The Stone Roses is the debut studio album by English rock band the Stone Roses. It was recorded mostly at Battery Studios in London with producer John Leckie from June 1988 to February 1989 and released in May of that year by Silvertone Records. Despite not being an immediate success, the album grew popular alongside the band's high-profile concert performances, which also helped establish them as fixtures of the Madchester and baggy cultural scenes. The record's critical standing also improved significantly in later years, with The Stone Roses now considered to be one of the greatest albums of all time. It was voted number 11 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000). It has sold over four million copies worldwide.
I will gladly listen to this album again today. I've lived and breathed this music for a long time. It makes me happy to think about. The definition of a classic is a piece of art that amazes you yesterday. If you looked or listened to the art today - it's wondrous. If you find it years from now, on a random day because of a web site - it will be fucking evergreen. A must listen for British rock/pop.
Highly influential album, especially to me. It's a damn shame everything they made after this was pretty meh; I suppose some groups are only destined to make 1 really great thing. But hey I'm not complaining, if the best I could do was make 1 album as incredible and timeless as this I'd be pretty damn happy. One of the best albums to ever come out of Manchester, period.
How have I never heard any of this before?! Really enjoyed the easygoing sound. The guitars shimmer over the ethereal vocals on (This Is The One is a great example) and their songs seem to unfold delicately to reveal their story. Was Don’t Stop was recorded backwards? I Am The Resurrection is a wild mix of poppy music over some seriously angry lyrics, with a killer guitar ending. Love it so much. My favorite song from this album. Still perplexed how I missed this group entirely but very exciting to realize things like this are out there just waiting to be discovered.
A Manc conspiracy theorist primate with a voice like a de-tuned fog horn and his pals produce one of the greatest albums of all time, whodathunk it.
This is the one
6
Epic. A masterpiece. One of the best debut albums ever.
Easy 5 stars. Sublime They do lose a star due to Ian Brown's dangerous anti-vax conspiracy spreading but they also gain a star due to Ian Brown's impressive nunchuck skills
“The Stone Roses” by The Stone Roses (1989) Toying with horror yet failing to rise to the level of meaningfulness, this album is a work of art without coherence, much like the Jackson Pollock-inspired cover. This sound is interesting enough, given the limited talents of the band members. The drums stand out, however, avoiding standard rhythms mostly by subtraction. Interesting. We hear a sometimes-innovative arrangement of backing vocals, but nothing unexpected in the melodies or chord structures. The performance is generally tight. The group seems to exert a great deal of creative energy in trying to avoid typical pop sounds, without completely offending your average pop audience. (Cha-ching?) “Elizabeth My Dear” (“Greensleeves”) clearly reveals the serious limitations in the lead singer’s vocal abilities. The solo at 2:37 on “Made of Stone” clearly reveals the serious limitations of the guitar player. He was saved by the phase shifter. “Don’t Stop” is a silly backmasking gimmick. I had to stop. Nice rhythm section on “Shoot You Down”—it started off well enough, then the vocal and guitar proceeded to screw it up. This album would appeal to someone in the late 1980s who longed for an updating of the pop music of the mid-1960s. But not me. 2/5
Brilliant album from start to finish. One of my favourites. To start your debut with I wanna be adored, and finish with I am the resurrection is next level
I was never a Stone Roses fan and I’ve never listened to this album in full, although I know all the “big” tunes off of it. Difficult to rate this one because all the hits probably make it a 5 star album, but I rarely think about the Stone Roses or choose to listen to them. But their influence on other bands I rate is huge and the hits on this album are brilliant. Toss up between a 4 and a 5 for me. I’m feeling generous this morning after a West Ham win last night, so fuck it.
Byrds style jangly guitars, infectious melodies and grooves, mumbled mysterious lyrics. It worked in 89 and still sounds great now. One of The great British albums.
Lemon
Super not for me. I'm not surprised people regard this highly, but this type of indie/sad boy late 80s rock can eat a bunch of dicks.
Iconic!
Really cool guitars. Almost shoegazey at times. The voals plus a couple psychadelic effects like phasers and backwards guitar give it a retro 60s feel. I like it a lot. You can hear how Oasis would be influenced by them
Feels like a fully formed album and band, especially for their first album. Can hear similar tones to Pixies and Smiths. High energy drums and guitar mixed with spacey atmospheric singing and driving bass.
Listened to this a thousand times in my college years and it still sounds cool
The ultimate blend of Goth rock and jangle pop. "I Wanna Be Adored" is one of the most beautiful, longing, dulcet songs I've ever heard. Classic!
Beautiful debut album from Baggy/Madchester band The Stone Roses. Immersive soundscapes and interesting chords changes. Reminiscent of The Smiths but with a more psychedelic atmosphere.
This album is something else. While it very much feels like a product of the 1980's, carrying it with it the feel of the decade's pop or new wave artists, the way those elements are fused with the rock/alt-rock underpinnings results in something unlike anything I've ever heard. It's like The Smiths or New Order, but poppier and dance-ier. The album starts off incredibly strong with 'I Wanna Be Adored' and 'She Bangs the Drums', the latter being my favourite track on the album. However, it remains strong throughout - 'Waterfall', 'Bye Bye Bad Man', 'Sugar Spun Sister', 'Made of Stone' - this album is filled with bangers.
Had no idea what I was about to listen to. I found the first track (I Wanna Be Adored) unbelievably boring the first time through and was afraid I was going to loathe the rest of the album. But I smiled through the remaining songs and immediately started the record over. Love the Brit-pop vocals and jangly guitar. I'll come back to this one. p.s. If no one's done it yet, "This is the One" would be the perfect soundtrack to the ending of a manic pixie dream girl movie.
Brilliant, classic, hear its influences all over the place. I was a bit surprised how may of the songs I knew, but they released SIX singles, and one of the other songs is one of the singles backwards! Really enjoyed it, but now frustrated they didn't kick on from here.
A shimmery, jangly, dream!
I like how so many 4/5 reviewers seem surprised by this album. That was me back in '89 when this band showed up. Believe me, they surprised all of us. 1989-90, my freshman year in college. Stone Roses may have technically debuted in the middle of '89 and this gets talked about as an ‘80s album, but really the band is more about the ‘90s and what was to come. The Stone Roses sounded ridiculously fresh at the time, ushering in a sound that was really different from what came before it. It was all over college radio for a couple of years, and I carried a cassette of this album everywhere with me. There wasn’t anything particularly revolutionary about The Stone Roses that you could point out. But they took all the best aspects of what came before them (pop, post punk, psychedelic) and somehow managed to make a sound and a genre that was distinctively theirs. It really changed the way music sounded, for years. They were a bridge between the post punk sound of the 80s and Britpop and Indie music to come, while somehow skating past a lot of what was going on with alternative here in the States. The songs are unabashedly lovely. They’re jangly, shimmering, melodic, gorgeously hooky songs. The lyrics are occasionally hazy and lacking in depth, but it's forgivable when the music sounds this good. It’s sometimes trippy, sometimes self-indulgent, but enjoyable from front to back. It's a downright shame this band was around so briefly. But they left behind a perfect album. Fave Songs (All songs, in order from most to least favorite): I Wanna Be Adored, I Am the Resurrection, (Song for My) Sugar Spun Sister, Made of Stone, Shoot You Down, Bye Bye Bad Man, She Bangs the Drums, Don't Stop, Waterfall, This is the One, Elizabeth My Dear. Fool’s Gold, which wasn’t part of the original UK version, but was on my well-worn cassette, deserves a 5 all on its own.
Definitely a contender for one of the best debut albums, this is a classic that deserves its status. The vocals are mellow but never boring, the guitars jangle with bite, the bass throbs and the drums drive. There's some nice psychedelic touches but it always remains accessible. It's groovy enough to dance to and they remembered to bring some decent tunes along. Yep, this is a corker of an LP.
