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The Stones Roses: The Stone Roses: Legacy Edition

December 9th, 2009 | No Comments

By: Ron Hart

In a recent issue of the NME, former Stone Roses frontman Ian Brown recently admitted to the roots of the band’s near-ten-minute, ecstasy fueled, baggy funk epic “Fool’s Gold”, the centerpiece of their eponymous 1989 debut, an album that the popular UK music weekly hailed as the greatest British rock album of all time (to the collective gasp and balk of Beatles, Zep, Stones, Bowie, Floyd and Who fans the world over, undoubtedly).

“The Stone Roses were mad into James Brown,” he enthusiastically proclaimed. “We actually wrote ‘Fools Gold’ over ‘The Funky Drummer’ – we had it playing on a porta-studio and Reni had to learn how to play that beatÂ…James Brown was a sheer force of nature. I used to go to a lot of Northern Soul nights in the early 1980s in places like Scarborough and Doncaster and ‘Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag’ was a big tune for us then.”

The way that Ian Brown gushes over the Godfather of Soul in that article is exactly how a whole generation of kids felt about The Stone Roses back when they first hit the national spotlight in the late ’80s. Disgruntled, disenchanted and disgusted by the warmed over Eurotrash sounds of the decade in the wake of New Wave, British kids were clamoring for an exciting new sound at the dawn of the Thatcher era with a vehemence similar to that of the Mods in the 1960s and the Punks in the ’70s. And with their “Madchester” sound – an ear-pleasing fusion of Britpop’s jangly melodies and the driving acid house rhythms of the then-burgeoning UK rave culture, this ragtag quartet, whose classic lineup consisted of singer Brown, guitarist John Squire, bassist Gary Manny “Mani” Mounfield, and drummer Alan John Wren (aka Reni), delivered the brave new sonic frontier youth were looking for with an album loaded with great songs like “I Wanna Be Adored,” “She Bangs The Drums,” “Waterfall,” and, of course, “Fool’s Gold,” changing the course of British-based rock music and inspiring such household names as Oasis and Blur in the process.

In celebration of its 20th anniversary, Silvertone Records, in conjunction with Legacy Recordings, has rolled out the proverbial red carpet in delivering a reissue campaign of the first Stone Roses album with a level of reverence worthy of a work deemed to be the greatest of all time. Similar to the way Legacy had delivered the remastered edition of Pearl Jam’s 1991 debut, Ten, earlier in 2009, the Roses’ 1989 debut is being offered in four different formats. And, depending on your budget in these tight economic times, each version offers something worthwhile for fans of this classic LP.

The Special Edition is a single disc set, which features “Fool’s Gold” as a bonus track. Fans who originally picked up the Silvertone disc back in ’89 will remember that the track was, in fact, initially available in the first run, so it is good to see it back in the mix once again. However, more serious fans with a little more cash to burn would be wise to invest in the Legacy Edition, which features the remastered version of the original album with “Fool’s Gold” as the 12th track as well as a second disc of rough demos from the initial recording sessions that includes one previously unreleased full song entitled “Pearl Bastard,” which is also available as a bonus single-sided 7-inch on the Vinyl Edition of the album (buyer beware: this version, sadly, does not include “Fool’s Gold”). The Legacy Edition also features a generous DVD that contains an August 1989 live performance of the album from London’s Blackpool Empress Ballroom as well as the videos for the LP’s six singles (“Waterfall,” “Fool’s Gold,” “I Wanna Be Adored,” “One Love,” “She Bangs The Drums,” and “Standing Here”).

But for major fanatics of this album, it’s the mammoth Collector’s Edition that you will want to add to your wish list this holiday season. Encased in a hardbound slipcase covered in Squire’s iconic Jackson Pollock-esque cover art, you not only get everything the Legacy Edition entails, but also a third disc compiling all of the A- and B-sides. And all the tunes – the original album, the Lost Demos set and the B-Sides collection – come in both the CD and vinyl formats in this bad boy. Additional goodies in the Collector’s Edition include a lemon-shaped USB thumb drive (in honor of the cover), which contains all of the audio from the set as well as five previously unheard backwards jams and album producer John Leckie‘s personal home movie entitled Up at Sawmills: The Making of Fools Gold, as well as a hardcover version of the 48-page book from the Legacy set that features rare and never-before-seen photos and newly penned liner notes from all four band members, Leckie, and a wide range of prolific fans, including former Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher, super producer Mark Ronson, Tim Burgess of the Charlatans UK, and Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie among others, not to mention 12-inch art prints showcasing Squire’s cover art for all six singles.

