet. The influence of technology
within society has directly influenced Coheed and Cambria’s music.
One such example is the inspiration behind the title track of their 2012
album The Afterman. As Claudio Sanchez explains: “‘The Afterman’ is
definitely taken from a moment in time where my wife had discovered
that a good friend of her’s had passed away on Facebook” (Amory Wars’
Claudio Sanchez ‘ Hides Behind Sci-Fi: YouTube 2013). For Sanchez, the
song confronts the emotional state associated with discovering this
news in such an impersonal manner.
Coheed and Cambria utilise a variety of media platforms and innovative
extra-musical aesthetics to communicate the The Amory Wars narrative
and immerse audiences in the album listening experience. Maher
describes The Amory Wars as an “ideal example of a musically based
transmedia narrative” (2012: 146). Transmedia narratives, according
to Maher, are “storyworlds constructed across a number of media
platforms best suited to create the story’s universe” (2012: 147).
Media philosopher Henry Jenkins describes “transmedia storytelling”
as a process in which “integral elements of a fiction get dispersed
systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of
creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience” (Jenkins
2007: Transmedia Storytelling 101).
64
Figure 21: Comic Book Cover. The Amory Wars. In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3, Volume 2.
Perhaps the most noteworthy extra-musical aspect of Coheed and
Cambria’s repertoire is Claudio Sanchez’s series of detailed sciencefiction comic books and graphic novels (Figure 21), which depict the plot
sequences of The Amory Wars saga and its related stories, extending the
immersive experience for audiences beyond merely its musical
component. The band have also promoted and disseminated The Amory
Wars concept using a variety of internet-based platforms, including
interactive websites, fan-targeted advertisements, music videos,
recording studio updates, live performance clips and fan-based forums.
The internet simultaneously functions as “a social space, medium of
distribution, and engine of social and commercial change” (Jones 2000:
222), and certainly bolsters the transmedia storytelling process,
allowing the band to circulate media content to a global audience at
rapid speeds via social networking and interactive media.
65
Audience engagement with The Amory Wars albums has also been
facilitated using visual approaches that offer a unique experience of
the concept. During Coheed and Cambria’s 2008 Neverender concert
tour, the first four installments of The Amory Wars album series were
subject to full-length performances in New York, Chicago, Illinois and
London, introducing revised arrangements and previously unseen
visual elements. This recalls the performance structure used on Jethro
Tull’s Thick as a Brick tour and Queensrÿche’s Operation: LIVEcrime
shows. Additionally, Billboard.com has indicated that Mark Wahlberg’s
Leverage production company, known for producing such television
series as Entourage and Boardwalk Empire, has announced plans to
produce a full-length motion picture adaptation of The Amory Wars
(Schneider 2012: Billboard.com). This would bring together the music,
concept and characters of The Amory Wars story in a similar manner to
the numerous film adaptations of Marvel comic books.
Audience engagement with The Amory Wars has been further enhanced
through social media. The contemporary music industry can be seen
as related Henry Jenkins’ notion of “convergence culture”: a process of
cultural and technological transition “where old and new media collide,
where grassroots and corporate media intersect, where the power of
the media producer and the power of the media consumer interact in
unpredictable ways” (Jenkins 2006: 2). In relation to the socio-cultural
conditions of today, convergence culture allows increased social
interaction between fans and musicians (producers and consumers).
Facebook, Twitter and other social networks have facilitated this
closer connection. A series of YouTube videos, titled “Inside The
Concept” (2012-13), was recently circulated by Coheed and Cambria
to coincide with the release of The Afterman albums. In these videos,
Claudio Sanchez offers song-by-song descriptions explaining how
these “prequel” albums relate to The Amory Wars concept and answers
questions that he is regularly asked by fans. He also sheds light on the
creative processes and personal inspirations behind the songs, artwork
and music videos related to the albums. This ultimately furthers
audience understandings of The Amory Wars concept and strengthens
the band’s relationship with their fans.
