A to Z Album and Gig Reviews
Two years on from Back to The Sky, the Bristolians are now a five piece with Kev Hawthorn (piano), James Phillips (sax), Ed Modey (percussion) and frontman guitarist-songwriter Chris Pritchett now augmented by Pritchett sibling and Kilta member Nick on bass. The new album's also less of a Chris Pritchett vehicle. He may write the songs (co-credited to the band) but Phillips and Pritchett get to take respective lead vocals on ended relationship number Shade Of An Ordinary Life and Believe, a spare acoustic guitar number about a mother worrying about her runaway son.
The Crowded House, Ezio, Gerry Rafferty and, I daresay, Latin Quarter comparisons still apply, but the arrangements, the hand percussion particular, feel much more rhythm based and sultrier this time; the opening Ashes (raging about people who insist on being very loud with their mobiles or iPods on public transport) a soaring chorus flamenco tune down its castanets clicks and Phil Beer's gypsy fiddle while greasy sax moans over piano ballad You're Gone.
Pritchett's folk roots are warmly evident too, providing the foundations behind the hand drums of This Picture and Clocks while a romantic Runaway Heart, the piano rippling You're Gone and Walls (another song about a disintegrating relationship) underline those sophisticated acoustic pop sensibilities.
However, the album's two strongest songs loosely concern children and balm of time passing; albeit from very different perspectives. The title track's a gentle reflection on boyhood 'dreaming dreams of cigarettes and girls, building castles, maybe one day shaping worlds' that shades to the older man realising his lover is all the world he needs. Then there's Shattered, a poignant and beautifully dreamy tribute to the dignity of the Amish communities in the wake of the 2006 school shootings in Pennsylvania that left five girls dead and the inevitable intrusive descent of the media into their insular lives.
They need to do some serious roadwork if the album's to reach beyond their fanbase, but for band and audiences alike the dividends should be plenty.
www.myspace.com/jacanda
www.jacandamusic.com
Mike Davies February 2009
A Bristolian four piece providing a vehicle for singer-songwriter Chris Pritchett, they've been not undeservedly compared to Crowded House while they also cite the likes of James Taylor, David Gray, the Eagles, CS&N and Tom McRae among influences. I'd also suggest Ezio and Gerry Rafferty's in there too. Suffice to say if any of the above tickle your aural senses, then you'll find equal listening pleasures amid the jazz coloured folk rock here, Pritchett's warm vocal style enhanced by arrangements that enfold mandolin, cello, piano, bongos and sax.
Lyrically, his songs variously address broken relationships ( Waiting Up), lost opportunities (Wheels, Treading Water), death (Outside To In), war (Roundabout, written about events in Darfur) and, just to bring some light to the melancholy, hints of hope (One Day), defiance (Woven) and a determination to rise above the disappointments and hurt (Ghost Of A Smile), and while there's nothing radio friendly enough to make them overnight discoveries, they'll never be short of a welcome around the songwriter circuit.
www.jacandamusic.com
www.chrispritchett.com
www.myspace.com/jacanda
Mike Davies March 2007
David Kidman
Jackpot - F+ (Surfdog)
Let's be honest, with shades of the Velvets (Black Road, Upside Down), psychedelic chugging funky blues rock (Adventures Galore), and the sonic distortions of If We Could Go Backwards not everything here is going to appeal to those who like to keep their Americana realtively pure. But, fronted by Rusty Miller, there's a wonderful narcotic weariness and sense of strung out ennui and failure to the Sacramento crew's fourth album that would make Wilco's most mournful moments seem positively happy clappy. Vaccine conjures vague thoughts of Buffalo Springfield with even more of a stoned drone vibe, Headlights is a backporch bluegrass tribal stomp, When We Get Together a voodoo Tom Waits fever, Dizzy marrying Exile On Main Street narcoticism with Giant Sand's desert night noirish guitar moans, Airplanes and Secrets a cracked throat acoustic drunken lurch around a godforsaken 3am motel room.
Gloriously worn down on the ironically titled Euphoria where Miller sounds like he's barely raising his head from the bar to sing and then hitting the evening highway for the irresistible electronica tinged melodic rolling rhythms of Windshield Wipers, it all closes with the frankly brilliant Charlie Watts Is God, a seven minute crescendo hymn to the saving grace of rock n roll that is probably what Travis would sound like if they were the Dream Syndicate playing Crazy Horse. Make that an A-
Mike Davies
Alan Jackson is the undisputed leader of the 'big hat country' pack. It is rumoured that wherever he goes, his Stetson arrives an hour before him. But the 'biggest beast in the country jungle', has looked to pastures new for his latest album Like Red On A Rose. Teaming up with Alison Krauss was not only surprising it was inspired. The earthier more natural Krauss has motivated Jackson to look inside himself and the results are more intimate and more personal. This isn't a great country album, it's a great album full stop.
In fact on a few of the tracks, it's Jackson's instantly recognisable mahogany voice that is the only real clue as to its genre.
But it's not only the wide range of Like A Red Rose that is a joy. With Alison Krauss as producer, it would be reasonable to expect a more bluegrass, natural sound but she has guided Jackson with a light touch, a steady hand and an objective eye. Instead of 'Alan Jackson sings Alison Krauss', the pair have both ventured out of their respective comfort zones.
On Like Red On A Rose Jackson is a superb 'owner' of the tracks. As the lush ballads unfurl you begin to believe that you're in the presence of the definitive versions, the richness of the title track, the closeness of Wait A Minute will be the yardsticks by which all other versions are judged and found wanting. These are now Alan Jackson's songs, almost as if he'd written them all.
For a man who has sold 44 million albums, scored 31 no 1s and is the most nominated artists in CMA history, there's also a charming self consciousness about The Firefly's Song, Jackson is never quite comfortable with. It's as if he's not been in the position of revealing so much, for a long time. Instead of the trappings of superstardom acting as a barrier, the soul of the man beneath is revealed.
There's a classic timelessness to Like Red On A Rose. It will not suffer the vagaries of fad or fashion, the sound of a man singing what is in his heart will live forever.
Michael Mee, Editor Hawick News, November 2006
I started off thinking that the great, sturdy real-country playing and fine sound of this release couldn't in any way redeem this new effort from country superstar Alan - it's his tenth! Probably best described as mainstream country of a reasonably predictable kind, for which there's no doubt a huge market, I thought. After all, credibility is bound to go out of the window with the opening track - well, what do you expect with a title like Meat And Potato Man?! I honestly thought this was a p***-take, it's so stuffed full of chauvinist redneck stereotype….. I'll admit things improved somewhat thereafter for three cuts, but then we get back to the parody (or do we?!) with www-dot-memory (can you resist the chorus "If you feel like love just click on me, at www-dot-memory" or lines like "No you won't have to touch me or even take my hand, Just slide your little mouse around until you see it land"?!!). And It's Alright To Be A Redneck could almost have been written by Frank Zappa - I just lurve li'l ol' throwaway lines like "the kids are gonna cry and the chicken's gonna fry"… Hell, this guy can't be serious! So in the right mood, you'll no doubt find some of this album pretty hilarious, but then Alan can turn in the tearjerkers like I Still Love You and Maybe I Should Stay Here with complete authenticity and not a trace of self-parody. And as I said, he's got some excellent musos in tow - Bruce Watkins and Brent Mason (guitars), Glenn Worf (bass), Paul Franklin (pedal steel, dobro), Stuart Duncan (fiddle), etc etc…. and the balance and production values are superb. Is the finale (Three-Minute Positive Not-too-Country Up-tempo Love Song) positively Alan's last word on the subject? - I doubt it somehow….. Darned confused or what? - I sure am, 'cos this album is a whole lot of fun!
