The Stone Roses (album)

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The Stone Roses is the debut album by The Stone Roses, released in May 13, 1989. The album is regarded as one of the most significant of the 1980s, and established the band as the most important band in their genre for the time. The Britpop movement, dominant force in British popular music in the 1990s, can be traced back to the album, and groups who led that movement, including Oasis and Blur, claim it to be a heavy influence on their work. The album went platinum in the UK.

About the album

The Stone Roses had been formed in 1984, yet 1989 saw their debut full length release (the band had released a handful of singles in the previous years, on a variety of labels). The band were from Manchester, arguably where the birth of British rave culture occurred, and where the Madchester movement was centred. Despite not considering themselves as a Madchester group, with their eponymous début The Stone Roses found themselves riding a wave of nationwide success along with Madchester groups such as the Inspiral Carpets, Happy Mondays and New Order. The Roses recorded the album with John Leckie, a notable producer who had worked with Pink Floyd on Meddle and it was released by Silvertone, a division of Zomba Records created to work with what they called "new rock" acts.

The Roses played a number of gigs supporting the album, including several now regarded as "legendary", including one at what was arguably the centre of the "Baggy"/"Madchester" scene, The Haçienda nightclub. Andrew Collins wrote in NME: "BOLLOCKS TO Morrissey at Wolverhampton, to The Sundays at The Falcon, to PWEI at Brixton - I'm already drafting a letter to my grandchildren telling them that I saw The Stone Roses at the Hacienda." The Roses' 1990 Spike Island gig also holds a formidable reputation, organised by the band themselves and attended by over 27,000 fans. On its tenth anniversary in 1999, a two-disc anniversary edition of The Stone Roses re-entered the British charts, reaching number 9.

Cover artwork

As with most Stone Roses releases, the cover displays a work by John Squire. It is a Jackson Pollock inspired piece, titled "Bye Bye Badman". The cover was named by Q magazine as one of "The 100 Best Covers of All Time"; in the accompanying article, Squire had this to say: "Ian had met this French man when he was hitching around Europe, this bloke had been in the riots, and he told Ian how lemons had been used as an antidote to tear gas. Then there was the documentary - a great shot at the start of a guy throwing stones at the police. I really liked his attitude." This story was also the inspiration for the lyrics to the song of the same name.

Critical response

In 1989 the critical response was generally positive; today the album is widely considered to be one of the very best British albums released and perhaps the greatest debut album ever. In 1997 it was named the 2nd greatest album of all time in a 'Music of the Millennium' poll conducted by HMV, Channel 4, The Guardian and Classic FM. In 1998 Q magazine readers placed it at number 4, while in 2000 the same magazine placed it at number 29 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. In 2003 NME magazine voted it to be "the best album of all-time", which is somewhat ironic in that upon release they rated it a good, if unspectacular 7 out of 10. In 2005 SPIN magazine ranked it 78 on its list of the 100 greatest albums of the past twenty years. In 2006 NME ranked the album number 1 in its "100 Greatest British Albums Ever" list. The album has publicly been spoken highly of by people like Bobby Gillespie, Johnny Depp, Pete Townshend, Johnny Marr, Liam Gallagher, Noel Gallagher, Pete Doherty, Tim Booth, Andy Rourke, Johnny Borrell and more in various interviews in 2005 alone.

Track listing

All tracks written by John Squire and Ian Brown.

1989 release

1. "I Wanna Be Adored" – 4:52
2. "She Bangs The Drums" – 3:42
3. "Waterfall" – 4:37
4. "Don't Stop" – 5:17
5. "Bye Bye Badman" – 4:00
6. "Elizabeth My Dear" – 0:59
7. "(Song For My) Sugar Spun Sister" – 3:25
8. "Made Of Stone" – 4:10
9. "Shoot You Down" – 4:10
10. "This Is The One" – 4:58
11. "I Am The Resurrection" – 8:12

Two different versions of the LP were released in the United States with slightly different covers. The original version (1184-1-J) appends the Roses' earlier single, "Elephant Stone" before "Waterfall". The cover on the first version used black type and Waterfall design reverse whereas the cover on the re-issued U.S. version (1184-1-J RE 1) used gold type and the reverse is more like the UK edition and it has the addition of "Fools Gold" as the final track. The reissued CD version (1184-2-JX RE) is similar to this at least in terms of track listing as it has "Elephant Stone" as cut #3 inserted before "Waterfall" and the final cut, #13 is "Fools Gold".

1999 10th anniversary release

Disc One

1. "I Wanna Be Adored" – 4:52
2. "She Bangs The Drums" – 3:42
3. "Waterfall" – 4:37
4. "Don't Stop" – 5:17
5. "Bye Bye Badman" – 4:00
6. "Elizabeth My Dear" – 0:59
7. "(Song For My) Sugar Spun Sister" – 3:25
8. "Made Of Stone" – 4:10
9. "Shoot You Down" – 4:10
10. "This Is The One" – 4:58
11. "I Am The Resurrection" – 8:12

Disc Two

1. "Fools Gold" – 9:53
2. "What The World Is Waiting For" – 3:55
3. "Elephant Stone" – 4:48
4. "Where Angels Play" – 4:15

The second disc also included an enhanced portion with music videos, a discography, lyrics and a photo gallery.

Trivia

English football club Manchester United play the tenth track, "This Is The One", at their Old Trafford stadium when United walk onto the pitch.

Credits

• John Squire - guitars, paintings
• Ian Brown - vocals
• Mani - bass
• Reni - drums, backing vocals
• John Leckie - producer
• Peter Hook - producer (song "Elephant Stone", U.S. version only)
• Paul Schroeder - engineer
• Ian Tilton & Simon Taylor - photography

External links

• The Definitive Stone Roses Discography Discography site
• This Is The Daybreak Stone Roses fansite (including solo projects)
• The Stone Roses at MusicBrainz