Stone Roses, The - Stone Roses (The) > Reviews > An album that's just crying out to be adored

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

Advantages:	End to end classic tracks, and longer than most albums too
Disadvantages:	???

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

A truly classic album. It's up there in my top 5 best albums of all-time, no question, and it turns up in so many top 10 lists that it's obvious that many others agree with me.
When "The Stone Roses" was released in 1989, it didn't seem, on the face of it, particularly new or revolutionary - it was just superlative pop. But now it is evident that it influenced many other 90s bands - for instance, The Charlatans, The Verve, and, of course, Oasis, the Roses' successors.

It begins very quietly and unassumingly - it's about a minute before the first song, "I wanna be adored" fades properly in. But from then on it's all self-assured, almost arrogant, brilliance. And it is so easy to adore, not only this first song, but the entire album.
Actually, when Ian Brown sings "Kiss me where the sun don't shine, the past was yours, now the future's mine" and "I am the resurrection" he really does come across as arrogant. But with good cause, I say - great tunes, shimmering guitars, songs you can't help but sing along to.
Not only are there several out-and-out classics on here, there isn't a single duff song either. Some might say that the backwards track, "Don't stop" is filler, but for me it is an integral part of the album, catchy in its own right. It's quite trippy, harking back to Beatles-era psychedelic experimentation.

There is a distinct 60's feel to a lot of the record - "Made of Stone" has some lovely fazed (I'm not sure what the technical term is!) guitars, similar to those in "Itchicoo Park", and there's much to remind you of the Byrds, as well as the Beatles. But it's not a retro 60's album at all, and other styles definitely make an appearance. "I am the Resurrection" is another burst of guitar pop, but at the end there's a jam at the end, so you even get a bit of prog rock as well.
There's also a dance vibe, with "Fools gold", which although different from the rest of the album, doesn't sound out of place, and finishes things off perfectly.
In the end, the Stone Roses surpassed all the influences, and produced a sound that was all their own, deserving of classic status in its own right.

I have many, many favourite moments - the way the drums are really battered in "Elephant stone", especially at the end; the introduction to "She bangs the drums" (well, the whole song really).
"This is the one" is, in my view, the best song - I have to stop dead and listen to it every time it plays, can't have it as background music, oh no. It has strange timing, unless it's just me, but I always expect the guitars to come in a beat earlier, or beat later, somehow - whatever, I love being taken by surprise every time, and it remains my favourite Stone Roses song.

Anyone who likes jangly guitar rock - whether it hails from 60's bands like the Byrds, or later bands like REM and Oasis - should find plenty to bowl them over here.