The Complete Stone Roses

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The Stone Roses

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First, some corrections are in order pertaining to at least one of the former reviews. Yes, "complete" Stone Roses is something of a misnomer but it must be recalled that the "complete" refers to their singles from their inception until the last decent thing they have done prior to the mediocre second coming era recordings. Thus it spans from the mid-eighties (85 or 87, depending if one considers release dates, copyright dates or otherwise) up to '91. That being said this compilation does not intend to be a retrospective as such, only a collection of a handful of very important recordings, and any layover between the tracks compiled here and the tracks on their self-titled debut are merely because these are singles. And neither are they abriviated versions as such made for this collection. As "singles," tracks generally need to fit within a certain format. Radio is not necessarily friendly to nine-plus minute anthems such as Fools Gold or I am the Resurection. Indeed, some of the singles from their first album were edited down in the studio but others were actually rerecorded, or in the case of Elephant Stone, recorded as a single prior to the release of their album and then recorded again for their first album.

Now on to the music proper. The tracks are more or less in chronological order, diverging only slightly toward the end where 91's Where Angels Play is plotted prior to the Fool's Gold single and the One Love single. The first two tracks are from the mid-eighties and represent their supposed 'Goth' period, however true or false that categorization might be. I have read more than a few unfortunate descriptions of these tracks, calling them "immature" or "not yet realized." To be sure, So Young and Tell Me are not quintessential Stone Roses, but as a first go it is interesting to here them, and, quite frankly, I see them as being quite good. They are raw and powerful and, as I see it, are somewhat to the Stone Roses as This is Your My Bloody Valentine is to MBV; a gritty, pseudo-punk, slightly dark, and perhaps even fragmentarily reminiscent of a cross between the better goth stuff from that time and the Cramps.

With the next single, Sally Cinnamon, The Stone Roses are beginning to come into their sound: sixties-ish pop with sweet lyrics--the b-side repeats, as if a mantra, the unforgettable lines "I'd rather be no one than someone with no one."

After these early singles Roses fans familiar with the first album - as if a Roses fan could be unfamiliar with the first album - should find themselves in familiar territory. Even the b-sides to some of the album tracks will likely not yeild too many suprises other than the shock of how good some of these songs are. Some of the highlights are Going Down and Mersey Paradise, the former of which pays a nice homage to Jackson Pollack, reinstilling the fact that John Squire's aesthetic sensiblities are fully indepted to the yank ab-exer.

Many of these songs I have heard before on vinyl but because of cost and rarety I was unable to get them. It is a wonderful thing that this compilation exists. At first I was afraid that the number of tracks also contained in one form or another on the first album would diminish my suprise or enthusiasm. Not that I find those songs tired or hackneyed, but rather because I have heard them so many times I feared I might be tempted to skip ahead to the b-side songs. This, however, was not the case. As I remarked earlier, some of the tracks are different from the album version, but beyond that, hearing them in a different context, juxtaposed against their b-sides, is as refreshing an experience as it was when I heard these tracks for the first time over a decade ago.

So, whether you are a hard-core Roses fan, a Madchester revivalist, or neophyte groove-meister, this collection is great to groove to or simply as an historical collection of some rare material of one of the most influential bands that barely made a ripple here in the States. Too bad for us we've collectively bad taste, but let those select few who are disenfranchised with ...poor metal, tired American indie, and all-too-pop hip-hop, rejoice that there is enough interest in the good stuff to warrant the release and continued printings of the Roses.