Help with writing a concept album

[thefate]

Now then!

A couple of months ago I advertised unsucessfully for a concept band. Nobody seemed to quite know what I was on about, so I've decided to write and record the initial album and then form the band afterwards based on the music.

I'll admit, writing the album has so far been an utter nightmare. For every one song I write, there's about 20 that are awful and end up in the scrap pile. What's more, once I get to about the halfway point of the album I listen back to all the songs that I consider worthy and realise none of them sound like they even fit together thematically.

Is there some sort of crazy trick to making things sound like they're part of a larger overall piece rather than just seperate tracks? I know with stuff like 'The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking' the lead guitar is pretty much the same notes for a good chunk of the album, but the problem I face is there's a moment at the midpoint of my album where the story needs to fast forward a bit (this song in particular has been the hardest to write so far). Also, whereas that album in particular is from the viewpoint of one character in one location, mine tends to switch settings and moods frequently.

I don't quite know what I'm asking really, other than the fact that I'm tearing my hair out because as it stands it doesn't sound like a concise piece - which is the whole point of the project. Has anyone else had much experience in writing concept stuff that can maybe provide a few tips?

I should point out that it's aimed at being a rock opera album, pretty synth heavy at times. I won't bother boring you with the plot, so if you just pretend it's a concept album about the first Terminator film you'll probably won't be far off.

 

[grimtraveller]

A while back, I took stock of a whole load of songs I had and realized that I could get three concept albums out of them if I grouped them. One is 'about' relationships {kind of} which I'm toying with calling "Wedded blitz", one is loosely based on childhood/babyhood from the perspective of parent, baby and child and the other, to be titled "Fractured fairy tales" are kind of songs that could be viewed as dark~ish nursery rhymes, the kind that you'd not read out to kids........
Thing is, musically, I don't think the songs 'fit' together stylistically. And as far as I'm concerned, that will be a strength. I like different styles and sounds.
Some of the best concept albums are quite varied. But importantly, the story and how it hangs together may end up only being important to you. I have a number of concept albums ranging from Bowie's "The rise and fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" to Larry Norman's "So long ago the garden" through the Pretty Things' "SF Sorrow" via Smokerise's "The Survival of St Joan" and Marvin Gaye's "Let's get it on" and "What's going on" or Styx's "The grand illusion". The stories/concepts/themes are irrelevant to me. The songs are not. They stand as great songs and good albums, independent of the themes and linkages.
So I would advise that you keep on writing and sifting as you have been doing and see where you get to. Bear in mind that some of these albums have songs that weren't written for the project, but can be loosely worked in there and have little to do with the concept, as such. If you didn't know the story of "Tommy", or "The foolishness of God", I wonder if it could be worked out from the songs. I doubt it.

 

[Manslick]

I'd say your concept isn't fully realized. $00.02

 

[Shankapotomus]

Are you having problems matching lyrics or music? I'm good at lyrics but can't help you with music.

 

[thefate]

Thanks for the responses everyone!

The stories/concepts/themes are irrelevant to me. The songs are not. They stand as great songs and good albums, independent of the themes and linkages.
So I would advise that you keep on writing and sifting as you have been doing and see where you get to. Bear in mind that some of these albums have songs that weren't written for the project, but can be loosely worked in there and have little to do with the concept, as such.

Good points. I should probably point out that I've actually changed what the plot\theme was for the album multiple times now, but some of the songs stayed on board because of their strengths anyway. Although there'll probably be a few moments where the plot slips in, the fact that a lot of this will eventually be performed live is enough motivation to make sure a lot of it is good taken away from the concept.

I guess the whole constant writing and scrapping thing might just work as a good filtering process when I look at it that way.

I'd say your concept isn't fully realized. $00.02

I'd probably disagree with that. I'm rather fearful the concept is too realized and that it's potentially choking the music. There's a lot of irrelevant background plot that I've wrote down - it isn't included in the album for the obvious reason that I'd probably be the only one who cared about it, but the sheer fact that it's in the back of my head might be making me hesistate and occaisionally go "Does this fit into the overall concept?" rather than "Does this fit in the album?".

Normally, a few sleeps and then coming back to it with a fresh mind clears this problem though. Although you might be right about some specific points in the album where I'm looking at them from far too much of a character point of view and not a music point of view.

Are you having problems matching lyrics or music? I'm good at lyrics but can't help you with music.

Nope, the lyrics and content are pretty much the easiest bit as I'm primarily a vocalist. Although I never write lyrics without music anyway - the music should always come first in my eyes.

 

[gecko zzed]

I'd probably disagree with that. I'm rather fearful the concept is too realized and that it's potentially choking the music.

I think there are two concepts you need to deal with.

The first is the idea or theme behind the 'concept album'. From what you say, you've got this sorted out.

But the concept that Manslick is referring to (I think) is how you translate this into an actuality. The fact that your concept is 'fully realised' but that it is 'choking the music', and that you can't figure out how to relate the pieces together thematically, suggests that you have to develop a way of visualising the end result and working towards that.

If the concept is a series of songs that, together, tell a particular story, then each has a part to play, and each part has its own musical story. Concentrate on what each of the elements needs to do, and how you would achieve that, and worry less about cohesiveness. That should come by virtue of the 'story' and that it is you putting it all together.
pruning it to a more managable shape; a way of

 

[thefate]

If the concept is a series of songs that, together, tell a particular story, then each has a part to play, and each part has its own musical story. Concentrate on what each of the elements needs to do, and how you would achieve that, and worry less about cohesiveness. That should come by virtue of the 'story' and that it is you putting it all together.

