Concept albums are a funny thing. Sometimes they are the most loved album an artist releases (see "Ziggy Stardust" by David Bowie), sometimes they revolutionize rock (see "The Who Sell Out" by the Who, or "Tommy" for that matter), and sometimes they just embarrass the hell out of everyone involved (see Genesis and that creeper on "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway"). A lot of the time though it is more of a story than a concept per se and so when I was given Johann Johannsson's "Fordlandia" and told it was a concept album my old stereotypes immediately jumped to the forefront. Boy was that foolish.
First off, Johannsson is an incredibly talented composer, not a rock star. Second, he had a concept that he then based an instrumental album off of.
The second album in a proposed trio of concept albums, "Fordlandia" was written based on the idea of a failed utopia and several different such Utopia's are explored throughout the music, the most interesting of which happens to be the namesake of the album.
For those of you who are unaware Henry Ford was apparently pretty insane. I'm talking Walt Disney insane where he thought he was the most important and intelligent man in the world and allowed himself to be swept up in wild ideas. Certainly this was part of the reason these men were able to become such successes but at times their insanity overpowered their business logic. So Ford bought a HUGE piece of land in Brazil (over 25,000 kilometers) and planted his own rubber trees. Oh, and he build a mini-imitation America replete with American food, houses, and entertainment (as well as laws). Needless to say this didn't work out in the long run and it is now an abandoned shell of what it used to be. (Intrigued? Check it out; http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=596)
Enough about crazy wealthy folks - Johann Johannsson has composed a beautiful sweeping epic of an album from start to finish. Part Mark Mothersbaugh scored soundtrack, part classical masterpiece, part soundtrack to a failed utopia, this is a beautiful album, a beautiful album that is missing one thing. Although it's great that there are explanations for each song, and I have an immensely vivid imagination - I would love to see what Johann Johannsson's vision of his music is in live form.
Who knows, maybe next he'll create the trio of films or stage performances to accompany his music. I hope so.