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John Squire - Marshall's House John Squire is a talented guitarist and painter, but he's no singer, and that act of vanity turns his new album from something great into something highly annoying.
After amazing the world with classic Stone Roses songs, such as I Am The Resurrection, where his prodigious ability to play stunning riffs and guitar solos was explored to the full, Squire formed his short-lived band The Seahorses and is now back with his second solo record after Time Changes Everything.
Marshall's House features eleven brand new songs, inspired by the paintings of American realist painter Edward Hopper, which explains track titles such as "Lighthouse & Buildings, Portland Head, Cape Elizabeth, Maine". It was recorded in 12 days at Bryn Derwen in Wales with members of the band Squire toured with last year.
The songs themselves are the kind of rock work-outs you'd expect from Squire, with the single, Room In Brooklyn, typifying the sound: catchy, riff-laden and well produced. So why Squire imagined he could inflict his "singing" on us is a mystery deserving an answer.
I call it singing, but it's really an annoying croaking that sounds like Lloyd Cole with a sore throat. Somebody at his record company should have wrestled him to the ground and explained that these songs would soar if they were fronted by somebody who could actually sing.
But instead, Squire has managed to make the album essentially unlistenable, which is quite some feat. It's a pity, because beneath Squire's vocals are a rich tapestry of well-written and performed songs.
For God's sake, John, let someone else do the singing and re-release this album!
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