Music Review : The Stone Roses - Twenty Years On.....

The Stone Roses debut album is one that's frequently referred to as "the greatest debut album ever made" and even reached the ranks of "the Greatest Album of All Time" in the NME.

We're now twenty years down the road since it was released and perhaps we're now able to look back on the band and their achievements with some perspective. What would certainly have been difficult to predict is the fact that Ian Brown is now a solidly recognised star, and that guitarist John Squire (perhaps the most lauded of the band in their heyday) and drummer Alan "Reni" Wren would have all but dropped out of the music business entirely. More predictable would have been that Gary "Mani" Mounfield's always impressive bass playing would continue to be underpinning a band with the profile of Primal Scream.

Less of now, though - what about then? To celebrate the 20th Anniversary the eponymous debut has been remastered and reissued in the customary multiple formats. For myself, I was happy with the Legacy Edition which contains the original album (plus an extended version of Fool's Gold), an album of demos plus a DVD with the Blackpool show plus promotional videos of most of the singles (including One Love which would otherwise be a notable absentee from the songs were this not the case). The Collectors Edition simply wasn't worth the additional £50-£60 for a vinyl version, USB stick (why?) and an extra disc with both sides of all the Silvertone singles.

So how does it sound? Terrific, to be honest. The project has been overseen by Ian Brown and John Leckie and the album has a much improved bottom end and a sharper sound at the top end which benefits Squire's guitar. There's a power to the music that's not always been so evident in the previous CD editions - and, of course, this is music that has been recycled, reissued and otherwise regurgitated in many forms by Silvertone in the past. Of course, it was a dispute with the label that was partially responsible for the extended length of time before Second Coming appeared, including an infamous court case where the band took out their anger at the company by turning up with paint which was liberally shared round the office but without too much artistic licence being shown. All in all, this can be regarded as the definitive edition - or should that be editions - of this album.

So to the music - does it merit the praise lavished on it over the years. Well, frankly, no it doesn't. That's not to say that it's not a very good album, it's just not a great album. The single are all great, as is I Am The Resurrection and Waterfall but the other tracks are no more than very listenable and passing off a track (Waterfall) in reverse as another cut on the album just strikes me as a band short of good enough material. The Roses' place in history is cemented in history by Fool's Gold which strikes me as a confluence of a band and history passing each other briefly in the night - no more and no less. Subsequent material, specifically One Love and the mediocre Second Coming album suggested that the band were on a downward spiral by the time they hit the heights of popularity.

The album of demos is enjoyable as I tend to find the more direct, and less produced versions of songs that usually populate such ventures. What is emphasised particularly on this is that this was a band with a superb rhythm section and a guitarist who, far from being a guitar hero, knew when not to play and also concentrated on a sound which though not in any way original was a perfect fit for the songs they were playing.

Of course, whatever your view of the Roses and their places in history it's almost taken as read that whatever else Ian Brown was he certainly wasn't a singer. As such, I watched the Blackpool DVD with some trepidation but, to be fair to the guy, his performance is no different than the album would have you expect.

The real tragedy of The Stone Roses is that they seemed incapable of moving on from the first album. It's iconic status is perhaps as much for what might have been, rather than for what was. It's a very good album, as noted, but worthy of the acclaim mentioned in the opening paragraph? No, it's not.