Art of Listening #12 with Keith Jopling
In this edition of The Art of Listening, Keith dives into the concept album and why that seems to be more relevant than ever. This is to celebrate National Album Day and signal the arrival early next year of his book Body of Work: How the Album Outplayed the Algorithm and Survived Playlist Culture (published 10th February 2026).
The concept album is back, with good reason
I’ve really enjoyed spending time with the latest Billy Nomates album Metalhorse. What sold me on this record was hearing about it as a “concept album of sorts”. I’m a sucker for concept albums and always have been. Metalhorse loosely revolves around the idea of a crumbling funfair; the fairground metaphor as a symbol for life i.e. up & down, round & round. Whatever inspired Tor Maries (aka Billy Nomates) to hone in on that subject, the result speaks for itself - her best album yet. A coherent body of work, with great songs and some surprising guests, including Hugh Cornell of The Stranglers.
The Coral’s magnificent Coral Island from 2021, was a similar idea, themed on the romantic ideal of the faded seaside town. Coral Island was a made up place, whereas there have been more than one concept album about actual fairgrounds; Coney Island, New York, for example has inspired several on its own. Now the UK’s own Coney Beach Amusement Park in Porthcawl, South Wales, is dismantled for scrap after 107 years, surely Gruff Rhys, Tom Jones, The Stereophonics, Shirley Bassey or The Manics will consider the opportunity for a magnum opus. I’m not saying a newer, younger artist couldn’t take it on. They would just need to put in the research, have colossal self-belief, unquantifiable confidence and be up for taking a huge risk. The concept album isn’t the easiest of projects. I imagine label execs develop a twitch when artists tell them their next project is to be a concept album. The terms concept album and commercial success have never been a recipe for any label boss to salivate over, but the idea of the “record streaming public” embracing one in today’s world of fried attention spans and TikTok moments is certainly counterintuitive. But that’s the whole point.
The concept album may well be the best vehicle for an artist in the current age to make a record that might actually cut through the clutter and stand some chance of longevity. With so much music evaporating into the atmosphere, it may be worth making a bold statement with an album. Furthermore, if music itself isn't quite enough to make a dent in the culture on its own i.e without strong visuals or narrative, then the concept album is a great way to tap into those resources. It is exactly the place where music overlaps with literature and art. The faded seaside resort has been the subject of other art forms. For novels, think Brighton Rock, Hotel Du Lac, The Ballad of Peckham Rye. For visual arts, think Edward Hopper, Tracy Emin, Jeremy Deller. Martin Parr’s The Last Resort must surely inspire an 80s themed concept album yet. The Kooks perhaps? Or, Sea Power may already have done so for all I know.
The concept album is where music, art and literature overlap. Ry Cooder’s trilogy of concept albums between 2005 and 2008 (Chávez Ravine, My Name Is Buddy and I, Flathead) mixed these forms. I, Flathead came with an accompanying novella, penned by Cooder. It’s not understatement to say that Cooder was oozing genius during this period. The idea of throwing together a bunch of songs and calling it an album just wasn’t enough of an expression for him at the time. The closest parallel to it recently would be Mike Scott aka The Waterboys wildly ambitious Life & Death of Dennis Hopper. I was lucky enough, by pure chance, to see him play some of it live, but in a parallel universe of less ‘competition’ and more attention, Mike would be taking it to Broadway or The West End in full. I mean, Dennis Hopper, what a great subject for a concept album not to mention a musical. Of course, one of the most successful musicals of all time, Hamilton, was first conceived as a concept album. Lin-Manuel Miranda performed what was then titled “The Hamilton Mixtape” at the White House in 2009. His idea was to release an album of hip-hop songs inspired by Hamilton’s life, with multiple artists playing different roles. The idea was inspired by many previous examples of course: Jesus Christ Superstar, Tommy, The War of the Worlds. Those last two crossed over into film even more successfully, and that continues now. Just this year, the Bruce Springsteen ‘biopic’ Deliver Me From Nowhere, focuses on a snapshot of The Boss’s phenomenal 30-album career, the eight track tape garage recording of his own sort-of concept album, Nebraska. And that film is based on Warren Zane’s book. Talking of making label exec’s twitch, this album was famously Bruce’s follow-up to his biggest ever commercial success, and was described by Zane as “the greatest left-turn performed by someone who is operating at the top of the charts in musical history”. As said, concept albums are a risk and not for the faint hearted. Then again, Nebraska was a commercial success and is now very much resurrected three decades on.
The concept album used to be a niche, and nerdy with it - confined largely to “prog rock”. The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway and In the Court of the Crimson King may have aged into classics, but they also gave concept albums a dubious reputation. However, it has always seemed to me that concepts-themes-narratives, weaved through albums, inspire very good outcomes - at least creative ones. Some of my all time favourite records are concept albums: Skylarking by XTC (growing up, aging, death), Scarlet’s Walk (traversing America) by Tori Amos, Feast of Wire (Mexican migrants) by Calexico. The above mentioned Chávez Ravine is a work of pure genius, centred around the Los Angeles immigrant neighborhood.
Concept, thematic or narrative based albums seem to be more of the moment right now. A few other very recent examples I want to point to here:
Car Seat Headrest’s excellent and ambitious The Scholars (2025) is centered on intellectual and existential themes, including academia, personal growth, and philosophical reflection. Songs are linked by recurring motifs, lyrical callbacks, and tonality
Quannnic’s Warbrained grapples with the mental breakdown and struggles of a military veteran (PTSD, mental deterioration) through a thematic, lyrical narrative and music that pulsates with nervous energy
Jeremy Zucker’s album Garden State is about growing up in New Jersey, a long-tradition in “coming of age” concept albums rooted in a time and place.
The idea that the concept or “high narrative” album does not equate with commercial success has been blasted out of the water in recent years by Taylor Swift (Evermore), Karol G (Tropicoqueta), Twenty One Pilots (the band’s series of recent albums) and many others. Indeed, it may be that making “just an album” i.e. one not woven together by a concept, through line, and accompanied by a raft of associated material, isn’t enough to succeed in today’s fraught and crowded music scene. Albums lacking in a theme are far more likely to evaporate into the ozone layer of streaming’s celestial jukebox of one gazillion songs. Maybe it’s time for A&Rs and managers to even suggest the idea. Now that would be a new concept.
Learn more about Keith Jopling:
Keith is a music strategist, advisor, consultant, writer and mentor. In 2021 he started the music podcast The Art of Longevity, featured under Spotify’s “must listen” music podcasts and on all other platforms. The archive sits on his music curation site The Song Sommelier.
Keith has worked with the boardrooms of labels, streaming services, start-ups and investors. He has held previous roles with Sony Music, Spotify, EMI and the BPI. Most recently he was Consulting Director at boutique music agency MIDiA Research (2019-2024) and began his career in music as Research Director at global trade body IFPI (2000-2006).
As an educator, he has lectured in music business, strategy and innovation at Henley Business School, NYU, BIMM, ACM, Belmont, Syracuse, Westminster and the University of Krems, Austria.