Ian Brown
Unfinished Monkey Business
(Polydor)
Eighteen months ago, Ian Brown had been written off following his impression of a donkey with a migraine at the Reading Festival. He looked for all the world like a coked-up loon rapidly disappearing down the dumper of pop, but oh how our expectations are confounded. Ian Brown has made a solo album of startling diversity, and this next bit may come as a bit of a surprise he's played most of the instruments himself.
On the single My Star, the combination of Brown's faux-innocent voice and chiming guitars reminds you why you loved The Stone Roses in the first place, but Unfinished Monkey Business is by no means an exercise in reliving past glories. Instead, Brown trips his way through nu-baggy grooves, DIY hip-hop and on Deep Pile Dreams, finds himself happily adrift in synth-pop territory.
At times, the guitar sounds like it's being played by a 10-year-old, at others, like it's in the overactive hands of Mark Knopfler, but it's the sense of bright-eyed experimentation that prevails. For the first time since 1990, Ian Brown sounds like he's having fun. Oh, and it's a damn sight better than the wretched Seahorses.
Sam Richards
**** (out of 5)
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