Concept Albums:

A concept album is an album of songs or tracks, linked together by one theme or story. This is not the same as an album of tracks that are all, say, love songs. The theme has been decided on before the tracks are written. This is also not the same as a soundtrack album.

As a genre, concept albums began in the 1960's. The first band to record concept albums was The Ventures, whose first album was a collection of songs that all had a colour in the title. They recorded albums, each with a central theme, such as surf music, country, space etc. Bands such as the Kinks recorded concept albums, but it was not until the Beatles' "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" in 1967, that concept albums became popular.

Concept albums are associated with bands and artists such as The Who, Alan Parsons Project, the Kinks, Pnk Floyd, Yes, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Alice Cooper, Rick Wakeman and Camel. the 60's and 70's were the heyday of the concept album. In the 80's, it was re-imagined and now concept albums had unifying themes rather than stories. From the 90's and 2000's, concept albums extended into the internet. Bands such as Nine Inch Nails recorded music which was braodcast on websites as well as in a conventional CD.

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