This doesn’t need to be here, they didn’t need to do it, we don’t really want it. That much is given. So why then? For Reni’s benefit, to guarantee him bed, board and a meal a day up till Christmas? It’s not like the others haven’t seen themselves alright, with varying levels of artistic credibility (naturally we’re talking Squire’s downward spiral here – you expect him to get off scot free, even in this setting?). The blame is likely to lie in its majority at a desperate Silvertone’s feet (can you name off the top of your head one other record they’ve ever put out, save for the existing ‘Roses cash-ins?), but with full band endorsement, new artwork and sleevenotes it sounds like they have actually collectively given in to the memory. Which may be no bad thing. Everyone should be reminded from time to time of that one-off no-second-chance burst of absolute unprecedented greatness, not least them. Because with maybe Mani’s envelope-pushing Primal Screaming excepted, this CD’s contents are the peak they can only continue to aspire towards or fall a little further away from day by day.
And the selling point this time is of course that the classic Silvertone stuff is reunited with the Geffen released ‘Second Coming’ material for the first time. Which might not quite make it as essential as ‘The Complete Stone Roses’ pre-‘Second Coming’ retrospective, but it sure as hell goes on to prove a point. The debut album pairing of ‘I Wanna Be Adored’ with its phoenix from the mists bass-line and ‘She Bangs The Drums’ should of course never be separated lest we forget their shared magic, one snaking to the other with refined euphoria from that first ever listen, and they open the record as they should. But then, brewing with deep rumbling drums and an Eastern guitar line, ‘Ten Story Love Song’s blissed-out romance pushes them onwards like the only true, natural progression. It always was the bridge between the two albums and here it drags them closer together, like they always really deserved. It’s a shame that can only be achieved with retrospect.
Sure, ‘Love Spreads’ still sounds so much thicker, gristlier, less ethereal than anything off their acclaimed debut, but sandwiched between the beat allure of ‘Made of Stone’ and the truly gripping ‘What The World Is Waiting For’ it sounds so very healthy and strong. Listen to the restless warm rhythms buried amid the raw risen guitars and Brown’s ever spiritual, devotion-inspiring mumbles and try to deny this could only ever have come from one exceptionally special collective of individuals at their peak. And ‘Begging You’ fires away from the end of the 12” version of ‘Fools Gold’ like its more psyched claustrophobic update and is a perfectly complimentary way to spend 15 minutes. At the end of the day, away from the bullshit of the 5 year wait for ‘The Second Coming’, the disappointment of not getting a carbon copy and then the band’s messy disintegration at odds with the myth, you should own both albums and seek out the b-sides, no excuses. But then if you don’t this is a good enough place to start. Away from the bullshit the music has really spoken for itself.