BCB 100 - The Stone Roses

[BARON CORNY DOG]

They call it Fools Gold for a reason.

Yes, it's because that's what the lyrics are.

Good to see someone got it

Lyrics!!??!!!

I didn't even know that song had lyrics!

[Tom Violence]

I'd never thought of that before, but am now going to use it whenever i'm in a discussion about music. Which very often includes the Stone Roses, due to my friends and their musical preferences.

Thanks.

Next time the Stone Roses are mentioned, I'll ask everyone's fav song. Some plonker will plump for 'Pyrite'.

I will then quip (preferably with one or more attractive girls present):

'They call it that for a reason you know'

Then hopefully if I execute it well, I will appear to be exceedingly witty.

Or it may backfire when everyone else agrees that it's their fav too.

[andymacandy]

I cant see how this band, and this album can be criticised, to be honest.
A breath of fresh air after the turgid synth driven pop of the 80's.Light and melodic, and YAY! Guitars!!!!
Fools Gold, Waterfall,Resurrection (although I liked the Freebird comparison) and Tears (from the second album) are all great tracks, but Made of Stone is the winner.

[nathan]

Everyone who paid attention to music knew about it and loved The Stone Roses. No, it wasn't a pop phenomenon like Green Day or Nirvana would be, but the kids who bought records had it and loved it. And this was in lame-ass, small town South Texas. I had it on tape and wore that sucker out.

I kind of hinted at the fact that only music lovers really know about it but wasn't entirely clear. I was just pointing out that it is in no way overrated over here. More of a cult record than anything.

But yeah, my experience was similar to yours but unlike you, I had to wait years before I could get my hands on a copy. I just had taped the singles off of MTV's 120 minutes and had to make do with that (same with the Happy Mondays).

I think I actually broke down and special ordered the CD around the mid-90's.

[The Slider]

I never owned a cd copy of it and didn't until the erstwhile Mrs the Slider moved here from rural Illinois - and brought her copy with her.
And no-one could call her tuned-in.

Mind, she did hang out at some groovy clubs in Chicago occasionally so maybe that is where she picked up on it.
Actually, come to think of it, she probably picked up on it from me when she was here on holiday.

So forget that one.

[The Slider]

Shut up, fool.

Sorry - there isn't a Mr T emoticon in this board's software.

[KeithPratt]

I forgot to add that the original 12" release of "Fool's Gold" is almost prog-like in its length. There was something about a guitar band releasing a 10 minute "Dance" single that hadn't been done before.

[The Slider]

Yeah, but there isn't even two minutes worth of song in it.

I don't care for it much. Or One Love.

[andymacandy]

Yeah, but there isn't even two minutes worth of song in it.

Is that crucial in a dance track though?

[The Modernist]

Yeah, but there isn't even two minutes worth of song in it.

Is that crucial in a dance track though?

I think it was very catchy, but not in a conventional verse -chorus song way.
It is all about the interplay between guitar and bass, and the groove. I know some find it monotonous, but I found, and still do, it utterly hypnotic.

[The Slider]

Yeah, but there isn't even two minutes worth of song in it.

Is that crucial in a dance track though?

Depends on whether you are listening to it or dancing to it.

I have very little room in my life for things which are functional without being aesthetically pleasing.
Utility art in particular.

[andymacandy]

Yeah, but there isn't even two minutes worth of song in it.

Is that crucial in a dance track though?

Depends on whether you are listening to it or dancing to it.

I have very little room in my life for things which are functional without being aesthetically pleasing.
Utility art in particular.

Well, at least they were considerate enough to produce a three minute version, which is close enough to your "two minutes of tune" for those that just want the essence of it, and a ten minute version for those that cant remember falling around helplessly in clubs.
Lets be honest, Stone Roses are very much about "feel" arent they?

[Tom Violence]

A lot of songs could be 'caputred' in 20 seconds if we're honest.

'Subterranean Homesick Blues', 20 second summary, 'Johnny's in the basement....' that'll do, we get the idea Bob.

