FROM their distant origins in the Madchester baggy era, Tim Burgess's band The Charlatans have had a career of unexpected longevity.

So you can hardly blame Burgess for wanting to take a break to test the solo waters with I Believe, a sun-drenched love-letter to his new life in California. However, whether he has anything to offer as a solo artist is another matter.

Sadly, Burgess has a limited, one-trick voice, which contrasts nicely with The Charlatans' rolling grooves, but can't carry an album on its own. His love of Dylan and Gram Parsons is much documented and although there are hints of rootsy Americana here, they don't go much deeper than the almost-funny sleeve pictures of the lad from Northwich sat in a desert with his cowboy hat and acoustic guitar.

It's an LA record, but in a 1980s radio-slick way: middle-of-the-road funk rock and white-boy soul, with Burgess adopting a Curtis Mayfield falsetto and even occasionally sounding like Graceland-era Paul Simon. You don't doubt his wide-eyed sincerity, but unless you're a Charlatans completist, file this under rock star vanity project.

Updated: 08:43 Thursday, September 18, 2003