Silly, but irresistible

Seahorses: "Do It Yourself" (Geffen)

Seahorses: "Do It Yourself" (Geffen)

Dial a track code: 1201

You can't blame John Squire for wanting to knock together a new album as quickly as possible, after the inertia that sank The Stone Roses. But there's a nagging suspicion that maybe Squire was in so much of a hurry, he just rolled with it and didn't waste too much time on quality control.

The result is an inoffensive - slice of post Oasis pop, fuelled by melodic, guitar driven Squire tunes such as Suicide Drive, The Boy In The Picture and Round The Universe. Nothing here to challenge the supremacy of The Stone Roses debut masterpiece (or even Definitely Maybe), but there's enough to dissipate some of the pomposity of Second Coming. The extended version of Love Is The Law may not be I Am The Resurrection, but it's still hard to resist, even with such silly lyrics as "Strap on Sally chased us down the alley". Happiness Is Egg Shaped, on the other hand, is a scrambled pastiche of Ten Storey Love Song and Oasis's She's Electric, with a topping of cheesy guitar break straight from Free's All Right Now.

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At least singer Chris Helme - sings a lot better than Squire's former frontman, Ian Brown, and contributes three of his own tunes, I Want You To Know, Blinded By The Sun and Hello. There's also a song called Love Me And Leave Me, co written by Squire and Liam Gallagher - who says Our Kid can't write lyrics?

Kevin Courtney

Kevin Courtney

Kevin Courtney is an Irish Times journalist