I'm a big fan of making concept albums - my own Septology: In the Beginning being my first foray into the genre - so today when I found this informative article from Associated Content discussing the history of concept albums, I was immediately pulled in after reading this quote:

Those with more limited knowledge of music history would maybe utter "That's easy...it was Frank Sinatra" as guessing the inventor of the concept album. Well, they'd almost be right -- but be off by about 15 years and find out it started with a female jazz singer...

The article continues to discuss the evolution of the concept album, but also talks about the waning of concept albums from the pop/rock world, seemingly because of the effort it takes on the part of the listener to appreciate. Kudos to writer Gregoriancant for this valuable piece of writing.