David Kidman
Those aware of Jefferson Starship's origins as Jefferson Airplane back in the distant days of 1965 San Francisco will be aware that founder member Paul Kanter was originally a folk singer working the clubs around the Bay Area alongside the likes of Jerry Garcia and Janis Joplin. The previous year he'd also worked as a duo with David Freiberg who would subsequently go on to become part of Quicksilver Messenger Service. A fan of The Kingston Trio, that folk influence would feed into Jefferson Airplane's debut album and would become even more evident on Surrealistic Pillow, by which time they'd been joined by Grace Slick (replacing Signe Anderson ) who herself had fronted psychedelic folk outfit The Great Society.
Listen to the band's many incarnations over the years and you'll always hear those folk roots somewhere, so it's not that much of a surprise to find, on the Starship's first album in a decade, Kanter returning to the music that shaped him.
Taking the lead male vocals, it also sees him reunited with Freiberg as a key part of the line up alongside singer Cathy Richardson, well as guest appearances by fellow Airplane members Marty Balin and Jack Casady, former Starship vocalists Darby Gould and Diana Mangano, violinist David LaFlamme from It's A Beautiful Day and, on bonus track Easter Egg (which appropriately opens with the words 'surprise surprise') even the legendary Slick herself.
Harking back to the 60s protest days (inspired by Jefferson's revolutionary spirit) and tapping into those Kingston influences, and, even more so, The Weavers, the collection mixes together old and contemporary folk classics (including the Weavers' own Kisses Sweeter Than Wine and album opener Wasn't That A Time) as well as new material from both Kantner (the largely spoken On The Threshold of Fire) and Balin (the poppy Maybe For You). On the trad list you'll find Follow The Drinking Gourd (the song after which the legendary 60s folk club was named) and the banjo led shanty Santy Anno (better known as Heave Away Santiago), Woody Guthrie provides Pastures Of Plenty while Dylan (Chimes Of freedom), Phil Ochs (solo Richardson showcase I Ain't Marchin' Anymore), Richard Thompson (Gould taking lead on a sterling Genesis Hall) and even Brendan Behan (a marvellous drone backed interpretation of The Auld Triangle) are also represented.
Kantner's love of Irish folkies from the Clancy and Dubliners to the Pogues is also well in evidence with a brogue-inflected Rising Of The Moon.
It's a tremendous set that makes it hard to play favourites, but I'd certainly have to single out Gould's haunting a capella delivery of Richard Farina's The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood and an inspired fusion of Marley's Redemption Song and Lennon's Imagine with Richardson taking lead and Kantner, Gould and Freiberg providing vocal back up.
Who'd have thought that, over 40 years after its inception, the Jefferson imprint would have released one of the top folk albums of the 21st century!
www.jeffersonstarship.com
www.myspace.com/jeffersonstreeofliberty
Mike Davies December 2008
David Kidman August 2007
Covering 1941-1989, the second volume of Pepper's American trilogy is a slightly more uneven affair than its predecessor, the social and political points more scattershot and at times either clunkily written with lines like 'if you give me a lobotomy I'll give you a piece of my mind' from the Prine-like Good Morning Mrs Stine or, as on Crucify (what would they do if Jesus came back today), revisiting familiar song territory.
Isn't a rock n rolling Real Good Time a bit too obvious as a number about emerging from the 40s gloom into the 50s promised land with Elvis, Roy and Johnny a palliative to the 'cold war pork'?
The percentage of memorable tunes to the merely serviceable isn't as high either. Numbers like 21st rebel yell Land That I Love, Coming Down (blind pursuit of technology), Another White Line (coke addict woman induces abortion) and One Percent, a comment on the distribution of wealth spoken over swirling orchestration and beats, may have things to say, but the music doesn't persuade you to spend the time listening.
On the upside, when he hits the spot, lyrically and musically then Pepper demands the attention. The bitter storysongs are the strongest. Fiddle lined opening track On And On tells how George's dad taught him to shoot as a kid then took him to work at a slaughterhouse, and he grew up to enlist and die in WWII. Break The Chain is the story of Denny, born into a desperate cycle of poverty and alcoholism, tied to a chain that bound him to the dead end street where he grew up.
Ben is the story of a childhood friend from across the tracks who blew his brains out when he came home from the army an amputee. And, in a wry comment on America's obsession with appearances, The Ballad of Betty Wulfrum follows the 'homeliest girl in school' as she undergoes a makeover.
Best track here though is probably the most honky tonk country, a steel streaked singalong chorus Collection Of Angels about a widow and the 'smiles of plasticine' and embroidered homilies that keep her company now Clarence has gone. A few more like that on Vol 3 wouldn't go amiss.
www.americanfallout.com/jefferson_pepper
Mike Davies August 2008
Jenifer Jackson - So High (Bar/None)
Out of New York, Jackson's a wisp of velvet voiced guitar playing songstress who to judge by this, her third album, clearly spent many months of her formative years dreaming in her bedroom to a mixed album collection of Carole King, Laura Nyro, Marvin Gaye, Astrid Gilberto and Burt Bacharach. Thus there's the folksy pop of Down So Low and the sunshine 60s We Will Be Together, a country-folk Through Leaves, 70s soul rippling through Got To Have You and The Power of Love (which manages to fuse She's Not There and You're So Vain in the opening bars) and laid back bossa nova sways for Since You've Been Away and Got To Have You.
As cool as fragrant deodorant in a sultry cityscape, ably assisted by multi-instrumentalist producer Patrick Sansone, Jackson brings a delicate sexy perspiration to the title track and the wind chiming summery float down the stream acoustic delicacy of Blue Forever Mine, while The Invitation opens on a chugging train rhythm before skipping its heels down some jazzman's boulevard, chiffon scarf fluttering in the breeze behind her.
She may flit through an assortment of easy on the ear sophisticated musical genres, but what remains consistent is the fluidity of her vocals, forming themselves to whatever shapes the music demands and the urban romance concerns of her lyrics, whether she's talking about the power of love to provide meaning, the thrill of that first encounter or the melancholy of hearts healing. She's currently without a European deal, so perhaps someone could just start whispering things like 'the next Norah Jones' and then stand back to avoid the rush.
