Date: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 19:53

Well, what can I say? I'll admit it - I'm British and I found the Roses late. I was eleven in 1989, so there is an excuse. Love Spreads did it for me - my friend at school had always been a Roses fanatic and as the day approached, the hype that had got to him was transferred onto me. He assured me that they would come back with something wild, and they didn't disappoint, did they, as we all now know. The album came and blew my mind. Obviously since then I've got 'The Stone Roses' and 'Made Of Stone', but full credit to everyone out there who was there first time round. I can see why you waited!

The 'Second Coming' critical success wasn't there initially (not that the Roses cared) but that was due to the time in between the music to ear and the pen to paper by the journos. Two years on, 'The Second Coming' HAS to be regarded as a phenomenal record, and well up there with the greatest of all time. Obviously, initially it was the big riffs that got your imagination - 'Love Spreads' and 'Driving South', then the delicate and touching 'Ten Storey Love Song' had me going, and so on, until one day I realised that every song on the album was absolutely superb. 

If that album was reviewed now by someone who got the initial tape in '94, then they would say the same. Of course people thought when it arrived that it couldn't compare to the First Coming, but the hype machine was in overdrive, people had new heroes and after the five years

they tried their hardest to make the Roses fall flat on their face. 

They didn't. The split was sadly inevitable really, but the way it happened was sad. Remember the Roses as the Roses, as they were when they came to Cambridge on December 1st 1995 and blew us away - the lights, the atmosphere and the music. Sure, for some people the second chapter in Roses history failed to live up to the climax of the first, but for so many fans, old and new, 

The Stone Roses came back, gave us what we needed, and then departed.

Good luck to all the old members, go for the moment - we'll let you do anything.

Cheers.
Simon Smith.