With every magazine poll bestowing canonical status on their Stone Roses debut, the subsequent underachievements of Ian Brown and John Squire become more glaring. On his fourth solo album, Brown continues to tilt for a sort of airy, post-dance majesty. For all the cosmic platitudes and backwards guitars, he falls well short thanks to a dated, home-cooked sound and the earth-bound mundanity of his collaborators (including late Roses makeweight Aziz Ibrahim and a cruising Noel Gallagher). The odd mariachi flourish has charm. Generally, though, Brown's cameo as a wizard in the last Harry Potter movie harboured more plausible mystique.
With every magazine poll bestowing canonical status on their Stone Roses debut, the subsequent underachievements of Ian Brown and John Squire become more glaring. On his fourth solo album, Brown continues to tilt for a sort of airy, post-dance majesty. For all the cosmic platitudes and backwards guitars, he falls well short thanks to a dated, home-cooked sound and the earth-bound mundanity of his collaborators (including late Roses makeweight Aziz Ibrahim and a cruising Noel Gallagher). The odd mariachi flourish has charm. Generally, though, Brown’s cameo as a wizard in the last Harry Potter movie harboured more plausible mystique.
