Probably DOESN'T hold a candle to the Debut at ALL. But it is still such a good record in its own right. Breaking Into Heaven, Ten Storey Love Song, Tears, Tightrope, How Do You Sleep are all really good. I for one, don't buy into Love Spreads that much though.
@secondone1714 Spot on. Not a Stone Roses fan myself, but do clearly remember many friends who were massive on them trying to over-defend the second album. I liked "Driving South" and "Ten Storey Love Song', but otherwise couldn't hear anything else worth fussing about.
@@TheTitleTrack_Music listen guy's personally speaking i reckon the Roses are OVERRATED to no end!!! compared to the likes of the Charlatans! Second Coming for me has more of an edge than their debut! I'm going against the grain here unlike you's. I seen them @ Glasgow Green for their reunion everyone was so excited but after only releasing a single it was clear to see they only did it for the £££!!! Just ask the likes of Reni! They never did have the ball's to take it to the next level sadly unlike the mighty Charlatans!
@@TheTitleTrack_Music it’s not as good as their debut, but it’s a fans album I think. It’s like be here now from oasis, in that it was panned by the critics, but so many hardcore fans love it (including me) .
Agreed I have always thought Begging you and Breaking into heaven were some of their finest moments. Once you accept its different from before, you appreciate it. 90's Britain for all its stress on its "openness" and "acceptance" was full of people incapable of thinking outside the box. Including its music journalists.
How do you sleep remains my favourite Roses song. The backing vocals of Reni screamed out to me when I first heard it - I queued up at the shop to buy it and take the album home. Love the second coming. Love the Roses.
Music had change massively in the years between the two albums, i think people were expecting the Second Coming to be more of the same. I was only 11 when the first album came out but the landscape had changed by '94. It's a different but equally brilliant album
I don't even like the Stone Roses, but for some reason I've been fascinated by "Love Spreads" since I've first heard it back in 94. An all-time favorite of mine.
Amazing short documentary. The roses put the bar so high for themselves which is perfect. Many bands can't make such memorable songs like these guys. I often find myself listening to the 2nd album more too.
Thanks for the comment and for tuning in - glad you liked the doc! Both records are great as you say - and the second in particular has a lot to say, which it often doesn't get enough credit for
I love videos like these. Analysing not only the album itself, but also the impact it did. I started to listen to brit pop not long ago, but I enjoy it and these kinds of video. I've already watched your The Great Escape video and The La's one. Keep going man! You do a great job) Waiting for more of it!
Great stuff again. You shone a really interesting light on the lyrics and gives the album more depth than I'd given it credit for. The musicianship on this album is spectacular and yet..... I feel like Squire, a childhood idol of mine and one of the reasons I first bought a guitar, abandoned that sparkling, arpeggio-laden magic of the first album which made him the indie heir to Johnny Marr's throne and 'just' became a very good blues player. The psychedelic soundscapes he created on the debut album gave way to more ego-centric Page-isms. I know Squire thought the debut was "The sound of a two guitar band", but in trying to compensate, he was pushed far too high in the mix (Page is actually pretty low in Led Zep recordings) and infamously loud on stage (just ask Brown!). He no longer seemed to play in service to the music, or the band. Squire wrote nearly everything on this album and, as we saw with his solo material and Seahorses project, he is a much better songwriter with Brown at his side. Brown himself said "The album sounded far too rocky" and "It’s a real shame we didn’t do the second album round the time of ‘Fool’s Gold’.", which I think most would agree with!'One Love' is worth a mention here, as it gives an insight as to what an intermediary album might have sounded like. A perfect balance of blues and Byrdsy jangle. I must've burned a hole through my 'Love Spreads' CD, I played it so much, and I really wanted to love the rest of The Second Coming. 'Ten Storey Love Song' and 'Breaking Into Heaven' (when it finally gets there) are soaring examples of melodious pop-rock but for me it will always remain a missed opportunity.
Thanks again Bryan for the thoughtful comment. Glad you enjoyed the video. A lot of commenters have mentioned Squire's overbearing influence on this record, particularly his guitar sound. I agree that it lacks the sparkle of the previous record, where some of the songs, though rock and funk oriented, have a relaxing and meditative quality. I don't think Second Coming has that. But still an interesting record in its own right. Loved the Waterfall cover on your channel btw!
B sides to 'Ten Story Love' contained the tracks 'moses' and 'Ride On' which at the time I didn't really notice but listening to them now , I'm blown away!
I loved it when it came out. I still listen to it now and then. It's still great. But it was always missing that mysterious element that made the debut one of the greatest of all time. They weren't going to match that one.
I love this album, even if I wasn’t expecting the hidden track at the end, we had it on the cd player at work upstairs and everyone just looked at each other like “WTF”? as this almighty racket was blaring out!
It was in a bargain bin back in the day. I’m not a a fan but I do think this album is great, it still gets a play every now and then, and as previously mentioned there are some cracking tunes on it. Definitely an underrated gem.
