“Interesting” doesn't even begin to cover The Stone Roses.”Bizarre” or “strange” would maybe be a more apt description, and I don't mean that to say that this album is the most out-there music on the planet. On the surface, a lot of the songs read as very interesting forerunners to the Britpop scene that would later flourish with Oasis and Blur a few years later. With that being said, there's an echoy, atmospheric air that sets it very much apart from those later acts, evidence of how their style has a foot entrenched deep in the 80's. It almost listens like if the Smiths had gotten really into Pablo Honey era Radiohead. The jangly beats of a song like Waterfall or I Want to Be Adored speak to that early-Radiohead sense of peppy discontent. And then, right after Waterfall, which is arguably the most radio-ready song, you get hit with Don't Stop, an avant-garde collage of sound with a shakey beat behind it that almost acts as a guide through the madness. It speaks to some real ambitions that the band had, and unlike something like a Revolution 9 from the Beatles, this is at least mostly pleasant to listen to. With heavu distortion clouding the instrumentation, vocal distortion and at time even backmasking, and reverb out the wazoo. I can't say if it's a good move from a structure standpoint, but it's certainly an interesting one. I kinda wish there were more tracks this experimental on the record. So isn't it ironic that the following Bye Bye Badman underwhelms is only by being a bit too by the numbers? Unlike something like Waterfalls, it doesn't quite have the same kind of danceable quality to it. The beat moves, but not quite enough, it feels a bit shallow. And then there's Elizabeth My Dear, the Stone Roses' brief homage (if you want to be kind) to Scarborough Fair. I don't think it works. At all. The melody is way too close to the unaltered original and doesn't feel like there was anything really there. The lyrics have been changed, and the short length helps a bit in making sure it doesn't overstay its (very short) welcome, but it really feels like the album derailed for a moment. Fortunately, the record picks back up with (Song for My) Sugar Spun Sister, with a song that bounces and rocks its way through its sea of reverb with confidence and style. It's not quite the best thing ever, but it's better. Made of Stone rides the wave of vocals in another very radio-friendly single that wouldn't feel too out of place on a playlist next to Tears for Fears or Eurythmics. Shoot You Down and This is the One come down to a bit of a slower tone, and while Shoot You Down is perhaps a bit too meandering for my tastes, This is the One has this very nice crescendos that add nice texture to the record. Despite that, much of the record seems a bit too typical for its own good, despite some stand outs like Made of Stone, Waterfall, and I Want to Be Adored. Fortunately, the record goes out on two of its biggest highlights, starting with the 8-minute long I Am the Resurrection, which rocks harder than anything served up thus far. The fuzzy guitars and more energized beats really show how this album influenced a band like Blur. Meanwhile, the closer, Fool's Gold, jives and grooves with a rock beat that gets the toes tapping and the hips moving in a way few tracks before on this album did. And the echoy vocals and the almost disco-esque guitar gives it a slick sense of style that it unlike most of the other tracks on display. The Stone Roses is a complex beast. Varying in tones and in style, it's uniform in its sound if not by its vision, and did a remarkable job setting a tone for the future Britpop scene, even if those bands would take more of certain aspects than others. As an album itself, it's a flawed record, but it comes back to what I said at the beginning. It's flawed, but it's interesting. And interesting is enough to get you in the door. What happens beyond there depends on how in tune you and your feet are to some of the infectious (and some of the lesso) beats therein.
Rating: 3.5/5
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