Mike Mills
Registered User
- Apr 27, 2019
- 293
- 183
I still remember my friend Rodney playing me this album in his basement in Hamilton, Ontario
Thirty years ago today, the second best album from Manchester in 1989 was released.
I don't think it's worth the sacrifice personally. Cohesiveness and consistency of the album experience is more important than quantity of hits, IMO. The US version of Are You Experienced (which has bigger hits and arguably stronger individual songs like Hey Joe and The Wind Cries Mary) suffers from the same thing, and I'd take the UK version in that case as well-- Feels more tight and authentic and less like a greatest hits compilation (which I would argue tacking on Elephant Stone and Fools Gold does to The Stone Roses album as well). Might be an unpopular opinion.The US release is better because it has the three minute version of Elephant Stone, their best ever song, while the UK one doesn’t. Obviously I Am the Resurrection is a far better album closer than Fool’s Gold, but it’s worth it to have the proper third track.
I like Second Coming better .
I don't think it's worth the sacrifice personally. Cohesiveness and consistency of the album experience is more important than quantity of hits, IMO. The US version of Are You Experienced (which has bigger hits and arguably stronger individual songs like Hey Joe and The Wind Cries Mary) suffers from the same thing, and I'd take the UK version in that case as well-- Feels more tight and authentic and less like a greatest hits compilation (which I would argue tacking on Elephant Stone and Fools Gold does to The Stone Roses album as well). Might be an unpopular opinion.
It's a good album, one of the better ones from that era, and I might have agreed with you at one point in the past, but in my mind, for it to be raised on a pedestal and considered one of the greatest albums of all time, I would expect a song like "Made of Stone" to be closer to the baseline/floor than the ceiling of the album, which isn't really the case.
I didn't grow up hearing the UK version. I think Elephant Stone can arguably borderline pass (although I still notice a hint of an out of place single-y feel to it), but I actively dislike the fact that Fool's Gold is tacked onto it. It does matter because if you're listening to the album, you're always going to let it run its course rather than wait for the right moment to stop it manually simply because something at the end doesn't fit-- that's no justification, IMO. In fact, I don't think that rationale is far from saying that any weak-point on an album has no effect simply because you have the ability to skip tracks.Elephant Stone doesn’t disrupt the consistency in any way. I guess if you grew up hearing the UK version it might be weird but if not, it doesn’t stick out in any way. There’s no way anyone would be able to tell.
As far as Fool’s Gold, it doesn’t matter. I know it’s not part of the proper album and it’s at the end. It would ruin the consistency but I can just stop the album if I want.
Definitely superior to Oasis in every way, IMO.
I didn't grow up hearing the UK version. I think Elephant Stone can arguably borderline pass (although I still notice a hint of an out of place single-y feel to it), but I actively dislike the fact that Fool's Gold is tacked onto it. It does matter because if you're listening to the album, you're always going to let it run its course rather than wait for the right moment to stop it manually simply because something at the end doesn't fit-- that's no justification, IMO. In fact, I don't think that rationale is far from saying that any weak-point on an album has no effect simply because you have the ability to skip tracks.
I have the same issue with bonus tracks being tacked onto the end of any album in general. It's meant to be added value, but it has the opposite effect and kind of compromises any album, IMO. Either put the bonus stuff on another disc or don't include it at all.