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Eleven years and 5 albums into the solo career, Ian Brown continues to plough his own path.
And so as another season of fevered Roses reunion rumours limps away with its tail between its legs, those rumours seem set to remain just that - although with Michael Eavis mysteriously hinting at bands who've never played Glastonbury headlining his 40th anniversary shebang, expect them to resurface come line-up announcement time. Ian Brown chooses the moment to bestow upon the world his fifth solo effort, the follow up to 2007's 'The World Is Yours'. That last set received as critical a mauling as Brown's ever been subject to, only the Bush-baiting lead-off single 'Illegal Attacks' surviving unscathed. The cue, then, for most artists to retire to their corner, lick their wounds and reinvent their wheel. Not something, you get the sense, Ian Brown ever feels the need to do. If The Stone Roses were a band that, at their height, bled self-assurance, then Ian Brown was always the beating heart of that. So back he comes with a familiar mix of cosmic beats, eastern influences, missionary zeal and lyrical slashes at ex-guitarists.
Make no mistake, some of Brown's solo stuff stands up with anything he's ever done - F.E.A.R. gets as big a reaction at gigs as any Roses song. You can add 'My Way's opener, 'Stellify' to the list. Putting it simply, when Brown hits it, he hits it. And on 'Stellify' (it means to turn into a star, yeah?) he hits it. Cosmo-nonsense lyrics, the best trumpet fanfare since time began and a strutting drum beat make for Brown's best effort in a long time. 'Crowning of the Poor' sees Brown returning to one of his recurring lyrical themes, sticking up for the underdog, and an unexpectedly straight cover of Zager & Evans' hippy anthem 'In The Year 2525' gives Brown chance to berate the world for screwing itself up.
'Always Remember Me' plays a dirty wee trick, suckering you in with a beautiful, whimsical, meandering backdrop to Brown's sweetly intoned melodies. But go back. Go listen to those lyrics. "Walking yourself into the wilderness"? "Those were the days when we had it all"? Yep, we're on another recurring lyrical theme - Ian Brown's still a bit annoyed at John Squire - and it's one that haunts the rest of the album. Seriously people, on the evidence of these lines the afore-mentioned reunion's never been as far away. "When the bombs began to fall/I didn't do it for the roses," he pleads later on 'For the Glory'. "Bye-bye all the mercenaries" he sneers on 'So High', "I think it's so funny I left you so far behind". It's enough to give a guy a complex.
Still, when he's making music as fresh and as relevant as this, it's easy to see why he continues to resist. It's not as though, at 46 years of age, he's a no-one-nowhere-washed-up has-been, relying on his former glories to earn him a crust. Far from it. The pre-ambles leading up to the release of 'My Way' have centred on how Brown used Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' album as his benchmark - if the material didn't stand up, it didn't make the cut. Well, you can make your own mind up about that, but this is certainly the most concise, focussed record in his solo era. There's a breadth in style, a confidence in direction and when the closing 'So High', a Hammond organ driven stab at Stax-y soul comes to an abrupt end, you're left wanting just a little bit more. So now, the end is near? No chance.
7.5/10
Fiction/Polydor 28/9/09
Tags: ian brown my way album review matt rynn 360 degrees
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