Seaweed

Actions and Indications (Merge)
by Craig Regala

Didn’t hear the major label CD, Spanaway, they plapped out when you seniors were in ninth grade, but I do remember not being bowled over by the SubPop LP, Weak. I do know an ALL fan who told me said major was “OK.” Well, like ALL, most of the songs on Actions and Indications are neutered by sincere, pensive vocal melodies that belong to lighter pop. To be truthful, this was the Goo Goo Dolls’ bread and butter before they hit ballad gold and bought those stylish clothes.

Actions… doesn’t really rock, but it does move from here to there and back quick enough to seem like it. This adequate cover band trots through the Joy Division oldie, “Warsaw,” and the two cuts where the guitar riff and vocal hook up – “In The Middle” and “Red Tape Parade” – would make a nice 7″ with the powerpoppy “Hard Times” as the bonus track. The rest is for fans of this general genre. I guess that being the stuff that has filtered down from Squirrelbait, consciously or not. The tones are nice and recording fully-realized without being Fat Wreck Chords icky. When it comes down to it, it doesn’t have the bust-out power of say, Skid Row’s “Slave To The Grind” or “Monkey Business.” And really, how far is this stuff from that? Yeah, I know, not as close as The Offspring.
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