I got a CD version during the turn of the new millennium to be played on my desktop CDROM drive. First thing that caught my attention was the hologram angel with a wonderful interface. 'Second Coming' could be the best concept album produced entering the era of computing and information overload. It provides numerous solutions to handling systems technology issues. In fact, it could make a vital industry by its entirety. The Stone Roses and the units involved in the Geffen recording are one-of-a-kind.
It is really good. The tales behind the recording process, the amount of time it took to make, all the various different places it was ‘worked’ on. And, if you needed a Jimmy Page inspired inspiration that was playing way better than most of the other popular guitar bands in Britain at the time, it was well needed. It also has a swampy (some may say muddy) sound that makes it all the more atmospheric. Yes the first one is iconic and hit the cultural mark when it was released. But, the Second Coming is a great piece of work!
For years, I thought The Second Coming was crap a few decent tunes. But a couple of years ago, I gave it a listen. I was blown away it wasn't how I initially heard it? I think it's because I was older and probably more mature?
This album, and in particular 'Love Spreads', changed my life -- it inspired me to get into music. This album will always be dear and close to me. I am American and 'discovered' their first album after this one, and I was pretty letdown at first. But it grew on me.
Great video. I always enjoyed the lyrics on Second Coming. The difference between the quality in lyrics on this album and the lyrics on the Squire Gallagher album is crazy.
One of my all time favorite records. I never understood why the reaction to it was so muted but i suppose if people were set on the debut part 2 they were always going to be disappointed. Second Coming is a very different record and to me far richer and more musically mature than their first. John Squire's guitar playing is phenomenal throughout. Tightrope alone is worth the price of admission.
lets be honest here. it has elements of genius, but in the end it just doesn't work. a less than wonderful Stone Roses album is miles better than most music out there. The expectations were crushing. I remember back in 94, playing it over and over, trying to love it.
Their debut LP is just about perfect, so I give them credit for making a very different record with Second Coming. Not my cup of tea, though, by any means.
It’s a good album but too much time had came and passed between the first album and second coming, if they had released a record in 91/92 I think it would have been more successful/better but due to the legal battles they were in it was impossible so it killed all the momentum
I adored the first album and loved this album when it came out and still do. The maximalism of the guitar playing is phenomenal. Your Star Will Shine is probably my least favourite song just because there isn't a whole lot going on in it compared to most of the other songs but it's still a nice mellow interlude. Same with Straight To The Man, although that has a little bit of funkiness going on.
To me it is a blues-rock jamfest with few discernible melodies or original ideas. Whatever magic they had deserted them in the early nineties due to the court case , drugs , laziness , self-indulgence . It's the beginning of the end for Squire as a decent songwriting guitarist . Brown still had plenty left in the tank. Weak songs (Daybreak , Straight to the man , How do you sleep being the worst offenders ) , cliched lyrics , endless guitar workouts , strained 'bluesy' Brown vocals , it's painful to hear a band lose it this badly.
I, like everyone else, was frustrated waiting for that second album (which should’ve been in ’91 with Where Angels Play, Mersey Paradise and Standing Here et al on it - can you imagine!) I knew they couldn’t record but why didn’t they just keep writing and touring. They’d captured everyone’s attention now. Shame. Saying that - I wouldn’t have had it any other way, the Roses did it their way. They were International. They were Continental.
Nah, great as Mersey Paradise, etc, were, they were too close to the debut album. On youtube you can find demos for much of 'the Second Coming' which are far funkier than the rock album we got. Squire decided he was the man, (he was perfectly entitled to think that), and, well, we'd already had Led Zeppelin, who had a singer whose voice was way better suited to heavy rock than 'Brown
This vid made me go and listen to the album for the first time in probably 20 years. My opinion is still pretty much the same as when it was released - good but not great. I like the album, but I could easily see myself going another 20 years without listening to it. I still listen to their debut album at least on a yearly basis.
Compared to a lot of albums at the time it’s still a great record but it lacks the consistency of the debut or the brightness of turns into stone - the problem I think was the band weren’t really writing together anymore and either Ian brown had run out of ideas or squire wanted to show that he was the real creative force and took over - there are actually some sublime songs on it - how do you sleep, break into heaven, star will shine, 10 story, tightrope and tears are all the sort of songs you hoped you’d get on a follow up record and they deliver but some of the other songs like good times driving south, daybreak etc are at best half decent bsides but they are just very low fare compared to previous high points. There are a couple of tracks that are harder to quantify like begging you and love spreads - they are quite good songs but again not really up there with the high water marks, they made a dreadful and pointlessly indulgent decision to release love spreads as the comeback single : if they had released ten storey love song they would have been number one for a month. They had somehow lost the sense of vibrancy and self awareness they had once to make it to the soaring heights - the album still has some truly special moments but overall it somehow falls that bit short - it’s a sort of 7.5 out of 10 whereas the debut was a 9 maybe even a 10………and that was the problem - they’d had five years but could only really bring forth five or six really good songs x
That album is excellent. I liked it from the start. There are many great songs on it. Ten Storey Love Song, Tightrope, Your Star will Shine, Love Spreads.... every one very strong. I wish they had just kept going for love of the music, and not let petty infighting stop them. They would have made many more great songs, I have no doubt. Sure, maybe not as perfect as that first album, but still many great songs would have emerged.
