Stone Roses Album over rated?

D'associashun

Just want to see what the reaction is to this. It seems like a bit of a sacred cow to me. Alright there's three great songs on it - Waterfall, This is the One and I am the Resurrection, but I always thought the rest of it isn't that great - a few alright songs (I Wanna be Adored, She Bangs the Drums), but the rest is just filler as far as I'm concerned. Yet it's always up there on the best album lists. I wouldn't have it up there, that's for sure.

quarryman

disagree. i'll back it up with a reason later.

Ro: maaan!

Only bad songs that are on it are Don't Stop, Bye Bye Badman and Shoot You Down. And they're not even bad, just not as good. Don't know how you can't consider Sugar Spun Sister brilliant.

DerekD Goldfish

Its a very good album
but some seem to think its one of the best of all time which it isnt

Jimmy_Jazz

I've always felt that all great albums are over-rated to some extent, so "Yes" is my answer to your question. That said, I don't know how you can call something like I Wanna Be Adored or She Bangs The Drums "alright". The latter in particular is one of the most perfect pop songs ever written - up there with There She Goes by The La's and Fall On Me by REM. Neither Sugar Spun Sister nor Made Of Stone are "filler" by any stretch of the imagination. The album isn't flawless (Elizabeth My Dear, Brown's vocals, poor production) but the songs, the harmonies, the guitar playing and the best rhythm section since The Who make it so very, very close.

Bungalow Bill

Made of stone is actually my favourite roses song, so personally I wouldn't call it filler in any way shape or form. 'I wanna be adored' is not "alright" its bloody amazing. Most people hate or love the stone roses. Don't know how you can like them but not love IWBA

cashback

Bungalow Bill wrote:

'I wanna be adored' is not "alright" its bloody amazing. Most people hate or love the stone roses. Don't know how you can like them but not love IWBA

I agree. 'I wanna be adored' is the song that got me interested in the stone roses in the first place. Amazing song! One of my favourites. 'She bangs the drum' is also one of their best, a real 'feel-good' song.

BolBill

Ro: maaan! wrote:

Only bad songs that are on it are Don't Stop, Bye Bye Badman and Shoot You Down. And they're not even bad, just not as good. Don't know how you can't consider Sugar Spun Sister brilliant.

Nice one, Song For My (Sugar Spun) Sister is f-ing amazing, it IS a great album.

magpie

Kind of agree.

Best Stones Roses stuff from that era isn't on the album, namely Fools Gold and One Love.

Plus, Don't Stop is just Waterfall played backwards with different lyrics. Hardly the stuff of 'great' albums. Shoot you down is pants. Elizabeth my Dear is Scarborough Fair and pointless. The only really amazing thiing on the album is the jam at the end of I am the Resurrection.

The album just has a feeling of being cobbled together.

A better singles band in my opinion.

Velvet Vocals

I have to say I love it!, but I agree with Jimmy_Jazz

Jimmy_Jazz wrote:

I've always felt that all great albums are over-rated to some extent

Jonny Arson

D'associashun wrote:

Just want to see what the reaction is to this. It seems like a bit of a sacred cow to me. Alright there's three great songs on it - Waterfall, This is the One and I am the Resurrection, but I always thought the rest of it isn't that great - a few alright songs (I Wanna be Adored, She Bangs the Drums), but the rest is just filler as far as I'm concerned. Yet it's always up there on the best album lists. I wouldn't have it up there, that's for sure.

I wouldn't go as far to say its overrated but I think at the time in the late 80's the British music scene was missing that iconic band and everyone turned towards the Stone Roses as their new heroes. Thats why I believe they are held in such high esteem. I think the album is great. Many classic songs on it esp. She bangs The Drums, Waterfall and I Wanna Be Adored but parts of the album lack that va va voom in comparison to songs like the ones I mentioned. If they released that album in 1995 or 2004 would they get as much iconic status? I would wonder but I still don't want to take anything away from how important they were to the British scene at that period.

irlirishkev

It stands the test of time as far as I'm concerned. It's an alltime classic. I don't listen to it as much these days, but it's only because I played it to death years ago. Having said that, when I do put it on, I'm constantly baffled at how they managed to create such beautiful swirling euphoric sounds.. Wasn't it John Leckie producing?

There's few albums in my opinion that come even close to The Stone Roses' debut. There's not one song on there that I would skip past.

Overrated? Not in the slightest.

