The Stone Roses – Fools Gold

Each month we take a look at a classic track or album and discuss it from a music production perspective, examining any sonic innovations that took place during its recording. This month we take a look at the Stone Roses' indie-dance classic, 'Fools Gold'.

Recorded in 1989, 'Fools Gold' was released as a stand-alone single that followed on from the Roses' debut album, and it was their first track to hit the UK top 10. Intriguingly, the 'A'-side of the single was originally meant to be another track, 'What the World is Waiting For', while 'Fools Gold' was conceived as the 'B'-side.  In fact, this remained the plan so far into the process that the first run of singles were labelled up in this fashion. After pressure from the label, The Stone Roses eventually agreed to switch the 'A' and 'B' sides around, and it was therefore 'Fools Gold' that got the radio airplay and subsequent chart placing.

The Stone Roses' eponymous debut album had consisted almost entirely of live instrumentation, but inspired by the musical trends of the time, they based the demo of 'Fools Gold' around a four-bar loop lifted from a James Brown track. This loop later formed the foundation of the single, and as producer John Leckie explained to Sound on Sound, a great deal of care was taken over getting the sound of it just right; 'we copied the drum track and made the loop in an [Akai] S1000, sequenced on Cubase. We spent ages tuning that loop, trying to get the right tempo and generally fiddling about, and we quite enjoyed doing that. After that, the challenge was where to put the band on top'.

As the loop was the heart of the track, care had to be taken not to lose the 'vibe' that it created as they layered more instruments on top. The hardest part of this process was deciding how live drums would fit into the track. Leckie again; 'Reni would play along, aware that we didn't want to replace the loop, even though on the final record it's mixed out in several places to reveal Reni's playing and provide more intensity. He actually played great across the loop, using his own custom kit made up of bits and pieces.' 

'Fools Gold' was one of the first records to try and fuse traditional rock with dance music production, and it required extensive experimentation from both band and producer before they were able to fashion the elements into a cohesive whole. The final production has become an enduring classic.