I started a Podcast about Concept Albums called "Sonic Ventures".

[Dasein]

A friend and I started to record our music related discussions this year and hit on the idea of exploring the world of concept albums as a podcast - First 3 episodes are up now. We wanted to capture our "kitchen table" discussions, with the idea that each discussion would allow us to build on the last while we grow our friendship and we unpack the mystery of our attraction and love for concept albums. Probably a very niche thing but I thought I'd share. We're still figuring out the whole ebb and flow of things but if you want to go up river, you gotta get in the boat and row so that's what we did. Cheers!

https://sonicventurespodcast.buzzsprout.com/

[Dasein]

We released Episode 4 the other day with a discussion about The Mothers of Invention's first album Freak Out! (Frank Zappa)

Our podcast series really features the discussions themselves - and each discussion is a building block in the larger arc of exploring concept albums (and why we love them) in general. These are not curated - we explore the albums through the conversations and follow the tangents as they materialize in real time. Each episode builds on the one before. Hopefully we are building both a language but a matrix that is both personal and shared through which to continue to have conversations...

Anyways - Episode 4 is up! Listen on your favorite podcast app or find them her:

https://sonicventurespodcast.buzzsprout.com/

[kizanski]

Now if only there had been a concept album by the Ventures.  

[Ting Ho Dung]

Don't to forget, "Music from the Elder." "A dark light is coming for you."

[Willie G. Moseley]

RE a "concept album by the Ventures"...well, ain't it safe to say their Surfing album is about surfing, on accounta it's all surfing songs? Or are lyrics requisite for concept albums? That said, Surfing wouldn't be the first so-called concept album a lotta folks (including me) would think of...

Does the podcast plan to address the S.F. Sorrow vs Tommy controversy (or has it already done so)?

[Jakeboy]

You could do Styx “Kilroy Was Here”…a dual-concept album with the longest-lasting concept being career derailment.

[alantig]

I think all of Planet P Project's albums were concept albums, but the first one is my favorite.  Overlooked.

[Ting Ho Dung]

7 hours ago, Jakeboy said:

You could do Styx “Kilroy Was Here”…a dual-concept album with the longest-lasting concept being career derailment.

I had no idea that was a concept album or that it was a double! 

[Dasein]

14 hours ago, Willie G. Moseley said:

RE a "concept album by the Ventures"...well, ain't it safe to say their Surfing album is about surfing, on accounta it's all surfing songs? Or are lyrics requisite for concept albums? That said, Surfing wouldn't be the first so-called concept album a lotta folks (including me) would think of...

Does the podcast plan to address the S.F. Sorrow vs Tommy controversy (or has it already done so)?

Great question -- we only touched on Tommy during the Rock Opera podcast but will return to it for its own episode. S.F. Sorrow will have to be discussed -- As a Tommy fan I really really enjoyed it -- a total no brainer that this Pretty Things album was a huge influence on Tommy - it's just so similar musically (and thematically) that it can't be denied. But equally there were a lot of spontaneous & parallel developments in music happening back then as the chain of influence was still very short -- not hard to imagine people following the same or very close tangents off a point of origin and developing similar works -- but S.F. Sorrow deserves much more attention - some of the similarities was really too close for comfort. I was also struck by how much S.F. Sorrow made me think of The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance....

I thought that too about Surfing --- thematic album for sure.... lots of room for inclusion under the general idea of concept albums.... it helped create a whole West coast and Pacific island mythos that inspired a whole cultural movement. There would be no Beach Boys without Dick Dale and without the Ventures - and imagine everything and everyone the Beach Boys influenced (including the Beatles). Plus - I used to play Pipeline when I was 12 --- then years later at 22 I found myself surfing it when I lived in Hawaii. I would never have imagined that. It was a dream I never knew I had. To be fair I wasn't a good surfer and was only permitted to surf there because it wasn't a big day and I was under the care of a local.... I was more suited to beach breaks like Gas Chambers.

