John Squire in Electronic as a third member.

gerry jamieson wrote: what the fuck is the point of these ridiculous suggestions, he was a one hit wonder, who the fuck would want to work with him?

Bit harsh. Whatever you may think of him he's an excellent guitarist and one hit wonder or not, The Stone Roses is one of the greatest debuts ever released and Squire was the driving force behind its creation. I listened to his first solo record which was a bit underwhelming but the guitar work was really good. Unfortunately the tunes just weren't there. I felt a bit sorry for him, all that talent and no tunes to live up to it.

Brown's a legend of course, I'm a big fan and collect his records but the incessant slaggings of Squire in the press are getting a bit tiresome. Hazarding a guess Brown might have a big insecurity about the Roses days and it does show from some of his comments. Some might say Brown's had alot of luck collaborating with the right people (UNKLE, Dave McCracken etc.) while Squire's barked up the wrong tree with putting faith in his vocals, bizarre concept albums etc.

I don't think Squire would suit Electronic. Two guitar players with such talent would create too much tension when it came to writing the music. It would either end up too many guitars in the mix or they wouldn't be able to produce a track at all. I'd personally like to see Electronic return to a more 'electronic' type of music with guitars on top complimenting the tune, not ruling it. Collaborating with a really good DJ like James Lavelle would be interesting, produce something Make It Happen-like, probably the most adventurous track Electronic ever produced.

Christopher Owens wrote: Brown does have talent, but he's mainly a chancer who got lucky. I read an interview with him in the NME, and he's getting to be as bad as Andrew Eldritch in thinking he owns the soil.

I agree to an extent but it's strange, Brown proved he could outshine Squire quite easily which was a surprise at the time because everyone had Squire down as "the talented one". Ironically the two Roses everyone thought were replaceable have had the most success post-Roses; Brown with his enviable solo career and Mani with Primal Scream and DJing. I personally like Brown's career cos he really does make an effort to try new things and change his sound with each album i.e. singing in Spanish on Music of the spheres, all those horns on Solarized, would exactly catch Liam Gallagher doing that would you? Time Is My Everything proved he's getting better with age, but I thought the recent All Ablaze single was album track quality at best. The melody of the guitar and his voice don't quite match at times.

I liked Second Coming. It's not a patch on the first album or in my top twenty favourite albums but there are tracks which are pretty good and have some Roses magic. These are Love Spreads, Ten Storey Love Song, Tears, and How do you sleep IMO. Your Star Will Shine has a charm, but stuff like Driving South and Good Times are so aimless and flawed. Straight To The Man is embarrassing for a band that set the bar so high with their first album.

Christopher Owens wrote:

Alistair wrote: Straight To The Man is embarrassing for a band that set the bar so high with their first album.

Isn't that the only track written entirely by Brown?

I don't have my copy with me but you could well be right there. Perhaps he did that deliberately so as to lower expectations then blow them out of the water with his solo career But yeah, those stupid "boing" samples were not a fantastic idea there, crap track.

Christopher Owens wrote: I'd love to have seen Squire in Electronic. Not only do you get three Mancunian musical legends, but you could leave Squire to concentrate on guitar, while Marr takes over as keyboard player.

I'm not doubting any of the talents involved but Marr would have as likely told Squire to fuck off if he tried to confine him to keyboards Marr's a guitarist first and foremost. Electronic just wouldn't work with another virtuoso guitarist, an experienced producer would be a better idea. Take Barney and Johnny's ideas and mould them into proper songs while stamping his/hers own ideas onto the mix.