Ian Brown
My Way is a cool title…
It pretty well sums up Ian Brown.
Moulded
by punk, he’s carved his own swaggering path. A uniquely English
presence existing on his own terms, a northern folk hero and national
icon. He has created a series of great records in an idiosyncratic and
ground breaking solo career, one which has made it easy to avoid the
temptation and constant requests for the reformation of his legendary,
generation-changing former band the Stone Roses.
My Way is
autobiographical. The songs are informed by a turbulent few decades at
the front line of British pop culture, and by one of the most
controversial and wilful musical careers in history, swinging from the
heights of inspiring a generation in 1989 to a thrilling solo comeback,
equal parts controversy and jubilation. And Brown just keeps coming,
powered by that innate self-belief that fuelled a city and fires up
fans, turning every gig into a celebration. The live atmosphere is
unlike any other gig you will see in the UK. The intense support for an
icon who never seems to back down, a musical maverick who shadow boxes
his songs like a youthful Ali, holding up his chin and taunting the
enemy like the Louisville boxer did all those decades ago.
My
Way is a neat reference to one of Ian Brown’s favourite groups; Sid
Vicious’ genius destruction of the classic song of the same name being
one of the defining situationist punk rock moments. It’s that kind of
maverick approach to music that Brown invokes. The full-on attitude and
swagger that the Sex Pistols upheld for a brief period, Brown has
maintained for years.
My Way is a statement of intent. Brown has
never compromised his vision, he has made pop on his own terms and
never by the rules. His lack of muso knowledge is his strength. This is
a pure, instinctive music that follows its own nose. Unconventional and
yet accessible - it’s a cool trick to pull off.
Brown’s career
is the story of a generation - from the initial teenage thrill of punk,
the mish-mash of mid-Eighties culture, mods, scooter boys, skins and
punks, Creation Records, paisley shirt psychedelia. Drifting in and out
of bands, cheap drugs, wild nights, pretty girls, great records, and
then finally a band that everyone would soon call their own and band
that still means so much to so many people.
The Roses story is
part of legend now, but when the band fell apart Ian dropped out of
sight from the “filthy business” and tended his garden, getting all
biblical by returning to the simple life. Left with just a small
terraced house from one of the great stories of the period - from a
band that could have been as big as the Beatles - most ‘experts’
reckoned that it was all over for the singer. But they were forgetting
that for a big chunk of a generation he was an iconic brooding presence
with the generational aura of a Strummer or a Lydon, whose natural
charisma was already being tapped into by Liam Gallagher and a whole
host of new generation who were copping the walk, the style and the
attitude of the loose limbed frontman.
When Aziz
Ibrahim knocked on Ian's door and got him to record again he opened up
a whole new chapter. 1998’s Unfinished Monkey Business was a hit, and
it kick-started a series of solo albums which saw Brown strike out in
his own direction.
My Way is the latest instalment in the
canon, with songs that musically and lyrically touch on key moments in
Brown’s life. Again mostly written with key collaborator Dave
McCracken, the tracks pull the strongest points of each of the
preceding albums into one almighty whole - his strongest work yet.
Opening track and first single Stellify bounces in on a piano motif,
before Brown’s voice enters, strong with fallen angel innocence, and a
great horn break punctuates the track. The mood switches with the
melancholic, electronic pulses of The Crowning Of The Poor. Few British
artists get as dark as this and make it work. In comparison, Just like
You retains a pure melancholy but packs a pure crystalline pop chorus
of the kind New Order knocked out at their prime. The breathless vocals
trip over themselves in a rush to get the message home, it makes you
think of the Hacienda at its peak, those big songs echoing around the
E-drenched room. Good times. 24 hour party people moving on.
Swerving
away from death disco is a cover of Zager and Evans’ In The Year 2525,
continuing Brown’s series of off-the-wall covers (there was that brace
of Michael Jackson workouts) with the welcome return of the mariachi
trumpet that has become such a part of the Brown sound. A wistfulness
to the next track, Always Remember Me, shows a sense of regret not
always immediately apparent in Brown’s iconic, upbeat presence, but a
sensitivity that has been there from day one. It’s in the voice which
packs attitude and humanity, sung over the deep, dark echo-drenched
sound that hints at mid-Eighties feedback-drenched indie underground -
those sun kissed Spectorish doleful ballads that sound so timeless. The
backwards guitar loop is magical as the song oozes to its stormy
climax. Is Vanity Kills a precautionary tale for pop scenesters, a
cautionary tale in a world where we all have to get old? The song
sounds like a film soundtrack, a brooding, atmospheric piece that looks
at the dark underbelly of love or pop stardom. “Nothing to lose, I will
do it all again,“ a defiant Brown decides, leaving the wreckage walking
tall.
For The Glory is another great vocal in another
neo-soundtrack workout, full of biblical references and defiant
swagger. The pace picks up for Marathon Man, with stripped down
electronics and scorched earth rhythms building to a hooky chorus. This
is a song about reasserting yourself, powered by the legendary Brown
confidence and self belief that propelled the swagger of that vibed
Generation E. Own Brain (an anagram of his own name) sees the author
standing up for individuality in a world where there’s no space for
mavericks and following the herd has become the norm. It’s the
manifesto for his attitude. Laugh Now follows, intoning a moral tale
over a chiming keyboard, a nursery rhyme oozing wisdom, whilst By All
Means is savage, trying to find mercy for someone who has done Brown
wrong. It’s the demonic preacher man rearing his head again, over a
backing track that invokes Morricone on a digital keyboard with big 3D
soundscapes. So High, a great last track, is almost a sing-along, with
a whirling Hammond, neo-soul melting pot creating a fantastic
atmosphere for Brown to clear the slate. A sardonic classic.
Original, autobiographical and self reliant, My Way is Ian Brown’s aptly named masterpiece.
John Robb
August 2009