Unfortunately, there is not a big enough fan base to merit this kind of a reissue campaign for the Roses’ sorely under-appreciated 1994 follow-up, Second Coming, as more fans remain repulsed by the band’s darker, heavier sophomore effort than enamored by it, lthough there is a small minority who do feel that it is just as good as their debut, present company included. However, for those of you who do consider The Stone Roses’ debut to be the greatest British rock album ever, as per the NME, one of these definitive versions Legacy has put out will have everything you need and then some.

JamBase | Rosey
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Back to work

September 7th, 2009 | No Comments

Been off work for three weeks on leave during which my wife and I had our third baby. Until ten days ago “three under three” was more a catchphrase or draft title of a mum’s self help book than a reality. Now the reality has kicked in. Overwhelmingly it is joy – little Rowan is [...]

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We will protect air travel – Miliband

July 14th, 2009 | No Comments

Mass air travel will be preserved even in a low-carbon Britain because the government will find deeper emissions cuts in other areas, the climate change secretary Ed Miliband said today.

Dismissing demands for punitive sanctions to curb flying, Miliband said the government was determined to ensure that airline travel remains affordable for ordinary people.

In a Guardian interview, ahead of the publication of a white paper on climate change, Miliband said air travel would become more expensive as Britain tries to meet a G8 target to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 80% by 2050. But he said it would be wrong to impose the target on airlines, which will be covered by the European Emissions Trading Scheme from 2012 if they fly to and from the EU.

“Where I disagree with other people on aviation is if you did 80% cuts across the board, as some people have called for on aviation, you would go back to 1974 levels of flying,” he said. “I don’t want to have a situation where only rich people can afford to fly.”

Miliband spoke of the importance of flying for his constituents in Doncaster which has benefited after an RAF airbase was turned into an international airport in 2005. “People in my constituency have benefited from being able to have foreign travel which, 40 years ago, the middle classes took for granted,” he said. “There are sacrifices and changes in lifestyle necessary. But the job of government is to facilitate them and understand people’s lives and what they value.”

The pledge by Miliband echoes remarks by Tony Blair in 2007 who said it would be wrong to impose “unrealistic targets” on airline travellers. Britain has pledged to bring its aviation emissions down to 2005 levels by 2050.

Miliband’s remarks are designed to illustrate the government’s overall approach to meeting the 2050 target which will not involve imposing a blanket 80% cut on all areas of the economy. The white paper is expected to build on government plans to tolerate relatively high emissions in one area if action is taken in other areas by, for example, lagging lofts and driving less. Carbon levels have already been brought down from 1990 levels, the benchmark for global climate talks. So far they have been reduced by 22% and are due to come down by 34% by 2020, with a target of at least 80% due in 2050.

The government has already announced that will be achieved by dividing the economy into a series of sectors. The biggest is power, with others including transport, homes, work places and agriculture.

Miliband will outline on Wednesday how much carbon Britain is emitting in each area and will suggest steps to bring them down. He refused to outline the details of his white paper out of respect to John Bercow, the new Commons speaker, who has demanded ministers make announcements first to parliament. But he said his philosophy is to outline a vision of “green hope” – with jobs in green technology and a safer country – not “green despair”.

“If Martin Luther King had come along and said ‘I have a nightmare’ people would not have followed him,” Miliband said, quoting someone he met at the Guardian’s recent Manchester climate change summit. “You have to persuade people that, yes, there are costs of not acting but also there is a vision of society at the end of this: more secure, more prosperous, fairer better quality of life. All those things are crucial to persuade people to take the leap.

“All our research indicates that people in Britain are not climate change deniers. But now they are persuaded it is a problem, you have to start offering them a vision about how you tackle the problem.”

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds


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