How does it compare to the artist's other releases
Outstanding
Value for Money
Good
Advantages:
EVERYTHING YOU COULD ASK FOR FROM HIS SOLO CAREER
Disadvantages:
NO ROSES, NOT EVEN ANY CHOCOLATES !
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
Just glancing over the track listing included at the end of this review is enough to hint at both the quantity and quality of Browns 9 year solo career. Defining moments that capture Browns full ability are commonplace, as are moments that pay homage to the agility that can be found throughout his eclectic back catalogue. From his 1998 single ‘My Star’ to his latest 2005 offering ‘All Ablaze’.
Collaborations with the likes of U.N.K.L.E and Noel Gallagher serve as strong reminders of the typical diversity that lies within almost every track. A mesmerising mixture of swaggersome guitar tunes, hard edged percussion driven tunes, psychedelic ‘what the hells going on’ tunes and refined string based tunes. They’re all here with Brown delivering clever vocal after biting vocal after tongue in cheek vocal. ‘The Greatest’ offers the long serving faithful Brown fans, the semi interested Stone Roses fans and any newcomers pretty much the same thing. Welcome one and all to a consistently good CD that disproves any disbelievers out there. And if, somehow, the CD fails to appease the all demanding music god in you, well, there’s always the DVD. Available separately for around £15 instead of included as a double disc set for maybe an extra £5, is it worth the expense? Well there is a good reason why Brown hasn’t gone for that option. Available also as a limited edition 2 disc set, ‘The Greatest’ offers up a whole extra disc of content. And yes, it is still around £5 dearer. Although it does include Browns covers of Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ and ‘Billie Jean’.
Please keep in mind that this isn’t the good old value for money Oasis who often released 3 superb B- sides with each single. Nor is it the Ian Brown of yesteryear, with his Stone Roses counterparts fighting for the fan and his ever challenged wallet. No, this is a new era Ian Brown with units to shift. The question is, will he with the DVD? Sure, the die hard fans will rush out to get their hands on it like it was a free pint on a Saturday night. In all honesty though, it is an awesome line up of tracks. With the 6 live performances added to ensure anybody who already had all the videos rushed out to but the DVD, I’m pretty sure that yes, it will sell. Admittedly, most of the videos offer up nothing new and contain nothing more than predictable but nevertheless enjoyable promos. I can’t help but wonder why Brown couldn’t have taken a heads up from U.N.K.L.E. who often produce outstanding videos for their material. Hey! Whatcha gonna do?!
Being a fan of Ian Brown, my suggestion would be to go out and buy ‘The Greatest’ on all formats. If you can’t afford to…SAVE! Given that there is an amazing amount of content on all releases, I’m going to have to award Mr Brown 10/10 for effort, technique, resilience and above all, his out performance of all his old Stone Roses colleagues solo careers combined.
![The Greatest [VINYL] - Ian Brown](http://picnic.ciao.com/uk/65377375.jpg)