Episode 5 will be recorded in the 3rd or 4th week of January -- we're devoting the episode to a revered Jazz album.... Hint: Coltrane

We're trying not to get too pigeonholed in rock music too early in our run - and we're building a broader base of conversations that will help us get more focused as the podcast builds - we'll be able to refer back to our own conversations and revisit or add to/disagree with our own ideas. It's very kitchen table like...

If you guys do get a chance to listen - feel free to share your thoughts.

[Dasein]

On 12/29/2021 at 8:38 AM, Ed Rechts said:

Is Rush's 2112 a concept album?

We covered 2112 in the first podcast -- it was my podcast partner's first exposure to concept albums and it blew his mind and changed him forever. He's a wicked musician, author and composer....

[Ranger]

Check out Nektar - Remember the Future

Grabbed me hard when I was young and impressionable and I still think it's wonderful. 

 

[Jakeboy]

On 12/29/2021 at 5:17 PM, Ting Ho Dung said:

I had no idea that was a concept album or that it was a double! 

@Ting Ho Dung, it wasn’t a double album…I was referring to dual concepts…with the second concept being the wrecking of the band’s career (at least temporarily). 

[Dasein]

Episode 5 released: John Coltrane's A Love Supreme - this one features a much more animated discussion between myself and my podcast partner Joel - mostly because we both LOVED our experience with having this album on heavy rotation the last 6 or 7 weeks and how we opened up to the music. An amazing album - consumed in its entirety the run time of the album is just over 30 minutes. If you don't listen to the podcast be sure the check out the album.

Buzzsprouy: https://sonicventurespodcast.buzzsprout.com/1866525/10039717-ep-5-john-coltrane-a-love-supreme

Applepodcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/sonic-ventures/id1595524959

Spotify:

 

[Brooks]

On 12/29/2021 at 11:38 AM, Ed Rechts said:

Is Rush's 2112 a concept album? Am I correct in assuming that the Priests of the Temple of Syrinx are really just a bunch of AWS engineers inside a server farm in some remote location

Rush name checked Ayn Rand on 2112; I finally got around to reading Anthem last week, Neil lifted the story line from the 1st half of that book, except he subbed a guitar for the light bulb.

[Dutchman]

On 12/30/2021 at 6:45 PM, Ranger said:

Check out Nektar - Remember the Future

Grabbed me hard when I was young and impressionable and I still think it's wonderful. 

 

Great recording! I still listen to it!!! 

[Dasein]

Episodes 6 & 7 are both out -- 6 is dedicated to Sgt Pepper & 7 is dedicated to Rush 2112...... We talked about both albums in episode 1 as being our gateway albums into conceptual music - these two episodes explore each album specifically. We had a Covid interruption between 6 & 7 when my podcast partner's whole family came down with Covid that lasted over a Month.... Everyone is recovered now.

 

 

[gorch]

Great podcast idea.

Pick any of Alan Parsons with or without Project. Perhaps ELO Eldorado?

[Dasein]

4 hours ago, gorch said:

Great podcast idea.

Pick any of Alan Parsons with or without Project. Perhaps ELO Eldorado?

Great ideas -- for our season 1 we are doing 8 episodes -- then we are going to regroup and retool a bit for Season 2 - adding some more content to include writing, shorter episodes, more musical analysis and vignettes - it's taken us this long just to figure out how we want to talk about music. Our list of music to listen to and talk about is growing so we are playing catch up for sure.

[Dutchman]

On 12/30/2021 at 6:45 PM, Ranger said:

Check out Nektar - Remember the Future

Grabbed me hard when I was young and impressionable and I still think it's wonderful. 

 

I still listen to this and their Down To Earth lp. Great Band. Really great guitar stuff!!

[Dasein]

Man there's so much good music I've never even heard - It's also a process learning how to have a conversation on mic that is meant for an audience as well as the person you are talking to.... I think we're getting better - Work in Progress for sure.