At the time I thought "This is OK, shows progress/development but still them, enough bangers and a couple of flawed but brave experiments that don't work for me". But Primal Scream's "Give Out but Don't Give Up" and plenty of other acts were giving us heady shots of that classic('when they were good') rolling stones tinged music. The first album was pretty unique in its blend of styles/influences. The Second coming was up against other albums that overtly drew on similar influences.
i think you rightly focus in the gap between the 1st and sophomore album. if nowadays it's common to artists have large gaps between albums (especially because today's main focus is singles and not LP's) back in the day that used to hurt the bands. and 5 years its a lot in your 20's: as you said some of them became parents and that changes your priorities and point of view about the world. and sure you had the amount of drugs and by 1994 they became lazy and coundt work with each other. but the main problem its that times had change: in the late 80's they were on the front line of Manchester scene. by '94 they were a band amoung many others: in Manchester they were outsined by Oasis in terms of being the people's champions, the working class heroes. in the south you had fresh bands like suede and blur. we cant also forget about new alternative/neo-psychedelic bands like Super Furry Animals, Supergrass. this is the hard truth about rock n roll industry: young people care about the new bands, the new generations and not about has beens. rock is about the present, enjoy ourserlves and the pleasurs that sorround us. but at the same time tracks like " breaking into heaven" (such a bold and cocky way to open an album), "driving south", "ten storey love songs", "tears" (probably the most touching on the album and contender for one of the best songs not written by Led Zeppelin - those blues influences) and "Love Spreads" are such great tunes and show what the future could have been. the past was yours and the future could have been mine. they were almost right. Great video as always. the graphics are great and thank you for the subtitles. for someone who English aint the native language sometimes is dificult to understand the british slang 😎🎸👍
Thanks for the comment and very accurate assessment. You're right that rock and roll is a young man's game - time moves fast and bands have to adapt to keep with it. Glad you enjoyed the video and stay tuned for more.
I love Second Coming. I grew up listening to my Dad's prog rock collection and went to Uni in Manchester 87 to 91 so was there for the Roses, Madchester and acid Hacienda. Second Coming blended my heritage as a 70 minute Prog Rock Dance mash-up.
There was too big of a gap between the first and second albums. The momentum was lost, the promise of Fool’s Gold never realised. The Second Comjng made it clear that Squire was as influenced by Led Zeppelin as he was by The Byrds. Five more years and this would have been on point, but in 94 it seemed an awkward pastiche. Also, in between was the behemoth of Screamadelica, which changed the scene irrevocably. It’s an odd record. It suffers from the extended length CDs allowed while trying to ride on 60s revivalist ideas about rock bands and power pop as shorter forms. It’s a bit like the White Album; full of good ideas as well as intolerable filler, lacking cohesion and a band vision, sprawling not in ambition but in its lack of focus, and now being re-evaluated outside of the context of how disappointing it felt at the time. It’s important to remember there was a level of disappointment that was significant, even if hard to recall exactly why from a distance. You can’t ever dislodge the shadow of that first album.
On the downside it’s practically a Seahorses album but on the (massive) upside, it’s got Reni on it. Kasabian seemed to make a career out of endlessly copying Begging You, too.
It was critically panned but I always thought it was a great album. John Squires at his best and a much fuller, bigger sound than their debut album. Glad it’s being recognised for the classic it is.
i like the album. it's got some solid songs although "how do you sleep?" is a very MOR that sounds like 80s southern rock while "straight to the man" is the most daft track on the album. everything else is awesome.
I remember driving up to Vancouver BC from Seattle to get it. I don't believe the US version was going to be released for another week or 2. I love it except for 3 songs. This was the CD era of way too long albums. So...I would cut Driving South, Straight to the Man and Begging You. The result is better than the debut, IMHO. I actually prefer the Turns Into Stone compilation to the debut.
I was in my late teens when Stone Roses debut came out,. Saw them live 3-4 times and loved them. The precipitous fall from their flare-swishing, arrogant pomp to the tired, huffing mess they became wirhin a few years was really sad ro watch. I'm so glad Pulp stood in for them at Glastonbury. I was there and they (Pulp) were amazing. For me, The Second Coming is the very essence of all filler and no killer.
Its ok, but good lord it sags 'Daybreak, Straight To The man, Tightrope, Good Times, Tears' The debut is an incredible rush of iconic moments that changed the UK musical landscape for better & worse . If The Second Coming had been their debut...well
It was a good album that would have been great with a good editor - too much sludge muting the moments of brilliance. If I remember rightly the release was delayed by a few weeks while JS finished the cover art, which inevitably came out a dark, overworked indistinct mess - a perfect mirror of the album itself. Edit it down though and it’s great: Breaking into Heaven Driving south Daybreak Your star will shine Straight to the man Begging you Tears Love spreads Never understood the affection for 10 storey live song. Keep the hidden track though!
