My Favorite Album

It's been a snowy Sunday here in Plattsburgh, and while doing some minor "homework", I listened again to what has become my favorite album, the self-titled 1989 debut of the Manchester UK band, The Stone Roses. Like a lot of Americans, I had no idea of this album or the band back in 1989. I don't think I even heard a Stone Roses song until maybe 2006, and that was probably by accident ... a very happy accident. I do remember I bought the whole album for iTunes download just after Christmas, 2007, and listening from beginning to end I was truly stunned at how appealing it was. I can honestly say I hear something new in the album every time I play it.

I know I've posted a lot of Stone Roses clips in the past, but I think some of those clips have gone dead, so here are a few to give anyone interested a taste:

The Stone Roses - "Fools Gold"


The Stone Roses - "Waterfall"


The Stone Roses - "Elephant Stone"


And one of their singles issued before 1989 ...

The Stone Roses - "Sally CInnamon"


Apparently, around the time the album came out, veteran rock critic Robert Christgau asked, "What do [the Stone Roses] do that the Byrds or Buffalo Springfield didn't do better in 1967?". I don't have a learned answer for that, except to say that The Stone Roses are about a lot more than just jangly guitars. Also, my sense is that The Byrds and Buffalo Springfield mixed their guitar-pop with country and folk, while The Stone Roses blended theirs with club / rave music, which didn't even exist in 1967. Anyway, I've heard albums by both of these sixties bands, and while I like them a lot, they don't affected me the way "The Stone Roses" does.