It's a vinyl evening tonight and my un scratched , no crackles Tommy by the Who is so good to listen to
I do love Quadrophenia album too but hard to say which one I prefer but when it comes to the film Tommy is definitely way behind
Who else fancied Steph aka Leslie Ash back in the day?
Tommy!
The film is weird as **** but the music is great as is the stage musical - not quite the trippy feel of the film but still a head messer.
And I am VERY biased...because my son's youth theatre group did Tommy last summer at the Minack (amazing cliff face open air theatre between Lands End and Penzance).
It was voted the joint production of the year; played seven shows and sold out 700 seats every show. My son was back up for the Tommy role, and did two cover performances because the lad doing the main part is still quite young and to do both matinee and evening on one day is a stretch, so my son covered one evening and one afternoon show for him. Seeing him play that was amazing, as was his main track where he played the Lover and then after he gets shot in scene 2 a quick change and redo hairstyle and he's lad #1 in the bright green coat here.
https://www.tiktok.com/@thebritishtheatreacademy/video/7538880061529672982
Which means as the iconic guitar part starts he gets to walk onto stage alone, climb onto the pinball table and sing the opening verse on Pinball Wizard. Pure goosebumps, even now.
(side note - lad in the red coat is now in his first pro role, in Paddington. My lad's at drama school)
Can’t say that I’m particularly fond of any ‘rock operas’, I’ve been listening to music since before the concept even existed, so I know what they are, I’m just not particularly interested.
Which is not to say that they don’t have any great choons, just that I prefer albums without the storyline and any connecting gubbins.
I agree with CountZero - he put it much more politelythan I could. My username really does check out 😾
Quadrophenia was an influential album for my formative years, as a nine year old in the mod revival era just starting to discover music. I haven't listened to it in years, there are a few songs missing from the current release that were on the double album I had as a kid, and is now padded out with a load of "demos" of the songs already on the album, which I take as enshitification, and means listening to it doesn't even work as nostalgia crack..
Well done theotherjonv's lad!
American Idiot.
The cast recording is superb.
Loved early Green Day, not such a fan of the later stuff. But American Idiot happened to be on when I was in New York and I really enjoyed the show (once my other half got over the idea that we weren't going to see 'Chicago' or similar). Even got one of the performances when Billy Joe was playing St Jimmy.
What no mention of Excerpt From A Teenage Opera ? 😉
Well done theotherjonv's lad!
This. Fantastic!
Queensryche Operation Mindcrime is untouchable IMO.
Maybe the word opera is not the best but Bat out of Hell, Crime of the Century or even Dark side of the Moon
I do listen to new music too but vinyl from the "70's and "80's still with the £1.99 sticker on the corner is good from time to time
- Sold my Rega planar 3 now it's the Dual bought from Laskys at the top of Leith walk maybe "81/"82
Crime of the Century - tick
DSOTM - tick
Also Rick Wakeman was quite good at this sort of thing, see Six Wives of Henry VIII, & Journey to the centre of the Earth. Not necessarily everyone's idea of 'rock' but definitely operatic.
The Defamation of Strickland Banks.
The Wall.
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.
No really Rock opera's but they all certainly tell a story.
Well I suppose Genesis "The Lamb lies Down on Broadway" must count as an opera as it tells a story, but only if you read the cover. And I love that.
I also love the story of Happiness Stan on side two of the Small Faces "Ogden's Nut Gone Flake". Mainly because it includes the incomparable Professor Stanley Unwin doing the narration.
ETA crossed with your post @gobuchul
My parents were into Jesus Christ Superstar in the 70s, which was very definitely considered a rock opera. In my teens I listened to a lot of 'story telling' stuff - Rick Wakeman (The Myths And Legends Of King Arthur And The Knights Of The Round Table was a bit more 'operatic' than Journey to the Centre of the Earth), Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds, Rush and the like but tended to consider it prog rock. It there a clear distinction between to two?
Myths and Legends - well remembered, I'd forgotten that one.
Not my thing but I absolutely love Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds...
Not really "rock" but I love The Forgotten Arm by Aimee Mann,
Metal Opera parts 1 and 2 by Avantasia are great, multiple guest singers and a big, epic feeling to the whole thing
Not really my thing rock opera and since there's no singing here this doesn't qualify but it's close since it does tell a story
With the Lamb record (now 50 years old!) having been name-checked twice, I’ll toss in “A grand don’t come for free”.
Does 2112 count?
Not enough women in short skirts for me either 😉
War of the Worlds. But, it's given a massive leg up by Burton's narration, and a pretty memorable central theme, undeniably iconic cover art, and packaging material. Still, some of the individual songs are pretty weak.
Can’t say that I’m particularly fond of any ‘rock operas’, I’ve been listening to music since before the concept even existed, so I know what they are, I’m just not particularly interested.
This (apart from the age thing.)
Does this count as a rock opera?
My parents were into Jesus Christ Superstar in the 70s, which was very definitely considered a rock opera.
We watched the film the other month, absolutely barking, especially the Herod scene, no wonder it was so controversial.
Does the Queen soundtrack for Flash Gordon count as rock opera?
The first 2 Chumbawamba albums - "Pictures of Starving Children..." and "Never Mind the Ballots"
I once lived below a guy who got a part playing Jesus (not a major part really) in J C Superstar in rep. He would play a tape of just the Jesus songs over and over. It put me off it a bit, but some cracking numbers in there I would agree.
David comes to life - f*cked up!
Honestly, I'm not an opera kind of person, but it's a great album.
Another vote for Queensryche's Operation: Mindcrime here, though I might say I prefer Operation: Livecrime, the live recording. Was lucky enough to see the band do the whole album live on the Empire tour (Bradford St George's Hall, Lynch Mob supporting), then years later saw Geoff Tate do MOST of the album live in a small gig in That Manchester - missed the last few tracks as he was so late getting on stage I had to leave to get the train home 🙁
Fabulous album though.
EDIT - oh, and of course, Rocky Horror. Pref the 1990s cast recording with Tim McInerney, Ade Edmondson and Gina Bellman
Zen Arcade by Husker Du