Track Listing

1. Intro Under The Paving Stones: The Beach
2. My Star
3. Can't See Me
4. Ice Cold Cube
5. Sunshine
6. Lions
7. Corpses In Their Mouths
8. What Happend To Ya Part 1
9. What Happend To Ya Part 2
10. Nah Nah
11. Deep Pile Dreams
12. Unfinished Monkey Business

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4574 in Music
• Released on: 1998-02-01
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 53 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Former Stone Roses front man Ian Brown's first solo album, Unfinished Monkey Business is a lo-fi indie offering. A raw, slightly unfinished feel pervades throughout, which can probably be attributed to Brown's insistence on playing even those instruments with which he is not really an expert, lending the album an irresistible unrefined ambience. Brown and co-writer Aziz Ibrahim, who was briefly John Squire's replacement in the Roses, draw on influences from the East with the use of tabla on tracks such as "Sunshine". There are also guest appearances by ex-Roses colleagues Reni (drums) and Mani (bass) on third single "Can't See Me", and Primal Scream/ Electronic chanteuse Denise Johnson on the fabulously unhinged "Lions". While there are a few misguided and self-indulgent noisy meanderings--"What Happened to Ya Part 2", for example--this is a great debut, notwithstanding the constant jibes at John Squire, whose dreary album with The Seahorses this eclipses on every count. --Ronita Dutta

CD Description
Released in 1998, Ian Brown's first solo album, UNFINISHED MONKEY BUSINESS, finds the ex-Stone Roses frontman alternately attempting to escape the shadow of his lauded former band, and conjuring up its groove-loving ghost. The disc's shimmering first single, "My Star", recalls the Beatles (via Oasis), and showcases Brown's raspy croon; while the acoustic, chill-out vibe of "Corpses in Their Mouths" makes it one of the record's pleasant surprises. "Can't See Me", on the otherhand, sounds exactly like what it is--a Stone Roses song without guitarist John Squire, with the Manchester group's bassist (Mani) and drummer (Reni) sitting in to create a funk-tinged tune that wouldn't have been out of place on SECOND COMING. Although some of the lo-fi experimentation here (see the noisy "Lions") proves to be a bit distracting, UNFINISHEDMONKEY BUSINESS reveals a potential that the Madchester icon would follow through with on later outings, particularly MUSIC OF THE SPHERES.

Customer Reviews

An unbelieveable "gone solo" album.
Having gone through the mill with his former musical colleagues, it seems that Ian Brown has reappeared with what the world actually was waiting for. He has come up with tunes like "Corpses in Their Mouths" and "Ice Cold Cube", getting the message across with just as much feeling as any other legend. As a debut solo record, all signs point to the same thing - this man is a true genius.

Brown not down
This is a fantastic debut album from someone with imagination, invention, and guts to make the music he really wants. The album is lo-fi and the better for it as what else could follow 'Second Coming' in terms of style. This is music which challenges your concept of commercial music and the current production values which dominate the charts. The songs are great especially the vented spleen against John Squire. 'What Happened to Ya' (comparable to the Roses 'Tightrope') is funky and bluesy and great. 'Lions' which some reviewers don't appear to get is the most political song done by a British artist in over 20 years, "There are no Lions in England", there are no leaders, there are no truely great individuals running this country. This is anti-establishment with wit. Enjoy this album at a decently high volume.

good album
Brown was magical in The Stone Roses, and so we all had high expectations of this album. For many, he failed to live up to these expectations, but In my opinion, Brown's style is different, but equally superb. It's a bitter album detailing the legacy John Squire dumped on Brown. King Monkey isn't scared to try out new things here. If you want more Stone Roses style, you'll be dissapointed, but if you liked the singles, you'll love this Solo Debut Masterpiece.