FEATURE:
We’re Not the Messiahs?
The Stones Roses’ Second Coming at Twenty-Five
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ALTHOUGH we are almost through with this year…
PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images
there are a few albums that are celebrating anniversaries. I have already written about big releases from The Rolling Stones and The Clash, but one cannot forget The Stone Roses’ Second Coming. It is twenty-five today (5th December), and came five years after their debut. That debut, The Stone Roses, is considered one of the best albums of the 1980s. As far as first albums go, few have soared as high as The Stone Roses! I think it is impossible to follow up an album as strong as The Stone Roses and, the fact they waited five years to do so, it kind of took some of the momentum out of their sails. Also, the title sort of suggests something religious and hugely important. Whilst Second Coming is a brilliant album that deserves a lot of respect as it turns twenty-five, it is not as amazing and memorable as their debut. There is always going to be that problem when you have an album as mighty as their debut. Back in 1989, they dropped this incredible record that caught the public attention and led the wave of brilliant Manchester bands. As we went from the late-1980s into the 1990s, there were all these wonderful sounds heading from the North; it would be a few years before Oasis arrived on the scene and Britpop kicked up. At thirteen tracks, the album is a little baggy and could have benefited from being trimmed to ten tracks.
I think, by 1994, the scene had changed to such a degree that The Stone Roses’ Second Coming seemed slightly out of step. At a time when bands like Oasis and Blur were ruling the land, maybe a certain amount of love had strayed away from The Stone Roses’ camp. That is a shame, because Second Coming has more than its fair share of big moments. If you listen to the standout moments from Second Coming, you get your breath taken away. Love Spreads was the first single released from the album and, to me, is the standout of the album. With its Led Zeppelin vibes and epic swagger, it is a stunning song that easily slotted into the mood of 1994. I have stated how Second Coming is not quite a Britpop album, but one cannot help but feel uplifted and entranced by the spirit and energy through the album. I know there were tensions and fights within the band during the recording of Second Coming, and that does show on one or two songs. For most of Second Coming, there is a focus and quality that is more evident now than it was, perhaps, back in 1994. Maybe the fact the band had not been performing live also took them away from the radar of the press. Listen to songs like Breaking Into Heaven, Driving South and Ten Storey Love Song and one can hear some of the best Stone Roses material ever!
Whilst The Stone Roses were under pressure with their second album, I do think a lot of critics in 1994 sort of gave it a review based on expectation and the gap from The Stone Roses – rather than reflecting what was actually on the record. This is what NME said back in 1994
“The spell they cast has changed. They're not as evangelical this time; less prone to proclaim their own genius, the rank stench of the outside world, and the slippery essence of their enlightened cool. 'Second Coming' is an introspective, understated beast, drawing on archetypes - the blues, the intimate love song - that lie far from the anthemic, arrogant pretensions they once carried in their pockets.
At its best, it occupies a darkened world of the kind in which they stages 'Fools Gold' and the long-forgotten 'Something's Burning' - only this time, Robert Johnson and Jimmy Page (replete with black magic fixation) occasionally come out to watch from the margins.
The notion of boy-gods quietly making an opus that'd redefine the zeitgeist, make their peers gasp for breath and leave the rest of us reeling hasn't been realised.
Their brilliance shines through, but The Stone Roses sound as mortal as anyone else. The chronicles will have to be amended: far from satisfying our more insane aspirations, they've become a Good Rock Band, shot through with a host of glaring faults.
Confine those sky-scraping memories to the part of your mind reserved for stories you'll tell your grandchildren. Be prepared to flick through the five-song trough, repeatedly throw yourself into the moments that propel this record towards the sun, and wonder why they couldn't make the magic last longer. And ask yourself this: Are you ready to be heartbroken?”
Maybe it is a bit fair to view Second Coming as a disappointment or lacklustre. Most bands would struggle to match an album as heady as The Stone Roses’ debut and, whilst these boys were not the messiahs, Second Coming does have some truly exceptional songs that deserve proper respect. If Second Coming splits followers of The Stone Roses and gathered mixed reaction in 1994, maybe its twenty-fifth birthday will bring fresh appreciation.
In 2015, Rudi Abdallah argued the case for Second Coming:
“Guitarist John Squire was the principle songwriter on an album which disturbed fans and iconic frontman Ian Brown with its blunt departure into moodier territory. In a perfect world, it would’ve been seen as a superior follow up to an impossibly sublime debut. The band explored new soundscapes by replacing the chimes of The Stone Roses with mountainous riffs, all the while maintaining Mani and Reni’s gravity-mocking calls to the dance floor. Squire’s fretwork, from the jungle-funk pyrotechnics of ‘Breaking into Heaven’ to the neo-Byrdsian barbs of ‘How Do You Sleep’, shows his versatility as a guitarist and his capacity as a songwriter to frame complex yet likeable instrumentation within accessible pop structures. The sky-scraping ecstasy of ‘Ten Storey Love Song’ comfortably segues into imperious blues leviathan ‘Daybreak’, different styles complimenting each other rather than clashing. The uplifting folk-pop of ‘Tightrope’ echoes Simon & Garfunkel and is elevated by heavenly harmonies that would humiliate the most reverent choir. Though songs flit from style to style in an ostensibly disjointed manner, the band’s inimitable identity was preserved in Brown’s vocal swagger, Squire’s multi-coloured riffs and Mani and Reni’s sumptuous grooves.
Brown and Squire’s song-writing relationship, which produced secular hymn after spiritual anthem on their debut, was eroded due to drugs and creative differences during recording, but still yielded their best song ‘Begging You’. Defined by warped guitars, apocalyptic drumming and cryptic visions, Brown and Squire used Public Enemy’s ‘Fear of a Black Planet’ as the template for the doom laden rave up that gave fans a tantalising glimpse of what direction the band could’ve taken next.
PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images
Whereas The Stone Roses’s legacy benefitted from superficially optimistic political change and e-driven youth subculture around the time of its release, Second Coming was flattened by an inclement musical scene dominated by the impressive triumvirate of Pulp, Oasis and Blur. The Roses were quickly overshadowed and criminally underappreciated because Second Coming did not adhere to the retro guitar pop bands were legally obliged to produce. Despite the disintegration of the band as a cohesive unit during its composition, Second Coming is a wondrous testament to their musicianship, and is without a doubt the patron saint of second albums”.
I have a lot of affection for Second Coming because it still sounds amazing today. One can easily lose themselves in the album; have their mind blown by some of the songs and, funnily, scratch their heads the next! Second Coming’s twenty-fifth anniversary makes me wonder whether The Stone Roses will ever play again and record – it seems unlikely as John Squire announced the band had dissolved a couple of months back. Whilst Second Coming is not a rebirth or holy awakening, it definitely stands as…
AN important and historic testament.