If anyone deserves to adopt Muhammed Ali's title..

Despite what others say, Ian Brown should be called The Mystikal. The thread that runs through everything he’s done, albeit often swamped with guitars in his years as vocalist in The Stone Roses, is the spiritual exploration. Like some kind of post-baggy buddha, it’s no coincidence that Brown borrows the title of his best solo work from Muhammed Ali’s self-appointed title.

Without doubt, if it wasn’t for an album called “The Stone Roses”, no label would dare sign him. Why would they? There’d be no market for him, in the eyes of demographics and marketers. It just goes to show that genius can fall through the cracks of life every moment of every day. And if Gwen Stefani can be hailed as anything other than the Lidl-Madonna, there is no justice in this world. Instead of wearing suits, floopy fringes, and playing spiky art rock borrowed from the 80’s, Ian Brown goes somewhere else entirely.

Avoiding lazy pigeonholes, musical shorthand, and shortlived trends, “The Greatest” documents Brown’s quest for transcendence of mediocrity. From the opening “My Star” – the best song about space travel since “Astronomy Domine” – to the closing “Return of The Fisherman”, Brown takes the established conventions of pop, and turns them inside out. With the aid of his oft-partner in crime Aziz Ibrahim, the musical backing, rooted firmly in far eastern tunings and unusual chord progressions, sounds like nothing else anyone has ever made : where East meets West. And not where Russian Metal Bands do Iron Maiden covers. Imagine Ravi Shanker doing The Beatles with Stevie Wonder on rhythms and the London Symphony Orchestra and Vangelis popping up occasionally. That’s a good hint.

It’s like world music, but without any of Damon Albarns white boy guilt – instead Brown’s quest recognises no boundaries and no conventions. If there is a rule, it’s simple : if it sounds good, we’ll have it. And if it sounds like the soundtrack to a Indian musical remixed by 808 State, then so be it.

There are worse things to sound like. Throughout the spans of “The Greatest”,  Brown exploes a world of solid beats, cascading chords, and The Big Ideas. And if Brown isn’t moving towards a solution, he’s moving to something new. “Can’t See Me” sees perhaps one of the laziest grooves in the history of mankind. “Love Like A Fountain” soars like the view from the top of the Niagra Falls. And “F.E.A.R” manages to make philosophy dancable. Albeit in a shuffle-your-trainers-at-home-kind-of-way.

“The Greatest” takes the ghost of the 80’s, pummels into submission, and leaves it for dust. Whilst some of us aim for a mediocre life, a life made of false starts and empty heroes, others reach for the stars. If anyone deserves to adopt Muhammad Ali’s mantle for their best-of record, it’s Ian Brown.

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