For me, getting this in December 1997 marks the watershed where CD prices started to fall after a decade of rising. Tim said he'd seen a whole bunch of decent catalogue albums marked down to £10 in Fopp on Division Street. A tenner was really cheap for a full album then: Madonna's big hit album — I can't remember what it's called, but, you know, the good one — had sold at that price earlier in the year. That seemed to be a promotional offer for a new release, and the last time I could remember seeing an new album for only £10 was The Frenz Experiment ten years previously. Anyway, Tim's example of a "decent catalogue CD" was Second Coming, which he always rated as The Stone Roses' better album. I dropped a hint that, if it was still there, I wouldn't mind having that for Christmas. However, I knew Tim would forget, so I went in myself shortly afterwards and bought a copy. And you know what happened next, just a few weeks later, don't you? He didn't forget, and my gratitude on opening the present was genuine, not feigned. My curses were directed against myself.
It was the first time I'd properly listened to The Stone Roses, having given them a wide berth when the buzz was at its most hysterical. I must have liked this album, because I bought the first one shortly afterwards. I certainly like the way they take a full four and a half minutes of throat-clearing and mucking about before they start the first song. Build the anticipation to fever pitch. Is it just me, or does the album sometimes sound like Led Zep updated for baggy Madchester?
But few of the songs have stayed with me since then. The bit I always come back to is the first 80 seconds of Ten Storey Love Song.
Eight years later I swapped my spare copy for The Thrills. Twelve or thirteeen years on, we know that an album has to be a pretty special to consider parting with a tenner for it. This one's £3.48 at Amazon at the time of writing.
(I know: the price of everything and the value of nothing. Guilty as charged.)
MusicBrainz entry for this album
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