Search - Ian Brown :: Unfinished Money Business

An extremely erratic, scattershot debut solo album from the

Dave | United States | 07/23/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"1997's "Unfinished Monkey Business" is the debut solo album from the former Stone Roses lead vocalist Ian Brown, and man, this is a damn weird album. Others have poked fun at the album title saying it's very appropriate--however, although "unfinished" isn't a bad word to describe this album overall, and even better word is "aimless".



Many of the tracks here are Brown solo 'compositions' that feature him on all instruments, and none of them fail to get you thinking, "What the hell is this?"--his instrumental skills seem rudimentary at best, his keyboard/ programmed drumming is at times hilarious, and you're left wondering what the hell he's trying to get at. The album opening "Intro Under The Paving Stones: The Beach" is a baffling sound collage. "Sunshine" is a sloppy, dull lo-fi acoustic ballad with a brief tacked-on keyboard 'coda'. "Lions" features an annoyingly, endlessly repeated chorus line and overblown "soulful" vocals from Denise Johnson, and it wasn't exactly a great idea to mix her to the far left channel while Brown's vocals are to the far right; thankfully, much of the track is instrumental, and it does have some entertainment value despite all the annoyances. "Deep Pile Dreams" is half-baked and thinly performed. The baffling instrumental title track features hilariously amateurish keyboard playing over programmed drums. My CD copy also contains a 'bonus' track called "Come Again" which is basically 7 more minutes of Brown horsing around and it makes annoying use of sampling.



As for the remaining tracks, a majority of them find Brown co-writing with Aziz Ibrahim who also handles a large chuck of the instrumental work. The Indian-flavored "My Star" has a neat little guitar solo although it's extremely brief, and the song just kinda drags along in a frustratingly aimless and repetitive fashion. The main song portion of the sludgy, hard-rocking "Ice Cold Cube" is strong with ear-catching guitarwork, but it proceeds to beat you over the head with the never-ending instrumental stuff going on, and when it finally does end, it does so in 'sudden death' fashion and annoyingly segues abruptly into "Sunshine". "What Happened To Ya Part 1" is a nice, catchy ditty with acoustic rhythm and acoustic slide guitars; it's followed by "What Happened To Ya Part 2" which is basically a lengthy instrumental jam with some voiceovers, and although it's not unlistenable and does have nice guitarwork, it reeks of filler. "Nah Nah", a Nigel Ippinson solo composition, is an acoustic guitar-based tune with a singalong chorus--it's pleasantly catchy, though it's rather slight.



With all of that out of the way, we are left with a pair of hands-down gems. "Can't See Me" finds Brown reunited with his old Stone Roses mates Mani and Reni for an infectiously funky looping groove tune--slamming beats, great Brown vocals, uncannily note-perfect lead guitar from Brown, and great lead bass guitar licks; it's a clear attempt at creating another gem along the lines of the Stone Roses' "Fools Gold", and it works big time. Then there's the mellow-yet-creepy "Corpses In Their Mouths", written by Brown and Ibrahim, with terrific moody lead guitar work and hushed Brown vocals; it does have some rather out-of-place harmonica work from Brown, but it's a minor quibble.



If you're a diehard Stone Roses fan, "Unfinished Monkey Business" is worth checking out--there are lots of intriguing ideas floating around on here, but it sure is wildly erratic and very tough to listen to all the way through."