Ian Brown... an ego visible from space, but still one of the greats

He surely needs no introduction, with the general population either loving or loathing him for his cliche-defining sense of himself. But put briefly aside personal tastes, I'd say it's inarguable that he's among a small handful of the most resilient English artists working in contemporary rock-pop (who else would you add? Morrissey... PJ Harvey... Robert Smith... your thoughts are welcome below), not only for the enormously influential Stone Roses, but for more than a decade of solo output.

What the stadium-sized ego clouds though, so heavily that many miss it altogether, is a mature musical sensibility that's able to go beyond the post-punk/ new romantic resources of his peers. Rather, Brown can draw intelligently and originally on inspirations as wide ranging as reggae, Motown, and early rave, all the while he nevertheless has a rare gift for pop songs with killer hooks. Still, I can imagine some of the heavier tracks with a guest appearance from Dizzee Rascal.. and I wonder why he's not really embraced hip-hop in his quest for universality.

He has a unique sound, a kind of post-modern northern soul where the trademark is his voice - that defiant, Mancunian drone that's utterly unmistakeable. As his solo career has progressed, he's gradually broadened the musical palette, becoming adept at the moody anthemic ballad, while maintaining that nose for a fantastic indie pop classic. Moving beyond guitar pop, he uses synths and loops, and ethnic percussion, just has naturally as the old guitar-bass-drum standard. It's also a pleasure to see him live and find that, at the same time, he's maintained a loyal, solid, accomplished band behind him.

His hits collection The Greatest .. is just such an essential album for anyone of this generation. To date though, his studio albums have been inconsistent - some brilliant classics, intermingled with fairly ordinary fillers. I believe it's an understandably common side-effect of working solo - it's just so difficult to maintain real inspiration and inventiveness over the length of an album. The collaboration that comes from working in a group acts both to provide a larger pool of ideas to draw on, and as a kind of built-in quality control where the rubbish ideas are nipped in the bud early on.

As a result, the new album My Way is approached with only limited expectations. To cut to the chase - well, it's about as good as hoped, no landmark moment in the decade, but contains some real gems. After repeated listens, it's weighed down somewhat by mid-paced, preachy, synth stompers which tend to all run together by the end. The best bits are when he picks up the pace, ratchets up the groove as on "Marathon Man" - a dirty synth tech-funk.

The standout "hit single" candidate is the opener - the infectious "Stellify", clearly destined for The Greatest Part II.. it's Brown at his typical pop best, singing about (- of all things -) being in love. He's also, slightly off-puttingly, added some mildly humorous touches, a 60's cover of the satirical "In the year 2525", a wry, doom-laden look at the long term future of the human race... and "Own Brain", a riff working off the anagram of his name.

As ever, he spends of lot a time railing against the soul-less, the cheaters, the enemies who are out to get him, and a lot more time telling us to love each other and be at peace with the universe.

The one that's been echoing around my head the most is "For the Glory"... hard to know whether he's just not moved on from the Roses, or whether he feels forced to sing this because the rest of us haven't.

".. when the bombs began to fall I didn't do it for the Roses...
as I was striding 10 feet tall well that's another story,
for the glory,
the good that you do..
will carry you through,
I did it for you,
I didn't do it for the glory".