Rob’s Top Ten Favorite
Progressive Rock Concept Albums
By Rob “ViaMental” Mallory
As far as music genres go, Progressive Rock is the one that is considered
the least cool of them all. This wide genre of music is mostly ignored by
just about every media medium that there is to be ignored by. So, it should
come as no surprise that the fans of this type of music are fiercely loyal,
especially towards their favorite bands.
Within this genre there are myriad offshoots. In fact, there are so many
that it would almost be a bit of a waste of time to list them all here. It would
also take a very long time to list my favorites within this proud community
of musical genius. So, I will not even try.
Perhaps one of the greatest traditions in the world of Progressive
Rock, is the concept album. An entire LP length saga that takes up the
entire duration of the album to tell one centralized story. The lyrics generally move the story along as any good book would, by telling you a tale, and
holding you hostage until the final words of the book, when you turn the
last page, flip the book over, and start right over again. The music serves
to aid in painting the world out in beautiful musical passages, and a generally rich tapestry of notes, feelings, and emotion (not to mention blistering guitars, pounding drums and bass guitars, and the staple of good progressive rock, the keyboards, and let us not forget the flute)
There are so many great concept albums, that making a top ten list proved a little more difficult than I had initially imagined it
could be. But, like all good lists, I sat down and took some time to really dig into what is easily my favorite form of music. The albums I have listed here are but a drop in a vast sea of amazing storytelling, through music. So after checking these albums out, I
suggest you dig in deeper yourself, and see how much different your list will be from mine (as I’m sure nobody has this exact top
10: Coheed & Cambria: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness
Coheed & Cambria's entire discography make up the story of its namesake, and as such, I could have
picked any album from their catalog, but this one is my favorite. Such a dark album, lyrically, as it is
told from the point of view of the fictional person writing the entire story. The writer, to me, sounds as if
he might be insane. The music here is phenomenal, and will remain one of my favorite albums for as
long as I draw breath. Perhaps one of the greatest pieces of music ever written “The Willing Well”,
takes up the final 28 minutes of this album, and contains one of the best guitar solos that I have ever
had the pleasure of hearing.
09: Pink Floyd: The Final Cut
Many people consider this to be a Roger Waters solo album, but this is all Pink Floyd to my ears (and
the final Pink Floyd album to feature the classic line-up of the band). Many of these tracks were leftovers from “The Wall”, and in my opinion are leagues better than anything on that album (I know, probably not a popular opinion). One of the biggest complaints I hear are that there is too little of David Gilmour within these grooves. And while I can certainly understand that complaint, there are some sheer
moments of brilliance from this revered guitar God. “The Final Cut” may not go down as a Pink Floyd
favorite, but to me, it is their best work (even without Richard Wright).
08: Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of “The War of the World's”
This musical version of “The War of the World's” is a stunning work of musical genius, from the mind of
Mr. Jeff Wayne. The music on this two record concept album is very symphonic, thematic, and quite
ahead of its time. There are some moments of pure cheese in the dialogue that, for the most part, tells
this story, but that only adds to the charm. There are some beautiful vocal passages, with vocals from
The Moody Blues frontman Justin Hayward, that send chills up my spine to this day. This is one of
those albums that must be heard to be believed. Such a beautiful piece of music. So creepy, so raw,
so worth the time.
16