The Stone Roses (album)

The Stone Roses
Studio album by The Stone Roses
Released March 13, 1989 (1989-03-13)
Recorded June 1988-February 1989 at Battery & konk Studios/London, Rockfield Studios, Monmouth/Wales
Genre Madchester
Length 49:02
Label Silvertone
Producer John Leckie
Professional reviews
  • Allmusic 5/5 starsStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg link
  • Robert Christgau B- link
The Stone Roses chronology
The Stone Roses
(1989)		 Turns into Stone
(1992)
Singles from The Stone Roses
  1. "Made Of Stone"
    Released: February 1989
  2. "She Bangs the Drums"
    Released: July 1989
  3. "I Wanna Be Adored"
    Released: September 1991
  4. "Waterfall"
    Released: December 1991
  5. "I Am The Resurrection"
    Released: March 1992

The Stone Roses is the debut album by English alternative rock band The Stone Roses, released on March 13, 1989 (1989-03-13). [1] The album is consistently rated highly in "best ever" album lists[2][3] and tops charts of the best British albums. It established the band as the most important band in their genre for the time.[4]

Contents

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 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 and Happy Mondays. 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-influenced piece titled "Bye Bye Badman", which makes reference to the May 1968 riots in Paris. 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.[5] The background of the piece is based on the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. The band visited the causeway while playing a gig at the University of Ulster in Coleraine.[6]

Critical response

In 1989 the critical response was generally positive and today the album is widely considered to be one of the very best British albums released.[7] 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 2008, it was named the 5th greatest British album ever by a Q Magazine/HMV poll.[8]

The music weekly NME, while initially giving it an unspectacular 7 out of 10 on its initial release, lavished praise on the album in later years: in 2000 it received the "greatest album ever" award at the NME Premier Awards show, and in 2006, the music magazine ranked the album number 1 in its "100 Greatest British Albums Ever" list.[9]

In 2005 SPIN magazine ranked it 78 on its list of the 100 greatest albums of the past twenty years. In the same year, when revising "500 Greatest Albums" for book format, Rolling Stone included it as one of the eight new entries placing it at #497. In 2006, Time named it one of "The All-TIME 100 Albums".[10] In 2003, Pitchfork Media named it the 39th best album of the 1980s.[11]

Track listing

All tracks written by Ian Brown and John Squire.

1989 UK 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

1989 US Release

Released July 23, 1989 (1989-07-23).

  1. "I Wanna Be Adored" – 4:52
  2. "She Bangs the Drums" – 3:42
  3. "Elephant Stone" (UK 7" single version) – 3:04
  4. "Waterfall" – 4:37
  5. "Don't Stop" – 5:17
  6. "Bye Bye Badman" – 4:00
  7. "Elizabeth My Dear" – 0:59
  8. "(Song for My) Sugar Spun Sister" – 3:25
  9. "Made of Stone" – 4:10
  10. "Shoot You Down" – 4:10
  11. "This Is the One" – 4:58
  12. "I Am the Resurrection" – 8:12
  13. "Fools Gold" (UK 12" single version) – 9:53

1999 10th anniversary release

Disc One: Same as 1989 UK release.

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.

Songs in other media

In the 2006/07 season English football club Manchester United played the tenth track, "This Is The One", at their Old Trafford stadium when United walked onto the pitch. The song is still usually played as the penultimate track before United run out, with the end often caught by radio or television coverage returning to the match after half time.

A number of the pre-Malcolm Glazer takeover banners on the Stretford End of Old Trafford also paraphrased lyrics and titles of Roses songs, Sent To Me From Heaven...You Are My World in reference to George Best and Eric Cantona from Sally Cinnamon and One Love – Stretford End – MUFC[12]

Mani, John Squire and Ian Brown are on record as United fans[13][14][15]

In June 2005 food writer Nigel Slater became the first person to pick a Roses song on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. He chose 'This is the One'.[16]

"She Bangs the Drums" was featured as a bonus song in the 2007 video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.

Quotes

Ian: "It's timeless. It still sounds fresh. I think if it came out this week, it would still make an impact. I remember finally finishing the LP and John Leckie saying to us, 'You're going to do really well, you know'. And we just said, 'Yeah we know'. And we did. We just felt it. He was taken aback by our confidence. But we did know we were good".