Ahh I get it now. I think it's just because my heads so deep in the plot I didn't really step back to take a look at the bigger picture. I've pulled a couple of old songs that I had lying around and they seem to fit into certain scenarios, so I'm gonna use them.

If the song is about somebody in love, write a love song and insert it into the plot later on. Makes perfect sense really, how I didn't figure that out is beyond me. Well I guess I did, but I was too busy on making everything try and flow with the neighboring songs, which should probably be left to post production now that I think of it.

Thanks!

 

[Ramshackles]

I think the idea of a 'concept album' is pretty dated. Many many albums these days have story arcs, thematic ideas, recurring music lines etc etc.. all the hallmarks of a 'concept'. The idea of a concept album was something dreamt up in the 60s to distinguish albums that were meant as a single piece of art/music than albums that were really just a collection of singles.
Nowadays, (unless you are pop/dance/turd) the album is at the forefront. Many bands dont even do official single releases anymore.

 

[gecko zzed]

Nowadays, (unless you are pop/dance/turd) the album is at the forefront. Many bands dont even do official single releases anymore.

Maybe bands don't release singles anymore, and maybe the album is at the forefront. However, I think that albums that are a collection of unrelated songs (or whose relationship to each other is based on the instrumentation of the band) are still predominant. The thematic 'concept' album is still a comparative rarity, and the idea of a whole collection as an art form is still valid.

 

[ido1957]

Tough - concept could be a story from beginning to end or something loosely connected.

 

[VomitHatSteve]

Nowadays, (unless you are pop/dance/turd) the album is at the forefront. Many bands dont even do official single releases anymore.

I don't think that's true at all. We live in the MP3 era. It's all about the single! Granted, the single is released on iTunes and never sees a physical pressing as a single, but that's still how it's done.

One of the tricks to writing a concept album is to repeat themes. Think of The Wall: There are 3 versions of "Another Brick in the Wall", and that same bassline gets recycled all throughout the thing. Alice Cooper's The Last Temptation has several songs end with brief, stylized refrains from earlier songs.
Another trick is transitions. In your OP, you talked about how one song needs to span several years. In Act II, the Protomen did that with the song "How the World Fell Under Darkness." That song was an instrumental that started off using the acoustic instrumentation and spaghetti western stylings of the first half of the album and gradually layered on synthesizers to transition to the sci-fi tone of the second half.

 

[thefate]

Another trick is transitions. In your OP, you talked about how one song needs to span several years. In Act II, the Protomen did that with the song "How the World Fell Under Darkness." That song was an instrumental that started off using the acoustic instrumentation and spaghetti western stylings of the first half of the album and gradually layered on synthesizers to transition to the sci-fi tone of the second half.

The Wall, The Pros and Cons of Hitchiking and Act II: The Father of Death are my main inspirations for this funnily enough.

I don't think many bands class themselves as a concept band. I've toured with a lot of bands who, for one particular example, only sang songs about their own sexual encounters. I'm sure they wouldn't class themselves as a concept band, even though they fit the definition. Same with a lot of metal\hardcore bands, I know some that only sing about war. It's not really a conscious decision for them, they just sing about their general interest and don't really put much thought into it when crafting the songs as an overall piece. Doesn't stop them being a concept I guess though.

Anyway, that's beyond the point. The Wall point is valid - the bassline actually repeats in more than those three songs, I believe it does it in Waiting For The Worms and a few others. The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking does the same thing pretty much thoughout the album, as does Alice Cooper's Brutal Planet at points. I think it's stuff like this that sets rock opera aside from just a simple concept and shows its been crafted as a piece - even if the songs weren't originally written so, they've been incorperated into the whole thematic sound.

 

[grimtraveller]

The changing phase of the countryside.

I think the idea of a 'concept album' is pretty dated.

There isn't a single aspect of recording that isn't dated. People see being dated as a real negative, but all it really means is that there is now a solid history behind it and that it'll make reappearances now and again.
Some concept albums are very consciously that. Some are that by default rather than design. And some albums contain a concept or story within a body of songs {The Small faces "Ogden's nut gone flake" or Adrian Snell's "Fireflake" for example}.
We're at a point in time in which neither the single nor the album are the kingpin, but a hybrid situation where an album is released but the consumer is given the official choice of how they will use that piece of art. So you might want to buy two or three or eight songs from said album. Or the whole album.

 

[thefate]

I don't personally see how that which has no specific form or genre can be dated, it's only the people that bring nothing new to the table that are dated.

We're at a point in time in which neither the single nor the album are the kingpin, but a hybrid situation where an album is released but the consumer is given the official choice of how they will use that piece of art. So you might want to buy two or three or eight songs from said album. Or the whole album.

Tricky times - I know there's a club near me that does nights where they play albums (not necessarily the most famous ones either) in their entirety. This might not be new to some people - but it is to me, I've never seen a club do anything like that before, nevermind in a small city. People seem to be a bit more aware of the 'abum' as opposed to singles these days.

That said, we live in the internet age where people hop on YouTube\Facebook\Weapon of choice, chose a random song off your new album and if they don't like it they won't give you another chance. You can't please both audiences.

I'm almost there now though. Having massive troubles writing an intro track, but aside from that I'm really happy with direction my project has taken - totally different to how it started, but that's all part of the journey.