My Way

Lust for the past?

Twenty years ago the famous British band The Stone Roses released their eponymous debut album. It was the year 1989 with such notions as ‘britpop’ and ‘indie-rock’ only getting accommodated in the terminology of music experts. For their short life, The Stone Roses made a great contribution to the establishment of these trends, which could not be real without a guy named Ian Brown on the band. Since The Stone Roses collapsed in 1996, Brown, as a solo artist, has produced a number of remarkable albums and added another one to his collection this year, which became a peculiar celebration of this twentieth anniversary. Named in a very casual manner, My Way is already the sixth record in the musician’s discography. Beckoned by nostalgia Ian Brown recorded the new songs in the studio where the first works of The Stone Roses were materialized. Moreover, the musical material of the recently delivered album has a lot of associations with the artist’s old compositions. But this does not mean that Brown’s professional growth has reached its end as he continued evolving, which certainly makes My Way a must-have for all the followers of his art.

My Way: of the way I chose

You will understand the importance of the opening track when you listen to Stellify, a perfect introduction of the album. This track, loaded with elaborate keys, will drag you out of reality into the music realm and make you forget about everything else. Crowning Of The Poor seems to be borrowed from a The Stone Roses long player. Everything here reminds us of the earlier stages of Brown’s career. Always Remember Me is a song that conveys a straightforward message to once Ian’s fellowman on the band, and later almost his cruelest archenemy, John Squire with lyrics making it more than clear. As a matter of fact, the whole of the My Way is a very personal work from Ian Brown as he decided to leave political statements and moralizing and preferred sharing the secrets of his own essence with the listeners. In The Year 2525 is a track that stands apart from all the rest. It is a cover of the sixties’ hit laying out another version of our distant future. For The Glory is one more tour into the past with the text even containing the name of Brown’s former band. The musicians shows all his best in tracks called Marathon Man, and Laugh Now, lively numbers with catchy rhythmic structures. The album is closed by a slow-tempo song called So High leaving a sensation of mystery or secrecy.

A new taste of the old times

So, we have got a very interesting record with the focus placed on the electronic music, which Ian Brown may get a lot of critics for. Should he record it with abundance of live instruments, it would be a completely different work. However, this musicians needs no advice from anybody. Long before My Way was released, Brown gained a status allowed him to make any desired experiments or, on the contrary, go back to the abandoned methods. Whatever he offers, the vocals and the atmosphere of his music will leave you no chance to mistake him for anybody else. That is why My Way is truly a work by Ian Brown, on one hand showing what he is capable of today and, on the other hand, brining us back to the times long gone when the musician produced his arguably most important records.