“I’m anti-nostalgia,” says Ian Brown, who is now on his 6th solo album and still has no interest in getting his old band back together. Then again, with one of the most impressive back catalogues of any solo artist in recent years he has no need to jump on the overpopulated reunion bandwagon. There is no flagging solo career to boost and no knocks on the door from the taxman. Going it alone has gone quite well for him, if not at times a little patchy, but certainly far superior to what Ashcroft has put out since the Verve.
His new single, Stellify, is driven by a ridiculously catchy piano loop and stomping beat. It doesn’t sound like we’re in typical Ian Brown territory to begin with, but once that familiar Manc vocal kicks in after the first few bars we know where we are. Its not any better or any worse than the majority of his previous singles, some of which were criminally ignored, namely the brilliant Sister Rose, which limped in at number 87 on the singles charts only confirming their irrelevance in modern pop culture.
Stellify gradually builds and sounds like it’s going somewhere, particularly at the best part of the song – the bridge, but it doesn’t, other than that it’s pretty solid and bodes well for his new album, My Way.
Coincidentally it is now the 20th anniversary of the Stone Roses debut album, and with Brown still going strong and putting out material of this quality he should be feeling rightfully smug at the minute
Matt Humphrey
