The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses [20th anniversary edition] - Silvertone/Legacy
FILTER Grade: 94%

Northern England post-punk, let’s face it, has mostly been a byproduct of working class alienation and disaffection. But unlike their bleak, snarling Manc forebears Joy Division and The Fall, The Stone Roses’ glorious debut—now magnificently repackaged in various configurations of CDs, DVDs, art prints and the like—was utterly awash in dauntless idealism and confidence. They were proudly political, decrying the royals and embedding coded references to the Paris Riots of ’68 in their Pollock-esque album art. Yet in the lyrics to “Elephant Stone” (originally only on the American version) they would “Burst into heaven” before “dreaming till the sun goes down.” Indeed, no bedsit poets. Ian Brown was instead to be found pompously roaring, “I gotta be adored” over a grandiosely Faustian groove. Across the pond, of course, the likes of J Mascis only wanted your pity. But it was the gleaming, dreamlike “Waterfall” that most resplendently designated the new indie frontier. Anything but despairing, it literally explodes with the anxious thrill of throwing off the shackles of all that Northern joylessness and desolation, to rush excitedly away into the unknown. Oh, and they also had brilliant haircuts, if you hadn’t heard.