A concept whose time has come - again

Or how about this scenario: A damsel is in distress after being accosted by a shape-shifting animal in the dark and a scary forest inhabited by her dashing lover and an evil queen.

Or try and wrap your head around this one: A young man is rendered a paraplegic and then experiences astral time travel and, temporarily, enters Rasputin's body. And there's something about a wormhole and Satan in there somewhere, too. Now set those story ideas to music. Not so fast, you theater types. Rock music.

Yep, that's right. Just as this decade has returned us to a singles-driven culture - where one song at a time rules the iPod, where information is parceled out in brief tweets and lives are summed up in single-sentence status updates - there's been a resurgence of the ultimate time-consuming experience: concept records.

And that resurgence has extended into every branch of pop music. In the past year alone we've seen a wave of conceptual releases including those described above by veteran punk trio Green Day ("21st Century Breakdown"), literate indie rockers the Decemberists ("The Hazards of Love"), and prog-metal masters Mastodon ("Crack the Skye"), respectively. Toss in themed works by Eels, Iggy Pop, and Kanye West and you've got some serious storytelling going on between the beats.

Although the concept of concept albums predates the rock 'n' roll revolution - Frank Sinatra being an early proponent with themed releases like "In the Wee Small Hours" and later the divorce drama "Watertown" - we tend to associate the idea of building records around narrative frameworks with the pop, glam, and prog-rock acts of the 1960s and '70s.

Whether it was the Who regaling us with tales of Tommy, the "deaf, dumb, and blind kid" who played a mean game of pinball, or David Bowie's yarns about an alien rock star named Ziggy or Pink Floyd adding orchestral flourishes to its grandiose drama of building "The Wall," the idea of an album telling a story seems vintage in itself.

The conceit persisted over the years with a catholicity of artists tackling either outright "rock opera" or the exploration of recurring motifs. The list was peppered with the surprising (Parliament, Marvin Gaye, Kiss, Willie Nelson) and the less so (Styx, Lou Reed, the Kinks).

Imaginative and creatively unencumbered hip-hop and indie artists, in particular, have taken to the form over the past few years, notably with albums inspired by "Seinfeld" (Wale), the cocaine trade (Ghostface Killah), an imagined day in the life of Don Henley (Dirty Projectors), and these United States (Sufjan Stevens).

Just like their ancestors, the new wave of concept records aren't created equal and the clarity of the narratives vary. Even if you pore over the lyrics, the premises of the Green Day or Mastodon albums don't become obvious. But the most important element of any record, concept or otherwise, is good songs. Fans of the Who didn't need to "get" all of "Tommy" to recognize that "Pinball Wizard" is a badass rock jam. Without a complete comprehension of what is happening in the supernatural woods of the Decemberists' album "The Hazards of Love," "The Queen's Rebuke" still remains an enjoyable scorcher.

Like the resurgence of vinyl or the recent trend of bands playing full albums in concert, these concept records are a reminder that there are artists who still have grand, sometimes convoluted, visions that require a little more time and effort to digest. The sheer number and scope of acts taking on the task feels like a hopeful sign. And just like with good books, you can go back to the song cycles and find new nuances, levels of meaning, and just plain enjoyment from hearing the tale again.

Sarah Rodman can be reached at srodman@globe.com.