The Stone Roses

The Stone Roses
Second Coming


The Stone Roses (Silvertone ’89) Rating: A
One of the most important independent releases ever, The Stone Roses’ debut album conquered the U.K. in 1990 at the height of what was called the “Madchester” scene. This album produced beautiful, tuneful pop with a touch of psychedelia that echoed the grandeur of sixties groups such as The Byrds and Love while featuring delicious vocal harmonies and the crystalline production touch of John Leckie. What makes The Stone Roses such a gorgeous sonic landscape is the shimmering, ringing guitar of John Squire matched to the dreamy, whispered vocals of Ian Brown, who displays the arrogant confidence of a born superstar (pre-saging Liam Gallagher), while also managing a disarming sweetness. Squire’s luscious, echoey guitar textures and the super-tight rhythm section’s seductive dance beats influenced many subsequent bands (Primal Scream, anyone?) who would also go on to marry trippy '60s pop with '90s club rhythms while adding a liberal dose of funk as well. It helped that The Stone Roses also sported strong songwriting, with a special knack for the catchy chorus, making “I Wanna Be Adored,” “She Bangs The Drums,” “Elephant Stone,” “Waterfall,” "Made Of Stone," and the epic “I am The Resurrection” simply stunning pop songs, while "Bye Bye Badman," "(Song for My) Sugar Spun Sister," and "This Is The One" are also highly enjoyable. What prevents this album from getting the best possible rating is that most of the album offers variations on a set tone, wonderfully uplifting though that tone may be. Also, “Don’t Stop” is merely “Waterfall” backwards with tape loops, “Elizabeth My Dear” is a slight minute-long Simon and Garfunkel rewrite, "Shoot You Down" is unremarkable, and the 10-minute funk workout “Fools Gold” seems unnecessarily tacked onto the end of the album. Actually, it was tacked onto the album in the U.S., as U.K. versions of the album end with “I am The Resurrection,” which I also sometimes feel would've been better off as a 4-minute single minus the extended jam ending. Ultimately, however, these are minor weaknesses that do little to dampen the timeless overall appeal of this excellent album, even if it is a little overrated (many people tout it among the very best ever).

Second Coming (Geffen ’94) Rating: B
The Stone Roses’ stature grew to mythological proportions during a five year absence (caused in part by record company problems) before finally delivering album number two, the modestly titled Second Coming. The album was generally considered a major disappointment, both critically and commercially, and The Stone Roses broke up soon afterward following a fairly disastrous tour. I initially bought into the negative hype, which was considerable at the time, but upon further review I’ve decided that this underrated follow-up is actually a good album. More muscular but less memorable and certainly less focused than their debut (for example, the first song takes a good 4+ minutes before it really gets going), this is clearly John Squire’s album, and his guitar heroics (which echo the great Jimmy Page) make most of these songs worth hearing. The songs are stretched out to epic lengths, and though I still much prefer the more melodic Stone Roses (still apparent on songs such as “Ten Storey Love Song” and “How Do You Sleep”) to this harder hitting counterpart, the band's dance grooves and psychedelic tendencies are still intact. In fact, the band’s standout rhythm section (Reni, drums; Gary "Mani" Mournfield, bass) is more prominent here, and Brown’s voice is much rougher edged, though his charisma remains even when his thin voice fails to match the music, which is more indebted to '70s hard rock (i.e. Led Zeppelin) than '60s pop (i.e. The Byrds). Granted, it’s hard to follow up on a great debut album, especially given the enormous expectations and long layoff, and this second coming can’t match up to their first impression. Still, I’m glad I own it, and the band should get points for not even trying to replicate their original success, which was part of the reason why this album was so poorly received (i.e. it wasn’t what everyone expected). Note: The hidden "bonus tracks" are a waste of time.

send me an email

Back To Artist Index Home Page