concept album

Definition

An album of music where the content follows an overall theme or narrative.

Etymology

First applied to the albums Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Their Satanic Majesties Request, both released in 1967.

Example Sentences

• "Rather than merely a collection of unrelated songs, their new LP (which was nine months in the making) is a concept album, “an integrated and ethereal experience with a cosmic quality.”"
• "[…] while the consistent use of lengthy forms such as the programmatic song cycle of the concept album and the multimovement suite underscores the hippies' new, drug-induced conception of time."
• "Moore relates the concept album to the ideals of progressive rock in the 1970s, building on Sgt. Pepper 's appeal to unity at the album level (through packaging, characters, and a simulated stage performance) and articulating a "desire to establish a degree of aesthetic [that is, musical] unity greater than that of the individual song,"[…]"