Mike Davies
I'm no big fan of mainstream Nashville and professional stetson wearers, but despite some good ol' boy twanging rock n country roll (Work In Progress is saved by its ordinary unreconstructed guy trying to be a New Man lyrics) I'm willing to make an exception in Jackson's case. Firmly in the mould of Haggard and Jones, his baritone twang is one good reason, his ability to pin his songs with wit and emotional heart is a better one, rising above the usual maudlin sentimentality of the genre to make something like Drive, a song about learning to drive a boat as a kid, resonate with a universal truth about fathers and their kids. Ditto First Love, a song not about a girl but a 1955 car that he bought, sold and then had her returned to him years later as a Christmas gift. Like that, other songs too sound autobiographical notes as in the love letters to his family, Once In A Lifetime Love and The Sounds, while his choice of covers have that same honest 'meat and potatoes man' feel, as with the Appalachia hued A Little Bluer Than That. The centrepiece of course is the song around which the album swiftly formed. Included in both its studio form and the live version that debuted at the 35th annual CMA Awards, written the week before, Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning) is a moving summation of a nation's feelings about the tragedy of Sept 11, the reactions to events, the lingering aftershock of sorrow, survivor guilt, fear, the desperate need to reach out to family and strangers. "I'm just a singer of simple songs, I'm not a real political man/I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can tell you the difference in Iraq and Iran," he sings. Maybe so, but he's got as keen an insight into the everyman heart as anyone in country.
Mike Davies
Joe Jackson, remember him? He's back, well he's not really been away but this time he's back with his original band from the late 70's/early 80's. This album is the result of four nights recording at California venues on his 104-show tour and the thirteen tracks portray a man and his band totally at ease with themselves. The songs are gleaned from his back catalogue along with a smattering of new songs from his latest studio album, Volume 4.
The familiar strains of Steppin' Out open the album but they are in an unfamiliar but excellent slower setting. This is just Joe on piano and vocal and it is just as effective as the single that came from the Night and Day album. There is massive energy coming from the stage and Awkward Age (from Volume 4), Sunday Papers (Look Sharp), Don't Wanna Be Like That (I'm The Man) and Got The Time (Look Sharp) are testament to that and it shows that the old vibe is still there along with the more sophisticated current sound. Machine gun, staccato guitars and almost punk-like energy are the trademarks of these songs.
Joe's first album, Look Sharp, is well represented and the band give fine performances of One More Time, Look Sharp and Fools In Love in addition to the already mentioned Sunday Papers and Got The Time. These older songs are given a sympathetic treatment are well received by the audience, especially on Fools In Love which has a segway into the Yardbirds' For Your Love. His voice shows no sign of decay through the years and, in fact, he considers himself to be a better singer and songwriter nowadays - no argument here. Down To London, from the Blaze Of Glory album and Love At First Light from Volume 4, are good examples of Jackson's belief in his singing voice and Sunday Papers shows his vocal dexterity.
The band get a little funky and throw in some reggae beats on Fairy Dust and Beat Crazy from Volume 4 and Beat Crazy albums respectively, Jackson turning on the angry old man routine on the former. This is a stunning live album and has a band that sounds that they have been playing together for 25 years rather than one who recorded three albums in two years and then split up for the next 23.
www.rykodisc.co.uk
www.joejackson.com
David Blue
Jack The Lad, the first Lindisfarne spin-off band, variously comprised Rod Clements, Si Cowe, Ray Laidlaw and Billy Mitchell with (later) ex-Hedgehog Pie men Ian Fairbairn and Phil Murray. The unit recorded three studio albums for Charisma between 1973 and 1975 before finally signing off in 1976 with Jackpot, their swansong (on United Artists), which is here reissued for the first time on CD, topped up with seven bonus tracks (some great pre-album demos and subsequent live material) and full and entertainingly informative booklet notes. Jackpot, in all its wayward glory, conveys a happy sense of fun and spontaneous abandon, with the band's abundant verve and professionalism enabling good-time pop (You, You, You and Eight Ton Crazy), infectious folk-rock jiggery (The Tender, Steamboat Whistle Blues, Walter's Drop), AWB-inflected disco (We'll Give You The Roll) and vintage exotic flavourings (Trinidad). There's an abundance of fun and spontaneity here, even on the live cover of the old Johnny Kidd hit Hungry For Love, and the demos are great too (recorded before Si left the band, these tracks include the excellent See How They Run, which languished otherwise unrecorded for years). This expanded reissue sounds great by and large (though I suspect side one of the vinyl original was used for a master, I detect some off-centredness and mild surface distortion). But it's a veritable jackpot indeed, and thus provides an ample return on your investment.
David Kidman April 2009
It's six years since Kate's last album, the stunningly good Hydrangea (see the Fish Records Essentials list on their website, link below), and in the intervening years she's married and had children as well as putting together the 13 songs here. Like its predecessor, You Call That Dark is a mainly collection of short stories that reflect real life - it's a highly narrative disc that details the trials and tribulations of ordinary people, their lives and their families.
There's a recurring theme of farms and farmers throughout the disc, and these songs provide some of the more memorable highlights, from the farmer having to sell his farm as his children don't want to take over (Pete's Gonna Sell), the troubles of an old Gaelic farmer in a modern hospital (What A World, What A God), and the story of an fragile lady living in an old farm (Helen Has A House).
While the disc may have a candidly sad air to it, this is balanced out by Kate's tender and delicate vocals that bring a lighter feel to many of the songs. All the tracks are thoughtfully arranged and performed, there are few, if any, contemporary singer/songwriters who construct songs as intelligently as Kate - they're full of pretty and often simple melodies, but the arrangements are varied and complex. This is a musically sophisticated disc that draws its influences from many sources, some obvious, others a little less so, and like the very best music of any style it reveals more detail with each listen.
While the disc is acoustic guitar led, the list of instruments is varied and includes Hammond, harmonium, xylophone and piano (notably the piano accompaniment on Helen Has a House is beautiful), and while most of the backing vocals are provided by Kate and the musicians, Mary Lee Kortes lends her vocal support to three tracks.
On first listen You Call That Dark may appear simple and unassuming, but after a few listens the disc really stands out - it has a character, honesty and intelligence that make it irresistible and hugely rewarding. Highly recommended.
Neil Pearson
This album is available from Fish Records, champions and mail order suppliers of the best albums from singer/songwriters. MP3 tracks can be listened to on their website
www.fishrecords.co.uk
Kate Jacobs - You Call That Dark (Bar None)
Somewhere between getting married, having two children, and growing flowers, the Hoboken based singer-songwriter's managed to put together a long awaited follow up to 1998's Hydrangea. While a childlike quality remains in her voice, where she once echoed Victoria Williams there's much more of Dolly Parton about her tone and phrasing these days, particularly evident on Lavender Line, though in terms of her short story songs another reference point would be Nanci Griffith.
Produced by guitarist Dave Schramm, it's a dusty rural album's worth of warm rootsy pop suffused with a gentle melancholia and wistfulness in its tales of ordinary lives inevitably informed by her own emotional experiences as wife and mother.
