The Stone Roses - Garage Flower (1985)

As I mentioned in the first post by The Stone Roses, in mid 1985 they made their first attempt at recording an album, and employed the services of legendary producer Martin Hannett to record their songs. Despite Hannett being at the controls, when the album was finished the band were unhappy with the production and the songs, and so it remained unreleased for many years. Once the band released their official debut album in 1989 to huge acclaim, it's no surprise that bootlegs of their earlier attempt started to appear, and fans were thrilled to hear early versions of future classics like 'I Wanna Be Adored' and 'This Is The One', along-side embryonic takes of the first three singles, and many songs that have never since seen the light of day. In 1985 the band would just have changed their name from 'English Rose', and decided to give the mod sound a miss, and so the playing is harsh, primitive post-punk, closer to Killing Joke and their earliest days as the Clash-inspired The Patrol than anything that came after, but the attitude and the songwriting are already well in place. Bassist Andy Couzens was co-writer of nine of these 14 songs, and so when he left and was replaced by Mani that changed the dynamic of the band, with John Squire and Ian Brown taking over the songwriting. Even at this early stage you can hear Squire's stabbing, ripping chords on tracks like 'Heart on The Staves', while 'Getting Plenty' is almost as dramatic, 'Trust A Fox' hammers toward the shouted, sneered "hello" chorus, and Reni goes wild on 'Tradjic Roundabout'. The album was finally officially released in 1996, very much against the wishes of the band, who refused to have anything to so with it, resulting in there being minimal information about the recordings in the sleevenotes, but even after all this time I'm sure there are still fans out there who've missed this who would jump at the chance of hearing these early recordings by their favourite band.  

Track listing

01 Getting Plenty 
02 Here It Comes 
03 Trust A Fox 
04 Tradjic Roundabout 
05 All I Want 
06 Heart On The Staves 
07 I Wanna Be Adored 
08 This Is The One 
09 Fall 
10 So Young 
11 Tell Me 
12 Haddock 
13 Just A Little Bit 
14 Mission Impossible 

The Stone Roses - Groove Harder (1995)

When The Stone Roses released the single 'Fools Gold'/'What the World Is Waiting For' in 1989, 'Fools Gold' was orignally intended as the b-side, but the song quickly became one of the band's most famous songs, and merited an extended version on the 12" single, becoming their first top ten UK hit. This success led to their biggest headline gigs in 1989, to 4,000 people at Blackpool's Empress Ballroom and to 7,000 people at London's Alexandra Palace, and the group won four NME Readers poll awards that year - Band of the Year, Best New Band, Single of the Year for 'Fools Gold', and Album of the Year for 'The Stone Roses'. Their gig at Spike Island on 7 May 1990 was attended by some 27,000 people, and although it was considered a failure at the time due to sound problems and bad organisation, it's since become legendary over the years as a "Woodstock for the baggy generation". Their final single for Silvertone was 'One Love', which reached number four in the UK singles chart, and which proved to be the band's last original release for four years, entering a protracted legal battle to terminate their five-year contract with the label. Silvertone owners Zomba Records took out an injunction in September 1990 to prevent the band from recording with any other label, but in May 1991 the court sided with the group, and they were released from their contract. The band subsequently signed with Geffen Records for a million-pound advance, and began work on their second album, but an appeal against the ruling delayed the record for another year, and the band finally started work on the record in mid-1993.