[KeithPratt]

I think again, as I have pointed out before, is that Fools Gold sums up, for me personally, their beauty, in that they transformed so spectacularly into a funk bank with "Fool's Gold" from the Byrdsian Pop of the summer of '89 to November '89. They had seen the change afoot in music, and grasped it brilliantly. For all the other bands who tried to straddle rock and dance, and most failed miserably, none did it with such aplomb. The Mondays had their own unique form, but it was stuttering and I think, on the Oakenfold-produced "Pills n Thrills" far too clinical in its production. "Hallelujah" and "WFL" are tracks I've never really grown to like. Primal Scream did "Higher than the Sun" which is a magnificent track, but the work of Jah Wobble and Andy Weatherall is plain to see.

[BARON CORNY DOG]

Yeah, but there isn't even two minutes worth of song in it.

Is that crucial in a dance track though?

I think it was very catchy, but not in a conventional verse -chorus song way.
It is all about the interplay between guitar and bass, and the groove. I know some find it monotonous, but I found, and still do, it utterly hypnotic.

I concur. It's tremendous.

I think my fave track might be "I Am The Resurrection." I don't much care for the first half of it, but I like it when it slides into the jivey bits out of nowhere.

[Ranking Ted]

More war stories: I remember getting the LP on the back of a gathering NME hype in mid 89 expecting more Mighty Lemon Drops or, hopeing against hope, another House of Love. It was shatteringly brilliant. In a matter of weeks I changed my wardrobe, haircut, the other records I was listening to and clubs I went to.

And then Fool's Gold, a record I never need to listen to again, came out. Hearing it early on, full blast and getting carried away on those hypnotic grooves, after the post-Smiths malaise of the UK music scene, was stunning and opened up a whole new world for many.

And there's people who say they weren't important.

Sure, the LP is possibly not the 5th greatest of all time, and there's been a lot of tedious wank written about them by journalists you know did not get it. But they're still the Stone Roses.

Second Coming is almost like another band; it's ok but generally underwhelming; some decent stuff (Breaking Into Heaven) and some tosh. This is not relevant.

LP: what do you think?
Song: Fool's Gold

[Prograstinator]

Album - The first one.

Track - Waterfall


I think you probably did have to be there, but luckily I was. Every now and then it's my favourite album of all time.

Well, that will do it for me. I could imagine getting caught up in it and every so often I do just that - still, it feels a little dishonest for me to jump in with the proselytisers when I wasn't actually there!

'Waterfall' is a joy. Surely everyone can see that? A sheer, shimmering beaut of a song.

"So good to have equalised, to lift up the lids of your eyes" Can't be beaten.

[garethac81]

When even the most diehard Roses fan would be hard pressed to deny that they had ONE decent album and a rubbish singer, how this band merits a place on any top 100 list is beyond me.

[BARON CORNY DOG]

When even the most diehard Roses fan would be hard pressed to deny that they had ONE decent album and a rubbish singer, how this band merits a place on any top 100 list is beyond me.

Because their "ONE decent album" is much better than decent.

[The Modernist]

I had stopped listening to pop music for about 5 years by 1989.
It was tired and boring and I was getting far far more out of other areas of music.
Then I heard Elephant Stone on the radio (followed by there She Goes by the Las) at work and everything suddenly changed again.

I was just playing the album at the gym this morning on my iPod and time and time again - even 17 years later - it just floors me.

I don't care for the singles between the albums too much (though I like some of the earlier ones like Sally Cinamon) and I verge on disliking Second Coming but the 12 songs on that debut album are fucking gobsmacking.
Is there a more uplifiting moment in all music than when the chorus finally appears in I Am The Resurrection?
Is there fuck.

Song: She Bangs the Drums

You surprise me.

'Sally Cinnamon'? For fuck's sake, man! Lazy, wimpy, half-arsed stude pop.

And we have here decreed, en masse, and several times before, that 'The Stone Roses' is the most overrated album of all time. Your contrary stance doesn't do you any favours this time round, fella-me-lad!

Have you changed your mind on The Stone Roses John?