"of Ian Brown's 4 solo albums, (5 if you count "remixes of the spheres") and i dig them all, i put solarized at the top. its an album you can put on and just let it go. all the tracks are solid, it just grooves from start to finish. although ian has taken alot of grief in the past for his voice (or lack there of) it sounds strong here and works well with the style of mucic, which includes lots of world music influences which i know mr. brown is fond of. collaborations with ex-roses guitarist Aziz Ibrahim and Oasis frontman Noel Gallagher are top notch. ian performed "keep what ya got" with his band on Conan O'Brien last night, which was fantastic! and if they roll through my neck of the woods i will definitely check them out!"
Great album - forget Stone Roses
TJ | LA | 05/14/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I never liked the Stone Roses that much... But Solarized is great. its a mixture of rock, 60s psych and interesting dance beats. Nobody else is succesfully fusing these genres these days - except occasionally the Chemical Brothers on "The Test" or something. Lots of great songs, good lyrics, cool psychedelic sounds. Some kind of 60s spirit lives on in Ian Brown despite his violent bludgeoning of a bouncer in SF a few months back - check the web for the footage, its out there!"
Very good stuff
Alain Gagnon | Canada, qc | 05/10/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Very interesting music with a voice that flows well. The arrangements are clever and are never out of bound.
Tres bon choix!"
Three Cheers For Ian!
J. P. Leenaarts | Nashville, TN USA | 03/23/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Having been a big Stone Roses fan for quite some time, I have to say I drifted away from Ian's solo stuff after his first outing (which I personally couldn't get into). I decided to check 'Solarized' out on a whim, and I am so glad I did. This is the best thing I've heard come out of the post-Roses camp. If I had to summarize it, it feels like a trimmed-down, less sprawling version of 'Second Coming'. Ian still dabbles in the synthesized beats and layered vocals, but he keps the songs short and catchy as hell this time around. What a great disc."