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Q MagazineFeb 4, 2019It's not the third coming many Stone Roses fans may have hoped for, but Ripples marks the welcome return of a solo artist who never rested on his laurels or allowed himself to be overshadowed by past glories. [Mar 2019, p.110]
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Feb 1, 2019Throughout, his oft-criticised singing is tone-perfect and balm-like. Ripples isn’t a juggernaut comeback, but it’s a beguiling, often beautiful album that quietly but purposefully announces his return to the fray, as ever, on his own terms.
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Feb 4, 2019Yes, the chords [on First World Problems] recall the Rolling Stones’ Sympathy for the Devil, but fans looking for a Roses-adjacent tune packed with slouch and King Monkey life advice are well served here. Not everything else lives up to it--Barrington Levy’s Black Roses is a dull, rockist trudge of a cover--but overall, Ripples is studded with little surprises.
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UncutFeb 1, 2019It's Brown's voice that holds it all together. [Mar 2019, p.24]
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MojoFeb 1, 2019Anyone turned off by conspiracy theories may shudder, but allow Brown his free-your-mind gnostic-in-designer-streetwear stance and entertainment wins out. [Mar 2019, p.88]
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Classic Rock MagazineMar 11, 2019King monkey contemplates his navel. [Apr 2019, p.89]
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Feb 6, 2019Nothing really jumps out, and Ian Brown’s seventh album still feels weirdly unrewarding, the artist playing a contented father rather than raging at the current state of the world. That is fair enough of course, but for an artist as established and inspirational as Ian Brown has been over the decades, we surely deserve waves rather than ripples.
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Feb 1, 2019A deeply mixed return, then, and perhaps not advisable as your first entry point to his solo work. We all know that Ian Brown can make waves; today he has chosen to make Ripples.
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Feb 1, 2019Ripples is a record which will likely struggle have any relevance, impact or longevity beyond the goodwill of its own gestation. Which really is a shame.
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Feb 1, 2019As a solo artist who’s far eclipsed the output of his former epoch-defining band, no one can criticise Brown for trying. But he can definitely do better.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 13 out of 19
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Mixed: 4 out of 19
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Negative: 2 out of 19
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Feb 5, 2019