Ian Brown The World is Yours by: Dean Van Nguyen Tue:18-Dec-07 Label: Polydor Year: 2007 WB rating 68 out of 100

A decade into his solo career former Stone Roses frontman Ian Brown shows no signs of losing his hunger for the music. The World Is Yours isn’t Brown’s strongest set of songs to date, but it is his most cohesive album musically. After dabbling in the past with space-aged psychedelic textures, reggae and more electronic squiggles than you can poke a stick at, Brown settles comfortably into a mix of hip hop beats, programmable strings and burly horns.

Opening with the arrogant swagger long established as his trademark on the Bond-like title track, some gentle blues guitar gives way to an elevating string section. “As a young man, daddy used to tell me stories. Do your thing my son, the world is yours” croons Brown. Presuming he pinched these lines from Scarface it’s a little difficult to believe the autobiographical nature of the track, but it lays down the musical template. At its best this formula compliments Brown well, giving songs like ‘On Track’ and ‘Save Us’ some extra punch.

Sometimes however the arrangements fall dead. There doesn’t seem to be any attempt to hide the mechanic nature of the music; each track bops along with machine like efficiency. ‘Eternal Flame’ sounds like it’s been taken directly from Dr. Dre’s studio – Brown’s made no secret of his admiration of the hip hop heavyweights and one would sooner expect to hear a rapper like The Game on this track.

But while musically there are flaws, Brown’s voice remains ever compelling, and his lyrics are so punchy they are hard to ignore. This is important since the melodies are firmly in the backseat. Tackling all his political demons - Britain’s war on terror, church politics, homelessness - Brown comes across more as an ideological student rather than a 44-year-old who secured his wealth a long time ago. Remember how he convinced us that “I.D. cards don’t stop no high jacked jet” on ‘Kiss Ya Lips (No I.D.)’; well this is a return to that kind of form.

‘Street Children’s “I wish I had a home with ten million rooms. I’d open up the doors and let the street children through” is just one lyrical gem from the album. It’s not the sharpest or subtlest piece of songwriting ever, but it’s utterly compelling and one has to commend Brown on voicing his opinions in such an unflinching way. This is evident no more so than on ‘Illegal Attacks’, an assault on the British government for their involvement in the Iraqi war. It’s an obvious highlight, the huge horn section underlying the dangerous feeling that permeates the song.

And so with The World Is Yours Brown has made some giant strides. A slight rethink to his approach on how he produces his songs may be all that Brown needs, but he’s an old dog, and is probably done with learning new tricks. Imagine what Jon Brion could do with these tracks, or if Van Dyke Parks added a more authentic string arrangement to give him the solid base for his lyrics. Iconic status for Brown is assured, but some fresh notions would be nice.