BY DAVID DUNN
NEVER again will the phrase "difficult second album" carry quite as much weight when held against the curious legend of The Stone Roses.
Five years in the making of LP number two, the shape-shifting beast which is British music had almost got fed up with waiting, it seemed.
And with so many new, bright, young things to delight the nation's ears, it was plausible to ask whether many actually cared whether it arrived anyway.
But arrive The Second Coming did with the Mancunians telling all to homeless-aid mag The Big Issue before a new set of hassles embraced the four chaps: such as guitarist John Squire busting his collarbone mid-tour, drummer Reni quitting, their pulling out of their Glastonbury headliner (much to the delight of Pulp).
"In a way I'm actually well pleased - well, relieved - that we got the record out because there was a period when I thought it wasn't going to happen," says John.
"We never intentionally ducked out of things. It wasn't a case of us being lazy, which is often an accusation that's levelled at us."
With tickets for tonight's Sheffield Arena show selling out within hours, all was swiftly forgiven, it would appear.
"No-one wants to see a great band fall over. So now there's a sense of fulfilling what you're capable of doing," says he of the archer's bow lips, singer Ian Brown.
"If you believe in yourself others can say that's arrogance. To others you're a beacon of …….. whatever."
A humongous-selling first album and five years wait for the next created inevitable expectation, but the Roses seem content.
"There is pressure, but it doesn't stop us doing what we do.
"Pressure is having four kids and living in a tower block with no job. This is good pressure."
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