Review Summary: 0800-666-OHYEAH
The Stone Roses went from the biggest band on earth, to dinosaurs in a few scant years. With the release of their acclaimed debut and the singles ‘Fools Gold’ and ‘Elephant Stone’, the four piece had essentially conquered the indie scene. A vital band in the Madchester scene, they mixed jangle pop, funk, dance and post-punk to create an intoxicating blast of 60s psychedelia and modern acid house culture. Then... they just vanished. Tied down by an unfair recording contract and a difficult label, the band were prevented from touring or recording for 5 whole years. The music scene changed during that time. Madchester and Baggy died out and shoegaze then Britpop took over. When the band finally got around to recording their second record, relationships between members (particularly singer Ian Brown and guitarist John Squire) had soured. The hype was high and what was birthed from the drug fuelled angry sessions is oft considered one of the most disappointing second albums ever record. But is ‘Second Coming’ really that awful?
First to note is that the jangly radio friendly sound the group had established on their debut record has been completely wiped clean here. In its place is a mesh of Zeppelin-esqe blues, sleazy funk and folk pop songs, with some occasional dips back into their Madchester sound. Squire himself is definitely the leading force of this album and while the brilliant rhythm section of bassist Mani and drummer Reni is still present (mainly on tracks Begging You and Daybreak), Squire’s guitar is the real star of the show here. While John is an incredibly talented guitarist, his endless riffing and soloing here is one of the album’s main points of criticism. Song lengths are stretched out to often to the absurd (The opening ‘Breaking Into Heaven’ is 12 minutes long and contains 4 straight minutes of found sounds and field recordings), punctuated by lengthy guitar solos and noodling riffs. A handful of tracks could do with some trimming (‘Good Times’ and ‘Tears’ are both about a minute too long) and there’s definitely some here (the southern blues of ‘Straight To The Man’ and the fireside sing along ‘Your Star Will Shine’) that could be cut from the album without much effect on the flow, to say nothing of the ear piercing hidden track at the end of the record.
Ian Brown has never exactly been a great vocalist. Hell, his often pretty excruciating live vocals are one of the main reasons they split up. But here, he does an admirable job with what’s given to him. While his wispy and weirdly punctuated voice fit well with the dreamy and poppy sounds of their debut, he surprisingly manages to pull off the blues here. His vocals particularly on the baggy/zeppelin fusion ‘Driving South’ are strong and his apocalyptic biblical musings on the finale ‘Love Spreads’ is one of his strongest vocal takes. For what it’s worth, the band as a whole absolutely nail their performances, though this is probably through extensive retakes (Live performances of these tracks were frequently riddled with mistakes, especially on John’s half). So is Second Coming really as dreadful as many make it out to be? No, of course not. In many ways, I actually prefer it to their debut. The tight and heavy guitar work mixed with the rumbling funky rhymth section works wonders and Brown himself lays down some excellent vocals. But it’s an indulgent and slightly infuriating record, too focused on showing off and trying too hard rather than achieving its full potential. Well, Jesus rose from the grave and then buggered off fairly soon after and the Roses did just that. While their recent reunion never gave us that long awaited third album (what would’ve they have called it? ‘On the Third Day’?, ‘The Re-Resurrection’? Who knows.), we’ve always got this. Oh and that other one too.
Recommend tracks:
Breaking Into Heaven
Driving South
Ten Storey Love Song
Begging You
Tightrope
Tears
Love Spreads