Mani: "That LP sold something like three and a half million and I've never seen a fucking penny. But in the first place it was never about money. Still money fucked us up in the end. The best bands - Big Star, Love, the MC5 - never concern themselves with those things. But they never get paid either".

Personnel

Technical personnel

Charts

Album

Year Chart Peak
Position
1989 UK Album Charts 19 [17]
1990 Billboard 200 86 [18]
1995 UK Album Charts 23 [17]
2004 UK Album Charts 9 [17]
2005 UK Album Charts 19 [17]

Single

Year Single Chart Peak
Position
1989 "She Bangs the Drums" UK Singles Chart 36 [17]
1989 "She Bangs the Drums" Billboard Modern Rock Tracks 9 [19]
1989 "I Wanna Be Adored" Billboard Modern Rock Tracks 18 [19]
1989 "What the World Is Waiting For" / "Fool's Gold" UK Singles Chart 8 [17]
1990 "Elephant Stone" UK Singles Chart 8 [17]
1990 "Made of Stone" UK Singles Chart 20 [17]
1990 "Elephant Stone" UK Singles Chart 34 [17]
1990 "Fool's Gold" Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play 27 [19]
1990 "One Love" UK Singles Chart 4 [17]
1990 "Fool's Gold" Billboard Modern Rock Tracks 5 [19]
1990 "What the World Is Waiting For" / "Fool's Gold" UK Singles Chart 22 [17]
1991 "I Wanna Be Adored" UK Singles Chart 20 [17]
1992 "Waterfall" UK Singles Chart 27 [17]
1992 "I Am the Resurrection" UK Singles Chart 33 [17]
1995 "Fool's Gold" UK Singles Chart 25 [17]

References

  1. ↑ BBC - Rock/Indie Review - The Stone Roses, The Stone Roses
  2. ↑ BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Music | Oasis' album 'best of all time'
  3. ↑ The Guardian 100 best albums ever
  4. ↑ "Profile of the Stone Roses". Contact Music. Retrieved on 2006-10-17.
  5. ↑ "Bye Bye Badman". John Squire website.
  6. ↑ John Squire website
  7. ↑ "Stone Roses 'top British album'". BBC (20 June 2004). Retrieved on 2006-10-30.
  8. ↑ BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Oasis top best British album poll
  9. ↑ "NME's best British album of all time revealed". NME. Retrieved on 2006-10-30.
  10. ↑ The All-TIME 100 Albums
  11. ↑ Pitchfork Feature: Top 100 Albums of the 1980s
  12. ↑ Stretford End Flags
  13. ↑ FANZONE - Fan News & Blogs: Fanzone Interview: Ian Brown - Manchester United Official Web Site
  14. ↑ united MANCHESTER present THE SEAHORSES
  15. ↑ BBC - 6 Music - Mani nixes Glasto
  16. ↑ BBC Radio 4 - Factual - Desert Island Discs Nigel Slater
  17. ↑ 17.00 17.01 17.02 17.03 17.04 17.05 17.06 17.07 17.08 17.09 17.10 17.11 17.12 17.13 17.14 "UK Top 40 Hit Database". Retrieved on 2008-05-23.
  18. ↑ "allmusic (((The Stone Roses > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums)))". Retrieved on 2008-05-23.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 "allmusic (((The Stone Roses > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles)))". Retrieved on 2008-05-23.

External links

The Stone Roses
Ian Brown · John Squire · Mani · Reni
Pete Garner · Andy Couzens · Robbie Maddix · Aziz Ibrahim · Nigel Ippinson
Studio albums
The Stone Roses · Second Coming
Singles
"So Young" · "Sally Cinnamon" · "Elephant Stone" · "Made of Stone" · "She Bangs the Drums" · "Fools Gold/What the World Is Waiting For" · "One Love" · "I Wanna Be Adored" · "Waterfall" · "I Am the Resurrection" · "Love Spreads" · "Ten Storey Love Song" · "Begging You" · "Crimson Tonight"
Compilations
Turns into Stone · The Complete Stone Roses · Garage Flower · The Remixes · The Very Best of The Stone Roses
Related articles
Discography · Madchester · John Leckie · The Seahorses · Freebass