The london centric music press snobs decided that it was no good and that was that. If the album had been written and performed by the Beatles the NME would have hated it
I never liked that album. The debut sounded fresh, classic and to this day it amazes me. Probably heard it more than 2,000 times, the most in my collection. But the hard blues/Zeppelinesque aproach of Second Coming just did not click. It just did not seem to suit the band or their background. Rather odd and out of step. It doesn't help that I don't like that sort of music and think Led Zeppelin is dull. I sometimes listen to the album, but I never came to regard it near the same level of what they had recorded before. The fact that it all went downhill in 95 and 96 is a proof that they were not on the right path with that.
The band were always going to struggle to match their debut. The Second Coming is fine. My main annoyance is that Brown's vocals don't suit the heavier bluesy sound.
Difficult to top one of the best debut albums in music history, however Second Coming is a great record ... Seems to be pushed aside, probably as their catalogue isn't huge, shame.
I remember getting it within days of it coming out. Thought it was great then and it still stands up. Sure there were lots of people who wanted more of the same from their 80's era, but there were plenty who 'got it' and liked the fact they had moved into a new sound. it's what any good bands do, they move forward. - I wouldn't put the Roses in the same category as some greats that did the same,(they were too lazy!) but look at Bowie, The Clash, Weller, Beatles etc etc, all moving forwards regardless of their fanbase. You either go with them or you don't but the band do what they do regardless...
You're right. Many fans don't like the idea of their favourite bands ever changing their sound. That intransigence can be an albatross around the neck of a band's creative spirit.
As far as I remember, the lyrics on this album were largely John Squire’s not Ian Brown’s. I can’t rehabilitate this album. There are a few songs I like but it came out after Parklife and Definitely Maybe and the past was The Stone Roses and the future was Blur and Oasis.
It;s really just badly produced. Surely there's an alternative studio mix of it? I heard early funky demos of Love Spreads (sans blues riffs) and this was the early direction before getting taken over by the coke head Squire.
I almost never listen to their first album any more. The Second Coming is a far, far more interesting album. You're right: an underrated classic that deserves some serious reappraisal.
I got the single but not the album. It sounded like a Led Zep rip-off with derived lyrics. To be honest, I was expecting something similar to the first. My taste in music changed/evolved from my late teens to mid-20s, but deep down I thought they wouldn't. I'm sorry.
I was initially disappointed when it came out but by the late 90s I was already rating it as my favourite of the decade. Not perfect like the debut but loads of brilliance in there. Might have reached the next level if the producer John Leckie had been able to stick around.
I always thought it was a great album. Went to see them live in sheffield on that tour. They were amazing live, which was not always the case in the late 80's.
No “truly “ great artist wants to repeat former glories. Once you (The Listener) understands that the Second Coming isn’t meant to sound like the 1st album and therefore shouldn’t be compared to it. If you only enjoy bands who make the same album time and time again. Listen to Take That 😂😂
Loved the band but stand by my original assessment of the Second Coming. Tired sounding and unoriginal. Squire turned into the Rory Bremner of guitarists.
Remember buying it, took it home, played it, and er what did I hear? Sub par rock music. Terrible. By the way, in retrospect, the first album is wildly overrated. The muddy production killed it. Stone Dead.
So, what do you reckon? Does Second Coming hold a candle to the debut? 👀Thoughts below!
Probably DOESN'T hold a candle to the Debut at ALL. But it is still such a good record in its own right. Breaking Into Heaven, Ten Storey Love Song, Tears, Tightrope, How Do You Sleep are all really good. I for one, don't buy into Love Spreads that much though.
@secondone1714 Spot on. Not a Stone Roses fan myself, but do clearly remember many friends who were massive on them trying to over-defend the second album. I liked "Driving South" and "Ten Storey Love Song', but otherwise couldn't hear anything else worth fussing about.
@@TheTitleTrack_Music listen guy's personally speaking i reckon the Roses are OVERRATED to no end!!! compared to the likes of the Charlatans! Second Coming for me has more of an edge than their debut! I'm going against the grain here unlike you's. I seen them @ Glasgow Green for their reunion everyone was so excited but after only releasing a single it was clear to see they only did it for the £££!!! Just ask the likes of Reni! They never did have the ball's to take it to the next level sadly unlike the mighty Charlatans!
@@TheTitleTrack_Music it’s not as good as their debut, but it’s a fans album I think. It’s like be here now from oasis, in that it was panned by the critics, but so many hardcore fans love it (including me) .
It’s a fucking great album . Driving south , tears , how do you sleep , tightrope , love spreads , daybreak …. Absolute class
Agreed I have always thought Begging you and Breaking into heaven were some of their finest moments. Once you accept its different from before, you appreciate it. 90's Britain for all its stress on its "openness" and "acceptance" was full of people incapable of thinking outside the box. Including its music journalists.
Love it
Fantastic video and what an underrated, misunderstood album. For me tears is the best track on the album, that guitar solo sends shivers down my spine
How do you sleep remains my favourite Roses song. The backing vocals of Reni screamed out to me when I first heard it - I queued up at the shop to buy it and take the album home. Love the second coming. Love the Roses.
