Perfect debut albums The Stone Roses/the Stone Roses

Some cities are luckier than others to spawn either bands or indeed whole music genres in the world of music.  Think Athens/Georgia/USA(REM), Seattle (Grunge), Liverpool(The Beatles/Merseybeat). 
When The Smiths folded in 1987 Manchester couldn't believe that the next big thing in fact came from...Madchester- please pardon my French!
The misspelling was caused by a small pill carrying only an embossed E but were very effective all the same: with Ecstacy in your bloodstream you could dance all night (and pay later physically) and in Manchester they did dance all night escpecially at the (in)famous FactoryRecords-owned discoteque Hacienda to the new bands in town, Happy Mondays, Inspiral Carpets and not least Stone Roses!


Stone Roses...a brilliant band name and their 1988's debut album "Stone Roses"- and what a brilliant debut! Albeit their non-album single "Fools Gold" from the same year pointed directly at the dancefloor of the Hacienda- "Stone Roses" the album took a different direction with its 1960's psychedelia updated to a melodic indie rock here in 1988. Soon other British bands followed suit. But here and now Stone Roses were the only comfort when you couldn't have The Smiths!! As regards the members of the band whatever Ian Brown may lack in the singing department he had in attitude. On stage he acted more like your proverbial elephant fighting with just to sing in tune. Painter and guitarist John Squire did his best Johnny Marr-impersonation (and succeeded best regarding haircut!) and Mani and Reni looked like a couple of skaters at the wrong gig. But when you sum up the four individuals of Stone Roses you find that together they sound way bigger and especially speaking of their sound on record: You may add to this the experienced producer John Leckie (from Floyd via XTC to Palma Violets!!). He did wonders for the band! But it is the songs that save this album and make it so perfect. When I listen to it these days I practically hear the album as a whole with the various songs as variations on a theme that is the album. Of course one song is different from another but not that different. With the album's overall sound it becomes a symphony of sorts. Even Ian Brown's notoriously weak voice sounds strong in the mix too!! This modern piece of nu-psyche-brit pop (mind you before brit pop!) is a timeless masterpiece and can still be enjoyed even in these troubled times. I hereby recommend the debut album "Stone Roses" and like anybody else: I Wanna Be Adored!! PGP
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