Favourite rock/metal concept albums (Part 12) – The Dear Hunter’s Antimai

Every now and then, I come across an album that completely blows my mind, as it seems perfect in almost every way. The last such album I listened to was The Mars Volta’s self-titled 2022 release. A few days ago, I was browsing a list of albums on my Spotify home screen and randomly clicked on one with an interesting cover design (I am eternally grateful to their recommendation engine for many such chance discoveries).

The album, Antimai, was a July 2022 release from an American prog rock group called The Dear Hunter. I was surprised that I had never heard of them, considering they have been around since 2006 and that almost all of their nine studio releases have been concept albums; I regularly conduct searches for “best concept albums of the year/decade” or “latest concept album releases”, and somehow hadn’t picked up their name from the search results (although I subsequently validated that they do show up!). Although they clearly have a loyal fan following, and their releases are covered in dedicated sites like The Prog Report and Prog Archives, it’s a crime that the band are not better known, given the quality of their music.

The main body of their work is a series of concept albums known as the Act Series, with five albums released between 2006 and 2016, and the sixth and final instalment still awaited. Antimai is the second album in a new narrative series, whose story kicked off with the 2021 EP, The Indigo Child and an accompanying short sci-fi film called “The Indigo Child: Prologue: Cycle 8” | DUST.

From left to right, **The Dear Hunter**: Robert Parr (backing vocals/guitar), Maxwell Tousseau (backing vocals/guitar/keyboards), Casey Crescenzo (lead vocals/guitar), Nick Sollecito (bass) and Nick Crescenzo (drums)

Artist: The Dear Hunter, comprising Casey Crescenzo, (lead vocals, guitar, organ), his brother Nick Crescenzo (backing vocals, drums & percussion), Maxwell Tousseau (backing vocals, guitar, keyboards, percussion), Robert Parr (backing vocals, guitar, keyboards) and Nick Sollecito (bass). Additionally a horn section features on several tracks.

Album: Antimai (2022)

Narrative genre: Post-apocalyptic fantasy/science fiction

Album theme/concept: The fictional city of Antimai is built in concentric circles, with each ring occupied by a separate caste and organized in a social hierarchy. Each song represents one of the eight rings of the city.

Best songs: Ring 8 – Poverty, Ring 7 – Industry, Ring 6 – LoTown, Ring 5 – Middle Class, Ring 3 – Luxury, Ring 2- Nature.

What makes it special: Listening to Antimai is like drinking a new wine and having your taste buds tickled by notes from old favourites. I could get hints of Sufjan Stevens’ Illinois, The Grateful Dead’s Terrapin Station, Mayer Hawthorne and even late 80’s Miami Sound Machine. The tracks have the shifting song structure that is typical of prog rock, but are also infused with elements of Jazz, R&B, funk, Caribbean and Latin rhythms. All of this is expressed through lush orchestration and elevated by delightful vocal harmonies.

The album kicks of with a song about the outermost ring of the city of Antimai; the track is named Ring 8 – Poverty, and the opening bars felt like the soundtrack to a thriller film; in fact I started visualizing these notes playing over the tense opening scene of the 1958 Orson Welles classic Touch of Evil.

Ring 3 – Luxury is perhaps the most ambitious track on the album and is essentially a two-part song, with the first part titled Hall of the Guides, kicking off with spoken verse like in a stage musical, which then segues into a melodic song. But the real beauty is the second half, titled Cream of the Crop, which features a delightful nine-note riff before each verse, played on a marimba or xylophone (or perhaps it’s a Caribbean steel drum).

My favourite track is Ring 2 – Nature, which I have listened to more times than I can count. I love it for its heartfelt melody and evocative, and sometimes playful lyrics:

“Then there arose those intent on moving
And like a miracle, they kept improving
Then change begat the tail
begat the fin begat the fist
Strength enough to subsist”

In my listing of Best songs, I’ve excluded only 2 out of the 8 tracks, and that’s only because those two don’t appeal to me quite as much as the other six, in a relative sense. Many other reviewers consider the closing track Ring 1 – Tower, as one of the best on the album.

Antimai is the gift that keeps on giving, as every subsequent round of listening reveals new sounds embedded in the many layers of music. I look forward to its sequel titled Sunya which is due out some time this year.

Here are the other bands/albums featured in this series:-

Favourite rock/metal concept albums (Part 11) – Styx’s Paradise Theater

Following on from my last entry in this series nearly a year ago, which covered Mastodon’s many critically acclaimed concept albums, I take a look at Paradise Theater, the 1981 concept album from Styx, a band that rode the Album-oriented Rock (AOR) wave of the 70s to become one of the biggest stadium rock acts of its generation. Even non-fans couldn’t have escaped the heavy airplay enjoyed by their catchy soft rock/rock opera tracks like Mr. Roboto and The Best of Times, and power ballads like Lady and Babe. The release of Paradise Theater would take them to the top of the Billboard charts and was their biggest hit.