Music had change massively in the years between the two albums, i think people were expecting the Second Coming to be more of the same. I was only 11 when the first album came out but the landscape had changed by '94. It's a different but equally brilliant album
I don't even like the Stone Roses, but for some reason I've been fascinated by "Love Spreads" since I've first heard it back in 94. An all-time favorite of mine.
How can you listen to that and not like the stone roses? They are the greatest band on the planet 🍋
if any other band had relesased this album the press would claim it's the best album since 'the stone roses'.
Tears is the 90s stair way to heaven
I still listen to it often. I had it on just the other day and I think it's a brilliant album.
Loved by all Led Zeppelin fans
"Just five years previous..." sums it all up.
Amazing short documentary. The roses put the bar so high for themselves which is perfect. Many bands can't make such memorable songs like these guys. I often find myself listening to the 2nd album more too.
Thanks for the comment and for tuning in - glad you liked the doc!
Both records are great as you say - and the second in particular has a lot to say, which it often doesn't get enough credit for
I love videos like these. Analysing not only the album itself, but also the impact it did. I started to listen to brit pop not long ago, but I enjoy it and these kinds of video. I've already watched your The Great Escape video and The La's one. Keep going man! You do a great job)
Waiting for more of it!
Thank you very much and keep watching! More planned.
Great stuff again. You shone a really interesting light on the lyrics and gives the album more depth than I'd given it credit for. The musicianship on this album is spectacular and yet..... I feel like Squire, a childhood idol of mine and one of the reasons I first bought a guitar, abandoned that sparkling, arpeggio-laden magic of the first album which made him the indie heir to Johnny Marr's throne and 'just' became a very good blues player. The psychedelic soundscapes he created on the debut album gave way to more ego-centric Page-isms. I know Squire thought the debut was "The sound of a two guitar band", but in trying to compensate, he was pushed far too high in the mix (Page is actually pretty low in Led Zep recordings) and infamously loud on stage (just ask Brown!). He no longer seemed to play in service to the music, or the band.
Squire wrote nearly everything on this album and, as we saw with his solo material and Seahorses project, he is a much better songwriter with Brown at his side. Brown himself said "The album sounded far too rocky" and "It’s a real shame we didn’t do the second album round the time of ‘Fool’s Gold’.", which I think most would agree with!'One Love' is worth a mention here, as it gives an insight as to what an intermediary album might have sounded like. A perfect balance of blues and Byrdsy jangle.
I must've burned a hole through my 'Love Spreads' CD, I played it so much, and I really wanted to love the rest of The Second Coming. 'Ten Storey Love Song' and 'Breaking Into Heaven' (when it finally gets there) are soaring examples of melodious pop-rock but for me it will always remain a missed opportunity.
Thanks again Bryan for the thoughtful comment. Glad you enjoyed the video.
A lot of commenters have mentioned Squire's overbearing influence on this record, particularly his guitar sound. I agree that it lacks the sparkle of the previous record, where some of the songs, though rock and funk oriented, have a relaxing and meditative quality. I don't think Second Coming has that.
But still an interesting record in its own right.
Loved the Waterfall cover on your channel btw!
B sides to 'Ten Story Love' contained the tracks 'moses' and 'Ride On' which at the time I didn't really notice but listening to them now , I'm blown away!
I loved it when it came out. I still listen to it now and then. It's still great. But it was always missing that mysterious element that made the debut one of the greatest of all time. They weren't going to match that one.
Begging You is my fave Stone Roses song.
Me too - that bass line never gets mentioned when the rockers discuss great bass lines. Its cuffing Epic.
I love this album, even if I wasn’t expecting the hidden track at the end, we had it on the cd player at work upstairs and everyone just looked at each other like “WTF”? as this almighty racket was blaring out!
Thanks for doing this! I’ve been saying this for years!
Thanks for tuning in!
I worked in a particular shop in Mcr, 1993. John Squire came in and bought a Hendrix and a Led Zep VHS tape..
It was in a bargain bin back in the day. I’m not a a fan but I do think this album is great, it still gets a play every now and then, and as previously mentioned there are some cracking tunes on it. Definitely an underrated gem.
Great Video. Now as then i thought the second coming was head and shoulders above their first album.
I got a CD version during the turn of the new millennium to be played on my desktop CDROM drive. First thing that caught my attention was the hologram angel with a wonderful interface. 'Second Coming' could be the best concept album produced entering the era of computing and information overload. It provides numerous solutions to handling systems technology issues. In fact, it could make a vital industry by its entirety. The Stone Roses and the units involved in the Geffen recording are one-of-a-kind.
That was well put together. Could have been even longer for me.
Thanks Steven!
I love this album
Love both albums long live the stone Roses
Thank you for doing this. Giving it a relisten today because of it.
Cheers Rob, glad you enjoyed!
I hated it when it came out. It’s my most listened to album of theirs now. I love it.
There was only two 😂
It is really good.
The tales behind the recording process, the amount of time it took to make, all the various different places it was ‘worked’ on. And, if you needed a Jimmy Page inspired inspiration that was playing way better than most of the other popular guitar bands in Britain at the time, it was well needed.