Progress was slow, with producer John Leckie ultimately leaving the project as the band would not sign a production contract, and the band assuming production duties with engineer Simon Dawson at Rockfield Studios in Wales, spending 347 ten-hour days working on the album. 'Second Coming' finally arrived on 5 December 1994, and their sound had changed to a shady, heavy blues rock sound, mostly due to Squire writing most of the material. 'Love Spreads' was the first single from the album, reaching number two on the UK Singles Chart, but 'Second Coming' received a mixed reception from the British press, with poor reviews and much being made of the length of time it took to record. In March 1995, just two weeks before a tour in support of 'Second Coming' was due to begin, Reni exited the band following a disagreement with Ian Brown, and a replacement drummer had to be found, with Robbie Maddix filling the drum-stool. After a couple of aborted attempts at setting up a tour, the band finally organised a full UK tour for November and December 1995 and all dates sold out in a day. John Squire announced his departure on 1 April 1996, blaming the gradual social and musical separation that the band had undergone in the past few years, and guitarist Aziz Ibrahim was recruited as a replacement. The band continued for another six months, but there was a noticeable deterioration in the quality of its public performances after Squire's loss, and the music press was united in its criticism, leading to Brown and Mani dissolving the group in October 1996. Their singles from 1989 onwards often added extended versions to the 12" versions, so we start with the full length version of the song that ended the last post, and which heralded the start of the band's attempts to 'groove harder'. While this post only has seven tracks it's still a full 48-minute album, so enjoy the final days of this iconic UK indie band.  

Track listing

01 Fools Gold (extended single 1989)
02 One Love (extended single 1990)
03 Something's Burning (extended b-side of 'One Love')
04 Breakout (b-side of 'Love Spreads' 1994)
05 Groove Harder (b-side of 'Love Spreads' 1994)
06 Moses (b-side of 'Ten Storey Love Song' 1995)
07 Ride On (b-side of 'Ten Storey Love Song' 1995)

The Stone Roses - So Young (1991)

The Stone Roses formed in Manchester in 1983, and one of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement in the late 1980's and early 1990's. The classic and most prominent lineup consisted of vocalist Ian Brown, guitarist John Squire, bassist Mani and drummer Reni, and started when Brown (who at the time was a bassist) and guitarist John Squire formed a short-lived Clash-inspired band called The Patrol in 1980 along with singer/guitarist Andy Couzens and drummer Simon Wolstencroft, and they played several gigs in 1980 and recorded a demo tape. Towards the end of that year they decided on a change of direction, as Brown had got a taste of being a frontman during the last Patrol show, singing Sweet's 'Block Buster!' to close the set, and Couzens wanted to concentrate on guitar. The band members lost enthusiasm in 1981, with Brown selling his bass guitar to buy a scooter, and Wolstencroft joining Johnny Marr and Andy Rourke's pre-Smiths band Freak Party, but Squire continued to practise guitar while working as an animator for Cosgrove Hall during the day, and together with Couzens he started a new band, The Fireside Chaps, with bassist Gary "Mani" Mounfield, and later recruited a singer named David "Kaiser" Carty and drummer Chris Goodwin. After changing their name to The Waterfront, their sound became influenced by 1960's groups and contemporary bands such as Orange Juice, but Goodwin left the band recorded their first demo, and shortly afterwards Squire asked Brown to join as singer, joining The Waterfront in late 1983, for a time sharing vocals with Dave Carty. Like the earlier attempts at bands, The Waterfront fizzled out, but in late 1983 Couzens decided to try again, and approached Brown, and together they decided on Wolstencroft as drummer and Pete Garner as bassist, and they also decided that they needed Squire in the band, and when he agreed the band's line-up was cemented. They worked solely on new material, and after rehearsing for some time without a band name, Squire came up with The Stone Roses. 

