The Stone Roses (album)

The Stone Roses
Studio album by The Stone Roses
Released	March 13, 1989 [1]
Recorded	1989
Genre	Madchester,Shoegazing
Length	49:02
Label	Silvertone
Producer	John Leckie, Peter Hook
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link
The Stone Roses chronology
The Stone Roses (1989) Stand Still (1991)
Singles from The Stone Roses
"Made Of Stone" Released: February, 1989 "She Bangs the Drums" Released: July, 1989 "I Wanna Be Adored" Released: September, 1991 "Waterfall" Released: January, 1992 "I Am The Resurrection" Released: April, 1992

The Stone Roses is the debut album by The Stone Roses, released on March 13, 1989.^[1] The album is consistently rated highly in best ever worldwide album compilations ^[2][3],and often tops charts of the best British albums. It established the band as the most important band in their genre for the time.^[4]

Contents 1 About the album 2 Cover artwork 3 Critical response 4 Track listing 4.1 1989 UK release 4.2 1989 US Release 4.3 1999 10th anniversary release 5 Songs from this album in other media 6 Quotes 7 Credits 8 References 9 External links

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, Happy Mondays and New Order. 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; 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 2003 NME magazine voted it to be "the best album of all-time", which is somewhat ironic in that upon release they rated it a good, if unspectacular 7 out of 10. In 2005 SPIN magazine ranked it 78 on its list of the 100 greatest albums of the past twenty years. In 2006 NME ranked the album number 1 in its "100 Greatest British Albums Ever" list.^[8] In 2006, Time named it one of "The All-TIME 100 Albums". ^[9] In 2005, when revising "500 Greatest Albums" for book format, Rolling Stone included it as one of the eight new entries placing it at #497, a place "Yo! Bum Rush the Show" by Public Enemy in the original list. In 2003, Pitchfork Media named it the 39th best album of the 1980s.^[10]

Track listing

All tracks are credited to 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

1. "I Wanna Be Adored" – 4:52
2. "She Bangs The Drums" – 3:42
3. "Elephant Stone" - 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" - 9:53

1999 10th anniversary release

Disc One

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

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 from this album 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 walk onto the pitch. Mani, John Squire and Ian Brown are on record as United fans.

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".

Credits

• John Squire - guitars, paintings
• Ian Brown - vocals
• Mani - bass
• Reni - drums, backing vocals
• John Leckie - producer
• Peter Hook - producer (song "Elephant Stone", U.S. version only)
• Paul Schroeder - engineer
• Ian Tilton & Simon Taylor - photography

References

External links

• The Stone Roses at MusicBrainz

This box:  •  • edit The Stone Roses
Ian Brown - John Squire - Mani - Reni Pete Garner - Andy Couzens - Robbie Maddix - Aziz Ibrahim
Discography
Albums: The Stone Roses - Second Coming - Stand Still (live)
Related articles
Madchester - Britpop - John Leckie - The Seahorses - Freebass