In case you hadn’t noticed, The Stone Roses have been making headlines this week.
In fact, the Manchester band has announced four huge gigs at the Etihad Stadium plus an appearance at T in the Park next summer sending fans scrambling for tickets.
To celebrate the return of one of Britain’s most iconic acts, here is a compilation of Brown, Squire and co’s most under-celebrated tracks.
Mersey Paradise
The track that tops our list is a gem. Released as a B-side to the 1989 single She Bangs The Drums, Mersey Paradise neatly packs into no more than three minutes all that is key to the band’s legend.
The score is one of Squire’s finest moments, and steered by the brilliance of drummer Alan “Reni” John Wren produces one of the band’s most euphoric choruses, culminating in an incredible release of energy in Brown’s declaration of “I want to be, where the drownings are!”
Indeed, the dark subject matter has baffled and intrigued fans since its release, with interpretations ranging all the way from a suicidal man’s final thoughts to a metaphor for the deadly effects of government cuts on Merseyside.
Wherever analysis takes you, it is hard to dispute that Mersey Paradise remains one of the band’s most, if not the most, unsung and under-celebrated works.
How Do You Sleep
It is no secret that the band’s long-awaited second album fell-short of most people’s expectations, but nevertheless, Second Coming contained some brilliant tracks, and when one takes five minutes to enjoy to How Do You Sleep, they’ll likely realise the boldly-named follow-up really wasn’t that bad at all.
The song is a clear excursion into what later became known as Britpop, with Brown and co waltzing through five minutes of acoustic track that wouldn’t sound out of place on an early Oasis record.
Rather than to be sneered at or dismissed as not “proper” Roses, though, this particular mini-experiment is one of the band’s most precious creations, and rewards on every listen.
Elephant Stone
There’s few things more satisfying in music than a great intro. The opening bars of The Cure’s Just Like Heaven leave me needing a lie down on each listen, and in Born Of Frustration James managed to capture the mood of a generation in a single explosion of brass.
Right up there with these classics is the FULL LENGTH version of Elephant Stone.
“Burst into heaven” is quite the apt opening line of lyric, as when John Squire first chimes into the track you are showered in a sound so mesmeric it could be reasonably mistaken for something otherworldly.
It is the song for a journey into the sunset, the excitement of the morning before the Manchester derby, and every other cliché situation you could come up with.
The Hardest Thing In The World
An often effective means of measuring the greatness of a band is to devote an hour or two to its B-sides.
Hidden away in a dusty corner of The Stone Roses back catalogue is The Hardest Thing In The World – a song that could feasibly of held its own as a very credible single.
Released in 1988, the recording captures the band in a crucial moment, full of confidence and at the peak of their powers. Like many of the band’s lesser-known tracks, it may lack the size of anthems like This Is The One and She Bangs The Drums, but boasts a charm, and has the feel of a delicate antique.
Going Down
Released as the B-side to Made Of Stone, Going Down is regularly cited as one of The Stone Rose’s most underrated songs. The juxtaposition between the mellowness of the track and fruity subject matter makes for an intriguing listen and a hugely worthwhile track to revisit after time away.
Singing along to the line of “Ring a ding ding ding I’m going down” simply never gets old, either.
Image courtesy of Film 4/Warped Productions via YouTube, with thanks.
