“I thought Tommy was a great idea, but not sure that The Who was really up to the challenge”
I can’t think of many albums that tried to tell a single story that were very good. One notable exception that comes to mind is “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway,’ by Genesis. Back in the good ol’ days when Peter Gabriel was the lead singer.
I like “Bat Out of Hell,” by Meat Loaf. After that...hmmm
My all-time favorite album. (Well I go back and forth between that and A Trick of The Tail)
Agreed, I love old Genesis.
Actually, another example, but to me, just the opposite, is "The Wall," by Pink Floyd. I think the execution (song writing, production, etc) was excellent, though I wasn't all that crazy about the story line. I've always thought that Roger Waters was something of a pompous a$$hat, and have always preferred the lyrics of his bandmates to his. But he was an important part of the band. And the album was executed (with a lot of assistance from Bob Ezrin - he learned all about bombastic performances from his work with Kiss!) nearly perfectly. I saw The Wall concert at the Nassau Colloseum my senior year in high school, back around 1980.
Mark