After the recent discussions I listened to DED again. It dawned on me that it is a "concept album", meaning there is a common thread all across it. (I personally never buy compilations because one loses the coherence and the thread of the original albums).
Actually, we've heard about Concept Albums for years in rock magazine articles. Has this concept ever being defined? Although these is a common mood in all the songs of most albums, I think mood alone is not enough to qualify it as a concept album. For example, Joni might use similar tunings in one album, hence creating the same mood throughout, but that's not enough. I'm not really sure what qualities are needed to define a concept album? However, some examples of concept albums that come to mind might be: DED, Mingus, Hejira, Neil Young's Tonight's the Night or On the Beach, Hendrix: Axis Bold As Love, etc. One possible definition might be that the "message" derives from the entire album, not just from a couple of songs. In other words the whole thing is greater than the sum of its parts. Yeah, sometimes I get that feeling that the album is terrific although no particular song is truly outstanding (eg: Plainsong: In Search of Amelia Earhardt). What makes YOU define an album as a concept? What albums strike YOU as being representative of Concept Albums? In this respect, I feel DED was an angry album, as was pointed out; but it was also a bold move (wild, untamed, or to sum it up: genuine). Laurent
