More Rock Opera Reviews

Let It Be Revisited

Crack The Sky - The Greatest Band You've Never Heard Of

More Rock Opera Reviews

July 31, 2020

Over the last couple of months, I've posted several new rock opera reviews over at www.rock-opera.com. These include:

Crack The Sky - Machine (2010)
The best rock band you've never heard of with one of their best albums ever. CTS combines the best elements of the Beatles, Pink Floyd and Cheap Trick. And they're still recording and touring after 40 years.
Green Day - American Idiot (2004)
One of the rare rock operas that actually accelerated a band's career. It's a great album from one of the best three-chord rock bands to come out of the Bay Area's punk scene.
Styx - Kilroy Was Here (1983)
Coming in after 4 platinum selling albums in the late '70s / early '80s, lead singer and songwriter Dennis DeYoung had multimedia ambitions that resulted in a lumbering story about a surveillance government where rock music is illegal and two guys try to.... Well whatever. There are a couple of great songs, but if you want to why the band split up, this is the answer.
KISS - Music From the Elder (1981)
Possibly the worst rock opera ever and certainly a finalist for worst album ever, this was Gene and Paul's attempt to win critics over. Unfortunately, the album is turgid, overloaded with Bob Ezrin's coke-fueled production, strings, and a storyline that makes Styx look like Shakespeare. A few fans really like this album, but even Gene and Paul consider it a stinker.
Lou Reed - Berlin (1973)
Possibly the most alienating but moving rock opera out there. It was a commercial disaster for Reed, who had his biggest hit ever with "Walk on the Wild Side." Lou Reed and Bob Ezrin produced a masterpiece that you might not be able to listen to more than once.
David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972)
It's an album so good, you might not even realize it's a rock opera! It's short, just 38 minutes, but all eleven songs are good and half of them are among Bowie's best.