Mr Blackwatch: Mary, Me (digital outlets)

So why not a concept album in 2024?

The idea has been steadily coming back (Steven Wilson and others in the nu-prog arena) and this one by Doug Mackey out of Tacoma is certainly a handsome double CD package in a gatefold cover with a liner note by the “Rev Loren Skaggs” about how the Mary of the title had to escape her family and life on the farm in a small town.

Almost a one-man project (Doug played just about everything, arranged, recorded and mixed this in his own studio) but with numerous guest players in places (horns, strings), it is certainly ambitious as it follows Mary's fall and hard times.

It opens down on the farm with the unexpected country rock of See the Cow then her experiences of abuse (the dramatic The Pieces, the edgy hard rock of Maybe Love sung by Kelli Mayo) and a storyline with other characters (the murdered stripper Rochelle) and her flight (the Bowie-esque Being Used).

The city only offers different kinds of abuse: Honeybee with “he busts into her study and ties her up”.

There's something of Tommy's epiphany in this rock opera (the put-upon, abused character who “can finally see”) and the realisation “you can be anyone . . . but you can't ever just be you”.

And that is just Act I.

She returns home (the more joy-filled Pleased to See You) but life still is more to be endured than enjoyed until she finds love (and more importantly self-love) before her death.

Mary, Me is a big project – in scale and sonics – and many will hear a similar arc and melodrama as in Tommy, but Mackey has delivered an impressive, passionate rock opera where the songs are discreet and diverse.

If you have the time and inclination . . .

.

You can hear and buy this album at bandcamp here. The double CD is the way to go.