Styx in 1981: (from left) Dennis DeYoung, James Young, Tommy Shaw, John Panozzo and Chuck Panozzo

Artist: Styx, comprised of Dennis DeYoung (vocals, keyboards), James “JY” Young (vocals, electric guitars), Tommy Shaw (vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vocoder), Chuck Panozzo (bass guitar, bass pedals) and his twin brother, John Panozzo (drums, percussion). Additional horn section featured on some tracks.

Album: Paradise Theater (1981)

Narrative genre: Ups and downs of an economic cycle

Album theme/concept: Fictional account of Chicago’s Paradise Theater, from its opening in 1928 to its closure thirty years later.

Best songs: A.D. 1928/The Best of Times/A.D. 1958 (three tracks sharing the same melody), Rockin’ the Paradise, Too Much Time on My Hands, She Cares.

What makes it special: To be honest, there is a relatively light connection between the songs and the story of Chicago’s Paradise Theater. This is a great album, with outstanding songwriting, arrangement and production values; period.

Musically, the songs are constructed around the band’s trademark three-part vocal harmonies, contributed by Dennis DeYoung, James Young and Tommy Shaw. The alto vocals and falsettos on the album comes from Dennis DeYoung, who took on the lead singer duties on all the tracks that he wrote. DeYoung also played the keyboards, which are integral to all the songs. The musical arrangement gives enough room for Chuck Panozzo’s bass licks to peek through the tight rhythm section.

The short opening track A.D. 1928 sets the tone right away with DeYoung’s keyboards and vocals, segueing seamlessly into beautiful harmonies of Rockin’ the Paradise. The highlight of the album is the anthemic The Best of Times, which is the quintessential Styx song, combing the vocal harmonies, keyboards and rhythm section into the perfect singalong package. Both the opening and closing tracks, A.D. 1928 and A.D. 1958 are effectively extensions of this song.

Too Much Time on My Hands is one of two songs written and sung by Tommy Shaw on the album. It kicks off with a twangy keyboard riff played by DeYoung, after which John Panazzo’s snare drum jumps in with a punchy beat. Although Shaw does not have DeYoung’s vocal range, his singing on this track and on She Cares (one of the unknown gems on the album) is effortless.

The second half of the album is not as strong, with the only notable tracks being She Cares and Lonely People, the latter’s horn section reminding me of of course, of that other famous (and eponymous) band from Chicago!

Two years later, Styx released another concept album, Kilroy Was Here, which featured the smash hit, Mr. Roboto. Soon after, this incredibly talented line-up had run its course due to creative differences, and the band broke up for several years. They reformed in 1990, but by then, their brand of rock had been replaced with heavy metal, which itself would soon give way to alt-rock and grunge.

Here are the other bands/albums featured in this series of my favourite concept albums:-

Favourite rock/metal concept albums (Part 10) – 5 albums by Mastodon

This is the tenth in an on-going series of posts covering my favourite rock and metal concept albums. In December, I reviewed Steve Hackett’s 1975 classic Voyage of the Acolyte, and I now turn to Atlanta-based quartet Mastodon, who have released a number of concept albums over the years. The band came to my attention when their song, Colony of Birchmen, was nominated for Best Metal Performance in the 2007 GRAMMY Awards. Since then, they have gone from strength to strength, garnering ever-increasing critical acclaim (6 GRAMMY nominations, including 1 win) and commercial success.

Mastodon in 2020 (from left): Bill Kelliher (rhythm guitar), Troy Sanders (bass/vocals), Brent Hinds (lead guitar/vocals), Brann Dailor (drums/vocals)

Band: Mastodon

Themes/concepts: Mastodon’s first four studio albums were each linked to the four elements of Fire, Water, Earth and Aether (celebrated in classical literature as the fifth element, or the quintessence, which fills up the spaces in the universe). Each album’s cover features a symbol above the band’s name, representing the element. After skipping the concept approach for their next two releases, Mastodon returned to the format with Emperor of Sand in 2017, with a theme built around the experience of fighting cancer.

Album: Remission (2002)

Best songs: Ol’e Nessie, Mother Puncher, Elephant Man

Narrative genre: No common story element across songs

Remission is considered the loosest of Mastodon’s concept albums, with the only unifying element (pardon the pun) being the theme of Fire. I listened to this album only after having experienced the progressively increasing sophistication of their subsequent efforts, so it feels a bit raw to my ears. This is Mastodon’s signature musical template – Bill Kelliher’s rhythm guitar riffs, Brann Dailor’s drum fills, Brent Hinds’ and Troy Sanders’ growled vocal deliveries, all of which combine to create a wall-to-wall carpet of sludge metal. Tracks like Ol’e Nessie, Trainwreck and Mother Puncher have intricate instrumental intros that go on for 1-2 minutes, before the vocals kick in. The instrumental Elephant Man is my favourite track of the album, and reminiscent of Metallica’s Orion in terms of pacing and cadence.