You can tell the musical quality of The Stone Roses at this time was supreme not only through the amount of singles of their debut, but also the songs left of the album. Fool's Gold, Mersey Paradise and Elephant Stone are some of the excellent tracks that were left of the original release. The tracks that made it instead are decent at worst and brilliant at best. I Wanna Be Adored, She Bangs the Drums, Made of Stone and I Am the Resurrection are the cream of the crop. The instrumentation is top-notch as well with the rhythm section knowing where to fire all cylinders and when to be understated. There is also some innovative tactics applied here as well, like reversing the instrument tracks on Waterfall to make Don't Stop. The vocals are calm and laidback which fit the songs very well, and the guitarist takes the songs to another level.
This was a bit of a treat. It’s one of my all time favourite albums so no real hardship popping it on. Such a perfect album and such an era-defining one to boot. Beatles-y psychedelic pop hooks, Squires making it all sound effortless, Mani and Reni bringing the backbeat, particularly stunning at the end of Resurrection, and Brown’s laid back vocals just sounding cooler than cool. Just ace.
This is a great, great album. It's not Britpop, that came about 4 years later, but it certainly set the scene for what was to come. I remember when I first heard Fool's Gold, it sounded like nothing else around at the time, and I rushed out to buy the CD. I was both surprised and disappointed to find Fool's Gold wasn't on the CD so I bought the vinyl 12" of Fools Gold as well, bases all covered. Turns out Fools Gold wasn't a whole lot like the album, and was recorded afterwards. Rhythm section is super solid, some fantastic bass playing (love it on I Want to be Adored), but what carries this album is the sublime guitar playing of John Squires. It's not the flashy poodle/glam rock guitar popular at the time (think Motley Crue, Skid Rock, Warrant). This is melodic, arpeggios and wah-pedal heavy trills, some reverse trickery and overdubs as well but it's all pure gold.
Not many debut albums have the consistency Ian Brown et al achieved with this. There are 8 absolute classic songs on here. But I've never thought the run of Don't Stop and Elizabeth my dear are good enough and most people just skip past them to the majestic sugar spun sister. This is a shame considering they left Love Spreads and Sally Cinnamon off this. The version I have been given by apple music has Love spreads on which I don't recall being on this. Further checks to the back of my original album version confirm this. All things considered though a classic album if not a perfect one. P.S- Ian Brown can't perform live and is an anti vax nob. 4/5
Tout commence une matinée d'avril. Alors que je venais de m'asseoir sur le siège d'une balançoire, celle voisine, jusque-là inoccupée fut prise d'assaut par un vieillard édenté. Je lui adressai un regard furtif qu'il ne sembla pas remarquer ni même rechercher. Un silence assez long suivit son arrivée. Il prit soudain la parole : "The Stone Roses" dit-il en se balançant d'avant en arrière et inversement. "Voulez-vous répéter ?" lui répondis-je avec tout l'étonnement du monde. "The Stone Roses" redit-il sans se faire prier. Son comportement n'augurait rien de bon. "J'ai peur de ne pas comprendre ce que vous me racontez." lui avouai-je. "The Stone Roses" répéta-t-il une nouvelle fois. Je commençais à m'agacer de la situation. "Voulez-vous bien arrêter de m'importuner ?" lui recommandai-je. "The Stone Roses" continua-t-il ; je le tuai.
Reasonable record that is not as good as the hype would suggest it would be. If I want to hear what this is hyped to be, I will listen to the Smiths.
Boring and forgettable
4/23 Hell of an album, from the production, the melodies, the songwriting, they went all-out for their debut. Standout Tracks: I Wanna Be Adored, Don't Stop, Bye Bye Bad Man, Made of Stone, This Is the One, Fools Gold
A real pre-Oasis, the LP started off okay, but really got more and more captivating as it went on.
Cheery mood songs :)
Loved this album. Absolute banger. It was a psych rock explosion.
