Joan of Arc notwithstanding, few things in the world of online music criticism scream “slow pitch softball!” as much as Richard Ashcroft’s storied solo career; it’s easier than criticizing the Bush administration. But the people still want to know, so let’s just say that “Break the Night With Colour” is a head slapper even by his now less than lofty standards. The mad genius behind “This Is Music” has been reduced to writing a song that bites Green Day’s “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.”

More so than anything, “Colour”, and nearly every other solo Ashcroft track, is the sound of how contentment can ruin an artist (see also: Tori Amos). While I’d hardly advocate the use of hard drugs and/or personal tragedy to revitalize a career, it’s hard to argue that Ashcroft’s utter descent into sucktitude can be directly traced to the period where he kicked the Class A’s and wed his ex-best mate Jason Pierce’s bird. Someone get this guy a bag of brown.

Unsurprisingly, “Colour,” and I’m assuming the whole of the upcoming Keys to the World, will do little to alter the general consensus that Ashcroft’s solo career is Pierce’s revenge.

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