Album: Leviathan (2004)

Best songs: Blood and Thunder, Iron Tusk, Hearts Alive

Narrative genre: Literary fiction (Moby Dick)

Mastodon’s second album showed that they were not a flash in the pan. Leviathan is loosely based on the novel, Moby Dick (link to the element Water), and features more variation in the singing and guitar work, compared to Remission. The first track, Blood and Thunder, opens with some killer riffs and ends up being a genuine 80’s style thrash metal head-banger, as it settles into the chorus of “white whale, holy grail”. Iron Tusk is a fast-charging song that lights up in the middle with a catchy guitar hook, that sadly appears only once. The album caps off with a 13-minute epic, Hearts Alive, which describes the sinking of the ship by the whale…Brann Dailor’s drumming is spare, creating space for vocals dripping with the anguish of drowned men and guitar riffs building up to a crescendo of doom.

Album: Blood Mountain (2006)

Best songs: Sleeping Giant, Colony of Birchmen, This Mortal Soil, Siberian Divide, Pendulous Skin

Narrative genre: Speculative fiction

With their third album, Mastodon’s music moved away from pure sludge/thrash metal to a more sophisticated sound, incorporating cleaner vocals, slower drumming and more intricate guitar work, reminiscent of Metallica’s musical evolution from the Ride the Lightning to Master of Puppets. The album tells the story of a protagonist, who has to find a crystal skull and take it to the top of Blood Mountain (link to the element Earth); along the way, he awakens the mountain (Sleeping Giant), walks past a river of blood (Capillarian Crest), encounters various creatures, including a one-eyed Sasquatch (Circle of Cysquatch), a race of tree-men (Colony of Birchmen) and flying demons (Hunters of the Sky). The entire adventure is an allegory for the human condition and its associated struggles. The album yielded the group’s first Grammy nomination, for Colony of Birchmen (the title is an homage to the 1974 Genesis song The Colony of Slippermen). The guitar solo on the final track, Pendulous Skin, could have come off an early 70’s rock album, and This Mortal Soil is fast becoming one of my all-time Mastodon favourites.

Album: Crack the Skye (2009)

Best songs: Divinations, The Last Baron

Narrative genre: Science fiction

This album’s name is a tribute to Skye Dailor, Brann Dailor’s younger sister, who committed suicide when they were both teenagers. While this is a noble and sobering aspect of the album, the story itself is pretty abstract, and if there is a connection to real life, it remains in the minds of the musicians. In fact, you have to wonder what they were smoking when they put it together, here’s the synopsis – a crippled man travels into space (link to the element Aether), gets too close to the sun and ends up being sucked into a wormhole, landing up in the spirit realm; the spirits put him into Rasputin’s body, who is murdered as he tries to usurp the Tsar’s throne; this results in both Rasputin’s and the space traveler’s souls flying through a crack in the sky, after which Rasputin tries to help the man’s soul find its way back into his body. In spite of the fantastical premise which is right up my street, I haven’t warmed up to the album in the way many critics have. There are just two songs that appealed to me, Divinations and the extraordinary 13-minute-long dreamlike The Last Baron.

Album: Emperor of Sand (2017)

Best songs: Steambreather, Ancient Kingdom, Clandestiny, Jaguar God

Narrative genre: Tragedy

Mastodon returned to the concept album format in 2017, using the allegory of a wanderer who is cursed by a Sultan (aka Death) to a lifetime journey through the desert, to describe the never-ending battle with cancer. The album was a form of catharsis for multiple band members whose friends and family members had been fighting the disease. Most of the songs represent the thoughts and feelings of the Wanderer, as he deals with the pain, exhaustion and hopelessness of his plight. Emperor of Sand received a GRAMMY nomination for Best Rock Album (yes, the band’s sound now varied to the point they were not considered an always-on metal band), and the opening track Sultan’s Curse won the GRAMMY for Best Metal Performance (although it’s not one of my preferred tracks). The album closes with the poignant 8-minute-long Jaguar God, with the opening section bringing to mind some of Metallica’s ballads.

Mastodon’s latest release is the double album (not a concept album) Hushed and Grim, which is perhaps the best work in their twenty-year career. They are truly a brand that has improved with every release, staying true to their core sound, but constantly developing their song writing, instrumentation and vocal delivery.

Favourite rock/metal concept albums (Part 9) – Steve Hackett’s Voyage of the Acolyte

It’s been 14 months since the last entry in this series, which was Sufjan Stevens’ Illinois. This time around, I am going back in time again the 70s to an artist I only recently discovered, Steve Hackett, the lead guitarist for Genesis in the 70s when they were a prog rock band. Hackett decided to record his first solo album during a break after touring for Genesis’ 1974 megahit A Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. When putting together the musicians for the recording sessions, he invited two of his bandmates from Genesis – Phil Collins on drums and Mike Rutherford on bass. He rounded out the core band with his brother John Hackett, who I think then appeared on all his subsequent solo albums. The album was very well received and Hackett went on to record more than two dozen solo albums with his latest having been released a few weeks ago at the age of 71!

Artist: Steve Hackett (guitars, mellotron), accompanied by John Hackett (flute, synthesizer), Phil Collins (drums, vocals on Star of Sirius), Mike Rutherford (bass guitar, 12-string guitar), Sally Oldfield (vocals on Shadow of the Hierophant), John Acock (all keyboards), Robin Miller (oboe, English horn), Nigel Warren-Green (cello on The Hermit)

Album: Voyage of the Acolyte (1975)

Narrative genre: Pastoral/medieval

Album theme/concept: Song titles linked to Tarot cards

Best songs: Ace of Wands, A Tower Struck Down, Star of Sirius, Shadow of the Hierophant

What makes it special: For starters, we get half of the band Genesis for free on the album! This is a predominantly instrumental album, showcasing not just Steve Hackett’s prowess as a guitarist, but also in the departments of production and musical arrangement. The songs have an easy flow and feel layered and textured, on account of the use of the Mellotron and synthesizer, as well as additional instruments like flute, oboe, cello and English horn on some songs.

The album kicks off with a strong track, Ace of Wands, characterized by a catchy riff. It’s a great showcase of Hackett’s guitar playing, while giving plenty of room for the Mellotron, flute and bells.

The standout song on the album, however, is not an instrumental. It’s the 7-minute epic Star of Sirius, which one reviewer described as the best Genesis song that Genesis never recorded, has Phil Collins on vocals…and he would go on to take over as lead vocalist for Genesis on their next album, following the departure of Peter Gabriel. The songs starts off in dream-like fashion with guitars and mellotron, and then at the 2’30” mark, Collins’ drumming kicks in and ramps up the pace.

Another favourite is the instrumental A Tower Struck Down, with a strong percussive sound which manages to sound rather sinister, and could well have been the soundtrack for a thriller or horror film.

Singer-songwriter Sally Oldfield who made a name for herself singing on her brother Mike Oldfield’s hit 1973 album Tubular Bells, provides her distinctive vocals for Shadow of the Hierophant, which is the longest track in the album, clocking in at over 11 minutes. There is also a 17 minute version available as a bonus track on the album. It’s quite a musical journey, with different parts of the track sounding quite different from each other; in fact I had to check if I was still on the same song!

An interesting footnote, the album cover is a watercolour painting by Brazilian artist Kim Poor, who went on to marry Steve Hackett and designed many of his subsequent solo album covers.

Although this was the only concept album that Steve Hackett released, two of his other early albums, Spectral Mornings (1979) and Defector (1980) contain equally outstanding tracks.

Favourite rock/metal concept albums (Part 8) – Sufjan Stevens’ Illinois

Moving on from Sabaton’s concept album about the First World War, the eighth entry in this series, takes a detour away from hard rock/metal to an album with a unique folk/soft rock sound by musical wunderkid, Sufjan Stevens. At the age of 30, this talented songwriter and multi-instrumentalist released his fifth album to universal acclaim and did enough to seal his place in the musical hall of fame. Stevens has been a proponent of the lo-fi movement, eschewing expensive studio production in favour of basic recording equipment; however, unlike many other lo-fi musicians, his songs involve lush, complex orchestrations which gives the music natural depth and layers without the use of studio trickery. Many of his songs also deal with faith and spiritual matters. Illinois is one of my all-time favourite albums across all genres of music.

Sufjan Stevens in concert, wearing his signature wings

Band: Sufjan Stevens

Albums: Sufjan Stevens Invites You To: Come On Feel the ILLINOISE, aka Illinois

Genre: Culture/history/geography

Narrative theme/concept: Stories related to people, places and incidents related to the US state of Illinois

Best songs: Come On! Feel the Illinoise!, Jacksonville, Chicago, Casimir Pulaski Day, The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts,

What makes it special: This album is a massive effort, running 74 minutes and featuring 22 tracks (although six of these are just interludes of less than a minute). There’s a fine mix of slow-paced folk music (which would not sound out of place on a Simon and Garfunkel record) and some genuinely melodious and catchy pop songs enhanced by the use of horns, strings and keyboards. In particular, the masterful interplay between horns and strings is a recurring feature of the best songs in the album.

The third song Come On! Feel the Illinoise! is the first example of this musical combination – a catchy bass riff on the piano kicks off the track, which then moves to a horn section, followed by Stevens’ soft vocals delivered over the same piano riff; the horn section returns, but this time synchronized with harmonic backing vocals; soon after, a plaintive trumpet gives company to the backing vocals…and all this happens in just the first one minute! About a third of the way in, we switch to a beautiful musical interlude with the horn section, keyboards and strings together raising the listening experience to blissful levels. I still remember playing the CD for the first time and the goosebumps I got when this song came on.

The fifth song on the album is Jacksonville, a slow tempo song in which the lyrics are beautifully interwoven with a soothing string section and punctuated with a horns section; this instrumental combo synchs with a rousing chorus-chant at the end of the song:

“Andrew Jackson, all I’m asking
Show us the wheel and give us the wine
Woohoo! woohoo!
Raise the banner, jackson hammer
Everyone goes to the capitol line
Woohoo! woohoo!“

Chicago (the song’s full name is Go! Chicago! Go! Yeah!) is perhaps the best known song in the album, having featured on the Little Miss Sunshine soundtrack. It is definitely one of my all-time favourite songs…the music is in turns, stirring and comforting.

