Albert Hammond Jr - 'Yours To Keep' (Rough Trade) Released 09/10/06

Two cliché’s about guitarist solo careers are being challenged here. Firstly, that they’re often ill-advised vanity projects, populated with tuneless dirges and wanky, muso guitar noodling (think John Squire). Secondly, that they’re wounded pride reactions to ball busting band break ups (Bernard Butler et al). It's a welcome surprise then, that two rather fine debut solo albums by axe heroes have appeared within a few months. With Manic Street Preacher James Dean Bradfield turning in a rather fine effort with ‘The Great Western’, Strokes axe man, Albert Hammond Junior, has followed suit.

That ‘Yours To Keep’ is a debut worthy of intrigue beyond hardcore Strokes fans is less a surprise. That it’s a huge lung full of fresh Lower East Side air, and surpasses the last two Strokes albums, probably is. To paraphrase a former Beatle, Julian Casablancas is not the best singer in the world; he’s not even the best singer in The Strokes. But that’s only half the story. Hammond has employed a number of classy guests on ‘Yours To Keep’, including Sean Lennon, Ben Kweller, Fountains of Wayne’s Jody Porter, and band mate Casablancas, to ensure this isn't strictly a one man show.

More introspective and soulful than his band’s output, ‘Yours To Keep’ thrives on invention and unexpected influences. From the opening bars of ‘Cartoon Music For Super Heroes’ - a gentle lullaby hijacked by Brian Wilson - there’s a feeling that Hammond’s revelling in the escape from The Strokes hip-dom. ‘Blue Skies’ is a Beatles-y plea for forgiveness and the return of lost love. Similarly, the folk rock of ‘Call An Ambulance’ drips with unrequited love and irresistible whistles. ‘Holiday’s vulnerability comes from Hammond’s effect-free vocals: “Months of change have fucked me up…your laughter takes me from disaster to tears.” ‘Last Night’ it ain’t.

Hammond’s described the album as the one he’s always wanted to make but couldn’t. As an insight into the pressures of being in The Strokes, it’s a revealing one. But to give him his due, ‘Yours To Keep’ never feels like a compromise. That isn’t to say the rumbling intro of ‘In Transit’, or the drum machine and bass combo of ‘Everyone Gets A Star’ won’t sound familiar, but these are merely jumping off points.

If there’s one criticism of ‘Yours To Keep’, it’s that its 35 minutes are too short to make the album wholly satisfying. But these are minor gripes. Strokes fans can rest easy that ‘Yours To Keep’ is merely a diversion from Hammond’s day job, but as distractions go, it’s a damn fine one.