SECOND COMING
8.5 / 10
One of popular music's most accurate axioms is that second albums are the toughest. The audaciously titled Second Coming was greeted by the music press with disappointment. Legal wrangles and increasingly fractious inter-band relationships meant the LP took five years to complete, by which time former devotees Oasis had taken the initiative. This album was destined to fail on a short-term basis for four main reasons:
1. The simple fact that it took too long and a generation had moved on. Britpop had kicked off and there were no anthemic songs to be found on this LP.
2. The sheer weight of expectation generated by both the five and a half year gap between it and the band's eponymous debut and the band's withdrawal from the live arena for four and a half of those years.
3. The Roses gave publicity priority to The Big Issue.
4. It was released two weeks before Christmas (think Mr Blobby... Mike Flowers Pops.. you get the idea).
The album going through several producers' hands did not allow for continuity; one look at the back cover, which has different icons after every track, tells its own story. If I was to list all the things I feel could be improved with TSR, the back of a postage stamp would suffice; an A4 sheet would probably be required for SC. The mixing, for example, could have been better (Mani's bass on Driving South, How Do You Sleep... is not prominent enough). Nevertheless, the highs (ahem...) on this album - Breaking Into Heaven solo, Ten Storey Love Song intro, Tears outro - stand comparison with those of the debut, and I would still consider the album to be among the best British (Isles) albums of the 90's ('Loveless' by My Bloody Valentine, 'Achtung Baby' by U2 and The La's' debut - despite poor production in places - would be close-runners. A 'proper' La's album would claim top spot undoubtedly). The Stone Roses are (justifiably) lauded with having made the best British album of the 80's but I think they deserve a little more credit for their 90's LP also, for all its faults and failings.
Nice touch on the front cover of Second Coming - beside the word 'Coming' there is a drawing of a naked flaccid penis (good one John !).
The album was dedicated to Philip Hall, the band's publicist, who died of cancer in 1994.
1. Breaking Into Heaven
2. Driving South
3. Ten Storey Love Song
4. Daybreak
5. Your Star Will Shine
6. Straight To The Man
7. Begging You
8. Tightrope
9. Good Times
10. Tears
11. How Do You Sleep
12. Love Spreads
90. The Fozz
Format:
Released December 1994:
Second Coming (Geffen, GED 24503, CD)
Second Coming (Geffen, GEC 24503, cassette)
Second Coming (Geffen, GEF 24503, double LP)
Second Coming (Geffen, GEFD 24503, Australian CD)
Second Coming (Geffen, GEFD 24503/22081, Australian CD with Crimson Tonight bonus disc)
Second Coming (Geffen / BMG, GED 24503, Taiwanese CD)
Second Coming (Geffen, GEFD-24503, US CD)
Second Coming (Geffen, GEFSD 24503, Canadian CD)
Second Coming (Geffen, GEFD-24503, Brazilian CD)
Released 16th December 1994:
Second Coming (Geffen / MCA, MVCG-146, Japanese promo CD)
Second Coming (Geffen / MCA, MVCG-146, Japanese CD)
Released January 1995:
Second Coming (Geffen, GEC-24503, Turkish CD)
Second Coming (Geffen, GEFD2, Mexican CD)
Released February 1995:
Second Coming (Crescendo/BMG/Geffen, Premium 50353, Indian cassette)
Second Coming (Geffen, GED-24503, Korean CD)
Released March 1998:
Second Coming (Geffen / MCA, MVCG-19323, Japanese CD reissue)
Released 1st November 1999:
Second Coming (Geffen / Simply Vinyl, SVLP 111, double LP reissue)
Released 2005:
Second Coming (Geffen, GED 24503 / 424 503-2, French CD)
UK chart position: #4
Artwork details:
The Second Coming artwork is from 'Second Coming' (mixed media collage, 30" x 40", 1994).
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