This is followed by the simplest of tracks, Casimir Pulaski Day, with just a banjo and guitar accompaniment for the most part and a solitary trumpet from time to time; this is a song about Stevens coming to terms with a friend’s cancer, remembering their times together; plaintive and poignant.

Track no. 12, The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts marks the mid-point of the album. It has a catchy chorus:

“Only a steel man can be a lover
If he had hands to tremble all over
We celebrate our sense of each other
We have a lot to give one another”

At this point, I usually end up taking a break or returning to favourite songs in the first half, and so I’ve not listened to tracks 13-22 as often, or even when I do, the album is playing in the background and I don’t seem to pay as much attention, as the tracks start to sound similar to each other. Even so, there are enjoyable tracks which I may not be as familiar with but are fun to listen to, such as the quirky The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!, the impossibly named They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhh! and the epic 7-minute-long The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders.

Other than the obvious tracks which reference places or historical figures/events, I couldn’t figure out how many of the lyrics connected back with Illinois, and I have read many discussion boards of people trying to interpret their meaning. It doesn’t really affect my enjoyment of the songs – the melody, harmony, composition and orchestration. Overall, this is a tour de force album, the likes of which we may not see from another artist in this lifetime, but is similar in tone and intent to other one-man-band projects like Of Montreal (Kevin Barnes) and My Morning Jacket (Jim James).

Favourite rock/metal concept albums (Part 7) – Sabaton’s The Great War

It’s been two months since the last post in this series about my favourite rock and metal concept albums. All the previous albums in the series have been from the 70’s to the 90’s, but this time I’ve picked The Great War from 2019, by a group that I’ve only recently become familiar with, the Swedish heavy metal band Sabaton. They have been around for 20 years and early on in their career decided to focus their music on historical themes primarily related to war, after watching Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan. I have to admit, I’m not comfortable writing about a band that celebrates mass destruction, but I do enjoy the music and hope that stays the focus of this post rather than the purpose behind their music or the type of fan base this may attract. Their previous efforts have included 2008’s The Art of War (about Sun Tzu’s military treatise) and 2012’s Carolus Rex about the rise and fall of the Swedish Empire during the 17th/18th century. The Great War is their ninth album and I got hooked onto it after hearing The Red Baron, a song about German flying ace Baron von Richthofen.

Sabaton in 2019 (from left): Tommy Johansson (guitar), Pär Sundström (bass), Joakim Brodén (vocals), Chris Rörland (guitar), Hannes van Dahl (drums)

Band: Sabaton

Albums: The Great War (2019)

Genre: Military/war

Narrative theme/concept: Descriptions of famous battles and feats of heroism from the First Wold War

Best songs: Seven Pillars of Wisdom, 82^nd All the Way, The Red Baron, Ghost in the Trenches

What makes it special: There is something strangely appealing about the no frills song-writing centered around band co-founder Joakim Brodén’s gruff speaking-style vocals punctuated by anthemic choruses and packaged within a tightly woven melodic musical structure. There isn’t a great deal of variation in the music from one song to the next, but by the same token the songs are all consistently good and are usually no more than 3-4 minutes long…no fillers or duds in this album. If you listen to the songs while reading the lyrics and accompanying notes on the Sabaton website, it becomes a sort of history lesson and brings alive the tragedy of war. One can only marvel and shudder at the conditions that these men fought under and the horrors they faced.

The best songs in the album are related to famous war heroes, each of whom have been the subjects of literary works and films over the years:

The song Seven Pillars of Wisdom is named after the biography of T.E. Lawrence, aka Lawrence of Arabia, and tells of his actions as the British liaison to the Arab forces fighting the Ottoman Empire during the First World War.
One of my favourite songs in the album, 82^nd All the Way recounts the heroic efforts of Sgt. Alvin York as a member of the 82^nd Infantry Division in capturing German positions against overwhelming odds during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. Sgt. York was one of the most decorated soldiers in US military history and was famously played by Gary Cooper in the 1941 biopic directed by Howard Hawks.
The catchiest song in the pack and the one that introduced me to this album, The Red Baron, is about Baron von Richthofen, considered the greatest flying ace of all time, credited with 80 victories and killed by ground fire at the age of 25 a few months before the end of the war.
A Ghost in the Trenches describes Corporal Francis Pegahmagabow’s heroism during the War, specifically the Battles of Passchendaele and Scarpe. He was an expert sniper credited with 378 kills and became the most decorated native American soldier in Canadian military history.

At nearly 5 minutes length, the longest song of the album is titled The End of the War to End All Wars. It has an epic feel, starting with a ballad-like intro, transitioning to choral backing vocals, then diving into full-blooded heavy metal riffs.