It also has a swampy (some may say muddy) sound that makes it all the more atmospheric.
Yes the first one is iconic and hit the cultural mark when it was released. But, the Second Coming is a great piece of work!
I'm going to listen to the album... again..
For years, I thought The Second Coming was crap a few decent tunes. But a couple of years ago, I gave it a listen. I was blown away it wasn't how I initially heard it? I think it's because I was older and probably more mature?
John squire. genius
Loved it then & love it now.... Fucking mega 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
Second coming was class then and is still class...
I prefer it to their first!
Yeah! Finally. Always liked it. Who cares what the critic's think! They know nothing anyhow! Up the Roses!
It’s a fucking superb album 👍🏻
This album, and in particular 'Love Spreads', changed my life -- it inspired me to get into music. This album will always be dear and close to me. I am American and 'discovered' their first album after this one, and I was pretty letdown at first. But it grew on me.
Tears and tightrope are 2 of the best roses tunes about.
Great video. I always enjoyed the lyrics on Second Coming. The difference between the quality in lyrics on this album and the lyrics on the Squire Gallagher album is crazy.
Well said. The lyrics on this album are plenty overlooked, in my view.
Thanks for the comment and for tuning in!
For any other band it's a 7 or 8 out of 10, but this is the Roses and that means you judge it differently. 5/10.
One of my all time favorite records. I never understood why the reaction to it was so muted but i suppose if people were set on the debut part 2 they were always going to be disappointed. Second Coming is a very different record and to me far richer and more musically mature than their first. John Squire's guitar playing is phenomenal throughout. Tightrope alone is worth the price of admission.
lets be honest here. it has elements of genius, but in the end it just doesn't work. a less than wonderful Stone Roses album is miles better than most music out there. The expectations were crushing. I remember back in 94, playing it over and over, trying to love it.
Their debut LP is just about perfect, so I give them credit for making a very different record with Second Coming. Not my cup of tea, though, by any means.
No a bad song on it
It’s a good album but too much time had came and passed between the first album and second coming, if they had released a record in 91/92 I think it would have been more successful/better but due to the legal battles they were in it was impossible so it killed all the momentum
It's a great album. I wish they remixed it
You're not wrong 👍
I adored the first album and loved this album when it came out and still do. The maximalism of the guitar playing is phenomenal. Your Star Will Shine is probably my least favourite song just because there isn't a whole lot going on in it compared to most of the other songs but it's still a nice mellow interlude. Same with Straight To The Man, although that has a little bit of funkiness going on.
I think of the debuts by The La’s, The Stone Roses, and Oasis as “the cocky swagger trilogy”.
To me it is a blues-rock jamfest with few discernible melodies or original ideas. Whatever magic they had deserted them in the early nineties due to the court case , drugs , laziness , self-indulgence . It's the beginning of the end for Squire as a decent songwriting guitarist . Brown still had plenty left in the tank. Weak songs (Daybreak , Straight to the man , How do you sleep being the worst offenders ) , cliched lyrics , endless guitar workouts , strained 'bluesy' Brown vocals , it's painful to hear a band lose it this badly.
I, like everyone else, was frustrated waiting for that second album (which should’ve been in ’91 with Where Angels Play, Mersey Paradise and Standing Here et al on it - can you imagine!) I knew they couldn’t record but why didn’t they just keep writing and touring. They’d captured everyone’s attention now. Shame.
Saying that - I wouldn’t have had it any other way, the Roses did it their way.
They were International. They were Continental.
Nah, great as Mersey Paradise, etc, were, they were too close to the debut album. On youtube you can find demos for much of 'the Second Coming' which are far funkier than the rock album we got. Squire decided he was the man, (he was perfectly entitled to think that), and, well, we'd already had Led Zeppelin, who had a singer whose voice was way better suited to heavy rock than 'Brown
This vid made me go and listen to the album for the first time in probably 20 years. My opinion is still pretty much the same as when it was released - good but not great. I like the album, but I could easily see myself going another 20 years without listening to it. I still listen to their debut album at least on a yearly basis.
I listen to the debut every month.
Compared to a lot of albums at the time it’s still a great record but it lacks the consistency of the debut or the brightness of turns into stone - the problem I think was the band weren’t really writing together anymore and either Ian brown had run out of ideas or squire wanted to show that he was the real creative force and took over - there are actually some sublime songs on it - how do you sleep, break into heaven, star will shine, 10 story, tightrope and tears are all the sort of songs you hoped you’d get on a follow up record and they deliver but some of the other songs like good times driving south, daybreak etc are at best half decent bsides but they are just very low fare compared to previous high points.
