Ian Brown Unfinished Monkey Business

Ian Brown 'Unfinished Monkey Business' (Polydor, 1997)

When this LP came out I was working at Edinburgh University which was a stone's throw away form Avalanche records. When 10am approached I made an excuse to my colleagues, I think I said I needed to go to the bank on an urgent matter or something similar, and quickly nipped round to West Nicholson Street to purchase King Monkey's debut solo recording.

I loved it. It looked great. Would it sound great too? Well it certainly sounded unique. Brown recorded the majority of the LP in his own studio, which I think was a room in his house, and he played almost all the instruments himself although Reni, Mani and Aziz all make appearances. Whilst 'Unfinished Monkey Business' lacks the majesty of 'The Stone Roses' or the Led Zeppelin soaked weight of 'Second Coming' it does have an ephemeral charm that The Seahorses so lumpenly lacked.

'Unfinished Monkey Business' is Ian Brown personified; attitude wins you over rather than quality. Lyrically Brown has a go at his ex band mate and ex best friend, John Squire, criticising his reliance on drugs and his self centred attitude which Brown blamed for the demise of the Stone Roses.

Musically the album begins as it means to go on with hip hop beats and samples running into lead single 'My Star' which boats militaristic rhythms and eastern influences and some brilliantly paranoid lyrics about 'Astronauts, the new conquistadors'. 'Can't See Me' is the most obviously Roses influenced track, particularly apparent as Mani and Reni provide the rhythm section, but, like most of the album it just slouches along without really making a point.

'Ice Cold Cube', a withering attack on Squire, was originally performed at the disastrous final appearance of the Stone Roses at Reading Festival. Perhaps unsurprisingly it is one of the album's real plodders and sounds out of place, lacking the vibrancy found elsewhere, particularly when Aziz tries to out Squire Squire; the guy may have been a coke fuelled megalomaniac, but he was John Squire and not many can even attempt to reach his skill level.

'Lions' has always reminded me of the time when Brown told the Barrowlands that he hope Scotland beat England in the 1996 Euros. He's quite right, no matter what Baddiel and Skinner had us all singing 'There are no Lions in England'. However, the song itself is a confused mish mash of styles and, like the album as a whole, it seems completely unfinished.

I've seen Brown on numerous occasions and he can be a brilliant performer, and he can produce some amazing songs, 'F. E. A. R' and 'Golden Gaze', but more often than not he can be a frustrating, like this album, and over confident man child which can result in hilarious but bizarre occurances like the crowd singing 'C. O. C. K.' to him as he punched his soundman at T in the Park.

Of course we know they are all friends again and the Stone Roses are playing mega gigs across Europe. I'm not sure what this means for Brown's solo career, but we can be assured that no matter what he does in the future it's bound to be interesting. And he finishes his thanks list with PEACE!

Peace