I am working my way through Sabaton’s back catalogue. Since a number of their other releases have been concept albums, I may end up writing about Sabaton again in this series.

Favourite rock/metal concept albums (Part 6) – Jethro Tull’s Thick as a Brick

After covering rock concept albums from the mid-70’s through to the early 90’s, I’ve taken a U-turn and gone back to the heyday of concept albums in the early 70’s. The Beatles, with the incredible success of their 1967 release Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, opened the floodgates and over the next few years, there were a number of high profile releases from the likes of the David Bowie, Eagles, Elton John, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Pink Floyd, The Who and Yes, all built around a single concept or narrative.

Into this mix arrived the fifth studio album from the up-and-coming British rock group Jethro Tull. Having released one album a year since their debut in 1968, they had steadily evolved their sound from blues-rock to something quite unique and folksy, built primarily around Ian Anderson’s vocal delivery style and flute playing prowess. Their 1971 release Aqualung was mistaken by some critics to be a concept album, so to set the record straight (no pun intended!), the band decided that their next effort would be a proper concept album, going to the extreme and releasing an LP with just a single 43 minute long song suite split across the two sides.

Jethro Tull in 1972 (from left to right): Barriemore Barlow (drums), John Evan (keyboards), Ian Anderson (vocals/flute), Martin Barre (guitar), Jeffrey Hammond (bass)

Band: Jethro Tull

Albums: Thick as a Brick (1972)

Genre: Stream-of-consciousness poetry, laced with humour and satire

Narrative theme/concept: The album is positioned as a musical adaptation of an epic poem co-written by band frontman Ian Anderson and a fictitious 8-year-old prodigy named Gerald Bostock. The fictional narrative of this collaboration is detailed in the fake newspaper cover which forms the sleeve of the album; many fans mistakenly believed all this to be true.

Best parts: Really Don’t Mind / See There a Son Is Born, The Poet and the Painter, Childhood Heroes all from Side A: Thick as a Brick, Part I.

What makes it special: Thick as a Brick became the first album from the band to fully embrace elements of progressive rock, characterized by extended musical passages and changes in time signature. For the 40th anniversary edition, the band provided titles to different sections of the suite, which now makes it much easier to talk about specific parts of the album. For the longest time, I had only listened to the 3 ½ minute edit of the first section of Part 1, titled Really Don’t Mind / See There a Son, as this is what had been featured as the song Thick as a Brick in compilation albums. That section in itself is brilliant, featuring Ian Anderson’s playful opening flute riff, accompanied by acoustic guitar as he delivers the immortal lyrics:

“Really don’t mind if you sit this one out
My word’s but a whisper your deafness a shout
I may make you feel but I can’t make you think
Your sperm’s in the gutter your love’s in the sink
So you ride yourselves over the fields
And you make all your animal deals
And your wise men don’t know how it feels
To be thick as a brick“

The second section titled The Poet and the Painter, starts off with a mellow sound accompanied by lyrics that carry a certain epic majesty. The second half of this section is an extended instrumental, with Martin Barre in full flow with some outstanding wailing bluesy guitar in the style that was popular at that time. Section three titled What Do You Do When the Old Man’s Gone? / From the Upper Class, has a greater role for John Evan on the keyboard, with lots of interplay with Anderson’s flute. The music here feels a bit repetitive and I usually switch to “background music mode” when this part comes on. There’s another change of pace at the start of section four titled You Curl Your Toes in Fun / Childhood Heroes / Stabs Instrumental, which kicks off with some oddly playful lyrics and then moves to the fantastic middle passage (where the orchestration of the keyboards, acoustic guitar and flute along with Anderson’s vocals is just perfect), before ending with the appropriately titled Stabs Instrumental.

I really find it difficult to get into Part 2 of the album after the exhausting (in a good way!) journey of Part 1. And unfortunately, the opening section titled See There a Man Is Born is a bit experimental and sounds quite discordant. Thereafter, the music is predominantly acoustic and keyboards for Clear White Circles and Legends and Believe in the Day, but the whole package isn’t very melodic and doesn’t really work for me. I again go into “background music mode” for Tales of Your Life, but happily Part 2 ends with a 3-minute reprise of Childhood Heroes (the piece I loved from section four of Part 1), accompanied by some wonderful orchestral arrangements and these elevating lyrics:

“So! Come on ye childhood heroes!
Won’t your rise up from the pages of your comic-books
your super-crooks
and show us all the way.
Well! Make your will and testament.
Won’t you? Join your local government.
We’ll have Superman for president
let Robin save the day.”

It is truly an incredible 44-minute musical journey and a must-have experience for any fan of Tull’s music, who may have previously only listened to the 3 minute Thick as a Brick extract from their compilation albums.

In his later years, Ian Anderson as a solo artist revisited his Gerald Bostock alter ego with two albums, Thick as a Brick 2: Whatever Happened to Gerald Bostock? (2012) and Homo Erraticus (2014), but neither of these are able to recreate the magic of the original.