As with Hydrangea, family concerns loom large; the opening Your Big Sister a tribute to the inspiration and sacrifices of the first born, God Bless Ione a rowdily ramshackle jangling and tumbling pop song about her dad and the shrink who brought calm to his storms. But she's even more anchored to her farming heritage and the lives of those who've followed the calling and found the world leaving them behind.
Farmers and farms populate the album with stories of loss and love. Pete's Gonna Sell pretty much sums up the state of affairs as she talks of a neighbour reluctantly selling his hundred year old apple farm because his kids don't want to take it on while, again noting how many farms go down each spring, in Helen Has a House she wonders how long the frail old dear who owns it can continue to keep it going. Hardly surprising then to find Tall Buildings and its lament at the cost of development "as beauty's laid to waste.'
Elsewhere in the deceptive lullaby sounding What A World, What A God an aged Gaelic speaking farmer winds up in hospital, refusing the morphine that would ease his suffering because he thinks the nurses are asking for money and he's afraid the medical costs would be too much for his family to bear. But, on a more bittersweet upbeat note, there's the rocking If It's an Elm Tree which uses an elderly mechanic's lifetime accumulation of a junked cars in his huge field as an image of the things we hang on to that give us comfort and security, of a 'whole life lived on just one farm'.
She may 'walk in fear of certain pain' caused by the passing of time and of words left unsaid, as she sings on I Walk In Fear (which surely borrows its melodic refrain from On Top Of The World) but even though a sad note of mortality squeezes into the lyric, on the shuffling jazzily brushed Life Can Be Sweet she's equally aware of the simple joys to be found in knowing the names of the flowers and hearing the birds sing. Likewise The Silent Hills, which borrows its melody from Plaisir D'Amour, affirms the healing power of the landscape.
Topped off with a 5-piece jazz ensemble klezmer arrangement of Shakespeare's sonnet That Time of Year (itself a lament for passing years), for all the themes of loss there remains a welcomingly sense of comfort in listening to her sing, a sense of timeless wisdom mingled with the smell of woodsmoke and the sound of chidlren running through fields to dangle their toes in the creek. Even if it's only in memories.
Mike Davies
Kate Jacobs - Hydrangea (Small Pond/East Central One)
Some albums haunt you, stirring as they do memories of times past whilst giving you glimpses of something you can't quite touch. Kate Jacob's Hydrangea is one such. My glimpse was of long ago; a school choir singing All Things Bright And Beautiful with all the echoes of lost childhood that evokes . Gentle innocence and unpolished simplicity are constants throughout this collection of very personal story-songs from New Jersey Kate. Her voice is something between angel and child and it's entirely in keeping that two children's choruses are included.
Kate records with David Schramm on electric and acoustic guitars, piano, accordion, recorder, lap steel, tambourine and vocals; James MacMillan on bass guitar and vocals; Alan Bezozi on drums, percussion, birds. Other vocal contributions are made by Vicki Peterson, Susan Cowsill and children from two Hoboken schools: Mustard Seed School and Hudson School sing the two choruses These are inspired by the great Russian Anna Akhmatova's poetry, a choice which is not random synchronicity. Kate's Russian ancestry, with its passionate intensity, are all in the mix.
The Calm Comes After and What About Regret, Kate's two previous albums, will be released on East Central One early September 2000 and available on her current Tour (see our Listings).
Kate Jacobs is now on tour. Her songs, performance and the lady herself are quite beautiful in a non-traditional way. She's raven-haired, petite, seemingly fragile, and yet alone on stage accompanying herself on guitar, she has a captivating strength which means you can't look away or not listen! Kate's songs are stories/glimpses of her family's past, Eddy who went to fight in the Spanish civil way, a farmer who grew 'weed' in his hedgerow, "Never Be Afraid" (Russian immigrants arriving in America), "Honeybees" (a sweet lullaby which contains a family history of this century's wars and revolution) and more. These songs are always insightful and sung with a meet-your-eyes honesty, a rare thing, and her radiance illuminates the stage. She's very, very good. Go and see her if she's in your area in the next couple of weeks.
members.aol.com/JacobsKate
www.eastcentralone.com
Sue Cavendish
Although they share a love of the blues, unlike his brother, the younger Jagger sibling (he's 59 to Mick's 63) is steeped in country flavoured r&b, New Orleans funk and the zydeco and cajun of Louisiana. All of which are present and very correct on the band's third outing, a decidedly good time collection of feet itching tunes that hits the Clifton Chenier/Johnny Allen swing on Strangelove and She's A Jewel, splashes around in the boogie swamp with Cream In My Coffee and the gris gris bones of Everybody, dances around the country rhythm n blues and accordion squeezing floor of Got Me Where You Want Me in the company of Sam Brown, and slides into the snake-eyed blues for On The Road, 15% Extra, and a slow burning moody Junkman, the latter featuring blistering laid back bluesy guitar courtesy of Dave Gilmour.
The band, made up of Slim Chance keyboard/violin veteran. Charlie Hart, brothers Malcolm and Jim Mortimore on drums and guitar, and bassist, Paul Emile are as tight as you'd expect from seasoned musos, while you might recognise the family connection duetting on DJ Blues, a tribute to such practitioners of good time blues as Elmore James, Buddy Guy and Roosevelt Sykes.
It's never going to find them playing any Super Bowls anytime soon, but if you happen to see them billed down some smoky barroom you can guarantee they'll provide a lot more satisfaction.
Mike Davies, February 2006
Chris Jagger - Channel Fever (Hypertension Music)
David Blue
Jah Wobble - Could Have Been A Contender (Trojan)
This is a really handsome super-bargain-price anthology that presents a pretty exhaustive (three discs, not far short of four hours' playing-time!) career-so-far overview of the often hard-to-pin-down renegade bass guitarist and songwriter. Compiled by the man himself, and most persuasively too, it reaches far beyond the public image into less frequently charted territory, probing the deepest recesses of his many and fruitful collaborative ventures and covering a truly dazzling array of ideas, sounds and idioms, each with JW's typical energy and boundless integrity. Proving, in fact, that whatever you yourself might think of the end product (and I make no apology for any of it - it's all first-rate), the guy's hertz has been in the right place all along! Audibly, that very beating heart is his immediately identifiable pulsating, lithe bass playing - hey, this man virtually reinvented the sound of the bass guitar after all! This anthology is the first-ever major retrospective set to chart the amazing 25+-year career of Jah Wobble (aka John Wardle), right from the pioneering experimental nihilistic punkery of PIL in the late 70s through his adventurous and groundbreaking forays into fusion with world-music (before the term was even invented, you might say) then his increasingly eclectic work with The Invaders Of The Heart. It also takes in a number of JW's celebrated collaborations with all manner of musical personalities from every conceivable corner of the musical globe - from Sinead O'Connor (Visions Of You) to jazz saxer Evan Parker (Passage To Hades), Natacha Atlas (Shout At The Devil) to Dubliner Ronnie Drew (narrating the work of sundry Celtic poets), Iranian singer Sussan Deyhim (Requiem III) to Chinese Ku-Cheng player Zi-Lan Liao (River Suite). In his time, JW has embraced all manner of cultural influences, from contemporary classical composers like Arvo Pärt to the poetry of William Blake, and engaged in deconstruction exercises on folksong (Blacksmith) whereby he forged his own continually evolving brand of English roots music, while also espousing DIY-ambient (with Brian Eno) and even funk-techno (with Can's Holger Czukay). Musics that make ostensibly strange bedfellows will with JW much of the time seem perfectly natural drinking companions, the outcome being music that's genuinely cutting-edge, exciting and gripping, invariably unpredictable but imaginative and worthwhile almost to a fault. Yes, JW's always been a contender in my book, and this exceptional-value three-disc set has introduced me to some wonderful and yes, inspiring and intriguing music that I'd missed first time round. There's even some stuff which never got released properly, like the ultra-commercial Josey Walsh (again featuring Sinead O'Connor). Perhaps more than any other anthology, this one's made me want to hear every one of JW's previous releases in its entirety - I'm almost scared of missing out on anything more! The anthology is very creatively segued in places, but - and this is its one mildly frustrating feature - its determinedly non-chronological format prevents the novice and the more experienced listener alike from getting much of a handle on the development of JW's multi-faceted musical personality. Having said which, it all emphasises the man's frightening consistency, which is almost as dominant as that telltale underpinning bass playing. An essential and ear-opening set.
