The Seahorses

Do It Yourself (Geffen)
by Chris Adams

I believe the expression is “oh, how the mighty have fallen.” When the Stone Roses splintered last year, great things were predicted for their stellar guitarist John Squire. After all, he was the star of the band, his towering, sexy grooves the centerpiece of their two very different but more or less equally brilliant albums. Sadly, the debut album from his new group, The Seahorses, doesn’t even approach brilliant. In fact, it doesn’t even approach “good.” To be perfectly blunt, Do It Yourself is little more than a collection of second-rate pop songs in the mold of Cast or the La’s, played with such a passionless ho-hum competence that it makes mere banality look genuinely appealing. It’s as if Squire walked into a pub, rounded up the first set of lads he laid eyes on and said “right, you’re my new band. Let’s make a record.” Had he known that the result would sound like blander versions of all the drippy fluff the Monkees let that fop Davy sing, maybe he’d have thought twice. Hear that sound on the wind? That’s a deep sigh of relief from the mouth of former Roses singer Ian Brown, whose debut album is due for release any day now. More aural wonderbread? Watch this space.