The band rehearsed for six months, during which time Wolstencroft had been auditioning for other bands, and he left to join Terry Hall's The Colourfield, so Goodwin rejoined, but he lasted for only one rehearsal, and an ad for a replacement eventually resulted in Alan "Reni" Wren joining in May 1984. After rehearsing and writing songs over the summer, they recorded their first demo in late August, making 100 cassettes, with artwork by Squire, and set about trying to get gigs, debuting as The Stone Roses on 23 October 1984, supporting Pete Townshend at an anti-heroin concert at the Moonlight Club in London. Following this high-profile gig, the band was interviewed by Garry Johnson of Sounds magazine, and the band received management offers, with ex-Hacoenda manager Howard Jones eventually taking on the band. They played their first headlining gig on 4 January 1985, and had their first recording session with legendary producer Martin Hannett in January 1985 at Strawberry Studios in Stockport, aiming to record tracks for a single and an album. Further sessions followed in March, during which they recorded two tracks which would be come their debut single, the double A-side 'So Young'/'Tell Me', and they were invited to play a live session on Piccadilly Radio in March, for which they premiered a new song, 'I Wanna Be Adored'. A tour of Sweden followed in April, and on their return they returned to the studio to record their debut album, but hey were unhappy with the results, as the band's sound was changing, and so it was shelved, later being released as 'Garage Flower', although they did release the 'So Young' single. In 1986 they began working on new material, including 'Sally Cinnamon', and at the same time they parted company with Jones and took on Gareth Evans as manager, using his International 1 venue as their new rehearsal space. As Brown and Squire began collaborating more closely on songwriting, they decided that they should take a larger slice of the money than the other band members, and so Couzens and Wren left the band in protest, although they soon returned. Couzens played an ill-fated gig with the band at the end of May, before being pushed out of the band by Evans after flying home alone while the rest of the band returned in their van, and in December 1986 they recorded their first demo as a four-piece, including the first studio recordings of 'Sugar Spun Sister' and 'Elephant Stone'. 

In early 1987, Evans negotiated a deal with Black/FM Revolver for a one-off release on the specially created Black Records label, and 'Sally Cinnamon' became the band's second single, although the chiming guitar hooks and strong melody alienated some of their old fans, but also attracted many new ones. In June, Garner announced that he was leaving, although he stayed until they found a replacement in Rob Hampson, who only lasted a week before he too was replaced by old Waterfront band-mate Mani. In early 1988 the band played at Dingwalls in London, and Zomba/Rough Trade's Geoff Travis was interested in signing the band, even funding studio time to record 'Elephant Stone' with Peter Hook producing. Roddy McKenna, A&R executive with Zomba, asked if they could be transferred internally to Andrew Lauder's newly created guitar-based Silvertone Records subsidiary, who signed them to an eight-album deal, and bought the 'Elephant Stone' tapes from Rough Trade to release as a single in October 1988. In 1988 and early 1989 the Stone Roses recorded their debut album at Battery Studios and Konk Studios in London, and Rockfield Studios in Wales, produced by John Leckie. 'Elephant Stone' had made little impact, and band's performances outside the north-west were still attracting small audiences, but their 'Made Of Stone' single received more press attention and was picked up for airplay by DJ Richard Skinner on his late night Radio One show. The band's eponymous debut album was released in April 1989, and entered the UK Albums Chart at number 32, followed by the single 'She Bangs The Drums', which gave them a top forty UK hit. Later in 1989 the band released a non-album double A-side single, 'Fools Gold'/'What The World Is Waiting For', which reached number eight on the UK Singles Chart, and which quickly became one of the band's most famous songs. There are quite a few Stone Roses collections out there, but very few of them include their first two singles, and none of them include all the early b-sides, so this post has every non-album track that they recorded up to 1989, excluding the 'Garage Flowers' album, which will appear in its own right later.   

Track listing

01 So Young (single 1985)
02 Tell Me (b-side of 'So Young')
03 Sally Cinnamon (single 1987)
04 All Across The Sands (b-side of 'Sally Cinnamon')
05 Here It Comes (b-side of 'Sally Cinnamon')
06 Elephant Stone (single 1988)  
07 Full Fathom Five (b-side of 'Elephant Stone')
08 The Hardest Thing In The World (b-side of 'Elephant Stone')
09 Going Down (b-side of 'Made Of Stone' 1989)
10 Guernica (b-side of 'Made Of Stone' 1989)
11 Simone (b-side of 'I Wanna Be Adored' 1989)
12 Where Angels Play (b-side of 'I Wanna Be Adored' 1989)
13 Mersey Paradise (b-side of 'She Bangs The Drums' 1989)
14 Standing Here (b-side of 'She Bangs The Drums' 1989)
15 Fools Gold (single 1989)
16 What The World Is Waiting For (b-side of 'Fools Gold' )