It finally happened, nearly 5 years after
their comeback The Stone Roses have released new music for the first time in
over 2 decades. Of course it was unrealistic to expect a song that is on par
with anything off their debut but still there was potential (albeit a small
amount) for it to be a very strong song, but equally the possibility that it
was going to be utterly dreadful was quite high. I mean 20 years is a long time
not to release anything and just look to their second album for a guess to what
it could be like. Upon its release it had an overwhelmingly positive response,
but take it out of the context of being The Stone Roses and its just yet another
middle of road indie pop song, to me ‘all for one’ just screams average.
That said there are good parts to it, John
Squire’s guitar playing mainly, but also some truly dire lyrics to accompany,
the kind that wouldn’t be out of place on a teenage indie bands first attempt
at a peace and love song. "all for one, one for all if we all join hands we'll make a wall" it really is a thousand miles away from the opening line to she bangs the drums, " I can feel the earth
begin to move, I hear my needle hit the groove". I know comparing the two is harsh but you do expect at least something vaguely reminiscent of the cleverness of this lyric
On first listen I really hated it but I’ve given it a few more
goes now and its grown on me slightly, though there are still some huge flaws.
Its no secret that Ian Brown isn't the greatest singer in the world and on the debut
the vocals weren’t relied on to carry the song so it was able to looked over
but here the bass and drums aren’t strong enough individually and it leaves his
vocal imperfections exposed. The guitar solo is very impressive but it just
doesn’t quite fit; its as if they new they didn’t have much so decide to just
let John Squire loose and do his own thing. In isolation it’s a really really
good solo, just not in the context of the song.
As a song it does come together fairly well
if you manage to ignore the cringe worthy lyrics, accept the fact that its
not the 80’s anymore and that the level of their first album is not going to be
replicated. It’s a fun, bouncy, pop track and at the end of the day it could
have been so much worse.
6/10
