themusicbod – Made Of Stone (Stone Roses Cover)

Continuing my wallow in 1989-shaped Stone Roses nostalgia, comes this rather amazing cover of Made Of Stone. It was brought to my attention by Claire and is, in a word, beautiful.

It’s an instrumental cover of the 4th single by The Stone Roses (and the first one to be taken from the iconic debut album), and is entirely played on the piano by someone who goes by the name themusicbod. This makes what was always one of the band’s more mournful tracks even more eery. It positively oozes regret, a bitter-sweet sense of sadness and an air of mournfulness that perfectly suits the tune. What make the whole thing even more effecting is that this cover version of Made Of Stone is accompanied by video footage of Spike Island, the scene of the Roses’ biggest ever gig.

For those who are too young to remember, Spike Island was meant to be the Roses’ finest moment – a Woodstock for the baggy generation. Instead it was beset by sound problems and considered a bit of a let down by most of the music press. But seeing the place now (it’s a reclaimed toxic waste site – hardly the most romantic venue for a gig), all empty fields and empty vistas, as themusicbod’s haunting version of Made Of Stone plays, it’s hard not to think about what happened to the 27,000 souls who went to see the Roses play on that August day 20 years ago.

As I said in my post on the version of I Am The Resurrection from The Empress Ballroom in Blackpool, The Stone Roses ended up blowing it and this amazing cover makes me wonder about the hopes and dreams of the audience at Spike Island. I wanted to go but having not even turned 15, wasn’t allowed. People who were 20 then would be almost 40 now, whilst any hip-young 30 year olds who made the trek to Spike Island would now be 50: where are they now? Do they still love The Roses as much as they did? I’m guessing they do – The Roses are like a religion.

Anyway, I’m probably getting a bit deep now. I’ll stop and allow you to enjoy the magic that is the original version of Made Of Stone.

Made Of Stone cover image from MusicStack

5 comments

  1. Hi

    thanks for kind comments about my cover of “made of stone”…i am going to organise a “meet” at spike island soon and take my piano..maybe people will turn up with guitars?? we will sit and sing stone roses songs in the beautiful wasteland that is spike island..email me back if you are interested in getting involved..
    cheers
    richard

    themusicbod@hotmail.co.uk

  2. I’m really not sure – I suggest you email Richard, who performed it and who has kindly left his email address above.

Leave a Reply to Smith Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *