ARE CONCEPT ALBUMS BACK?

The UK's Times Online has a piece about the history of the concept album, which seems to be making something of a comeback. It cites Aimee Mann's The Forgotten Arm and Neil Young's Greendale as recent examples (although it didn't cite Green Day's American Idiot).

I think concept albums are a strike one-hit albums and disposable ADD-addled pop culture. They don't always work, but you've got to respect the effort put forth by the artists who create them. And when they work, they work well (as with American Idiot).