Review Summary: Stuck between blues rock and a mad place.
Towards the end of Second Coming, somewhere within the spiraling melody of ‘How Do You Sleep,’ Ian Brown wearily admits “The party's over.” He wasn’t wrong; by 1994, the “Madchester” scene had dissolved like the acid and ecstasy that fuelled it, and Britpop was rushing in to take its place as the musical revolution of England. It had also been five and a half years since The Stone Roses had released their now-seminal debut album – years filled with legal battles. The hype was real, the hype quickly withered upon release, and the relationships within the band were torn within a matter of months. Yet despite this, Second Coming boasts an entirely different side of the Roses well worth paying attention to.
Of course, that was the main reason this release received lackluster reviews in the first place. Second Coming is a disjointed album, flickering between the funk-esque rhythms and chiming pop reminiscent of their debut and a love letter to the progressions and technicality of classic bluesy rock. It’s self-indulgent, with John Squire playing as many complicated riffs as he can, and throwing in four and a half minutes of forest ambience into the opening track ‘Breaking Into Heaven’ seemingly just for the sake of it. It’s loose; Mani and Reni inject more swing into the rhythm section, and largely forgo the rigid pop structures they excelled at in classics like ‘She Bangs the Drums.’ If anything, Ian Brown is the most consistent of the group, utilising his distinctly flat voice around the same range and tackling the same level of glorified females and religious symbolism as before. He just doesn’t sound as excited, given that this time around he is more a voice for Squire’s admittedly clichéd lyrics, instead of a voice for a collective band. When Squire cited “the gradual… musical separation” as a reason for leaving in 1996, people could clearly see why: This was not what was expected from The Stone Roses.
And yet it’s just so good at what it does that it’s hard to knock it down just because it’s not “The Stone Roses 2: Stone Harder.” Despite Squire dominating the songwriting process with a Jimmy Page influence on his sleeve and Brown being relegated to sprinkle in his more dance-focused compositions every now and again, everyone is as on point as they were in 1989. They even surpass that point on occasion, as the blazing instrumentation of ‘Love Spreads’ and ‘Begging You’ takes the manic improvisation of ‘I am the Resurrection’ and sends it rocketing to a higher plane of musical proficiency. And while Squire’s lack of restraint on the fretboard threatens the listener with tedium, many of the songs are quite solid. Deeper cuts like the lush “Your Love Will Shine” and folksy “Tightrope” were never going to find as much success as the power of “I Wanna Be Adored,” but the band’s penchant for perpetually catchy songs had not disappeared between their two albums – even if it had been largely replaced by something else.
It’s not as consistent, and it’s not as fun, and it sure as hell was never going to live up to the anticipation, but to have this album described as a sophomore slump is a compliment compared to other examples of the trope. The Stone Roses may not have been gods (despite what the British press would have told you) but this Second Coming is still something special.
Except for ‘The Foz.’ F*cking Foz.