This is so much better after the previous two albums. Honestly, it could be something I wouldn’t like much on its own, but hearing it after two albums I really didn’t like gives it a boost. So yeah, I do like this one. It’s definitely heading toward that alt-rock vibe that I prefer, and it’s good background listening music. I might actually consider looking up more of them for further listening.
All-Time-Lieblingsplatte. Zwischen "I wanna be adored" und "I am the Resurrection" ("Fool's Gold" war auf dem Originalrelease nicht drauf) nichts als Größenwahn und Zärtlichkeit, Working Class und Klassenkampf, Melodien für Jahrhunderte und frei flottierende Rhytmik. Und zwar galore und in jedem einzelnen Song ("Don't Stop" ist ja kein Song). Dazu die Looks, die Attitude und die Gang-Mentalität, mit denen sie selbst im Manchester ihrer Zeit (und es war ja IHRE Zeit) klare Außenseiter waren - und damit natürlich auch immer unerreichbar. Was sie dann aus all dem gemacht haben (Scheitern vor allem, vor dem ihnen sofort errichteten Denkmal) steht auf einem anderen Blatt. Fragt mich gern, dann erzählt Opa mal so richtig von früher und wie das damals war und heute ist in Manchester! Hierfür: klare 6 Sterne.
Beim Debutalbum der Stone Roses könnte ich zu fast jedem Song eine eigene Geschichte schreiben, wann und wo er in meinem Leben eine Rolle gespielt hat. Bin zwar zu jung, um sie zu Release-Zeit als das Phänomen wahrgenommen zu haben, dass die Stone Roses bis heute sind, aber 4 Abende nacheinander das Etihad Stadion in Manchester auszuverkaufen ist auch knapp 30 Jahre später mühelos möglich und fühlte sich wahnsinnig junggeblieben an. Für alle! Allein „Fools Gold“, dieser Song ohne Strophe aber mit einer Zeitlosigkeit behaftet, dass er auch noch frisch und verheißungsvoll klingt. Und niemals, niemals altert. Mann, was für ein Album. Und das an deinem Geburtstag, Guido! This is the one!
best yet.
6/5.
Feel like I've been giving out a lot of 5s recently, but this is a great album that influenced so many of the bands I used to love, and some j still do.
A classic
Ridiculous debut from the godfathers of indie
Classic British indie rock. Best Tracks: I Wanna Be Adored, She Bangs The Drum, I am the Resurrection
Listened to this once or twice down the years!
Yes, good
Best debut album ever
one of my all time favourites
buenisimo
false
this is really great.
Great album. Feels like the missing link between The Beatles and Oasis. 'She Bangs the Drums' is a banger.
Dear god, the shimmery chorus pedal… inject that directly into my eardrums. Cranberries-esque. I love it. Vocal melodies and harmonies are great. I bet the Uninvited guys love this album. There’s a clear influence there. “Elizabeth, my dear” - cheeky “Scarborough Fair” parody. But she’s still queen, you poor bastards! 32 years later! First time I have rolled it back for a second listen. That’s probably a good sign, lol
One of the best
Masterpiece!
Never heard of these guys before but was a solid album, good guitars, chill music with some oomph. Another review compared to Oasis before there was Oasis and I could see where they're getting that. Dig this, will be adding some of their tunes to my playlist.
5/5 - fantastic album! Great surprise
Some of it gets a bit wanky, especially the backwards parts but it doesn't really detract from the high points
Me gustó mucho. Aprecio la ondita ecléctica y medio caótica que tiene y a ratos hypnagogica, así como que se te pasó el clonazepam. Un poco de aquí, de allá y maracuyá, el britpop hubiera sido mejor si se hubiera seguido una linea más parecida a lo que traian estos dudes. Favs: Don´t Stop, Made of Stone y I wanna be adored. Mood: I don't need to sell my soul.
Otro clásico.
