Fifty Years of the Concept Album in Popular Music - by Eric Wolfson (Hardcover)

About the Book

"The first history of the concept album's initial half-century, spanning musical styles from rock, soul, funk, electronic music, indie/ alternative, and hip-hop"--

Book Synopsis

The concept album is one of popular music's most celebrated-and misunderstood-achievements. This book examines the untold history of the rock concept album, from The Beatles to Beyoncé.

The roots of the concept album are nearly as old as the long-playing record itself, as recording artists began using the format to transcend a mere collection of songs into a listening experience that takes the listener on a journey through its unifying mood, theme, narrative, or underlying idea.
Along the way, artists as varied as the Moody Blues, Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, Pink Floyd, Parliament, Donna Summer, Iron Maiden, Radiohead, The Notorious B.I.G., Green Day, Janelle Monáe, and Kendrick Lamar created albums that form an extended conversation of art and music. Limits were pushed as the format grew over the subsequent eras.

Seminal albums like the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the Who's Tommy, Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, stand alongside modern classics like Liz Phair's Exile in Guyville, Kendrick Lamar's good kid, "m.A.A.d city," and Beyoncé's Lemonade. Mixing iconic albums with some newer and lesser-known works makes for a book that ventures into the many sides of a history that has yet to be told-until now.

Review Quotes

"Fifty Years of the Concept Album in Popular Music is a rich, valuable piece of modern music education, a deep dive into the might and worth of the album versus the single, and a chance for music fans unfamiliar with certain genres to gain a new level of open-mindedness, as this work provides an opportunity to explore what may be outside one's comfort zones. Wolfson levels the playing field - it's all music." --PopMatters

"Eric Wolfson is a musician's musician, a writer's writer, and a historian's historian. The first two qualities are more common than the third among music writers, but the triple threat is what sets Wolfson apart. His ear for sound, way with words, and talent as a storyteller make this book not only an insightful meditation on the concept album but also a gripping history of the times. From the Sixties to the Millennium, Fifty Years of the Concept Album will change how you hear and understand the long and winding road from that America to this one." --Scott A. Sandage, cultural historian

"The concept album has long been a neglected part of popular music history. Eric Wolfson has corrected that oversight in this authoritative study. Foregrounding diversity, he interrogates the concept album as being unbound by genre and era. You might be familiar with these records and artists, but Wolfson's sharp, illuminative prose will have you revisiting and reconsidering them with a more nuanced understanding of intent and narrative. Fifty Years of the Concept Album is an important and necessary contribution to popular music studies." --John Dougan, Professor Emeritus of Popular Music Studies, Dept. of Recording Industry, Middle Tennessee State University, USA

"[Fifty Years of the Concept Album in Popular Music] will get readers excited to hunt down copies of the albums ... that they don't already own. ... [B]e sure to gift a copy of these to your teenaged nephews or nieces during their birthdays, as they need to know about this book and what it represents." --Zachary Houle

About the Author

Eric Wolfson is the author of the critically acclaimed 33 1/3 book From Elvis in Memphis. He runs the accompanying website, www.fromelvisinmemphis.com, and is active on Twitter (@EricWolfson) and Instagram (@EricWolfson). He lives in Washington, D.C., and works in the Performing Arts Division of the U.S. Copyright Office.