Reviewed: The first new Stone Roses song in 22 years

I love and always will love this band. I’ll never forget the heartbreak of their split. They taught me northern pride, seeing more than one point of view and soundtracked my youth.

Their reformation in 2011 was a genuine resurrection, The subsequent live shows were spellbinding, I saw two of them. If you had of told me as a teenager I would see them live twice with the classic line-up I would have exploded with joy.

But new material remained elusive. They promised it at their comeback press conference but that was five years ago. Rumours of yet another split did the rounds.

Then came the announcement, What the World Was Waiting For.

It was tweeted around lunchtime today, sending the world into rapture as fans, hungry for new material, began to excitedly discuss its imminent release.

All for One, released unexpectedly tonight is the first single the band have released since 1995’s Begging You, which itself had been released the year before on the band’s The Second Coming album.

And, finally it got its first play on BBC Radio 1 before being released worldwide on the internet.

And, alas it comes as a huge disappointment.

Starting with the a swirling psychedelic psychedelic guitar riff it storms into a bouncing sing-a-long anthem clearly designed to get crowds bouncing in stadiums at the band’s forthcoming shows.

“The mystery, all eyes to see, chemistry, all one family,” Ian Brown sings, hardly “kiss me where the sun don’t shine, the past was your’s the future’s mine” is it?

There’s punchy drum fills from Reni and the usual Northern Soul grooves from Mani. And as ever Squire hands in a guitar solo, replete with 1960s style effects.

No-one was expecting a world-beating return to form but this I am afraid is an insult to the band’s legacy.

In sounds like Squire’s short-lived post Stone Roses band The Seahorses, only more dreary.

Visit any school music room and you’ll hear more inspiration frankly. It is indie rock by numbers, by far their worst song. It would maybe have served as a Cast b-side.

There’s unquestionably more stuff on the way and, this being the Stone Roses, it could be amazing. They have never stopped wrong-footing their fans, with the genius, their disappointments, their swagger and their total imponderability.

But on the showing of All for One, I would rather be alone frankly.

UPDATE: The single seems to be getting great feedback online from a lot of fans, as well as some criticism. What do you think of All for One?