shewhomust | Great British Rock Albums (but not in a good way)

Tom Ewing's piece in the morning's Guardian identifies a phenomenon:

"A British band reaches its third or fourth album. They have become a minor fixture on the national scene – their identity is assured, their audience is loyal. The critics – initially lukewarm, perhaps – have come to regard them with fondness. It's time for a statement. The pace of their music becomes statelier, the lyrics more universal, the production glossier. A string section hovers around the studio, perhaps. Sky Sports producers prick up their ears. The arena circuit stands ready. The band, it's now clear, are making a Great British Rock Album."

I know very little of the music he's talking about, but the point he is making is clear enough, even before he quotes such precursors as Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and the Beatles' Hey Jude (to which I'd add Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms), and it is, of course, the album-length equivalent of "those songs" that I posted about last year.