15 Brain-Twisting Concept Albums That Are Endlessly Rewarding

5. I Robot €“ Alan Parsons Project

Alan Parsons€™s music-making credentials are among the most impressive in the business. As an engineer, he had a hand in some of the most important recordings of all-time, including a certain famous concept album about insanity with a prism on its cover. I Robot, however, is his crowning achievement with his own Alan Parsons Project, drawing heavily from the work of legendary science fiction author Isaac Asimov and even receiving Asimov€™s blessing. From an aural perspective, it is the rock and roll equivalent of a top-shelf Moët & Chandon. The synthesizers are futuristic and eerie, particularly on the opening and closing tracks. There€™s nary an acoustic guitar note out of place on the whole recording, a product of Parsons€™s professionalism that, almost accidentally, makes the cold artificiality of the lyrics€™ themes even more persuasive. There are also several gorgeous ballads, including the essential Some Other Time. Artificial intelligence is explored at length, with different songs portraying different points of view €“ the robot first becoming self-aware, the robot beginning to philosophise, and humans reacting to this newly emerging spectre. The lyrics are sufficiently vague to inspire all sorts of fantasies, yet suggestive enough to keep you on the right track. And the closing track, Genesis Ch.1. V.32 €“ a new chapter, as the Biblical Genesis ends on 1:31 €“ is a beautiful, bombastic, ruminative instrumental with a melody so good it repeats through the whole song and still feels short.