Last three tracks are videos.
The Stone Roses were one of rock & roll's brilliant failures. Even more so than Guns N' Roses, the Stones Roses allowed controversy to override the mission. It took them six years to release two albums. The first helped define Manchester's psychedelic rock scene, while the second proved they'd ingested the classic-rock library well enough to regurgitate it at will. As the cheeky lead singer, Ian Brown exudes overreaching self-confidence and an inability to feel silly in any pose. Golden Greats benefits from this. "Love Like a Fountain" is what you'd expect: a droning, psychedelic dance-floor hybrid of mesmerizing beats and lazy, ethereal blasts of melody. "Free My Way," however, is the sound of an acid casualty spouting trippy insights. "So Many Soldiers" could be his tribute to Julian Cope. Years have passed, but the music hasn't changed much. Brown knows that washes of shrieking keyboards create alternate universes, but people's attention tends to wander if you don't marry it to a danceable groove. --Rob O'Connor
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