Favourite rock/metal concept albums (Part 5) – Iron Maiden’s Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

After a gap of 2 months I’m back to this series covering my favourite concept albums. In Part 4, we were in the year 1992 looking at Extreme’s III Sides To Every Story. Now I’m rolling back to 1988, the same year that Queensrÿche released Operation: Mindcrime, which I covered in Part 3. A few weeks before the Queensrÿche release, British heavy metal giants Iron Maiden dropped their seventh studio album, appropriately titled Seventh Son of a Seventh Son.

Iron Maiden in 1988 (left to right): Adrian Smith (guitar/synthesizer), Dave Murray (guitar), Steve Harris (bass), Bruce Dickinson (vocals), Nicko McBrain (drums)

Band: Iron Maiden

Album: Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988)

Genre: Magic, Anglo-Saxon folklore

Narrative theme/concept: Songs based on the folklore that the seventh son of a seventh son has special mystical powers

Best songs: Infinite Dreams, Can I Play with Madness, The Evil That Men Do, The Clairvoyant

What makes it special: After trying out guitar synthesizers on Somewhere in Time in 1986, the band took it a step further with the use of keyboard synthesizers (played by guitarist Adrian Smith) and a more melodic approach. However, they didn’t sacrifice any of the classic winning elements of their previous albums, i.e., Bruce Dickinson’s growling vocals, Steve Harris’ galloping bass play and the twin guitar attack from Smith and Dave Murray.

The idea for the album came to bassist Harris after he read fantasy writer Orson Scott Card’s novel Seventh Son in 1987, the first of his highly successful Tales of Alvin Maker series. Unlike many other concept albums, the songs in this album are not overtly connected as part of a narrative sequence. In fact, for the longest time, I wasn’t even aware that this album was a concept album. This absence of a narrative thread is something that Bruce Dickinson admitted to as well in later years.

When I think about my favourite tracks, I realize that they all have impactful or catchy intros…Infinite Dreams starts with a 25-second bluesy and relaxed riff before switching to a faster bass-driven cadence as the vocal track kicks in; Can I Play with Madness starts with a music-free yell of the song title before the instruments kick in; The Clairvoyant features a powerful bass line intro followed by the chugging guitars that signal a sense of urgency. And as always, the music syncs so well with and enhances Bruce Dickinson’s vocal delivery.

Two of the tracks have really evocative lyrics which are also wonderfully enunciated by Bruce Dickinson, making it very easy to sing along with, for example, the verses from Infinite Dreams which are delivered at almost a speaking cadence:-

“Suffocation waking in a sweat
Scared to fall asleep again
In case the dream begins again
Someone chasing I cannot move
Standing rigid nightmare’s statue
What a dream when will it end
And will I transcend?“

And the much faster-paced chorus from Can I Play With Madness:-

“Can I play with madness? The prophet stared at his crystal ball
Can I play with madness? There’s no vision there at all
Can I play with madness? The prophet looked and he laughed at me, ha, he said
Can I play with madness? He said, “you’re blind, too blind to see”
Oh, said, “you’re too blind to see”, mmm“

Ironically, the only song I really don’t care that much for is the title track…the repetitive and rather unimaginative singing and chorus really killed the first few minutes of the song for me, to the extent that I rarely stay on for the greater variety that comes in the second half of this 9 minute epic. Ah well, you can’t have everything, I guess!

Favourite rock/metal concept albums (Part 4) – Extreme’s III Sides to Every Story

After a gap of more than a month, I’m back with the fourth installment in this series about my favourite rock and metal concept albums. After covering the works of Coheed & Cambria, Rush and Queensrÿche, here’s a relatively less famous album titled III Sides to Every Story by the hard rock band Extreme. This intelligent and accomplished album was a follow-up to their highly successful 1990 release Pornograffiti, but it arrived in late 1992 when the grunge movement was in full swing and therefore didn’t benefit from the exposure it deserved.

Extreme in 1992 (left to right): Paul Geary (drums), Nuno Bettencourt (guitars, keyboards), Gary Cherone (vocals), Pat Badger (bass)

Band: Extreme

Album: III Sides to Every Story (1992)

Narrative genre: Politics, philosophy and faith

Best songs: Warheads, Rest in Peace, Seven Sundays, Our Father, Stop the World, Everything Under the Sun (Rise ‘N Shine, Am I Ever Gonna Change and Who Cares?)

What makes it special: The album has three sections, titled “Yours”, “Mine” and “The Truth”. Each one showcases different musical styles and themes.

The first section “Yours”, is straight up rock, with some elements of rock opera in the vocal delivery of a couple of songs. It takes a satirical look at the military-industrial complex, governance and racism. The section starts off strong with the outstanding Warheads and Rest in Peace before getting to two slightly weaker tracks that are generic hard rock without being exceptional. I would classify Cupid’s Dead also as generic, but it is saved by an extended instrumental passage that kicks in at the 3 minute mark and lasts for more than 2 minutes. The last song in the section, Peacemaker Die ends with an excerpt from Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous I Have a Dream speech.

