Second Coming

by

The Stone Roses

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How do you follow up one of the most influential modern rock albums, a universally beloved debut? Well... you can't. Sadly, the Stone Roses couldn't either, several years after their legendary self-titled debut. But after several years, "Second Coming" has gotten over its initial bad rap, and proved itself a solid -- though not stellar -- piece of Brit-rock.

A rising chord seeps into a growling bassline... followed by water trickling and some distant bird songs. "Breaking Into Heaven," is probably the most memorable part of the whole album, especially when it rises into some jungle drums, then a funky rock rhythm. The eleven-minute intro alone has more variety than most rock bands can manage in a whole album.

And after the intro? The fiery rock of "Driving South," funkiness of "Daybreak," or the acoustic-led sweetness of "Your Star Will Shine" and "Tightrope." There are dips into pop, hard rock, and the occasional nod to Led Zeppelin's famous riffs. It ends on a robust note with "Love Spreads," not the best Stone Roses song but a likable, grounded one.

If video killed the radio star, then success killed the Stone Roses. They disbanded shortly after "Second Coming" was given a disappointing reception, and after a nasty lawsuit from their record company. But time has been kind to the sophomore album. Sure, okay, it's not as good as the self-titled debut -- but it is a good rock album in its own right, inventive and sometimes a little insane.

John Squire's guitar contortions are what you really notice about the music -- he can do mellow acoustic strumming in one song, then Zeppelin-style riffs that tear your throat out. Renni's agile drumming is allowed to shine best in the opener and "Straight To the Mind," and Mani's thick basslines slide under the belly of Squire's guitar.

Ian Brown's vocals shift tempo in this album, sounding slow and almost seductive. The one area in which "Second Coming" sometimes stumbles is the songwriting. Some of the songs are gorgeous lyrically ("All through the night I'll watch the skies/And your distant sun will shine like the gun/That's trained right between your Daddy's eyes"), while others are merely mediocre ("Take my hand baby I'm your man/I got loving enough for two").

"Second Coming" suffers from the dreaded sophomore slump, all the more so because the first album was nearly flawless. But the Stone Roses' final album is an hypnotic rock experience, and one that Stone Roses fans should definitely listen to... but only with an open mind.

3 stars may seem harsh for what is actually a good album. That it pales in comparison to The Stone Roses' debut has been well documented and that is why Second Coming is generally underrated - it is the work of the greatest band that ever lived and anything less than perfection was bound to disappoint.

I well remember the first time I ever listened to Second Coming. From the opening guitar distortion of Breaking Into Heaven, gradually morphing into the sound of running water, baby crocodiles and jungle drums, my expectations were on a knife edge. It sounded like the band tuning up while sailing down the Zambezi. When the levee broke and the sound of The Stone Roses in full flow poured out of the speakers after five long years, it was an epiphany. Breaking Into Heaven is utterly astounding - Reni builds the bones of the song in his usual effortlessly infectious fashion, Mani provides the rumbling bass swagger like only he can, John Squire in incredible form, lost at the crossroads with only Robert Johnson and Satan himself for company, and then Ian Brown's gorgeous, inimitable voice almost whispering the opening line, "I've been casing your joint for the best years of my life...like the look of your stuff". The full eleven minutes blew me away. Driving South is a voodo blues-tinged minor masterpiece, another monster Squire riff (another homage to Jimmy Page...), Reni sounding like the natural heir to John Bonham. Then Ten Storey Love Song, a great song by anybody else, but I've never been convinced, as others have, that it stands up to anything on the first album. The problem, in essence, is John Squire - his lead guitar skills had evolved so far during the five year hiatus that every song is swamped by them. But unfortunately his lyric writing ability is considerably short of Ian Brown's. Where the guitar on tracks such as Sugar Spun Sister and This is the One is brilliantly understated, on Ten Storey Love Song it is too loud, too corny - in fact just too much like Eric Clapton! Squire is clearly a genius, but because he wrote nearly all the songs on Second Coming, the album lacks balance, too intent on musicianship to worry about song craft. Squire's judgement had clearly become clouded without Ian Brown's instincts to guide him. The real disappointment started to set in with Daybreak (actually really good live), a four way, directionless jam, by far the worst Stone Roses song I had ever heard - until I got to Straight to the Man, that is. Terrible. Begging You redeems the album somewhat, an intense, bombastic guitar-rave hybrid, in truth, the only other Roses song apart from Fools Gold that could be called a dance track. The second half of Second Coming is patchy - on the plus side Tears, on the minus side the execrable Good Times, with the jury still out on Tightrope and How Do You Sleep. Love Spreads, of course, is marvellous.

In hindsight Second Coming couldn't possibly deliver. When someone asked Joseph Heller why he had never subsequently written a book as good as Catch 22, legend has it that he replied "Who has?" That was The Stone Roses' plight in a nutshell - how can you better the best album in rock music history? The answer is, of course, you can't.