My Top 100 Albums: #71 - The Stone Roses, ‘The Stone Roses’

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71.

The Stone Roses, ‘The Stone Roses’

Silvertone, 1989

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When the Stone Roses released Elephant Stone as a single in October 1988, they were still a fledgling band yet to really break through outside of the underground scene of Manchester and the English North-West. Their follow-up single and only album pre-release, Made of Stone, peaked at number ninety on the UK Singles Chart. And so it was that their self-titled debut album arrived in May 1989 largely unheralded by the wider music press, a largely inauspicious welcome for a record that would later come to be placed in the very highest echelons of the British musical canon. With subsequent releases of She Bangs the Drums and Fools Gold, and a turn on Top of the Pops, however, the songwriting prowess of Ian Brown and John Squire could no longer be ignored. The band, and their ground-breaking debut, soon came to be seen as era- and milieu-defining, becoming a staple in the dance scene of the early ‘90s and heavily influencing the so-called Britpop movement that would take the US by storm over the following decade. The record has become synonymous with the cultural monoliths of Madchester and the ‘90s rave scene, although in truth its music bears little resemblance to the industrial electronica and hardcore dance from the likes of The Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers that would dominate the ‘90s club scene, instead preferring laid-back grooves reminiscent of New Order and the sort of lethargic, lilting melodies and introspective lyrics that the Smiths would be proud of. The result is a spacious, expressive album that is just as suitable to a relaxed, at-home setting as it is to a club dance floor. Take the album’s opener, I Wanna Be Adored, for example, in which, after a long, contemplative guitar and bass intro, Brown warbles non-committal lyrics over an increasingly frantic drum beat. Most of the album’s later singles follow a similar structure - Waterfall is a poppy, upbeat version of the mellow, slow-build track, Made of Stone is a more traditional rock ballad that alternates foreboding, melancholic verses with a catchy, optimistic chorus, and I Am The Resurrection is the ultimate culmination of the ideas explored so far: an irresistible eight-minute pop song/instrumental coda that evokes the later work of the Beatles. Different in tone and style but no less distinctive is She Bangs the Drums, nothing short of an all-time great pop banger. Even the less notable tracks here add something to the general feel and effect of the record, with only the borderline unlistenable experimental track Don’t Stop drawing away, in my opinion, from the inexorable charm of the project. It’s the album’s impact that often dominates the discourse around its quality, and rightly so, but this collection of tracks is arguably best enjoyed ephemerally and passionately - a timeless classic that redefines the concept of danceability.

Hidden Highlight: (Song For My) Sugar Spun Sister

1. I Wanna Be Adored

2. She Bangs The Drums

3. Waterfall

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

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See the full list so far here:

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