Concept Albums; The Good, The Bad, The Alien through your door.

Concept albums have been around a long time. They're albums that tell a story from beginning to end, where each song flows together to give you a bigger picture. The first time I really got exposed to one was when Coheed and Cambria started to get big. I've listened to several since. I like Coheed's musical style, it's metal. However and this is where my gripes begin to take shape, the lyrics didn't hint, to me at least, any real story.
Story-telling is something that is a big part of what I am. Those you  have spent time with me know that I can tell story after story and keep your attention and you don't get lost. I also went to college studying writing for a few years and I've read everything from ancient fables to some of the more recent New York Times Best Sellers. I've played Dungeons and Dragons since I was 8 (so 16 or so years at this point) where story-telling is exactly what you're doing and the key to having with it is collaborative story-telling (give and take, not too dissimilar from improv comedy). I'd like to think I know a thing or two about telling a good story.
I'm also a music enthusiast. I've played drums since I was 12 and grew up in a family of musicians. My best friend plays guitar and most of my other good friends played some instrument (tuba included). Though I haven't studied music academically, a few of my acquaintances (there really needs to be a better word for less than friend but more than acquaintance) have.
I know my [expletives] as the phrase goes.
As I talk about specific albums I'm going to place a number next to it to let you know what I take away from each for example Kilroy was here by Styx (4/10). I only ended up keeping a few songs of the album. The lyrics weren't as bad as some of the ones we'll talk about later on, but musically it wasn't my jam. I'll also only talk about concept albums that I've been exposed to. There's a lot out there and I haven't heard all of every concept album. Let's make a list of things that make I'm going to judge and move on from there

• The lyrics have to make sense, either independently of each other or as part of the whole album. The less the lyrics tell the story or the closer they resemble just a bunch of words the lyricist thought sounded cool, the less I like it.
• Does the story end or is there some sort on inconclusive ending? Good stories end, the best in fact.
• How much exposition does the album use. In this case, exposition is going to be non-musical tracks or segments that give us details and context 
• Songs that tell stories aren't concept albums, but in the best concept albums each song is it's own story and can be heard (as above) independently from the rest.

To start things off, let's go with the bad, the things concept albums I didn't really gel with. To be clear I like some of these and listen on regardless, but that doesn't mean a part of me pokes it with a fiery stick of irk. Coheed and Cambria's starting line-up of albums, 2nd Stage (6), Secrets of Silent Earth 3 (5), Burning Star 4 (didn't really want to listen to) all were great to listen to. The lyrics on the other hand...even with context, which can be picked up in the form of a comic book (I recommend this and I'll talk more about that later) they were fairly nonsensical and hard to follow as a story goes. Screaming them out at the concert I went to was a blast just it was similar to every time I publicly sang It's the End of the World by R.E.M. The biggest gripe I have with these albums is that Claudio Sanchez, singer and writer, is telling a story that has, at this point, a beginning and middle. The story hasn't really ended yet. The band has done a lot of side projects and the latest albums have been prequels (we'll talk about them later) to the Amory Wars. Good stories end and so does this one. Does that mean I hope they stop playing? Of course not. I want to see the story end, resolution.
Let's move on.
Let's talk about one of the more famous concept albums every created. Pink Floyd's The Wall (7/10). It wasn't too long ago that actually sat down and watched the feature film The Wall that gives visual context to the story. The story here makes sense and can be followed from one song to the next almost implicitly. The bigger issues with this album are, in my opinion, the vocals and the structure of the songs. On the entirety of the album there are only two songs that really stand out independently of the album, The Wall pt.2 and Comfortably Numb. The rest work well when taken into the context of the album as a whole, but that still feels a bit drudgery and like wading through muck to get to the good stuff. Also, I happen to like David Gilmour as the singer as opposed to Roger Waters (seeing as how he was the singer and sort of lead producer on Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here).
There was a time when punk was making a strange revival movement that quickly dissolved into what became the emo genre this pseudo artsy-"I'm so complicated and so is life" bull****. Out of this we got retardedly weird lyrics from bands. One band that got completely over looked was The Early November. I picked up on them when they released what had to have been their most ambitious project. A 3-disc album, one of which was a concept album; The Mother, The Mechanic, The Path (7/10). I really liked these albums and this whole idea of including a story album and then songs separate from it for the independent factor. For this though, we'll only talk about The Path. The story is cohesive and every song makes sense, but here is the problem. Since they made two separate albums apart from the concept album, only one song actually sounds good when listening to it away from the whole album. I like the album, but you have to listen to the whole thing, from beginning to end, without really breaking away. The other issue is that there is a lot of non-musical breaks where the characters talk to one another and sometimes that mixes with the music and...it falls short. If you like 2000's punk, get this triple album.
You thought Rush was dead yeah? They're not. They released a concept album in 2012 called Clockwork Angels (8/10). This album is bit more like what Coheed does where the lyrics don't make much sense, but there is definitely a story there and you can follow it if you focus. There is a reason Rush has been playing since 1968. They're good. The album was since novelized, but I haven't read it and I understand that I wouldn't want to.
Let's talk about removing the story from the concept album and trying to place it somewhere else shall we? Concept albums don't give you the whole story, it doesn't give you the details. That is what the music is for. The music is the filler, words don't exactly translate well from pure instrumentalism. Here is where Coheed got things right. They wrote a comic book to go along with the albums. People put down comics as for children, that time has passed (read Spawn to your children, I dare you). Comics allow for a varied amount of art styles (about as varied as music itself if not more so). You can find any art style to really fit whatever you're writing. Rush decided to do the same thing. There is now a Clockwork Angels comic book that gets released monthly. It's great and it looks like the music. It's a weird thing to think about, seeing music, but when you read comic books based on concept albums, it makes more sense. With that, lets make a quick return.
Coheed and Cambria's latest albums Ascension and Descension (8/10) are fan-freaking-tastic. As concept albums go, they figured out coherent lyrics and fluid story-telling. The music rocks and all things are good with the world. These albums are exactly what they should be doing...once they finish the G**D*** Amory Wars. You can stay in the same setting and build the universe, but you should probably finish what you start and release album 5...and preferably soon.
One of my favorite concept albums is Queensryche's Operation Mindcrime (9/10). Every song leads the story further into the plot and gives details. Nearly every song can be heard independently from one another and it still tells a story. The lyrics make sense and the band sets the mood fantastically. It also just happens that I really like 80's style metal and the styles that followed in it's footsteps (progressive metal, power metal, etc..). There isn't too much exposition, but there is enough to let you know that something is going on. Man, I just love this album.
Concept albums are a tricky thing. When they're done right, they rock and move you and it's really good. You get a cake and eat it too. But that is a rare thing, it can be tough to make a concept album work so that people know what is going enough so that they can follow the story without outside help.