Well, what with the 2012 reunion tour of The Stone Roses being a bit of a hotly discussed topic over the past few months, it dawned on me that the more I read or heard about it, the more I realised that I knew absolutely fuck all about the band, their albums, or pretty much anything in general about one of Britain’s most iconic artists in the last BILLION years. And so, after slipping the kindly lent CD into my laptop and slipping myself into something more comfortable (i.e nothing), I whacked my headphones on, lay back on my bed with a cup of tea, and journeyed through the greatest 48.7 minutes of my whole entire existence. (FYI - I have no idea how long a .7 is…).
48.7 minutes later (it’s probably like… 38 seconds or something), I smashed my finger against the pause button on my laptop, just before Stone Sour’s only good song could try and sneak its way onto the back end of my ‘shuffle off’ iTunes enjoyment (and we can safely say that you don’t have to worry about them being mentioned in this blog ever, ever, again), went straight back to the first track of ‘The Stone Roses’, and did it all again, seeing as the last 48.7 (48 minutes and 38 seconds) were distracted slightly by my sheer amazement of just how fucking good it was. And then after the second listen, I did the same again. And then after that, I ran downstairs, quickly made another cup of tea, ran back up, threw my headphones on, turned off Stone fucking Sour (…bollocks), and did exactly the same again, because I had finally understood what all the bloody fuss was about.
As soon as Mani’s bass guitar quietly enters the album at the 40 second mark of ‘I Wanna Be Adored’, I was genuinely hooked. And with the rest of the band joining in one by one over the next minute, culminating in the hushed vocals of Ian Brown as the last addition of the four members, I realised what I’d been missing out on. The song’s powerful, creeping sound builds together underneath the repetition of the line ‘I wanna be adored’, making an astonishingly brilliant introduction to the album, and stands to be one of the greatest opening tracks I’ve heard in a looooong time. Immediately followed by the catchy chorus of ‘She Bangs The Drums’, and the almost 60’s-esque whimsical, ‘hippy-ish’ sound of ‘Waterfall’, it’s clear to see why this bands unique sound had had such a huge impact on the music industry.
Now, before I trail off into a complete brown-nosing praise of the whole album, I must point out that if there’s one song on ‘The Stone Roses’ that I’m not too fond on, it would be the next track - ‘Don’t Stop’. Not because it’s a backwards recording of ‘Waterfall’, but because it’s a fucking backwards recording of ‘Waterfall’. And, to be quite honest, that eerie, unsettling sound of backwards music scares the absolute shitting fuck out of me. If you haven’t heard ‘Stairway to Heaven’ in reverse, then just don’t, because it is the scariest thing ever!! I mean, other than the ridiculously on-edge noise of backwards instruments and ghostly vocals, the song isn’t too bad. But it’s fucking backwards for fucks sake!! How anyone can listen to that without feeling every tiny little hair on their body rise up out of complete unnecessary fear I really do not know…
Luckily, the rest of the album is played forwards, as it should be, leading onto ‘Bye Bye Badman’. This is a lovely, heartfelt sounding song, about brutally wounding riot police with bits of rock. ‘I’m throwing stones at you man/I want you black and blue and I’m gonna make you bleed’. But the powerful appeal of this song comes from the contrast between the pure hatred in the lyrical content, sang with an almost apathetic feel as you picture Ian Brown carelessly drifting through a riot scene, humming along to himself as he hurls a petrol bomb into the face of a French police officer. If you don’t know, which you probably do, but some might not, like me until I looked it up, the song and iconic cover of the album are inspired by the Paris
‘Elizabeth
‘Made Of Stone’ – the first single from the album – is another powerfully immense track. Immediately you feel as though you can sing along to the cries of ‘Sometimes I fantasise’ as the chorus kicks in, and the lyrics, the guitars, just… everything is just so powerful. It’s just a really, really good song. Listen to it. Oh – you have. It’s a really, really good song isn’t it? Yes. It is. AS IS, the fanciful float-along sound of ‘Shoot You Down’, and what I quickly discovered as a trademark of many of The Stone Rose’s songs in their ability to slowly build you up, teetering dangerously close to the point of climax, before quickly stopping altogether with ‘I’d love to do it and you know you’ve always had it coming’, and reverting back to the gentle teasing of their musical foreplay, leaving us shaking, dripping and begging for more.
‘This Is The One’ is a lovely penultimate song to the album, again flashing us it’s brilliance in the ever so quiet repetitive vocals softly sneaking through the loud harmonies (not really sure harmonies is the right word there, but it’ll do – I can’t be arsed to look it up) of the guitars and drums shrieking and smashing all over the place as the song progresses.
And then… oh and THEN, heck-diddly-doo, are we in for a treat. The only song I knew beforehand, the only contribution I could ever make in any Stone Rose’s related conversation, was that of their last song on the self-titled album. And what a song it is. Again, the band tease us in building the first verse up, letting the guitar get slightly heavier and the vocals get slightly louder as the drums get ready to rip into the chorus, before the band decide to relax and just fall straight back into another calm verse. And they do this, for THREE FUCKING VERSES. But when the chorus finally does ascend, boyyyy hickety it’s certainly worth the wait. All their quietly smug teasing makes being able to scream ‘I AM THE RESURRECTION AND I AM THE LIGHT’ that so much more satisfying. And after bursting out with some of the greatest feel good lyrics of all time, Ian Brown makes his exit and leaves us to be treated to a good four minutes of guitar soloing as the album comes to a close and leaves you feeling like you’ve just ejaculated your brain all over the wall. And as the song fades away, you’re just left there, lying on the bed. In silence. Sweaty and exhausted as you take a moment to catch your breath, grab a dirty sock from the laundry basket, wipe yourself down, and close your eyes as you hit play, lay back, and take it all again.
So, really, to be honest, my 2012 musical journey feels as though it’s already peaked, and we’re not even a week in yet. ‘The Stone Roses’ is indisputably one of the greatest albums of all time. People really haven’t been lying about it these past twenty years, and as a late addition to the fan club, I’d just like to say that, yes. I agree. There’s not much more I can say other than, if you do already own this album, then well done, and if you don’t already own this album, steal it from one of the people who said they do already own this album, and watch as the CD circulates around your friends homes in a beautiful loop of appreciation and petty theft.
And to those that just skipped to the end of my hard worked review, all you need to know is that I can summarise all of it in just one simple sentence.
I am a complete fucking idiot for never having listened to this album before.
Immediate stand out tracks:
Made Of Stone; I Wanna Be Adored; I Am the Resurrection; Bye Bye Badman; Waterfall
Link to album:
http://open.spotify.com/user/spillee86/playlist/6pnIBS2cnolUT51anXrVUY
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