- Label
- Polydor
- Release date
- 28th September 2009
- Genre
- Indie
- Buy this album
- Order CD
The Madchester Monkey King keeps on marching.
The Ian Brown of today is more chilled than the cocky, self-assured front man of The Stone Roses. Now 46, he’s still arrogant (hence the title) and stubborn and in recent years has developed into a scally deity – an immortal who could put out any old toot and be regarded as a legend.
To his credit Brown is still trying to push his sound forward with an avoidance of guitars in favour of pianos and strings but the one-dimensional nature of his vocal melodies make it a patchy journey – you can sing any number of his solo hits over the tracks here.
The opening Stellify, nicely balances the tension between repetition and majesty and there’s a couple of stately nostalgic epics (the seemingly biographical Always Remember Me and For The Glory) at the end of the album that lift the album above the ordinary. But sandwiched in between is a whole lot of mystery meat including a pointless cover of In The Year 2525 and Just Like You which contains a synth hook La Roux would reject for being too shrill. If you want to hear Ian Brown at his best, this album isn’t the one.
More to try:
Kasabian: West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
Engineers: Three Fact Fader
Verve: Urban Hymns