66
Both new digital technologies and older physical formats, such as vinyl,
are highly valued in the production, distribution and consumption
processes of contemporary popular music. This is perhaps indicative
of a desire among consumers to re-engage with tactile formats, and
perhaps also reflective of a growing sense of nostalgia within popular
culture. Parallel to this attraction to the past is Coheed and Cambria’s
furthering of the ongoing legacy of science-fiction storytelling through
rock music, as evidenced over the decades by releases such as Rick
Wakeman’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1974), The Alan Parsons
Project’s I Robot (1977) and even Queensrÿche’s Operation: Mindcrime
(1988). While artists such as French progressive rock band Magma
have extended recurring themes or concepts over multiple albums in
the past, the conception of Coheed and Cambria’s The Amory Wars as
a genuine “concept discography” has set a new precedent within rock
music. The Amory Wars saga should be seen as a complex manifestation
of current technological trends and socio-cultural contexts, arguably
generating renewed interest in the concept album’s history and
certainly highlighting the ongoing significance of the concept album
within 21st century popular music.
Figure 22: Album Cover. Coheed and Cambria. The Afterman: Ascension. Hundred Handed, 2012.
67
Conclusion
CHAPTER SIX
In the introductory chapter of this study, I identified the need
for a greater understanding of the concept album’s place within
contemporary music. I put forward two key ideas that could facilitate a
discussion of the concept album’s evolution from the 1970s through to
the present day: (a) the relationship between concept albums and media
technologies; and (b) the extent to which concept albums function as
reflections of their corresponding socio-cultural contexts.
I used four case studies to present my research, each concerned with a
commercially successful rock concept album from a different decade.
Jethro Tull’s Thick as a Brick addresses socio-cultural concerns within
Britain in the early 1970s. The band innovatively utilised the functional
properties of the vinyl LP, both in terms of the album’s production and its
packaging. Queensrÿche’s Operation: Mindcrime depicts a corrupt political
revolution against the U.S. Reagan-era government, the narrative of
which was effectively conveyed using the three distribution formats in
circulation during the 1980s. The band employed strong visual branding,
sophisticated production, gapless playback technology, music videos and
theatrical live performances. Radiohead’s OK Computer addresses themes
of technological, social and political disengagement, and a pre-millennial
fear that modern culture and technological advancements could have
dehumanising effects on society. The band presented thematically
related music, lyrics, artwork and music videos, and experimented with
advanced production techniques and technologies, which communicated
the core principles of the concept album to a mainstream 1990s audience.
Coheed and Cambria’s The Amory Wars relies on a science-fiction story
arc to articulate singer Claudio Sanchez’s feelings and attitudes about
life in 21st century society. The band has used both physical and digital
distribution formats, a series of graphic comic books, full-album concert
performances, conceptual artwork, music videos and interactive online
material to immerse their audiences.
68
These case studies indicate that a singular comprehensive definition
of the concept album is impossible to formulate. However, drawing on
the trends, ideas and commonalities identified throughout the case
studies, I have developed six guiding considerations that contribute
towards a greater understanding of the concept album in the
contemporary music landscape:
1. The “concept” of an album can benefit from dissemination across
a variety of media. Whether the media platforms used are physical or
digital, musical or non-musical, visual or auditory, image or text-based,
the use of multiple media channels has proven to be an effective method of
furthering audience engagement with an album’s concept.
2. A concept album should feature album artwork, imagery and
extra-musical presentation aesthetics that reflect and enhance its
music, concept and themes. This allows listeners to develop a visual
interpretation of the concept being portrayed, which can then be linked
with the album listening experience.
3. A concept album should be unified in some way, and produced
with the intention of being listened to in its entirety. This unity can
be facilitated by gapless playback technology and segues between songs
(musical passages, soundscapes, narrative sequences). In light of the
digital music industry’s emphasis on individual tracks, the songs on a
concept album should serve the dual purpose of contributing to the fulllength album experience, while also functioning as stand-alone singles.
4. Artists can significantly enhance their concept albums by
engaging with contemporary communication technologies.
Technology has triggered regular changes in the manufacture,
distribution and playback of recorded music, yet the concept album has
continued to evolve as artists have adapted to the changing technological
contexts of their time.
