Stone Roses, The - Stone Roses (The) > Reviews > Turn On, Tune In, Trip Out

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Outstanding
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Everything about it
Disadvantages:	none

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full 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 whole generation to the possibility of protest through song, something which wasn't new but seem to be perfect for the time. Later 'Sgt Pepper's…' to many distilled the essence of the hippy scene and became the soundtrack for the 'Summer of Love' in 1968. In a similar way 'The Stone Roses' eponymous album of 1989 seemed to sum up the whole of the period of the late 80's when once again youth culture was saying 'turn on, tune in and drop out (or maybe trip out!).

MADCHESTER

In the late 80's Manchester seemed to be the centre for what was most exciting in British Indie guitar music. With other bands such as the Happy Monday, the charlatans and the Inspiral Carpets they pioneered the Manchester movement. Manchester had always had a strong presence in Indie music. Preceding the Stone roses and their contemporaries Bands like Joy Division, New Order, The Smiths and The Fall had brought Manchester to the attention of Indie music fans around the world, but it wasn't until 1988 that the 'Madchester' scene really took off and in many ways signalled the start of the Brit Pop scene in the 90's.

THE BAND

The Stone Roses or an early incarnation of them formed in 1984 and after a few name changes ('The Patrol ' and 'The English Roses') they settled on The Stone Roses in 1985. The lead singer Ian Brown and guitarist John Squire had been friends since childhood having lived only a few streets apart in a suburb of Manchester.

After a well received first single 'So Young' in 1985 and a follow up single 'Sally Cinnamon' in 1987 the band began making a LP but after some initial sessions the project was scrapped. The make up of the band underwent some changes and by early 1988 the line up of Brown and Squire was completed with Gary 'Mani' Mountfield on bass and Alan 'Reni' Wren on drums.
The band started playing 'illegal' gigs at warehouse parties around the north of England and this provided them with an opportunity to establish a fan base and perfect the songs that would later feature on their first LP.
In the winter of 1988 they began making the LP at Battery studios in North London, but because of problems with the location of the studio and they decamped to Rockfield a studio in Wales to finish the project.

THE RECORD

Tracks-

1. I wanna be adored
2. Waterfall
3. She bangs the drum
4. Don't stop
5. Bye bye badman
6. Elizabeth my dear
7. Song for my Sugar spun sister
8. Made of stone
9. Shoot you down
10. This is the one
11. I am the resurrection

Label: Silvertone

It was important for the band to be recorded playing together as much as possible something which is rare these days in recording sessions. They wanted to keep the feel of the performance right even though the quality of the playing might suffer. Most of the tracks on the record were recorded in a relatively short time using this approach. Some of the tracks proved to be more problematic. The jangly guitar that runs through he length of Bye Bye Badman took days to get right but when it did it was recorded in one take. 'Don't stop' a trippy, psychedelic sounding track is actually an original demo of 'Waterfall' that the band were messing with by playing it backwards, on hearing the unusual result they decided to develop it and include it as a track.
Another defining track on the LP is 'This Is The One' it is strange to think now that originally there was disagreement as to whether this should be included on the album at all. It is one of the most powerful tracks on the record building up in power and speed as it progresses sounding almost like a proto-Grundge track that Nirvana might have made a few years later. The last song on the record 'I Am the Resurrection' was also the song they ended their live sets with and understandably they wanted to produce a near perfect version for the record one that would end the LP on a high and stay in the memory. The work that went in to the track was painstaking but in the end the achieved the desired effect. The guitar playing on the track is sublime.

The LP yielded two UK top 40 hits singles 'Made of Stone' and 'She Bangs The Drums' these helped to promote the record to a wider audience and to define the Manchester sound to non-indie fans. The two tracks along with 'Waterfall' are the most accessible tracks and were perfectly suited for the long hot summer of 1989so much so that in any TV retrospective look at that year you will invariably hear 'She bangs The Drum' or 'Waterfall' as part of the soundtrack.

The tone and style of the record is difficult to sum up, there is definitely elements of late sixties drug fuelled psychedelia, the ethereal sound of Waterfall could be mistaken for a speeded up version of an early Pink Floyd track of the Syd Barrett era. Many of the songs have this swirling fluid quality more akin to the sound of the late 60's than the contemporary sound of band like the 'Happy Mondays'. At the same time the use of the powerful guitar riffs has a direct connection to the earlier 80's Manchester bands especially 'The Smiths'. In delivery and attitude the legacy of the punk and new wave bands is ever-present. The track 'Elizabeth My Dear' is about the assassination of the queen! (Where have we heard that sentiment before.)

It has become a truism to say that nothing is new in music and 'new' music can only be talked about by paradoxically comparing it to what went before, in this regard the Stone Roses in making this LP managed to do what all great bands have done through the years, that is to make use of their musical roots and influences and synthesized them into something different but still identifiably connected to what went before. So the West Coast American folk rock of the Byrds, Psychedlia, punk, new wave and 80's dance can all be heard in this record just as The Stone Roses sound can be heard in later 90's records by the Charlatans, Oasis, Blur and countless other bands.

The Stone Roses musically were not the greatest of bands, what makes their musicin general and this LP in particular very special is the audible chemistry that exists between the band members. Ian was very much the front man, John you felt provided the imagination for the music, Reni gave the group the energy and Mani, the quiet one (there always is one in a band) held things together, for a while at least. This cohesiveness that you felt when watching them live or in the studio translated very well on to this record.

You could say the Stone Roses where in the right place at the right time, in the late 80's the Indie scene was still mourning the loss of the most accomplished band of the 80's The Smiths and you felt that the hearts and minds of Indie fans were there for the taking. Many later accused the success of the Stone Roses to be a flash in the pan. It is true that for a number of reasons they never repeated the huge triumph they achieved with this record and in many ways it was an impossible task, but I think there is more to the success than simply good fortune. The quality of the tracks is outstanding and the distinctive nature of the music and vocals would have brought them success in any time period. It is a massive tribute to the band that this record still sounds relevant to today's music scene as well as being so much a defining element of the Indie scene of over a decade ago. This is how true classics are judged and this record now deserves that accolade.

And now you can pick this CD in most places for a fiver which is great value.

Highly Recommended!

© Mauri 2002 (Revised 2006)