Phish - The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday (1987)

'The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday' is a 1987 concept album written by Trey Anastasio, the guitarist and lead vocalist of the American rock band Phish. It was written as his senior thesis while attending Goddard College, and included an essay piece and collection of songs (recorded by Phish) relating an epic tale from the band's fictional land of Gamehendge. Although the album was recorded, it has never been officially released, although the band circulated the studio recording in 1987 and 1988 and it quickly became a collector's item. At one time Anastasio announced plans in Doniac Schvice, Phish's newsletter, to release the material as an interactive CD-ROM, but this never happened and the album can currently only be found on bootleg.
The story of Gamehendge is told in nine parts, with short spoken narration in between the songs, and the saga can be compared to rock concept album projects like The Doors' 'Celebration Of The Lizard' or Rush's '2112' suite. The story's primary protagonist is Colonel Forbin, who goes through a mysterious door which he finds while walking his dog McGrupp, and other major characters include Rutherford The Brave, Tela, the 'jewel of Wilson's foul domain', and the evil Wilson himself. Several of the album's spoken narrative sections are accompanied by background music borrowed from sections of the Phish songs 'Esther' and 'McGrupp And The Watchful Hosemasters', while the final track 'Possum' is the only song not composed by Anastasio, having been written by former Phish member Jeff Holdsworth and later added to the Gamehendge cycle. Many of the album's songs are still included in the band's live setlist today, and the entire Gamehendge saga has been performed on five occasions, usually as the entire first set of a live show. 

Track listing

01 Narration
02 The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday
03 The Lizards
04 Narration
05 Tela
06 Narration (Ride On A Multibeast)
07 Wilson
08 Narration
09 AC/DC Bag
10 Narration
11 Colonel Forbin's Ascent
12 Narration
13 Fly Famous Mockingbird
14 Narration
15 The Sloth
16 Narration
17 Possum

Suggested by 'The Greatest Albums You'll Never Hear' by Bruno MacDonald