Second Coming (The Stone Roses album)

Second Coming
Studio album by The Stone Roses
Released 5 December 1994 (1994-12-05)[1]
Recorded 1992–1994
Genre
Length 78:38
Label Geffen
Producer
  • Simon Dawson
  • Paul Schroeder
The Stone Roses chronology
Turns Into Stone
(1992)Turns Into Stone1992		 Second Coming
(1994)		 The Complete Stone Roses
(1995)The Complete Stone Roses1995
Singles from Second Coming
  1. "Love Spreads"
    Released: 21 November 1994
  2. "Ten Storey Love Song"
    Released: 27 February 1995
  3. "Begging You"
    Released: 30 October 1995

Second Coming is the second studio album by English rock band The Stone Roses, released through Geffen Records on 5 December 1994[1] in the UK and in early 1995 in the US.[3] It was recorded at Forge Studios in Oswestry, Shropshire and Rockfield Studios near Monmouth in Wales between 1992 and 1994. It went platinum in the UK and sold over 1 million copies worldwide and was dedicated to Philip Hall, the band's publicist, who died of cancer in 1993.

Background

The second album by the Manchester four-piece, it suffered greatly at the time from the sheer weight of expectation generated by both the 5½ year gap between it and the band's eponymous debut, and the band's withdrawal from the live arena for 4½ of those years. There had been speculation in the British press that the high expectations from their debut record had left the band "paralyzed with self-doubt" according to the Los Angeles Times.[4] In addition, The Stone Roses made their return in a changed musical environment, with the UK newly ensconced in Britpop with the "big four" of Suede, Blur, Oasis and Pulp as the premier rock bands of the day. The album reached number 4 in the UK Album Chart.[5]

Second Coming features tribal rhythms, 1970s-style extended guitar riffs, funky rock/blues numbers with jazz elements and campfire style songs such as "Your Star Will Shine" and "Tightrope" that hint at the band's rural surroundings at the time (the band moved to Wales to make the album). Three singles ("Love Spreads", "Ten Storey Love Song", and "Begging You") from the album were released in the UK.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[7]
Entertainment WeeklyB−[8]
The Guardian[9]
Los Angeles Times[10]
NME6/10[11]
Q[12]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[13]
Select4/5[14]
Spin6/10[15]

Second Coming was released to generally mixed reviews in the UK and US.[4] Rolling Stone awarded the record two out of five stars, calling its songs "tuneless retropsychedelic grooves bloated to six-plus minutes in length."[4] The Los Angeles Times were more positive, however, praising John Squire's "inspired guitar work" and concluding that "while the album's impact is undercut by some tunes that seem little more than fragments, the standouts offer a soulful earnestness as they speak of the search for salvation and comfort amid the tension and uncertainty of contemporary life."[10]

Select ranked the album at number twelve in its end-of-year list of the 50 best albums of 1995.[16]

Track listing

CD

All tracks written by John Squire, except where noted.

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Breaking into Heaven" 11:21
2."Driving South" 5:09
3."Ten Storey Love Song" 4:29
4."Daybreak"Ian Brown, Gary Mounfield, Squire, Alan Wren6:33
5."Your Star Will Shine" 2:59
6."Straight to the Man"Brown3:15
7."Begging You"Squire, Brown4:56
8."Tightrope" 4:27
9."Good Times" 5:40
10."Tears" 6:50
11."How Do You Sleep" 4:59
12."Love Spreads" 5:46
90."Untitled" (hidden track)Brown, Mounfield, Squire, Wren6:26
  • After "Love Spreads" are 77 silent tracks, each lasting 4 seconds. These are followed by an untitled hidden track, generally referred to as "Foz".[17] This is, in turn, followed by a further 9 silent tracks bringing the total number of tracks to 99. In the digital version, there are no silent tracks before or after "Foz".

Charts

Album
Year Chart Peak
position
1994 UK Album Charts 4[5]

Personnel

The Stone Roses
  • Ian Brown – lead vocals, harmonica, recording of running water on "Breaking into Heaven"
  • John Squire – electric and acoustic guitars, vocals on "Tightrope", backing vocals on "How Do You Sleep", recording of jets on "Begging You", collage
  • Mani – bass guitar
  • Reni – drums, backing vocals, vocals on "Tightrope", recording of running water on "Breaking into Heaven"
Technical personnel
  • Simon Dawson – keyboards, Jew's harp on "Straight to the Man", castanets, Wurlitzer electric piano on "Straight to the Man" and "Tears", acoustic piano on "How Do You Sleep" and "Love Spreads"; production, engineering on tracks 1, 2, 5, 6, 9, 12
  • Paul Schroeder – production on tracks 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, engineering on tracks 1, 2, 6, 9
  • John Leckie – partly responsible for recording on tracks 3, 7, 11, recording on "Breaking into Heaven" intro
  • Mark Tolle – initial recording on tracks 4, 8, 10
  • Al "Bongo" Shaw – initial recording on tracks 4, 8, 10
  • Nick Brine – assistant engineering; tambourine on "Love Spreads"

References

  1. 1 2 Johnson, Johnny (February 1995). "Coming Out". Vox. pp. 14–19. Archived from the original (print) on 12 March 2010. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
  2. ↑ Trendell, Andrew (8 April 2014). "Britpop is 20: ten 1994 albums that started it all". Gigwise. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  3. ↑ THE DEFINITIVE STONE ROSES DISCOGRAPHY – 'The Stone Roses'
  4. 1 2 3 Hilburn, Robert (5 February 1995). "POP MUSIC : The Roses Bloom Again". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  5. 1 2 "Official Charts - The Stone Roses". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  6. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Second Coming – The Stone Roses". AllMusic. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  7. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-85712-595-8.
  8. ↑ Jackson, Devon (20 January 1995). "Second Coming". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  9. ↑ "CD of the week: Stone Roses (You've waited five years, but is it any good?)". The Guardian. 9 December 1994.
  10. 1 2 "The Bloom Is Back on Stone Roses". Los Angeles Times. 15 January 1995. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  11. ↑ Harris, John (12 October 1994). "The Stone Roses – Second Coming". NME. Archived from the original on 11 March 2000. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  12. ↑ Kelly, Danny (February 1995). "The Stone Roses: Second Coming". Q (101).
  13. ↑ Wolk, Douglas (2004). "The Stone Roses". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian. The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. p. 785. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  14. ↑ Hall, Matt (February 1995). "The Led and How to Swing It". Select (56): 80–81. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  15. ↑ Bernstein, Jonathan (March 1995). "The Stone Roses: Second Coming". Spin. 10 (12): 94–95. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  16. ↑ "50 Albums of the Year". Select (67): 78–79. January 1996. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  17. ↑ "Stone Roses, The – Second Coming (CD, Album) at Discogs". Retrieved 2010-12-14.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.