There are a couple of tracks that are harder to quantify like begging you and love spreads - they are quite good songs but again not really up there with the high water marks, they made a dreadful and pointlessly indulgent decision to release love spreads as the comeback single : if they had released ten storey love song they would have been number one for a month. They had somehow lost the sense of vibrancy and self awareness they had once to make it to the soaring heights - the album still has some truly special moments but overall it somehow falls that bit short - it’s a sort of 7.5 out of 10 whereas the debut was a 9 maybe even a 10………and that was the problem - they’d had five years but could only really bring forth five or six really good songs x
The musical hill I am willing to die on. 👍
That album is excellent. I liked it from the start. There are many great songs on it. Ten Storey Love Song, Tightrope, Your Star will Shine, Love Spreads.... every one very strong. I wish they had just kept going for love of the music, and not let petty infighting stop them. They would have made many more great songs, I have no doubt. Sure, maybe not as perfect as that first album, but still many great songs would have emerged.
At the time I thought "This is OK, shows progress/development but still them, enough bangers and a couple of flawed but brave experiments that don't work for me". But Primal Scream's "Give Out but Don't Give Up" and plenty of other acts were giving us heady shots of that classic('when they were good') rolling stones tinged music. The first album was pretty unique in its blend of styles/influences. The Second coming was up against other albums that overtly drew on similar influences.
I came to sing this song *in your sleep*
One more for the dreamers
i think you rightly focus in the gap between the 1st and sophomore album.
if nowadays it's common to artists have large gaps between albums (especially because today's main focus is singles and not LP's) back in the day that used to hurt the bands.
and 5 years its a lot in your 20's: as you said some of them became parents and that changes your priorities and point of view about the world. and sure you had the amount of drugs and by 1994 they became lazy and coundt work with each other.
but the main problem its that times had change: in the late 80's they were on the front line of Manchester scene. by '94 they were a band amoung many others: in Manchester they were outsined by Oasis in terms of being the people's champions, the working class heroes.
in the south you had fresh bands like suede and blur.
we cant also forget about new alternative/neo-psychedelic bands like Super Furry Animals, Supergrass.
this is the hard truth about rock n roll industry: young people care about the new bands, the new generations and not about has beens. rock is about the present, enjoy ourserlves and the pleasurs that sorround us.
but at the same time tracks like " breaking into heaven" (such a bold and cocky way to open an album), "driving south", "ten storey love songs", "tears" (probably the most touching on the album and contender for one of the best songs not written by Led Zeppelin - those blues influences) and "Love Spreads" are such great tunes and show what the future could have been.
the past was yours and the future could have been mine. they were almost right.
Great video as always. the graphics are great and thank you for the subtitles. for someone who English aint the native language sometimes is dificult to understand the british slang 😎🎸👍
Thanks for the comment and very accurate assessment. You're right that rock and roll is a young man's game - time moves fast and bands have to adapt to keep with it.
Glad you enjoyed the video and stay tuned for more.
Good video.. well put together
I love Second Coming. I grew up listening to my Dad's prog rock collection and went to Uni in Manchester 87 to 91 so was there for the Roses, Madchester and acid Hacienda. Second Coming blended my heritage as a 70 minute Prog Rock Dance mash-up.
There was too big of a gap between the first and second albums. The momentum was lost, the promise of Fool’s Gold never realised. The Second Comjng made it clear that Squire was as influenced by Led Zeppelin as he was by The Byrds. Five more years and this would have been on point, but in 94 it seemed an awkward pastiche. Also, in between was the behemoth of Screamadelica, which changed the scene irrevocably. It’s an odd record. It suffers from the extended length CDs allowed while trying to ride on 60s revivalist ideas about rock bands and power pop as shorter forms. It’s a bit like the White Album; full of good ideas as well as intolerable filler, lacking cohesion and a band vision, sprawling not in ambition but in its lack of focus, and now being re-evaluated outside of the context of how disappointing it felt at the time. It’s important to remember there was a level of disappointment that was significant, even if hard to recall exactly why from a distance. You can’t ever dislodge the shadow of that first album.
On the downside it’s practically a Seahorses album but on the (massive) upside, it’s got Reni on it.
Kasabian seemed to make a career out of endlessly copying Begging You, too.
It was critically panned but I always thought it was a great album. John Squires at his best and a much fuller, bigger sound than their debut album. Glad it’s being recognised for the classic it is.
i like the album. it's got some solid songs although "how do you sleep?" is a very MOR that sounds like 80s southern rock while "straight to the man" is the most daft track on the album. everything else is awesome.
I played the crap out of this album when it came out. It took a few listens for it to infect the veins but I think it's solid.
Breaking into heaven.....😎
I remember driving up to Vancouver BC from Seattle to get it. I don't believe the US version was going to be released for another week or 2. I love it except for 3 songs. This was the CD era of way too long albums. So...I would cut Driving South, Straight to the Man and Begging You. The result is better than the debut, IMHO. I actually prefer the Turns Into Stone compilation to the debut.
Probably the three songs I would keep... (well, not straight to the man, obviously, Love spreads or Ten Storey Love Song would suffice...
I was in my late teens when Stone Roses debut came out,. Saw them live 3-4 times and loved them. The precipitous fall from their flare-swishing, arrogant pomp to the tired, huffing mess they became wirhin a few years was really sad ro watch. I'm so glad Pulp stood in for them at Glastonbury. I was there and they (Pulp) were amazing. For me, The Second Coming is the very essence of all filler and no killer.
