The Stone Roses - Stone Roses

Your initial thought upon finding this review may have been "Why do we need another review on The Stone Roses?" On one level, you might be justified in taking that view. Writing reviews on albums by The Stone Roses, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin et al will always run the risk of carrying the cache of pointlessness. Those who love bands such as these (or other canonical 'greats') will not need any further eulogies to strengthen their ardour. Those who hate them will never have their minds changed. However, I think it is important that when something is generally considered to be a work of genius that it is highlighted and reappraised down the ...  Read the complete review

How great were The Stone Roses? Fairly great it has to be said on the basis of this record, though sadly it all apparently fizzled out fairly quickly, the Roses, like so many groups, eventually undone by that fatal mix of drugs, laziness and litigation. Their eponymous 1989 debut album though is still regarded as one of the greatest introductions to any British band and features highly on magazine lists of the greatest albums of all time. The Stone Roses boasted an eclectic mix of characters and musical styles and their fusion of British indie guitar pop and acid-house dance influences probably paved the way for the likes of The Happy Mondays and ...  Read the complete review

The Stone Roses were a four piece indie/rock band formed in 1984 who were of huge part of the 'Madchester' music scene of the 1980's and early 90's which surged out of the city of Manchester and inspired a whole new brand of music which is still increasingly popular today. This album self-titled after the band wasn't released until 1989, five years after the band formed. The band was fronted on vocals by Ian Brown, who is now a succesful solo artist after falling out with the Roses' lead guitarist, John Squire. The rest of the band was made up of Gary "Mani" Mounfield on the bass and Alan John Wren a.k.a. 'Reni' on the drums. All the members of the ...  Read the complete review

Before I begin my review of this album, I feel it only fair to detail a little background to my attitude to it. Firstly, in 1990 I was but 12 years old, and therefore a little bit too young to get fully involved in the whole “Madchester” thing. So I missed out on the release of The Stone Roses. A few years later, when starting college, I noticed that most students were into The Stone Roses in the same way they were all into “Trainspotting” and Che Guevara. At the time it seemed to me that in order to be accepted amongst the student community, you were obliged to love The Stone Roses, and any dissenters were, to be frank, stupid AND deaf. ...  Read the complete review

It sometimes happens that a book or a film manages to capture the mood of a particular time. In one single piece of work the ideas, feel and cultural attitudes of the day are encapsulated. Kerouac’s novel ‘On the Road’ or James Dean’s film ‘Rebel Without a cause became synonymous with the whole youth movement of 50’s post-war America. Tom Wolfe’s ‘Electric Kool-aid Acid Test’ caught the mood of the late sixties drug culture. In music too this happens. In the 50’s ‘Rock ‘Around The Clock’ was the anthem of teenage rebellion, Bob Dylan’s ‘The Times They Are A Changin’ woke up a ...  Read the complete review