David Kidman
The New York based Brit singer-songwriter's second album in a year perhaps, but this bears no sign of being a rushed job. Rather it builds on the strengths of her debut, not crossing the minimalist sparse folk line but deepening the sound and textures, making more use of its melancholic piano notes and contemplative acoustic guitar, casting a foreboding tone across proceedings that evokes Weimar cabaret on The Rights and Spanish flamenco on Not Yours but also hews to spartan English (or perhaps Welsh?) hymnal traditionalism with Weight Off Me.
She's been likened to Jane Siberry, Vashti Bunyan, and, rather predictably, Joni Mitchell, and on things like the sad waltzing Stop with its muted trumpet or the ghostly starkness of Goodbye with its frayed nerve piano chords, you can hear the links.
However, obscurists might also find themselves thinking of Krista Detor on the brass and piano loping dark-folk jazzy-blues Here We Go and the fragile spooked folk beauty of The Eavesdrop while I Ask You prompts thoughts of a female Cohen or Jeff Buckley. One of two bonus tracks on the special edition, with simple drone and double tracked vocals, I Remember It Just Like This even conjures visions of a Dagmar Krause and Marianne Faithful duetting in some ancient church.
Her tremulous alto voice perfectly fits the bleakness and wounded, disillusioned spirit of her reflective songs while the uncluttered arrangements give it the space to breathe and curl around the emotional core of their lyrics, soothing you with their intoxicating stillness while still troubling the soul with their dark shadows.
Mike Davies November 2008
The latest addition to the hushed alt-folk singer-songwriter list, Jain's an ex-pat Londonder now based in New York, her debut album likely to be on the shopping list of those who've previously bought Vashti Bunyan, Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsom while the spare multi-tracked vocal and mournful violin of Sailor bears the stamp of Sandy Denny.
It's all very minimalist and intimate, a melancholy piano here, meditative guitar there, muted brass putting in the occasional appearance (French horn lifting the aptly titled Haze above the clouds to take flight) and strings soothing the sometimes furrowed confessional brow as she addresses relationships wounded, splintered or healing.
Her voice is husky and dark, bending the notes around the simple rustic melodies and stripped back arrangements to reveal more colours than might be immediately apparent. The nursery waltzing Disgrace with its bluebottle harmonica, the musing piano doodles of Loaded, the quite in/out breathing rhythms to the fragile romanticism of No Mistake and her quiet, cool edge of a breakdown slow build on the back of a stabbing piano note, accordion and brushed drum through the trad styled ballad Talking all offer scintillating highlights, but there's much here to send you giddy with shivers.
Mike Davies March 2008
Chris James - Trick Of The Light (Self Produced )
Ask Chris James what he thinks of this, his first CD, and he'll tell you 'it 's not very good really'. So, ask yourself why would John Wood producer of many classic 60's records from Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, etc be willing to lend his technical skills to this release? Why would Rick Kemp of Steeleye Span add bass and Gavin Sutherland of The Sutherland Brothers blow some harmonica over the record? The answer is simple. Chris James is one of the most modest guys that you'll meet.
Sure, his debut includes plenty of blues material that you've heard elsewhere with Blind Willie McTell's 'Statesboro Blues, Robert Johnson's 'Come On in My Kitchen' and the closing track 'Irene Goodnight'. Yet, the latter lasts eight minutes and manages to keep you concentrated over the full length of its melancholic distraction. Not an easy task given the number of versions that you've probably heard of this song. His delivery is delightful with both great guitar work and a stylish vocal and, let's be honest, there isn't that much great acoustic blues about these days. In amongst the tracks written by Skip James (the marvellously titled 'If You Haven't Any Hay Get On Down The Road) and Steve James ('Will And Testament '), there is a solitary track by Chris called 'Life's Too Short'. It's more than a half-decent song and if he expanded on this, there is certainly room amongst Eric Bibb, Kelly Joe Phelps et al for another bluesy acoustic guitarist of note. Step up Mr Modesty. The time is right.
You can get hold of this CD (including P & P) by sending a cheque for £13, payable to 'Chris James' at 57 Scotby Road, Carlisle CA4 8BD.
Steve Henderson
Hilary's debut album, Burning Sun, was originally issued in 1993; it was the first occasion where she stepped out from behind production and promotion duties on her partner Simon Mayor's mandolin records and took the limelight in her own right, and it brought her much deserved acclaim. The album gets a 15th anniversary remix, remaster and reissue here, and sounds just great: full and detailed, with admirable presence. Of course, Hilary's superbly pure voice is supported by the considerable instrumental skills of the aforementioned Simon (on assorted mandos, guitar, fiddle and whistle), while old friends Alan Whetton (soprano sax), Brendan Power (harmonica) and vocalists Andy Baum and Zoltán Kátai make guest appearances (the latter's rich bass tones especially noteworthy). (I'm not sure that the box credits are complete, otherwise all seems present and correct.) The selection of material is an appealing and well-balanced one, almost a template for her albums to follow. It combines traditional folk material (the beautiful Bay Of Biscay, together with Seeds Of Love, Two Sisters and a sensitive version of Polly Vaughan) with Hilary's own intelligent arrangements of anything from madrigal to Provençal carol (the beguiling La Marche Des Rois), alongside her own compositions Sail Away and Busy Old Sun (the latter inspired by the opening line of a poem by John Donne). Hilary also presents a faultlessly crafted rendition of Fauré's Les Berceaux and a nicely-turned Handel lament (complete with mandolin choir!). And I really liked her lively Balkan-bluegrass take on Lonesome Day. Altogether tasteful and lovingly conceived, this is a joy of a record that should easily find appreciation with a new generation of listeners.