Its ok, but good lord it sags 'Daybreak, Straight To The man, Tightrope, Good Times, Tears' The debut is an incredible rush of iconic moments that changed the UK musical landscape for better & worse . If The Second Coming had been their debut...well
I agree with you,its could never understand the criticism,I've always said its excellent,people just expected it to be a replica of the first album
Thought it was well known that Brown didn’t write the lyrics on this album. They’re nowhere near as engaging as the first album lyrics.
It was a good album that would have been great with a good editor - too much sludge muting the moments of brilliance.
If I remember rightly the release was delayed by a few weeks while JS finished the cover art, which inevitably came out a dark, overworked indistinct mess - a perfect mirror of the album itself.
Edit it down though and it’s great:
Breaking into Heaven
Driving south
Daybreak
Your star will shine
Straight to the man
Begging you
Tears
Love spreads
Never understood the affection for 10 storey live song. Keep the hidden track though!
I think for me. The production was too muddy. Otherwise. Fantastic album!
The london centric music press snobs decided that it was no good and that was that. If the album had been written and performed by the Beatles the NME would have hated it
I never liked that album. The debut sounded fresh, classic and to this day it amazes me. Probably heard it more than 2,000 times, the most in my collection. But the hard blues/Zeppelinesque aproach of Second Coming just did not click. It just did not seem to suit the band or their background. Rather odd and out of step. It doesn't help that I don't like that sort of music and think Led Zeppelin is dull. I sometimes listen to the album, but I never came to regard it near the same level of what they had recorded before. The fact that it all went downhill in 95 and 96 is a proof that they were not on the right path with that.
The band were always going to struggle to match their debut. The Second Coming is fine. My main annoyance is that Brown's vocals don't suit the heavier bluesy sound.
Difficult to top one of the best debut albums in music history, however Second Coming is a great record ... Seems to be pushed aside, probably as their catalogue isn't huge, shame.
I remember getting it within days of it coming out. Thought it was great then and it still stands up. Sure there were lots of people who wanted more of the same from their 80's era, but there were plenty who 'got it' and liked the fact they had moved into a new sound. it's what any good bands do, they move forward. - I wouldn't put the Roses in the same category as some greats that did the same,(they were too lazy!) but look at Bowie, The Clash, Weller, Beatles etc etc, all moving forwards regardless of their fanbase. You either go with them or you don't but the band do what they do regardless...
You're right. Many fans don't like the idea of their favourite bands ever changing their sound. That intransigence can be an albatross around the neck of a band's creative spirit.
As far as I remember, the lyrics on this album were largely John Squire’s not Ian Brown’s.
I can’t rehabilitate this album. There are a few songs I like but it came out after Parklife and Definitely Maybe and the past was The Stone Roses and the future was Blur and Oasis.
It;s really just badly produced. Surely there's an alternative studio mix of it? I heard early funky demos of Love Spreads (sans blues riffs) and this was the early direction before getting taken over by the coke head Squire.
And the first one is worse than you think too. Some big tunes but the two albums add up to one good one.
I almost never listen to their first album any more. The Second Coming is a far, far more interesting album. You're right: an underrated classic that deserves some serious reappraisal.
Well said Martin, thanks for the comment.
Saying the Stone Roses are "bluesy" is a stretch.
I got the single but not the album. It sounded like a Led Zep rip-off with derived lyrics. To be honest, I was expecting something similar to the first. My taste in music changed/evolved from my late teens to mid-20s, but deep down I thought they wouldn't.
I'm sorry.
It’s great, it just wasn’t as good as their debut album or era. Oasis suffered the same criticism, after the initial impact they made.
I was initially disappointed when it came out but by the late 90s I was already rating it as my favourite of the decade. Not perfect like the debut but loads of brilliance in there. Might have reached the next level if the producer John Leckie had been able to stick around.
That time was over. A bit like after 97 Oasis weren’t interesting anymore.
It’s bang average. Nothing more.
I always thought it was a great album. Went to see them live in sheffield on that tour. They were amazing live, which was not always the case in the late 80's.
It’s better than the reception it got, however it’s not great. Far better albums and bands about in the mid 90s
Did you have to wound me by leading with 30 YEARS AGO?!? 😮💨
No “truly “ great artist wants to repeat former glories. Once you (The Listener) understands that the Second Coming isn’t meant to sound like the 1st album and therefore shouldn’t be compared to it. If you only enjoy bands who make the same album time and time again. Listen to Take That 😂😂
Loved the band but stand by my original assessment of the Second Coming. Tired sounding and unoriginal. Squire turned into the Rory Bremner of guitarists.
It really isn't.
Sophomore? This isn’t America
It's the internet - welcome, you must be new here
It was mediocre
Remember buying it, took it home, played it, and er what did I hear? Sub par rock music. Terrible.
By the way, in retrospect, the first album is wildly overrated. The muddy production killed it. Stone Dead.
Nope. Wrong. Aweful
A bit like your spelling.
It's a terrible album.I waited patiently for the second album and when i got it it just didn't stand up.Still no good today