The Stone Roses
Second Coming

THE REVIEW

Second Coming is considered by many critics to be a poor album, perhaps because it's compared to the famous and successful debut album. The second album by the Stone Roses is instead a good album that can be appreciated slowly and not on the first listen. The "second to arrive".

The troubled history is well known, and the most ardent fans of the Stone Roses will surely know it. After the first album, the Stone Roses had legal problems and, overwhelmed by success, practically stopped playing, hiding this album in the basement for a couple of years. Then, they returned to the scene with a musical style "slightly" bent towards 70s rock, partly abandoning the typical sound of their beginnings.

The album. A stifled scream of guitar, noises, and the Stone Roses start with "Breaking into Heaven", with an introduction full of indescribable sounds, percussion, and distant guitar distortions for four and a half minutes of introduction that can be cataloged in a genre like trance (or, if you want, ambient), and then the real song starts. Guitar virtuosity by the great John Squire in this album, who takes up the lesson of the old Page (Led Zeppelin) and the now dead and very dead Hendrix. Ian "monkeyman" Brown, needless to say, here his singing is always more whispered using the usual poor modulation. In compensation, Squire's guitar and Reni's drums dominate in Second Coming. In "Driving South", "Good Times", "Tears", and "Love Spreads" there are excellent guitar riffs and they are an example of how in previous years Squire blasted the Led Zeppelin. "Good Times" is indeed one of those "dirty and nasty" blues that we can find in the first two Led albums, a minute-long intro that seems slow and painful then it explodes into an irresistible riff that will stick in your head for quite a while. In "Tears" again it reeks of Led Zeppelin, precisely of "Stairway to Heaven" (a song that I personally never liked much). Drummer Reni, on the other hand, had the opportunity to "enjoy" himself in "Daybreak". A definitely funky and frenzied piece in rhythm. An unreachable drum and a Hammond that joins as the song progresses. Squire gets lost in the notes giving life to a kind of very well-constructed jam session. There's also a bit of Psychedelia (can a pinch of psychedelia ever spoil any song, I wonder?) in "Ten Storey Love Song" which then benevolently ties to the aforementioned "Daybreak". Unfortunately, not all songs on the album are masterpieces, and there's a bit of negligence noticeable in pieces like "Your Star Will Shine" and "Tightrope" that, too distracted and repetitive, continue on a whim. A little gem of the album: the "Track 90" or "The Foz" (then you'll realize why "track 90"!) a sort of ghost track, noisy, disconnected, and unregulated for six and a half minutes. A mix of Country and Avant-garde, although, in reality, I think it's a nonsense improvised recording resulting quite nonsensical. In the end, it's not so bad, laughter is good, and I advise everyone to listen to the last 5 seconds of the track. Then let me know.

After this album, the Stone Roses completely dismantled. Ian Brown continued towards a solo career that still goes on humbly, John Squire formed his own band, which then didn't achieve much success, the Seahorses, and "Mani" the bassist then went on to play with Primal Scream. Even though afterward we had the chance to hear more material from the artists with "Garage Flowers" and the usual and predictable "The very best of".

Even if you didn't love the first album, you can listen to this one without any problems as long as you like the genre and the review satisfied you. Now I leave you to your thoughts and decisions. Until next time.