David Kidman August 2008
Salisbury-born and now residing in Kent, singer, guitarist, songwriter and producer Keith, who was very active on the early-80s singer-songwriter scene, is now probably better known (at least in recent years) for his project The Songs Of Nick Drake, which both succeeded in giving that artist a higher profile and enhanced Keith's own reputation as a sensitive interpreter of others' work. For this new project, Keith has teamed up with a fine double bass player, Rick Foot, to give us his take, both through a live show and this companion CD, on some of the works of Frederico Garcia Lorca, one of the 20th century's most strikingly individual and influential poets, who was murdered during the Spanish Civil War. The poems are rendered in welcomely sympathetic English translations which have been undertaken by a number of different "literary enthusiasts", so there's no problem there; and the standard of musicianship (guitar, double bass) is second to none - ditto the ancillary musical contributions from Richard Causon, Tim Edey and Martin Ditcham. But, although Keith's gently sultry singing and the style of his musical settings both fit reasonably with the more hauntingly evocative "romantic-impressionist-hangover" aspect of Lorca's writings (a mood that was quite prevalent in the 20s and 30s while Lorca was active), it can't in all honesty capture the intrinsically fiery, hothouse aura, the rough passions which are so much a feature of Lorca's world: instead of bold primary colours, Keith offers us pastel shades, only colouring part of the total picture. For instance, on Preciosa And The Wind there's no sense of that "furious wind", and none of the animal intensity of the gypsy: the overpowering sensory impact of some of the imagery is missing, and it's all curiously tame and languid. Similarly on Dawn In New York: although this is better, in that Keith varies his delivery to embrace a kind of Sprechstimme, where's the visceral impact of the "hurricane of black pigeons splashing in putrid waters"? Earlier, and despite the use of a more urgent rhythmic backdrop, The Unfaithful Wife may capture some of the eroticism but not the central fire of the forbidden flamenco, and The Feud is almost detached in its portrayal of Lorca's frightening vision. Keith's most successful in capturing the metaphysical conundrum of Floating Bridges. The final track is a version of Leonard Cohen's adaptation Take This Waltz, seductive in its own way but altogether too smoothly textured and almost matter-of-fact rather than conveying the swooning and heady atmospherics of the poem. So - whilst not denying Keith's good intentions, or the depth of his personal response to Lorca (and he's evidently soaked up the Andalusian ambience during his stay there two years ago), this particular project can only ever be considered a partial success since Keith's own personal palette just isn't able to contain all of the requisite colours that would bring Lorca's vision fully alive.
www.poemsofgarcialorca.com
www.keith-james.com
David Kidman December 2007
Keith James - The Songs of Nick Drake (Hurdy Gurdy)
A singer-songwriter in his own right as well as running the Dream of Oswald recording studios, James is a big Drake admirer. So much so that he's been touring a live tribute show performing Drake's best loved material in a band format they were never heard when the man himself was alive. To which end he's also recorded this 12 track collection of songs from Drake's three albums, which, although James's voice is less fragile than Nick's, offers fairly faithful interpretations and some fine guitar work. But while the likes of Rider On The Wheel, Fruit Tree and Black Eyed Dog sound somewhat more robust and James' performance is sensitive and faultless, one has to wonder what's the point. As a live concert I'm sure this works with a magical spell, intoxicating Drake devotees and newcomers alike, but while it serves as an admirable tribute and introduction to one of English contemporary folk's greatest names surely you'd be better off buying the originals and appreciating the genius at first hand?
Mike Davies
This is Samuel James' debut album and at "a few years short of 30" some may say that he hasn't the experience to sing the blues. However, age is no matter when the music is relevant and, believe me, the music of multi-instrumentalist Samuel James is most certainly relevant. This set of 12 original songs confirms the arrival of a true story teller.
The "Here Comes Nina" Country Rag-Time Surprise (the first of many long titles) highlights his dextrous fingers but his voice is different to what I expected from looking at him on the sleeve. There is nowhere to hide when it is just you and your guitar but James dishes up a spectacular opening. I'm back to the voice for Sunrise Blues. It definitely belies his years and this hypnotic Delta blues is of the highest order. Big Black Ben has slide guitar and the high standard is maintained. Sugar Smallhouse Heads For The Hills is exciting and vital as he turns his hand to the banjo. Wooooooo Rosa is an instrumental and James gives a master class in dobro slide playing. This is followed by the very short One-Eyed Katie, which continues his talent for keeping the listener interested.
It could be very easy to become bored just listening to one man but his variety is exceptional. Mid-December Blues – I get them, doesn't everyone is a gentle country blues and is a great counterbalance to some of the other more in your face numbers. Sugar Smallhouse And The Legend Of The Wandering Siren Cactus (recurring theme?) has a virtually spoken lyric but it fits like an old shoe. Sleepy Girl Blues has a bit of pace injected on the slide and Baby Doll has some old style guitar picking. Both show what a true technician he is. He slows it down for the instrumental Runnin' From My Baby's Gun Whilst Previously Watchin' Butterflies From My Front Porch – easily the longest blues title I've ever come across. However, he builds it up so that it sounds like bees rather than butterflies at one point. Love & Mumbly-Peg shows that he does old style with real style and The Sad Ballad is a railroad song with his guitar taking the part of the train. Samuel James is already a true master and this is one of the best debut albums that I have ever heard.
www.northernblues.com
www.myspace.com/sugarsmallhouse
David Blue June 2008
Bert's latest offering comes after a fairly long interval since 2002's Edge Of A Dream, and to my mind it's a similarly (oh so slightly) inconsistent effort, despite the still-breathtaking, seemingly effortless fluency (and overall consistency) of Bert's playing, over which there will surely be no cause for critical dissent. The release of The Black Swan coincides with the republication, this time in a new (and slightly updated) paperback edition, of Colin Harper's brilliant critical biography of Jansch (Dazzling Stranger), which had originally appeared at the time of the Crimson Moon album in 2000.
The Black Swan is also set to capitalise on the high profile that Bert's currently enjoying from being "discovered" by the "new-folk" generation represented by Devendra Banhart. It's no coincidence that Bert's engaged Noah Georgeson (a member of Devendra's band, who'd produced his Cripple Crow album) to produce The Black Swan, and guesting here we also find Otto Hauser (of Espers and Vetiver) and David Roback (of Mazzy Star). Importantly, the album also features - on three tracks - vocals from Beth Orton, another of the new generation to claim Bert as a principal inspiration. (Indeed, Beth had already appeared onstage with Bert quite a bit of late after taking guitar lessons from him a couple of years back.) Beth's distinctive cracked, smoky singing brings an appealing air of fragile beauty to Bert's own composition When The Sun Comes Up, and her pained contribution to the traditional Katie Cruel (a kindof duet with Devendra Banhart, as it turns out) is somewhat otherworldly (though some listeners may find this new wyrd-folk interpretation of the song a tad disconcerting at first). Beth's third contribution, a duet with Bert on Watch The Stars, is arguably less successful, I feel. But here, as throughout, Bert's unmistakable musical identity survives intact; this couldn't be anyone else's work.
