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[Slur]

Why hasn't anyone really written a great concept album? I mean, you can start whining to me about The Wall or Tommy, but I swear to God that if you do, you'll probably be only able to name one or two songs off of either album.

[KnightofAncient]

The forum was down for a pretty long time earlier this year, and more recently it was spewing trojans like no other. Anyone not using chrome and/or a good antivirus probably got a trojan for going here during the last week or two.

The answers you seek are here

[Wyrdwad]

Spamming is not appreciated, Slur. I only left one of your posts from that long chain of useless replies, solely because I wanted to answer your question:

Why hasn't anyone really written a great concept album?

Arjen Lucassen has! Virtually every Ayreon album is an absolute work of art. Into the Electric Castle, in particular, is unbeatable as far as I'm concerned. It's a concept album with characters who all serve as B-movie stereotypes, yet all have distinct personalities and interactions with one another. The way the story progresses is really unique and interesting, and the ending is nothing short of epic.

It's pretty much the perfect concept album, as far as I'm concerned. No one's ever done better IMHO... and I doubt I'll ever see any other album as a contender for it.

-Tom

[Slur]

Spamming is not appreciated, Slur. I only left one of your posts from that long chain of useless replies, solely because I wanted to answer your question:



Arjen Lucassen has! Virtually every Ayreon album is an absolute work of art. Into the Electric Castle, in particular, is unbeatable as far as I'm concerned. It's a concept album with characters who all serve as B-movie stereotypes, yet all have distinct personalities and interactions with one another. The way the story progresses is really unique and interesting, and the ending is nothing short of epic.

It's pretty much the perfect concept album, as far as I'm concerned. No one's ever done better IMHO... and I doubt I'll ever see any other album as a contender for it.

-Tom

I own that album and listened to it quite a few times back in the days of being a younger teenager. I'm going to say it's "good, but lacking". Perhaps that's just me though.

I also own The Human Equation, which I feel the same way about.

Once again, you and I should talk music sometime.

[Wyrdwad]

Yeah, I recall you mentioning that in another thread. I think for me, Ayreon just represents something I really love: a celebration of all things cliched and cheezy. See, I'm the sort of person who greatly appreciates "good schlock." And Ayreon stories are just about the best schlock you'll ever find. You can tell Arjen and company had a lot of fun creating them, and the stories manage to be deep and involving while simultaneously really, really corny.

But most of all, they're just... really good music, too! I've probably listened to Into the Electric Castle more than any other album I own. I could recite the lyrics to every song from memory, and can even supply trivia about its connection to the overall storyline of Planet Y, the Forevers, the Universal Migrator, Time Telepathy and the Sixth Extinction of Earth. (Did I mention how much I love that Arjen actually tied together all of his albums into a single universe?)

It's definitely not music for everyone, but there's a certain genius to it that I just find absolutely wonderful.

...Oh, and we could talk music sometime, but I'm pretty sure you'll have a lot more to say than I will. My music knowledge is very, very limited. I was into 80s pop music when I was a kid and the prog rock scene as a teenager (though the only albums I still listen to from that era are Ayreon), then became a big fan of jpop and video game soundtracks... and, well, that's pretty much it. As far as modern music goes, all I really know are video game soundtracks and some jpop. As far as 90s music goes, all I really know are prog rock bands (and some jpop and video game music). You'd have to go all the way back to the 80s in order to find a substantial amount of music I know well enough to discuss at any sort of length.

-Tom

[Slur]

Yeah, I recall you mentioning that in another thread. I think for me, Ayreon just represents something I really love: a celebration of all things cliched and cheezy. See, I'm the sort of person who greatly appreciates "good schlock." And Ayreon stories are just about the best schlock you'll ever find. You can tell Arjen and company had a lot of fun creating them, and the stories manage to be deep and involving while simultaneously really, really corny.

But most of all, they're just... really good music, too! I've probably listened to Into the Electric Castle more than any other album I own. I could recite the lyrics to every song from memory, and can even supply trivia about its connection to the overall storyline of Planet Y, the Forevers, the Universal Migrator, Time Telepathy and the Sixth Extinction of Earth. (Did I mention how much I love that Arjen actually tied together all of his albums into a single universe?)

It's definitely not music for everyone, but there's a certain genius to it that I just find absolutely wonderful.

...Oh, and we could talk music sometime, but I'm pretty sure you'll have a lot more to say than I will. My music knowledge is very, very limited. I was into 80s pop music when I was a kid and the prog rock scene as a teenager (though the only albums I still listen to from that era are Ayreon), then became a big fan of jpop and video game soundtracks... and, well, that's pretty much it. As far as modern music goes, all I really know are video game soundtracks and some jpop. As far as 90s music goes, all I really know are prog rock bands (and some jpop and video game music). You'd have to go all the way back to the 80s in order to find a substantial amount of music I know well enough to discuss at any sort of length.

-Tom

I'm aware of the background of the whole Ayreon story, starting from the first album up until Planet Y. The problem behind the music is because I've been so immersed in multiple types of music in my life due to my own self-upbringing, I managed to find bands from the 70s and 90s who were doing things before Ayreon and managing to outdo him (in my opinion) in terms of the musical structures as well as lyrics (not to say that he isn't a good musician, or a bad person. I e-mailed him one time asking for advice and he managed to give it to me personally.) Don't get me wrong either and say I'm downplaying the album's greatness, because Electric Castle is a good album in its own right, and I have given it multiple spins (which is something I can't say of a lot of the albums in my collection).

Having a limited music knowledge is better for me to go along with anyway. People I have completely common interests in music with bore me because they have nothing new to bring to the table.

[Dusty Starr]

Why hasn't anyone really written a great concept album? I mean, you can start whining to me about The Wall or Tommy, but I swear to God that if you do, you'll probably be only able to name one or two songs off of either album.

What's wrong with The Wall? And I am certain that I could name the whole track listing from memory, but how would anyone know that i did it anyways.