Kevin.

funktastic

It pretty much is overrated in the past few years, like always coming in very high in all time album lists. In my opinion it shouldn't be in the top 30 of any all time great albums. Oasis got a lot of people into The Stone Roses. Nothing wrong with that, but it's a bit tiring people going round worshipping Ian Brown at gigs, especially in Ireland -'He's a fookin' legend' while murdering stone roses songs in the tone of a deaf dog-and the Complete Stone Roses even manage to pack out the Olympia regularly.
The album is pretty poorly produced and sounds dated in parts - the '80's snare sound in 'She bangs the drums' and in other songs, the anemic production on the rhythm section by John Leckie. Having said that, it contains some brilliant bass and guitar lines - see Made of Stone, although most of the Blackpool live bootleg would be what I'd prefer to listen to rather then the album. They keep much of their 'mystique' due to the 5 year hiatus, listen to many of the bootlegs and Ian Brown's voice is piss poor, even their pinnacle at Spike Island was a very poor performance.
Swirling sounds from an album produced by John Leckie? See 'A storm in Heaven' more down to Nick McCabe's genius guitar work than Leckie's production. The only album I've heard of his where he was able to handle a rhythm section is 'The Bends', Kula Shaker 'K' is a bit further down the list :cool:

BaZmO*

funktastic wrote:

It pretty much is overrated in the past few years, like always coming in very high in all time album lists. In my opinion it shouldn't be in the top 30 of any all time great albums.

You gotta ask yourself who votes in these polls?
It's generally males in the 25-35 bracket, therefore making most of the people that voted were in and around their mid teens when the SR's first album was released, and I think we can all agree that that a very influential time musically speaking.

The thing that gets on my nerves the most is the way so many get on their high horses about this album or that album not making the all time greatest list.
Like c'mon FFS, it's only a list of opinions.

You only have to look at the pop charts to see that in work. Just because a group like Westlife make it to the top of the charts doesn't mean that they are any good, it's just that in a certain amount of people's opinions they are.

B.

Wertz

funktastic wrote:

Oasis got a lot of people into The Stone Roses.

Mind elaborating that point?
I was (am) a huge SR fan back in the late 80s, early 90s and apart from a few tracks I never liked Oasis. Only the Happy Mondays ever came close to stealing the SR's crown IMO.

I haven't heard the album in ages...must dig it out. Oh and your point about Ian Brown....I saw him on stage at Homelands a few years back and thought he was pretty good. Granted I went to see him cos of his past affiliations, but his post Roses stuff had some merit I thought. The Seahorses were ok too....

SR's popularity comes back to the huge influence they, and that album, had on the then emerging scene that we see today. I'll bet if you ask any big selling UK group who inspired/influenced them, that SR will be mentioned...a lot.
Oh and since noone else has commented about it, I loved the cover art...

funktastic

Well for people that were too young for the Roses the first time round, Noel Gallagher/Oasis got many younger people listening to them by talking about how much of an influence they were. Remember how big Oasis were back around '95/'96? Lot of people started picking up guitar from the buzz that surrounded the band at the time and would listen to their influences. Granted, I see little of the Stone Roses music in Oasis.
Ian Brown's post roses stuff does have its merits, but he just doesn't seem to care about the audience, giving terrible performances, and recently stopping up to four times during songs - apparently this happens very regularly, it's just a bad way to go on.
Yep the cover art and Squire painting Reni's kit/Mani's bass and his own guitar was cool.

plastic membrane

Its only been a few years since i first heard it and it still blows me away every time i hear it. Its not perfect by any means, but it certainly had more of an effect on me than anything ive heard recently. She Bangs The Drum is (as far as im concerned) the greatest song ive ever heard, absolute pop perfection. But the version on the album is not as good as the one on The Complete Stone Roses. Its too tinny.

hawkmoon269

I'm baffled by some of the comments on this thread, but there's no accounting for taste.

My opinion on the Stone Roses? (1) Greatest band of the past 20 years
(2) Greatest band to ever come out of
Manchester (and there is considerable competition)

In my opinion the debut album deserves all the accolades and still sounds as fresh and new as it always did. However the pity about it is the under-rated second album always gets ignored.

hawkmoon269

plastic membrane wrote:

She Bangs The Drum is (as far as im concerned) the greatest song ive ever heard, absolute pop perfection. But the version on the album is not as good as the one on The Complete Stone Roses. Its too tinny.

Yeah I'd agree with you about that (The Complete Stone Roses version being better)

pwd

I think it's a fantastic album.
Ian Brown is dreadful scumbag now. Hard to believe he is the same guy who came up with those optimistic lovely songs.

ShriekingSheet

No the album is not over rated

It's very easy to say 'it's great, but not one of the best ever'. Without offering a few albums definitely better. What I think makes it so great is looking back through this thread. No one can agree what the best song is. Everyone's favourite songs are different on it compared to something like Franz Ferdinand today where the rest of the album doesn't get a sniff of the quality of 'take me out'.

Other than that this band gave us the last true guitar hero. I mean no one has really had the guts to riff through a whole song without much of a rythm guitar on the records and none at all live. Yes he's copying Page but no one in mainstream music since John Squire has brought real old fashioned lead guitar to such good songs.

Getting such a crap singer to sound so so good is also a feat (see snow patrol) . Such talent displayed in suiting the vocals to the voice.

If you ask me my favourite band. I say Stone Roses

ShriekingSheet

pwd wrote:

I think it's a fantastic album.
Ian Brown is dreadful scumbag now. Hard to believe he is the same guy who came up with those optimistic lovely songs.

He didn't

John Squire did mostly