Bert performs solo on just three tracks, one of which is an idiosyncratic reading of Brendan Behan's The Old Triangle (which for some reason is erroneously credited here as trad, as is Clive Palmer's My Pocket's Empty); High Days is an impressive new composition, as is the opening six-minute title track (some nice cello from Helena Espvall here too). Elsewhere, there's a neatly languid and sensual new reworking of Bert's celebrated Pentangle-era song A Woman Like You, with some fine slide guitar counterpoint from Paul Wassif, and an equally sensuous slow strut through the gospelly Bring Your Religion (with son Adam on keyboard). And the glories of Bert's Ornament Tree album are recalled with the presence of Maggie Boyle's golden flute joining the banjos of Bert and Paul on the album's lone instrumental cut, Magdalina's Dance. But Bert, his spellbinding guitar work and distinctive vocal are the album's binding thread as you'd expect, and it all holds together - just - even though the consistency of the material is sometimes mildly in question.
David Kidman Sept 2006
It's two years since Doug Jay's last album, his debut for Crosscut, Jackpot and in the intervening period he has continued to hone the Blue Jays, his European touring band since 2000. The Washington DC singer and harmonica player has an impressive CV that includes gigging with Muddy Waters, BB King, Sunnyland Slim and Bruce Springsteen. The Blue Jays draw their music from many different sources and the eponymous opener is an R&B with Jay's craggy vocal and accentuated guitar from Jimmy Reiter, touted as one of the finest young blues guitarist around these days. It's Love is an upbeat rocker with the Reiter's obligatory snappy guitar and great harp from Jay. Temptation harks back to the hey day of 60s Rock n Roll and has excellent harmony from Reiter. Show Me The Way To Love You stays in the R&R field albeit on the blues fringes. Without Love is slow and uninspiring and Don't Want Your Love No More seems entrenched in the past. Losing Hand is a down and dirty blues and Lowell Fulson's Love Grows Cold is an R&R/ blues crossover with the horn section adding welcome depth. Good guitar solo from Reiter and it really sways along.
Poor Me is a slow Chicago blues with top class playing, harp from Jay & piano from Christian Rannenburg and a good vocal too - he can turn his hand to this if he wants to. Up-tempo R&B Poor Me has good harmonies and the band seems to be warming to their task. It's Easy When You Know How stays with R&B, the highlight of which is Jay's screeching harp. What A Man Can Do is firmly in the style of Robert Cray - no bad thing, of course and Call Me Back To You is a barrelhouse piano and country blues, played at walking pace. There's a little whistling from Reiter at the end but thankfully no yodelling. They round things off with Boom-A-Rang, an R&B instrumental guitar thingy. It's well played but a bit dated methinks.
David Blue February 2008
Doug Jay & The Blue Jays - Jackpot (Crosscut Records)
Doug Jay has been recording since the mid-1970's and his latest album for Crosscut shows no sign of him throwing in the towel just yet. He, and the Blue Jays open with In The Darkest Hour, a Chicago blues par excellence. There's a little bit of John Mayall in Doug's voice and he gives an excellent performance on harmonica. Christoph 'Jimmy' Reiter provides the powerful guitar backing. I'll Do Anything For You is classic R&B and the band move it along in great style with mesmerising guitar from Reiter. The title track is Rock & Roll with the emphasis on the Roll. It's pleasant enough but not a lot to get excited about.
The harmonica-led instrumental Giddy-Up is a well played Western blues and Real Bad Girl has a sleazy feel to it. The distorted harmonica helps the song just ooze over you and Doug turns in one of his better vocals. Ya Hoodoo Me is R&B with an authentic 50s feel with guitar and harmonica working well together. I Jump is a jump blues to rival the best and it is here that Jay comes into his own – try and stay still! When I Get Back is another that harks back to the Rock & Roll era and the introduction of saxophone from 'Sax' Gordon Beadle and Thomas Feldman compliments Jay's howling harmonica perfectly on this Floyd Dixon song.
Another cover is the classic Otis Spann song It Must Have Been The Devil and the band play it with panache. Rock & Roll is revisited on Just Say So before Otis Spann gets another airing on the mean and moody Half Ain't Been Told. Reiter has been quiet in the middle part of the album but he returns with a vengence on I Know What's Goin' On. His guitar screams on this funky blues which is underpinned with organ from Roel Spanjers. The album finishes with the 60s style instrumental Tumbleweed and the happy country blues of Each & Every Day. Doug Jay & The Blue Jays can certainly rock and roll with the best and their sorties into R&B and blues do not disgrace them either.
www.dougjay.com
www.crosscut.de
David Blue
The Jayhawks - Rainy Day Music (Lost Highway)
Seven albums in and, joined by former Long Ryder Stephen McCarthy on guitar alongside guest Bernie Leadon, Jakob Dylan and Matthew Sweet, the Jayhawks have just made their masterpiece by realising that less is more. Harking back to their early Americana days rather than building on the expanded, deeper textures and instrumentation of Sound of Lies, Ethan Johns has overseen a predominantly acoustic album that puts the spotlight fully on Gary Louris's vocals, a gently aching, world weary shimmering twang that fits perfectly with the album's reflective mood and its very 60s influences. The result is stunning.
Opening track Stumbling Through The Dark is (like Tampa To Tulsa) pure Everlys circa Stories We Could Tell, yet you'll also detect hints of Simon and Garfunkel in there too, echoes all the more evident in the wholly acoustic version that brings the album to a full circle close.
Elsewhere you'll hear the sound of the Byrds singing Dylan on Tailspin, the spirit of the Burritos coursing through Save It For A Rainy Day, Crosby Stills and Nash informing Eyes of Sarah Jane and Madman, and, one of the things that has hung around from the last album, the strong Beatles flavours of Don't Let The World Get In Your Way (which also conjures thoughts of early Bee Gees) and You Look So Young.
It's an album where every track is a highlight, but pushed to nominate the constant repeat play favourites it'd have to be the arc of love songs that begin with the affirmation of All The Right Reasons, proceeds through the perfect tumbling Mavericks-like pop of Angeline's can't commit break-up and ends in the lost buddy wistfulness of the gorgeously strings drenched Will I See You In Heaven. "We've always been a little early or a little late," says bassist Marc Perlman. "With this record, I think we're right on time." Like Rolex.
PS. Initial copies come with a bonus CD of six tracks featuring alternate mixes of All The Right Reasons and Tampa To Tulsa, demos of Caught With A Smile On My Face and Say Your Prayers, Fools On Parade hitherto only released in Spain and a live acoustic recording of Waiting For The Sun.
Mike Davies
A Canadian singer-songwriter already making a name for himself on film soundtracks (he's featured as either performer or writer on Lovers In A Dangerous Time and Lasse Halstrom's Dear John), Jesse Marchant's debut album is a sparse, dust dry dose of roots Americana that variously suggests James Taylor (Cleo's Song) and Neil Young (From Me To You And You To Me) while the six minute Friends For Fireworks nods to the trip hop beats of Portishead and Red October is a moody piano based piece.
