It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

What with all of the Stone Roses stuff that has been happening this week I have been casting my mind back to the late 80's and to what was really going on, with me anyway.


I remember buying The Stone Roses a couple of months after it's release and liking it. It didn't blow me away or anything, no Damascene moment. At this time it wasn't Manchester bands so much that interested me but more producers such as A Guy Called Gerald and the others who had been showcased on the "North, Sound of The Dance Underground album. In fact around about this time I was getting the feeling that guitar bands were a thing of the past , slightly outdated and that House and Acid were the future.

I know that the two scenes weren't mutually exclusive and there would be a coming together of the genres in the years to come in what would horribly be termed as 'indie dance' but could be more appropriately be termed as 'indie shuffle'. But I do think that there were 2 distinct camps, the House heads and the guitar loving indie kids still not at one with the concept of 4/4 beats.

So when I think back to 1989, sure I played Fools Gold,  I Am Resurrection and  W.F.L by Happy Mondays but the track that sums up that summer for me from a Manchester band is Pacific 202 by 808 State.

Have a good weekend people.

808 State - Pacific - 202

Breaking Into Heaven

I have played this track quite a lot recently and for me it holds it's own against anything from their debut album or the non album single releases.

What really strikes me is the guitar playing there is a certain swagger or looseness about it that isn't quite as apparent on the earlier releases.  It reeks to me of somebody who not only thinks that they can play but has that arrogant belief that they are better than almost all of their peers. The self belief that the likes of  Jimmy Page or Ritchie Blackmore had/have and there in probably lies the reason why I like the track so much, it has to do with spending all that time in my youth with the pseudo hippies and soaking in all of those albums by Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Hendrix and the like which has made me a sucker for the sound of a wah wah peddle or a meandering self indulgent guitar solo.

One other thing, doesn't Ian Brown sound like he really can sing on this track,  what happened?

The Stone Roses - Breaking Into Heaven (Full version with wanky intro)