it was roughly this time last year (if you are reading it around the time of publication, look you see) that Ian Brown firmly established his return as a solo artist with the release of Ripples. an album which reached a very respectable 4 in the album chart, considering you effectively had to buy it online, since neither HMV nor any other store carried stock. yes, indeed you could have bought it at an independent record shop, but mostly only if you had placed an order in advance.
with it being a year (or so) on, i thought well, why not give it a spin? it's not like i hadn't played the record for totes ages, but it had been a few months. whereas friends and family (hello) are quite aware of how unlikely it is that i would ever speak ill of Ian Brown (or his three mates) (four or five, including Robbie Maddix and Cressa), for the benefit of everyone else, then, yes, the album holds up as rather good, in fact great.
there really isn't much point going down the path of "best, greatest and most important" when discussing his albums, for all that he deems worthwhile to do ticks those boxes. however, for the sake of something to write, Ripples stands as an album which is as accessible, fluent and flowing as Music Of The Spheres and Solarized. few, i would think, would argue against a view that them two records what i named are his strongest, at the least as a solo artist.
but, of course, in a world where we have experienced the unlikely scenario of a Stone Roses reformation (or resurrection, if you will), it was the existence of such a thing as a new Ian Brown solo record which caught attention, rather than the album itself.
had the band split up, again? was it "for good", or was Ian Brown just itching to do some new music and had no patience to wait for the rest of the band to be on the same groove? we do and we don't know the answers to these or many other questions.
releasing Ripples came with minimalist promotion. whereas there is no music press any more to have adverts in, there were no interviews, no live appearances, nothing but some download "singles" and serviceable promo videos announced via all that "social media" stuff. whereas a solo gig is coming up - Warrington in May 2020 - still no interviews or what have you.
a speculative guess at why no interviews, etc, would be that he just knew how for every one question about his new solo album there would be a minimum of four about The Stone Roses. in an interview later on in 2019 John Squire kind of mumbled "yes" to being asked if the band were over once again, but then said he and Ian had a pact not to discuss it, and it was a pact that he was not interested in breaking.
you really don't have to go very far beyond a lot of the lyrical content of Ripples to get any sort of comment from Ian Brown about the band he was once in, though. roses are frequently mentioned, not often in a good way and you rather suspect he is not speaking about the flowers. whereas not as angry nor quite cross as the lyrics of Unfinished Monkey Business, there is not a lot in the words to suggest any more Roses antics any time soon.
which is a bit of a shame for a dream of mine. only recently, as it happens, the great taboo, the unwritten law, was broken. in years gone by hip, popular, treasured, era and genre defining Manchester musicians were not allowed to do a Christmas record. now that Noel Gallagher has done one in the form of the very, very good Wandering Star, the stage is all set and clear for them to get together and, at last, do that third album, Christmas With The Stone Roses by The Stone Roses. it would be excellent, man.
back in the real world, and as to what happened with The Stone Roses, why it ended, why the wheels fell of and perhaps why it has all happened again, Mani answered it years ago in seven straightforward words, "four different people doing four different drugs". no matter how much we want it to be something mystical, it probably is not.
i am quite content having Ian Brown back as a solo artist, thank you very much. with this i am clearly not alone, which just goes to show, yes, somewhere out there still exist people with a fine ear and good taste. so, either dig out your copy of Ripples and give it a spin, or go and buy a copy. well, if the shops now sell it.
who is and who isn't
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