The second section “Mine” is more introspective and has a distinctively different sound. The first track Seven Sundays, opens with a languid vocal and piano passage (the keyboards are played by guitarist Nuno Bettencourt). These songs cover a wide range of topics from love to relationships to individuality to religion. I really like the lyrics and music of Our Father which is about a child longing for his father’s presence and very much unlike the songs that macho rock bands typically compose.

The third section “The Truth” is an extended prog rock suite titled Everything Under the Sun that runs for about 20 minutes. This section is really why this album is in my list. The first part of the suite, titled Rise ‘N Shine uses orchestral arrangements, acoustic guitars and harmonizing vocals to create an evocative feel. The second part Am I Ever Gonna Change switches to a stronger guitar-driven sound, but enhanced at key points with a string section; while the guitar chords sound bright and optimistic, the monologue-style lyrics are introspective and self-critical; it’s a strange combination, but somehow it works. The final 7-minute part titled Who Cares? has a rock opera sound, switching from a bombastic horns-based intro to pensive keyboard chords to an extended guitar lead, while Gary Cherone’s vocals explore themes of faith and fate.

Overall, the album has a clean sound, not dense or layered like the other songs and albums in this series. It’s a real pity that this album came out at a time when the world was going crazy over Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam; it never received the exposure and acclaim it deserved. But the band members often cite it as their best work and I think so too.

Favourite rock/metal concept albums (Part 3) – Queensrÿche’s Operation: Mindcrime

I took a bit of a break after Part 2, as I really wasn’t in the mood to listen to music or write about it, given all that’s been going on in the past few weeks. Today, I felt like getting back to writing, so here I am to continue the series. For Part 3, I’ve picked Queensrÿche’s 1988 rock opera classic, ambitious in scope and accomplished in delivery, a favourite of critics and fans alike.

Queensrÿche in 1988 (left to right): Eddie Jackson (bass) Chris DeGarmo (guitars), Geoff Tate (vocals), Scott Rockenfield (drums) and Michael Wilton (guitars)

Band: Queensrÿche

Album: Operation: Mindcrime (1988)

Genre: Political thriller

Narrative theme/concept: Nikki, a junkie and political radical, is recruited and brainwashed by a shadowy organization to assassinate corrupt leaders. He eventually meets Sister Mary, a former prostitute turned nun, and decides he wants to lead a normal life with her. He finds out the hard way that Doctor X, the leader of the organization, will never let him go.

Best songs: Revolution Calling, Operation: Mindcrime, Suite Sister Mary, I Don’t Believe in Love, Eyes of a Stranger.

What makes it special: The story is a thinly veiled critique of the Reagan years, essentially the same America that Oliver Stone stripped bare in Wall Street six months earlier. The tone throughout is one of gritty reality and impending tragedy. The album starts off with some dialogue and an instrumental intro. The first proper song is Revolution Calling and you know you’re onto something special when Geoff Tate delivers the pre-chorus:-

“I used to trust the media
To tell me the truth, tell us the truth
But now I’ve seen the payoffs
Everywhere I look
Who do you trust when everyone’s a crook?“

It’s difficult to identify any single element that makes this album work; there are no virtuoso guitar performances or drum pyrotechnics. But in the hands of producer Peter Collins (who produced Rush’s Power Windows), it all comes together as a tightly interwoven package. Frankly, Geoff Tate’s voice is like a fifth instrument, with its power and remarkable, soaring four-octave range showcased throughout the album, especially on songs like Speak and Spreading the Disease. In the chorus of The Mission, you can feel Nikki’s anger and wretchedness leaking through Tate’s vocals:

“I’ll wait here for days longer
Till the sister comes to wash my sins away
She is the lady that can ease my sorrow
She brings the only friend
That helps me find my way“

This brings us to the 10-minute magnum opus Suite Sister Mary; Doctor X instructs Nikki to kill Sister Mary, the one person who has shown him kindness and who he cares for in return. The style here is full-on rock opera – Geoff Tate’s and guest vocalist Pamela Moore’s soaring vocals, inter-cut brilliantly with Latin choral chants – it’s impossible to listen to this song and not get goosebumps or a lump in throat, as the seeds are sown for the unraveling of Nikki and Sister Mary’s ill-fated relationship.

Soon after, Mary is found dead and Nikki is arrested for her murder. Suffering from drug withdrawal, Nikki cannot process her demise or even be entirely sure that he was not her assassin. In I Don’t Believe in Love, his sorrow turns to helpless anger, directed at Mary for ‘abandoning’ him.

Finally, placed in a mental facility, his mind unravelling, Nikki enters a semi-catatonic state unable to recognize even himself; the tragic story comes to an end in the 7-minute Eyes of a Stranger.

“And I raise my head and stare
Into the eyes of a stranger
I’ve always known that the mirror never lies
People always turn away
From the eyes of a stranger
Afraid to know what
Lies behind the stare.”

Soaring vocals. Thundering bass drums. Screeching twin lead guitars. A compelling story. The perfect concept album!