Shame he's an absolute whopper
Rock, Alternative/Indie, Pop 1989
Great suprise here, the album is full of catchy songs with lots of harmonies, my guilty pleasure. Interesting sound also for late 80s, prog and psychodelic rock paired with some 80s dance influence
Very good
One of the greatest debut albums of all time. It’s influence spanned far and wide and it barely has a weak moment - an easy five stars
Adored.
What a fantastic album this is. My favorite from this Madchwster scene. So melodic and soulful. One great song after another and my vinyl copy doesn't even have Fools Gold. 5 🌟
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
One of the best debut albums ever, I didn't like it at all when I first played it. A masterpiece...5/5
Fantastic
The most formative album of the Madchester scene. I wore out my tape and had to buy an album!
Britpop perfection. One of the best albums of the 80s. 9-10/10 1. Fools Gold 2. I Wanna Be Adored 3. Made of Stone
Oh yesssss, my kind of music. So Moody. Makes me feel alive.
This will always be one of my favorite albums ever. It's certainly their high point as a band. Song For My Sugar Spun Sister, Fool's Gold and especially I Am The Resurrection are the highlights.
A solid album through and through. Dig a lot of the songs, especially I Am The Resurrection.
Sí escuchabas Radio3 en los finales de los 80 y principio de los 90 este es tu disco. Una banda que se fue a la porra por el negocio y las mierd*s de los contratos. Después de este disco impresionante tardaron años en volver y en cierta forma ya era tarde, pero este éxito no se lo puede quitar nadie. 5 estrellas ***** totales. I wanna be adored, She bangs the drums, Waterfall, Don't Stop, Sugar spoon sister, Made of stone, Shoot you down, This is the one y I am the resurrection.
Classic and excellent
MADCHESTER. BIBLICAL.
10/10
Debut album is very good!
Great Debut album! Never explored this band before, but this album is an amazing gem.
Loved it, some really great songs
As I think back to the summer of 2012, I believe that it would have been utterly bleak if it weren't for this album. I don't remember much from this period of time but, what I do remember, this was the soundtrack. A path down the rabbit hole ensued with this band (I never ventured into the third album) and they are forever engrained, in my mind, in these sublime sounds they created. Thank you Stone Roses, you are adored indeed.
"I don't need to sell my soul; he's already in me" is one of the great rock lyrics of all time. 5 stars for that line alone.
Uuh, paluu ikisuosikkien pariin. Varsinkin ekat 3 biisiä mennään oman musamaun zeniitissä. Loputkin maistuu ja fiilaan tunnelmaa. Fools Gold on tietty upea ja kai sen voi tälle levylle laskea. Ehkä tää on puolet 5/5 ja puolet 4/5, mutta pyöristetään nyt ylöspäin, kun ei vitosia tule liikaa jaeltua.
❤️
Superbonito
This one my top five albums, one of the easiest five star reviews ever. Everthing they wrote and recorded around 88-91 are just magic.
Nostalgia strikes again! I was a bit too young when it was first released, it wasn't until the mid/late-90s when the rock nightclub in Liverpool, the Krazy House, used to always play I Am The Resurrection for their penultimate song. I picked up a copy of the album and it became a regular listen.
Solid gold banger.
Some of the best songs ever written. A couple of duds though still what a banger.
Classic 5 out of 5
Is it one of the best debut albums of all time? It's up there.
I have loved this album since it first came out. Every time I listen to it I can't believe how good it is. The best!
As a very famous 90s footballer, I know this record incredibly well. The boys in the dressing room would always stick this on after a big win and suck eachother off. Those days when the entire Chelsea first team and backroom staff would jizz all over me were some of the best times ever.
Massive formative part of my life was spent listening to this album. if you took don't stop off then this would be very close to perfection for me. i wonder what the yanks think of the whole baggy manc thing?
that was actually surprisingly enjoyable I’ve been getting a lot of this 90s britpop but it hasn’t yet been bad 9/10
One all time favourite - tunes start to finish !