Ian Brown: The World Is Yours
Ian Brown teams up with fellow anti-establishment voice Sinead O'Connor on The World Is Yours
Monday, 24, Sep 2007 10:14
Fiction, out September 24th.
In a nutshell.
Ian Brown on a clear day
What's it all about?
Former Stone Roses frontman Ian Brown returns with his fifth studio album - a stirring, symphonic record which saw the self-styled Monkey Man take a break from smoking cannabis for a while. With a rousing string arrangement by Simon Hale helping to carry Brown's distinctively flat and unmistakably Manchester vocals, the album radiates a cocksure swagger and a tender heartbeat all at once.
The World is Yours sees Brown, now 44, in vaguely jaunty mode, singing as he does about "just as life is for living, love is for giving" and daddy telling him stories about the world being his oyster if he would just "do your thing and sing". As you would expect of a man never afraid to make his point, however, he also gets political. On the stirring Save Us and vitriolic first single Illegal Attacks, Brown lays into the US and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with trademark bile. The church is also at the sharp end of his lyrics, as Street Children and Some Folks Are Hollow bare their teeth at religion with few holds barred.
Who's it by
Ian Brown; variously described as the worst singer to front a multi-million selling band and a lyrical genius who has risen from the ashes of the Roses with far greater aplomb than many of his critics would have given him credit for. This is the fifth solo album in 12 busy years since the much-publicised demise of the cult Manchester band. While fellow Roses mainstay John Squire's post-breakup career has been limited to the ultimately unsuccessful Seahorses and two largely ignored solo albums, Brown's has seen him entrench himself further still in the British music scene.
On this album he teams up with a fellow anti-establishment voice in the form of Sinead O'Connor, who provides whispery vocals on Some Folks Are Hollow and Illegal Attacks. Also featuring are The Smiths' Andy Rourke and Happy Mondays' Paul Ryder, who both help add punch to the bass lines, particularly on the anthemic Sister Rose, which takes one minute of its 3:52 before a word is even spoken.
As an example.
"How many mothers to cry?/How many sons have to die?/How many missions left to fly over Palestine?/'Cos as a matter of facts/ It's a pact, it's an act/ These are illegal attacks/ So bring the soldiers back." - Illegal Attacks
"Save us from imbeciles who think they rule world/ Save us from hypocrites whose twisted plans unfurl/ Save us from warmongers who bring on Armageddon/ Save us from all of those whose eyes are closed to the plight of the African child." - Save Us
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
Brown will always remain something of a cult hero and his role in bringing about the Stone Roses will ensure he continues to be so despite his infamous lack of natural singing talent. His solo work has seen him push boundaries and try things perhaps even he wouldn't have expected but when it comes to winning awards for anything other than being a godlike genius (NME awards 2006) Brown's work is always likely to fall short.
What the others say
"Being a man of the people, Brown hired an orchestra for his fifth solo album, providing employment and a dramatic backdrop for his familiar lyrical blend of acuity and vacuity over beats. A fellow martyr, Sinead O'Connor, joins him on the attractively blunt Illegal Attacks, but the sincere Street Children is a promise too far. The combination works, just about, although Brown's lack of a way with a melody makes this best taken in individual doses." - The Times
"There's no denying the mystical allure of the music that accompanies it all. Brown is a master of the blurred beat and the echoing refrain, and The World Is Yours adds strings to the already heady mix." - Guardian
So is it any good?
It is impossible to listen to any Ian Brown record without hearing the ghost of the Roses floating somewhere in the background. His voice will forever be linked with the band and songs like On Track and Some Folks Are Hollow have an inevitable odour of nostalgia around them. That said, Brown has most certainly moved on and The World Is Yours is arguably his most mature and assured record so far. Drawing on a number of former members of bands which undoubtedly influenced the Roses could be seen as step backwards but that would be to do the end result a disservice. The eclectic mix of soaring strings and backing tracks which on occasion border on those likely to accompany a chart RnB tune has the potential for cataclysmic mismatch. But the strange thing is that it works.
Brown has a tendency to pontificate and his fifth album is no exception. Sometimes this desire to express his ego through who his work can grate, particularly when paired with unsophisticated lyrics about fishes, but once this is overlooked what is left is an album which oozes class. Pinpoint production, passionate vocals and the sort of orchestral power that lifted Oasis' Whatever way above the mediocre song it would have been otherwise make this an affecting listen.
According to the man himself The World Is Yours will "bury everything else I've ever done". It may not match the Stone Roses' output in terms of impact but it definitely and defiantly takes Brown a step further down the road of making his own mark. After five solo albums it is perhaps unfair to still be comparing his music to that of his former band. But on this occasion the comparisons are favourable. Ian Brown is his own man and this is surely his best yet.
8/10
Martin Ashplant
"Ian Brown is a brilliant creative soul." - Radharani Sakhi
"The World Is Yours - What can i say? Absolutely fantastic, genius - I am a manchester girl and I will definitely be at the concert." - Chrissy Shaw