LOS ANGELES -- Maybe it was his sixth sense, maybe it was just common sense, but Ian Brown knew that he'd never be in a band as good as the Stone Roses, the British psychedelic-pop outfit he fronted for more than a decade.

So when the influential quintet from Manchester, England, disbanded in 1996 after releasing two studio albums, including its critically acclaimed self-titled debut, Brown said he decided that there was only one way to continue musically: alone.

The result is Brown's solo debut, Unfinished Monkey Business, which is slated to hit U.S. stores Oct. 6.

"I feel like the Roses were a great group," Brown said in his almost confessional-sounding British accent. "But I never wanted to try to do it again. I knew I couldn't get a band that would compare to the Roses, that would have an impact like the Roses."

But in the process of going it alone, Brown hasn't completely cut ties with his old band.

The tracks on Business keep within a stone's throw of the catchy, psychedelic-pop sound for which the Roses were known. Several songs sound like they could be Roses numbers -- if the one-time leaders of the '80s druggy, dance-rock Manchester scene, who combined a Beatles-style songwriting sense with Simon and Garfunkel melodies and Jimi Hendrix's potent guitar jams, had continued to evolve.

"The style is unmistakably Roses, but it's not just Ian Brown copying the stuff that made them successful," 24-year-old fan Joanne Hall of Glasgow, Scotland, wrote about the album in an e-mail. "It has originality and character. I can only describe it as the Roses album that never was, only the music is a little more exotic."

While there are unmistakable Stone Roses sounds on the record, Brown ventures down a few new musical paths, staking claim to a funky pop sound of his own.

While "Can't See Me" is a funky dance-rock number most closely reminiscent of the Roses, the tune "Ice Cold Cube" rocks right into a chugging guitar jam a la the Roses and "Deep Pile Dreams" moves through moody atmospherics in the same way that Brown's former band's music was known to do. "I knew what kind of sounds I wanted -- that funky bass, the acoustic guitars," said the small, dark-haired Brown, who was sunburned from a day out on Venice Beach. "I wanted it to sound uplifting, because my music's kind-of cathartic."

Named after the singer's simian-like stage presence, the album wasn't created in the best of circumstances -- Brown was hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt and recorded the album without the support of a label. But the 35-year-old singer sees at least the latter factor as more of an advantage than a disadvantage. "Being in that position -- I needed to work; I needed to lift my spirits," he said. "I was outside the business when I made this album. I didn't have a manager, didn't have a record company. Nobody knew what I was up to. I did it without any pressures at all, any interference."

Brown, who has spent the last year living in New York, was in Los Angeles last week for a quick round of interviews, after which he planned to return to his adopted hometown to collaborate with acclaimed turntablist DJ Shadow. In keeping with the Stone Roses' rebellious reputation, Brown sat behind a desk at PolyGram Records' L.A. office, rocking back and forth in an executive chair, breaking the building's no-smoking rule and occasionally glancing out at a dismal and typically smoggy view of the city.

Brown began recording Unfinished Monkey Business in the winter of 1996, holed up in an eight-track studio in his Manchester home. Several of the tracks were written in collaboration with Aziz Ibrahim, the ex-guitarist for R&B popsters Simply Red. Ibrahim was brought in to replace Stone Roses guitarist John Squire for the bands' last-ever live show at the 1996 Redding Festival in England.

The album's first single, "My Star" -- which builds on a military snare and spoken-word samples -- finds Brown taking a stand on the cost of space exploration. "Since we were kids, we grow up believing that astronauts are heroes -- that to go up in a rocket is a heroic thing," Brown said. "These guys are bigger than movie stars. To me, it's ... all a well-dressed-up lie, basically. There's billions spent on rockets up there and there's millions starving down here. It don't make sense to me."

Other songs on the album deal with simpler, human-behavior issues. "Ice Cold Cube" comments on "people who think they're better than you," and "Nah Nah" offers a sarcastic reflection on the mind games that people play.

While Brown said Unfinished Monkey Business realizes his solo vision -- he plays most of the instruments on the album and also acts as its producer -- he turned to his former bandmates, minus guitarist Squire, to help him record it.

Ex-Roses touring keyboard player Nigel Ipinson and late-period drummer Robbie Maddix helped out on the '70s psych-rock number "What Happened to Ya Pt. 1" and its more dance-oriented reprise. Additionally, "Can't See Me," which was built around a bassline written by original Roses bassist Gary "Mani" Mounfield, features Mani as well as original Roses drummer Alan "Reni" Wren. Squire, who went on to form the Seahorses after the Stone Roses split, has not spoken to Brown since 1996.

The Stone Roses released two studio albums during their career, the most successful of which was their eponymous '89 debut, which included the songs "I Wanna Be Adored" (RealAudio excerpt) and "She Bangs the Drums." Besides two singles and B-sides collections -- Turns Into Stone (1992) and The Complete Stone Roses (1995) -- their sophomore studio album, Second Coming (1994), was their last full-length effort.