Pop Matters Review!
"Fifty Years of the Concept Album in Popular Music, Eric Wolfson’s deep dive into albums with specific themes running through them, is subtitled “From the Beatles to Beyonce”, and while that describes the book with uncanny accuracy – the first album dissected is the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and the last one is Beyonce’s Lemonade – it also speaks to what I feel is one of the book’s many strengths: the wide-ranging and eclectic nature of the styles represented.
"Fifty Years of the Concept Album in Popular Music is a rich, valuable piece of modern music education, a deep dive into the might and worth of the album versus the single, and a chance for music fans unfamiliar with certain genres to gain a new level of open-mindedness, as this work provides an opportunity to explore what may be outside one’s comfort zones. Wolfson levels the playing field – it’s all music."
Check out the whole review here.
Skylight books podcast!
From The Beatles to Beyoncé! Author Eric Wolfson discusses his new book on the shifting identity of the concept album in rock, pop, and hip-hop music with bookseller (and, yes, friend) Justin Remer. The book breaks down 25 albums across five eras, and Eric and Justin get into many of them here. A great chat for veteran music nerds and new fans alike.
Listen to the complete podcast here.
New Interview With 360°Sound!
Author Talk – ‘Fifty Years of the Concept Album [Part 1]’
Author Talk – ‘Fifty Years of the Concept Album [Part 1]’
Author Talk – ‘Fifty Years of the Concept Album [Part 1]’
By David Hopper
"Author Eric Wolfson returns to 360°Sound to chat about his fascinating new book Fifty Years of the Concept Album in Popular Music: From The Beatles to Beyoncé (Bloomsbury Academic). Wolfson last spoke with us about his excellent 33 1/3 book on the classic album From Elvis in Memphis. In Fifty Years of the Concept Album, Wolfson examines the history of the concept album, covering 25 LPs from a variety of genres. Some of the important albums in the book include The Who’s Tommy, Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On, and Liz Phair’s Exile in Guyville. In this interview, Wolfson discusses the massive influence of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the Cinderella story behind Donna Summer’s Once Upon a Time, and the prescience of Radiohead’s OK Computer."
Click here for the full article.
Author Talk – ‘Fifty Years of the Concept Album [Part 2]’
Author Talk – ‘Fifty Years of the Concept Album [Part 1]’
Author Talk – ‘Fifty Years of the Concept Album [Part 1]’
By David Hopper
"Last month we spoke with author Eric Wolfson about his new book Fifty Years of the Concept Album in Popular Music: From The Beatles to Beyoncé (Bloomsbury Academic). That conversation only scratched the surface of albums that take the listener on a journey with a unifying theme, narrative, or idea. We’ve brought him back for part two of that discussion.
"Over the last half-century, artists as varied as Joni Mitchell, Pink Floyd, Iron Maiden, The Notorious B.I.G., and Janelle Monáe have created LPs whose tracks collectively communicate a larger meaning.
"Wolfson’s book includes 25 important concept albums, from influential rock records like the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and the Moody Blues’ Days of Future Passed to modern hip-hop and R&B classics like Kendrick Lamar’s Good Kid, M.A.A.D City and Beyoncé’s Lemonade. In this second installment of a two-part interview, Wolfson breaks down the debate over the first concept album, makes the case for Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland being a concept, and explains why De La Soul may take issue with their inclusion."
Click here for the full article.