Search - The Stone Roses :: Garage Flower

A garage-rock flower

E. A Solinas | MD USA | 02/01/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Success ruined the Stone Roses after their astounding, groundbreaking debut album and a less-popular follow-up. Now, in a musical era where "garage rock" is a phrase thrown around like frisbees, the title of the Stone Roses' "Garage Flowers" seems quite appropriate. It's rough, gritty and unfinished, but certainly worth a look for the Roses fan.



Starting with the so-so "Getting Plenty," it shifts in a blare of horns and drums to the catchy, unhappy "Here It Comes" ("Give me your life/It's worthless anyhow"). The Roses show their talent for getting adrenaline pumping with the weightily catchy "Tradjic Roundabout," loud percussion-led "So Young," and Beatles-esque "All I Want."



As a connection to their debut album, there's an early cut of "I Wanna Be Adored." It's less coherent and more scattered; it's primarily interesting as a sign of how their music evolved into the gritty, polished sound of "Stone Roses." Additionally, "This Is the One" appears in all its punky, whispery glory, a slightly different version from that of the debut album, but possibly even better.



The sound of "Stone Roses" hasn't yet blossomed in "Garage Flowers." Their sound was still evolving and changing. As a result several of the songs here were released for the first time in "Garage Flowers," still with that slightly scratched, unfinished feeling that you only get in demo CDs. Those expecting the quality of "Stone Roses" or "Second Coming" will be disappointed, but those looking for some semi-good music from the then-evolving Stone Roses will find it here.



The muddier sound makes it a little harder to hear the music at times. They're a little uneven musically, tending to depend heavily either on percussion or guitars. And the melodies are somewhat less complex than they were later in the Roses' career, especially with the shaky filler song "Getting Plenty." However, they are still fairly good, with some of the brilliant, swirling guitar riffs and thunderous drumming that can get your pulse racing in an instant.



The 1986 demo album "Garage Flowers" is a shift down from the rest of the Roses' music catalog, but it's still a worthy release and a curiosity for Stone Roses fans."

Interesting precursor to their debut album

James Wilson | Mount Vernon, OH USA | 10/30/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This collection of pre-debut album recordings (from around 1985) show the Roses as a more visceral guitar band, but with tendencies towards greatness. Sure, nothing here is as good as the songs on the first album (although "I Wanna Be Adored" and "This is the One" appear here in early forms), but songs like "Gettin' Plenty", "Here It Comes", "Trust a Fox", and "Tradjic Roundabout" are performed with bravado and are impressive works in their own right, particularly Reni's unbelievable drumming. Most of the good songs are in the beginning, making this collection a little front heavy, but if you're a Roses fan (and you are if you're reading this review) then you should definitely consider checking this out in order to hear a few lost gems."