The Stone Roses

The Stone Roses: Making of a Classic

	Reni used to raid the first-aid kits and dress up head to toe in all the bandages, so he looked like The Invisible Man...

Life is just one big uphill struggle, isn't it. Sprinting for trains, finding jeans that fit, and then trying to say something new about an album that's been universally lauded as one of the shiniest musical nuggets by everyone and their pet pooch. So we won't. We'll ring up producer legend JOHN LECKIE, instead. He twiddled the knobs on The Stone Roses' eponymous, genre-shaping debut, and honed the sound of these four flop-fringed maestros as they jangled out 11 tracks of joyous Madchester bagginess.

But first of all, a timely HAPPY BIRTHDAY The Stone Roses 'The Stone Roses', 20 years young today, and ageing better than the Sauvignon in the Maxim fridge. That's all. John, over to you...

JOHN LECKIE ON...

...being a MAGICAL album

"That's what we went for. We didn't expect it to be labelled the 'greatest record of all time' 20 years later, but we did set out to make a masterpiece."

...first impressions

"Was I completely blown away when I first heard them? No. [laughs]. There was a lot of looseness and a lot of work to be done. But they had a real exciting vibe. It was about their clothes as much as anything."

...The Stone Roses as musicians

"John [Squire, guitarist] is very unique in the lines he plays. He's a guitar hero. And Reni is probably the best drummer in the world. I don't know why he hasn't done much since. You'll have to ask him that! And Mani could be the best bassist in the world. But since the split, Ian's [Brown, vocalist] the one who's done it himself. He's on his fifth album and people love him. He walks onstage and doesn't do anything for the first 30-minutes and the crowd just go crazy."

...on claims that Ian Brown can't sing

"Of course he can sing. He can sing better than you, unless you've taken singing lessons recently? He can sing really good, and he's got presence. He has his nights off but he's The Roses, who else can sing like that?"

...on what they were like to work with

"They were great fun. And it was full-on from the moment we entered the studio, working until we dropped dead at 8am in the mornings. Reni was a total comedian, though. He used to raid the first-aid kits and dress up head to toe in all the surgical bandages, so he looked like The Invisible Man. And he stayed like that for the rest of the day and recorded songs with bandages trailing everywhere."

...on the true MAGIC of the album

"Well it’s the production isn’t it? Haha. No, it’s the way it all goes together, the lyrics, the voice, the guitar and the vibe. And the joy of it.It’s quite a joyful record. But it’s funny though, if you actually look at the lyrics, every song is a bit of a downer, a bit of ‘I don’t like you’ and ‘bye bye’. Like ‘I Am The Resurrection’ and ‘Shoot You Down’, especially. Lyrically, they’re a bit aggressive."

...on the disappointing five-year delay for the follow-up 'Second Coming'...

"After 'Fools Good' we did a single called One Love, which was meant to be the start of the second album for Silvertone. But they were offered a better deal from Geffen, and Stone Roses said ‘sorry we’re already signed to Silvertone’, but Geffen said ‘don’t worry about that, we’ll pay for the court case, just start your album, you’re signed to us now’. But obviously it took a few years for the court case to come up, and in the meantime, there was all the mis-management and so on and so forth..."

...on use of 'rave' pharmaceuticals in recording

"No, there wasn't any of that, a bit of weed smoking but that was all. And there was no alcohol either. They don't drink actually. Well, Mani does a bit. There were no mates, no partying, no strangers, no girlfriends. Just me! Maybe that was part of the secret, pure graft and hard work..."

*John Leckie is one of Britain's finest and most accomplished producers, having also produced for the likes of Radiohead, The Verve, The Fall and, um, Mark Owen*

'THE STONE ROSES' ORIGINAL TRACKLISTING:

1) I Wanna Be Adored
2) She Bangs The Drums
3) Waterfall
4) Don't Stop
5) Bye Bye Badman
6) Elizabeth My Dear
7) (Song For My) Sugar Spun Sister
8) Made Of Stone
9) Shoot You Down
10) This Is The One
11) I Am The Resurrection
(bonus - Fools Gold)

THE STONE ROSES TV on MUZU.
THE STONE ROSES TV on MUZU

WATCH 'THE STONE ROSES' VIDEO PLAYER ABOVE

www.thestoneroses20.com

We test all our albums on a NaimUniti stereo. If we were testing for sound quality, every album would get five stars. But we're good little journalists, so we can't. Check out more at www.naimaudio.com. They make good stuff, believe us.