How do you take up your career again after a disaster as lamentable as the last days of the Stone Roses? After a five year interlude, a second album of admittedly epic Zep-like proportions is ollowed by the mysterious departure of the superb drummer, and the appalling loss of form of the singer. The fans are tormented by cancelled gigs on both sides of the Atlantic - and the press gets nastier. The final UK tour was marked by two things - the stunning guitar of John Squire and the sad demise of Ian Brown's voice and his loss of confidence and poise on stage.
The escape route that Squire took was to find a band from nowhere - well from York in fact. Dylan did this when he took up with The Band. Bowie picked up the Rats, from Hull, and called them the Spiders From Mars. Neil Young found a ready-made band when he adopted Crazy Horse (The Rockets). In all cases except maybe Dylan, the solo artist took total control of the band and dominated the output.
This album is eagerly awaited by hordes of patient Roses fans who became born-again air guitarists with the advent of the Second Coming. Surprising then that Squire allows his sidemen to write several of the songs, and only rocks out - to great effect - on a couple of numbers. Notably, the gloves come off on "Love Is The Law", a modern rock classic. The new band are more intent on writing songs than providing a platform for Squire to improvise and ad-lib. The latter works of Paul Weller are an appropriate comparison. However each tune is sumptuously served up with Squire guitar. At times there are echoes of such greats as the Byrds and Moby Grape - an eclectic mid-sixties (North) West Coast spirit of musical adventure.
Like Weller's, the songs are introverted and indicate some heartsearching. This was never a feature of the often macho songwriting style of the Roses. The lyric-writing debut of a certain Liam Gallagher appears on "Love Me And Leave Me" which is a notable example. The line 'I don't believe in Jesus' echoes the Lennon song "God", and the song sets out a romantic manifesto more generous than Lennon's belief in "Yoko and Me". Noel should let his brother write more. Another soulsearching song "The Boy In The Picture" unexpectedly lets rip, Zep-esque.
The arrangements, by Bowie's old producer Tony Visconti, are excellent, featuring strings and even, lawks amighty, a theramin. Vocalist Chris Helme is in fine voice and rubs it in a bit with some complicated vocal tricks at certain points. He comes over as a less over-the-top Brett from Suede - and is a fine counterpart to Squire. The bass is every bit as solid as that of Mani and responds in style to the guitar improvisations.
This is not an immediate album. It needs time to take in the light and shade, the thoughtful arrangements, but there are enough tasters here to show that Seahorses are going to more than justify Squire's already distinguished reputation at home and abroad. Squire's restless need to experiment with song structure augurs well.
According to recent reports, former Roses Ian Brown, Mani and Reni are working together on Brown's solo album. There is every possibility that with the shackles of expectation removed, an album every bit as exciting will emerge.
