I know I was alive, walking around on the planet. If pressed, I think the most important event of that year would be the Fall of the Wall! You could make an argument that that was actually not only the beginning of the death of Communism, but also the death of Capitalism too, but that's probably best addressed in another blog post.
So I've been obsessed with the Stone Roses debut album, and it is a stunner. Chock full of powerfully great songs. I vaguely remember hearing about the band, but I think the British hype machine was in full throttle over the band, and I don't know, maybe I tuned it out because it seemed like hype over substance.
But, I was wrong. I recently plunked down (20 some years late) $5.99 at my used CD store a month or so ago, for the Remastered Version of the disc with one bonus track (Fool's Gold -which is funky and cool!), and from the first two lines of the first song on the disc I was sold...
"I don't have to sell my soul/he's already in me..."
Ian Brown is not a great singer in a "great singer" kind of mode, but he is an awesomely evocative rock and roll singer. A guy with a limited range, who uses it to best advantage. And he's got something to say. He's got a smart, sneering delivery and he uses lines like "I am the Ressurection and I am the light," to great effect.
And the band is just superb, with an absolutely wonderful drummer, a funky and soulful bass player, and an inventive, melodic and inspiring guitar player (John Squire). And they meld all these players into one very tight and soulful unit. And there is a mix of classic 60's Beatles/Zombies kind of pop, stirred up with Dub and Reggae and Funk. It's really a great album (certainly one the best debut albums ever), with at least 8 or 9 absolutely killer songs, and it sounds fresh and lively today. It may have emerged out of the Manchester scene in the late 80's, but it really does transcend that time, even as it reflects it too.
Anyway, so happy to have discovered this one. I was just mindlessly flicking through stacks of used CDs and it called my name! I look at is as an act of archeology, excavating sounds from the distant past, and spinning it on my "laser" machine and bringing the past and present into the eternal now! Time travel stuff. Soul music!
UPDATE: So maybe they don't transcend time for all comers. The Lovely Carla this morning has her own take on the Stone Roses... "I don't care about the Stone Roses, they are so 80's!"