69
5. Artists releasing concept albums in the 21st century can benefit,
commercially and artistically, from the resurgence of interest in
vinyl long-playing records. The history of the concept album is closely
associated with the vinyl LP format, and this relationship looks likely
to continue. The presentation and design options associated with vinyl
records allow artists to reflect their album’s concept and themes, while
providing listeners with an immersive experience, and encouraging
extended listening practices.
6. Concept albums can be used as a means of reflecting sociocultural contexts, thereby providing future generations with a sonic
record of our times. The scope for artists to use the concept album as
a musical outlet of social and cultural expression has been central to the
medium’s ongoing relevance within popular music. In the face of ongoing
technological progression, this will continue to hold value.
I believe the above criteria may be of particular interest to
contemporary musicians intending to pursue the composition,
recording, presentation and release of a concept album in the
21 st century. Furthermore, my discussion of the concept album’s
technological progression, particularly the ongoing centrality of
long-playing vinyl records to the medium’s history, could benefit vinyl
enthusiasts and observers of music industry trends. Although it has
not been possible to discuss all of the socio-cultural perspectives
raised throughout my case studies in depth, they address a broad
range of issues that readers from a variety of disciplines may find
interesting, such as social classification and education, politics and
restricted thought, technological anxiety and alienation, and the use
of science-fiction as an outlet for emotional expression and real world
escapism. Finally, my four case studies may be of interest to fans of
the bands and albums discussed, allowing them to engage with these
works from a more critical perspective.
70
The concept album is a progressive form of media that is constantly
evolving. Through my research, I encountered various subject areas
linked to the concept album and its evolution that were beyond the
scope of this thesis, yet could provide scholars with rewarding topics
for further investigation. One of these relates to the centrality of album
artwork and extra-musical presentation aesthetics. These features
are arguably more important for a concept album than they are for a
standard album release, as they help shape one’s understanding of the
concept being portrayed in the music. This area of research has also
been identified by Dozal as “understudied” (2012: 13).
Another topic of interest is the emergence of 21st century “sequel”
concept albums such as Ian Anderson’s Thick as a Brick 2 (2012),
Alice Cooper’s Welcome 2 My Nightmare (2011) and Queensrÿche’s
Operation: Mindcrime II (2006). These albums seem to represent
nostalgic attempts on the part of these artists to re-engage with
defining moments from their past. Perhaps these albums function in
a similar sense to progressive rock fanzines and online communities
of the 1990s, which Atton has viewed as attempting to “revive and
sustain interest in a genre that once enjoyed immense critical and
commercial attention at many levels” (2001: 44). For example, Thick as
a Brick 2 revives the St.Cleve Chronicle and Linwell Advertiser to exist in
the digital age as the website StCleve.com. Research on this topic could
further investigate the links between concept albums and Henry Jenkins’
notion of “convergence culture”, where old and new media collide.
Finally, further investigation into the ongoing development of the
concept album since the 1970s is required. Although concept albums
from outside of the progressive rock genre have received little
consideration within popular music discourse, it is worth noting that
concept albums continue to be released by artists across a range of
contemporary music genres, examples being Kendrick Lamar’s Good
Kid, M.A.A.D City (2012), and Janelle Monáe’s ArchAndroid (2010).
Lady Gaga’s forthcoming ARTPOP (2013) concept album, which will
be released in physical and digital formats, alongside an interactive
and content-rich “app” format, designed for iPad, iPhone, Android and
computer users, underscores the ongoing significance of concept albums
within contemporary music culture.
71
One of the limitations of this thesis is that only four case studies
are presented. Choosing just four concept albums to represent a
forty-year period was certainly a daunting task. However, I believe
the four I addressed were logical choices, as they allowed me to
thoroughly discuss the concept album as a form of communicative
media. Ultimately, it is impossible to represent the socio-cultural
and technological circumstances of a ten-year period through the
lens of a single album of recorded music. However, through the case
studies, I have provided an indication of the concept album’s ability
to thrive on new media innovations, and serve as a mode of sociocultural representation. Concept albums are generally designed with
the purpose of being listened to in their entirety, and they possess
storytelling qualities through their combinations of sonic and visual
properties. Concept albums continue to provide artists with an ideal
vehicle for delivering a cohesive, culturally significant statement. From
the social commentary of the St. Cleve Chronicle to the science-fiction
“Stars of Sirius” that propel The Amory Wars, the concept album has
been, and remains, one of the most important mediums for artistic
expression, capable of capturing the imagination of listeners, and
redefining the possibilities of recorded music.
