As a general rule, the greater the band, the more appalling the guitarist's solo album. In recent years John Squire of the Stone Roses, Suede's Bernard Butler and Johnny Marr of the Smiths have all mistakenly believed they should step up to a microphone.

But as the fortunes of fashionable New Yorkers the Strokes have faded, their least chiselled member has found his voice and amazingly, it's not half bad. Albert Hammond Jr made hearts sink when he revealed that his debut solo album, Yours to Keep, would comprise songs that his bandmates did not consider good enough to use themselves.

In fact, his collection of musical rejects is far more enjoyable than the limp last effort by his employers.

The only thing anyone expects from a side-project is to be imminently turning it off, so perhaps it was the lack of pressure to create a masterwork that has given Hammond's music some of the effortless cool of his band's earliest material.

His first show in London and his biggest to date was similarly casual. Sipping wine, introducing himself with an unnecessary "My name is Albert and we're gonna play some songs", sauntering off after 40 minutes without bothering with an encore, it felt like a night off.

Nor has he taken the trouble to explore daring new musical directions. With five skinny men on stage, all big hair and tight things of vintage, squint a bit and it could have been the Strokes. Songs such as In Transit and Back to the 101 had their familiar style - fast, choppy rhythm guitar complemented by a high lead guitar chiming a catchy melody, with offhand, slow-motion vocals on top.

Hammond's singing voice sounded sharper and more forced than the bored drawl of Casablancas, but it stood up well, even when fully exposed on charming acoustic ballad Blue Skies.

Other slight departures included Bright Young Thing, which added a churchy organ to the acoustic guitars, and the less successful Call an Ambulance, which sounded like the kind of jaunty throwaway thing the Beatles would have given to Ringo.

He broke sweat for a hard rocking cover of Postal Blowfish by Guided by Voices, but otherwise stepping into the spotlight seemed as painless as the smile permanently plastered to his face.

If the notoriously aloof Strokes aren' t careful, one of their greatest assets will have so much fun that he won't want to come back.