So, 21 years on from The Second Coming, we finally had the Third (recorded) Coming of Manchester legends The Stone Roses when they unveiled All For One to the world last month.
Reaction to the track - Three Muskateers title and all - was generally positive, with any negative comments about the repetitive lyrics and lightweight feel outweighed by the sheer joy of hearing Ian Brown, John Squire, Mani and Reni back together and seemingly just enjoying being four guys making music in a room together.
However, now comes the acid test - if the first track was something to keep the fans happy and dip their toes back in the water, this one - announced earlier this evening and premiering at midnight (Friday 9 June) tonight - needs to lay down a marker if they're going to be serious contenders again.
We have a title - Beautiful Thing - and some cover art:
And we've heard rumours it's a nice weighty 7 minutes in length.
We listened in as soon as the track was released - here's our first listen review:
-Yes it's seven minutes long - superb
-THERE'S SOME BACKWARDS VOCALS. Don't Stop, eh?
-Lovely shuffle beat from Reni
-Backwards guitar too! And wah-wah!
-Brownie's in - this is pure Breaking Into Heaven, Squire noddling, Mani grooving and all
-Wow the production on this is way, way smoother than All For One
-There's no MASSIVE Breaking Into Heaven-style chorus, but the 'It's a Beautiful Thing' chorus is nice
-Almost three minutes in, this track's in no rush to get anywhere, and that's fine guys, you take your time
-The backing vocals are really cool
-This could do with going somewhere now guys
-4 minutes GUITAR SOLO AHOY
-This is positively restrained for John Squire
-*CONGA BREAKDOWN KLAXON*
-Psychedelic man
-Now it's sort of stopped
-It's started again
-Reni back in with the groove
-They are 100% going to play this back-to-back with Breaking Into Heaven live aren't they?
-Mani's cutting loose with the bass now
-And...finish with a drum solo
Hmmm. It's seven minutes that doesn't really go anywhere, but it's undoubtedly a cool groove. It's, nice, we suppose? Could really have done with unleashing itself at some point though - be that in a giant chorus or a mega guitar solo. But it's very dreamy indeed...
That's our verdict - take a listen below and decide for yourselves:
