Well it's been a long time but I'm back and have found some time to say hello. I thought I'd come back and review some stuff I've been listening to over my holidays. So the next 3 posts will be reviews. Hopefully it might make you buy some of the tracks, or at least youtube them, becuase if it's got my seal of approval, you KNOW it might be reasonable.Ian Brown disgraced himself in 199something when he went on stage at Reading and sang like a drunken, doped upm mancunian...oh wait. Sadly that is how he has been remembered. Also for doing something on a plane. But he has also been known for being quite a talented chap. He, Mani, Remi and the other one released a few great albums, a compiation and one I didn't like. Then Brown went on to make some solo stuff that was deemed by the holier-than-thou NME writers as "ok".
Then Brown makes a new song. Stellify. And what a song. A song to rival F.E.A.R in my opinion. But no-one listens to it becuase it doesn't get airplay. Whereas that awful new Sugarbabes song does.
So the debut Stone Roses album. The iconic madchester album for me. With some of the greatest tracks of the 20th century involved (Fools Gold, I Am the Ressurection and Sally Cinnamon). NME like it, creepy indie weirdos like it and even my dad likes it. So it's music for the people. I still find it difficult to find one bad song on there. Of course there are one or two low points but not low points like on that crappy AC/DC album, in which the songs went up and down like Wall Street in the 20's (My history teacher would be proud!).
Hopefully you've heard of Fool's Gold and if you have then you'll also agree that it's a whip-crackingly, fist-raisingly, stunningly good song. 9 minutes of fautless music, chopped down for radio. Sally Cinnamon and I Wanna Be Adored tell stories that could make entire albums themselves. I Am The Ressurection is a self-proclaimed ballad of the late 80's/early 90's and She Bang's The Drum will have your foot tapping in no time.
Seems to me that kids these days (I am getting old) are hearing of old bands and buying "Best Of"'s. Now that's really good because it gets kids listening to the old school stuff. But it also ruins it for them. Me and my mother (who - I recently found - has quite good taste in music) decided that the problem with the compilation is you don't get the hidden treasures. That's why buying the self-titled original Roses album is a much better idea than getting the compilation.
So what of Brown's solo stuff? Some of it is good (Music of the Sphere's and the new un-named album) but some is also bloody awful (everything else). He goes through phases Brown does. Momentary genius followed by subdued and underlying awfulness. The first time I watched the anthemic F.E.A.R was in my living room on MTV. I fell in love with the song. The way he makes every lyric follow the acronym, but still retain the meaning is genius. Then I remember that the next single was an atrocious conglomeration of him complaining and looking like a meth addict after a 5 week binge. I couldn't tell you what it was or what happened in the video because I switched it over to Hey Arnold.
But sitting on my sickly green sofa eating toast and watching Brown cycle backwards through Soho made my youth just as much as Bittersweet Symphony did. Perhaps I'm too obsessed with Britpop/Madchester. But I see a revival very soon. Viva la Revolution people!
Stone Roses 9.5/10
The Complete Stone Roses 8.5/10
Music of the Spheres 9/10
Stellify 8/10
Peace x