72
Image List
All images in this thesis have been used in good faith under academic “fair use” and are included for noncommercial, educational purposes only. All rights are reserved to their copyright holders.
All images accessed on the 12th and 13th October, 2013.
Figure 1: Album Cover. Genesis. The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. Charisma, 1974.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/B000002J1S/
Figure 2: Album Cover. Marillion. Misplaced Childhood. EMI, 1985.
http://fanart.tv/artist/1932f5b6-0b7b-4050-b1df-833ca89e5f44/marillion/
Figure 3: Album Cover. IQ. Subterranea. Import, 1997.
http://www.analog.am/products/subterranea-2
Figure 4: Album Cover. The Beatles. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Parlophone, 1967.
http://cityoftongues.com/2013/02/15/when-the-world-was-young/
Figure 5: Album Cover. Yes. Tales From Topographic Oceans. Atlantic, 1973.
http://www.retrovinyl.runmovies.eu/2010/12/16/tales-from-topographic-oceans/
Figure 6: Album Cover. Jethro Tull. Thick as a Brick. Chrysalis, 1972.
http://j-tull.com/thick-as-a-brick/
Figure 7: “
http://thetangles.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/grandiose-madness-of-thick-as-brick_8654.html
Figure 8: Packaging Design. Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Brain Salad Surgery. Manticore, 1973.
http://www.amazon.com/Brain-Salad-Surgery-Emerson-Palmer/dp/B001I1SFQQ
Figure 9: Thick as a Brick Vinyl Label, UK First Issue. Jethro Tull. Thick as a Brick. Chrysalis, 1972.
http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=59630
Figure 10: Expanded Album Cover. Queensrÿche. Operation: Mindcrime. EMI-Manhattan, 1988.
http://sawtoothwave.com/2011/07/04/queensryche-operation-mindcrime/
Figure 11: Still from “Suite Sister Mary”. Operation: LIVEcrime DVD. Prod. Queensrÿche. EMI Records, 2001.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rc91o8n44I
Figure 12: Logo. “Black and White Advert for Operation: Mindcrime”.
http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~bigoleg/queensryche/om/
Figure 13: Album Cover. Yes. 90125. Atco, 1983.
http://fanart.tv/artist/c1d4f2ba-cf39-460c-9528-6b827d3417a1/yes/
Figure 14: Album Cover. Radiohead. OK Computer. Parlophone, 1997.
http://epianiste9.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/ok-computer-16-years-old-but-timeless/
Figure 15: “Photo: St. Catherines Court”, where OK Computer was recorded.
Figure 16: Fitter Happier Litany featured in Select Magazine. July, 1997.
http://citizeninsane.eu/s1997-07Select.htm
Figure 17: Single Cover. Radiohead. No Surprises. Parlophone, 1997.
http://fanart.tv/members/ministeren/music-images/albumcover/
Figure 18: The Amory Wars Illustration.
http://whatculture.com/film/can-coheed-cambrias-the-amory-wars-movie-become-our-new-favorite-space-opera.php
Figure 19: Album Cover. Coheed and Cambria. No World For Tomorrow. Columbia, 2007.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/World-Tomorrow-Deluxe-Edition-Clean/dp/B000VS6PBO
Figure 20: “Coheed Limited Deluxe”. Promotional photo for The Afterman Box Set.
http://cobaltandcalcium.com/2012/12/18/the-afterman-deluxe-vinyl-box-set-pre-order-now/
Figure 21: Comic Book Cover. The Amory Wars. In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3, Volume 2.
http://thecomixverse.com/2011/03/27/the-amory-wars-in-keeping-secrets-of-silent-earth-3-vol-2/
Figure 22: Album Cover. Coheed and Cambria. The Afterman: Ascension. Hundred Handed, 2012.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Afterman-Coheed-And-Cambria/dp/B008YC7JFU
73
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78
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79
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80
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From St. Cleve to Sirius

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