With songs about a farewell to a dying friend (July On The Sound), attempted suicide (Swallowing Daggers) and what seems like manic depression (Cleo's Song), it's not the cheeriest of listens but Marchant's baritone spins the pain with an affecting poignancy and humanity to the accompaniment of acoustic guitar, occasionally flesh with organ and strings.
The album's been likened to Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago and while it's not quite as naked as that, In A Different Time's reflective shuffling hope for better times and the sadness heavy slow waltz Going Back Home with its brief Orbisonesque soaring croon, if you melted to that then you'll certainly be in puddles with this.
Mike Davies May 2009
No doubt about it, you're going to hear about these guys sooner or later. "Loaded" was released in 2004 and is an irresistible, full-on blast of all that's ever been good in country music. Twelve self-penned songs that manage to touch most country bases, with familiar lyrical themes of love and relationships in good times and bad, and wondrously skilled musicianship that takes you from where country meets jazz ("I Cried") to full speed bluegrass with a fast banjo on lead and old-timey fiddle backing up ("I Remember Wrong") . In between there's nods in most of the directions that country has veered over the years- a bit of Texas swing here, a bit of rockabilly there. The panache and confidence with which the whole is delivered reflects the amount of time they've spent on the road but what gets me most is the sense of joy and fun in their music. Recently relocated from New Orleans to Nashville and with their first appearance at the Ryman Auditorium just last summer, I'll be amazed if they don't shortly become hugely successful. Fans of "real country" (whatever your take on that may be) should be delighted. Dates in April in the UK should be worth checking out this dynamic Duo.
John Davy
The floppy-haired Swedish four piece's debut is a big fjord of an album, fully of epic cinematic melodies, windswept emotions heading off into the ether and bruised whispers of voices in search of some epiphany. Being Swedish, it's also naturally fond of Americana touches, a vocal twang here, a chord sequence there. But mostly this is post-rock territory with layers of slow, pulsating atmospheric soundscapes and lo-fi folk blues that enfold themselves into songs that rarely last under six minutes and go by titles like From Across The Sea, Swimming Eyes, Winter Nights and The Sound of Beating Wings that somehow actually manage to conjure how the songs sound. If you're fond of Sigur Ros and the less drone heavy moments of Mogwai, then Opposites Attract and A Ghost In The Corner Of Your Eye will have you reaching for the oxygen tank.
Mike Davies, February 2006
Jenna Witts is a talented young songwriter hailing from North Devon, who's fortunate to have caught the ears of Messrs Knightley and Beer and secured their services to produce and record her debut album, which even appears on their Hands On label imprint. Just a couple of years ago, she toured and recorded with Steve Knightley and Seth Lakeman on the Western Approaches project, after having co-written a song for Show Of Hands' Country Life album (Seven Days). And she's still only 18 years of age... ! Barefoot And Eager contains seven of Jenna's own compositions; these are attractive songs, almost exclusively inspired in some way by her native seascape and the influence it can exert on personal moods, feelings and life-choices (either her own, as in the title track, or those of other characters, as in Katie). Jenna has a grasp of emotions that you might not expect to find in one so young: I Was A Dreamer, for instance, reminded me a little of Sandy Denny in its maturity of expression of simple thoughts. Even so, there's still a feeling of things left unsaid, a potential untapped, which the album's frustrating total brevity (33 minutes) only accentuates. The three tracks not composed by Jenna herself don't jar, but on the other hand don't quite measure up in terms of distinctiveness of statement: although her cover of Steve's celebrated You're Mine (a song which would seem to have had a clear influence on her own songwriting) is persuasively handled and her rendition of Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here shows understanding, her version of the traditional Flora (in Steve's arrangement) doesn't really seem to have anything fresh or radical to say. Jenna's singing voice is appealing, if not yet one of strong individuality, and her own instrumental accompaniments (guitar or piano for the most part) reasonably coordinated within the context of the lyrics, even if in the final analysis some songs seem a tad less melodically interesting. Both Steve and Phil contribute their instrumental skills towards the end product too, so quality is assured, and you can hear why they have faith in Jenna, but this album, however confident, is definitely just a first step on the road. But just one thing puzzles me: given the record's title, why in the cover and booklet photos are Jenna's feet so determinedly shod and not bare?!
www.myspace.com/jennadwitts
www.showofhands.co.uk
David Kidman June 2007
The most inconsequential fact about all this is that Shooter's full name is Waylon Albright Jennings, the son of Waylon Jennings and Jessie Colter. It's irrelevant because he may be the son of a great man but he's entirely his own musician. He's followed dad's advice: 'Don't try to be like anyone else' to the letter and that includes Waylon senior.
As he began his musical career, Shooter left Nashville to escape 'expectations' and headed for Los Angeles. There he formed a rock 'n' roll band Stargunn, a band which undoubtedly still has an influence because the title track and Steady At The Wheel blast a gaping hole through the good ol' boy thing. This is the sound of a musician who has played the Viper Room and won, and substituted on stage for Axl Rose a couple of times and lived to tell the tale. Subject of a decent country song there I think.
But the pull of country music was irresistible and when Stargunn folded, a new band, the 357's were locked in a studio for six weeks and the result, Put the O Back In Country, has also injected some fun and new life back into the music business.
Where Jennings parts company, once and for all, from the aforementioned Guns 'n' Roses front man is that Shooter's having a real good time being a musician. If he's part of any 'nu-country' wave at all, it's the tidal one that the likes of Big 'n' Rich are riding, in his hands country music's got a smile a mile wide on its face. On Busted in Baylor County, Jennings and Co are playing it for all it's worth, big voice, big guitar, huge fun.
But maybe where he does draw on his heritage, is on Sweet Savannah and The Letter, as the ballads unfold they reveal a bottomless soul, this is the sound of honest longing and a breaking heart.
Put The O Back In Country, recorded in the west, born in the south and created by a young musician with a proud past and the world in front of him.
Michael Mee
I first came across Michael's work back in the late 90s, on a Waterbug label sampler: a track from his release In Another Life, which quickly became a favourite tho' I never managed to get a copy of the album itself. Crooked Path would appear to be Illinois-born, now Saratoga-based Michael's first album of original material since 2002's Little Movies, and it shows him still to be master of an easygoing, supple, craftsmanlike and wholly accessible style of songwriting that has refused to go out of fashion during his 30+ years in the business. The same could be said for Michael's singing style: strong-voiced, committed and accommodating, one that will never disappoint a listener. This latest offering brings forth thirteen attractive, melodic and gently incisive new songs that tend to straddle the folk and acoustic-rock divides, with little touches of oldtimey country along the way. Mostly they major on keen observation of the subtler kind, with often mundane imagery used creatively at the service of the narratives. Musically too, the songs I find most interesting are Cold River (with its shuffling mandolin-and-percussion accompaniment) and the understated folky jangle of Will Love Arise, but there's an unassuming craft to all the songs that grows on subsequent listens, and several (like Chief Waukenon Motel) also have surprisingly catchy choruses. I also liked the canny and economic "walking the line" setting that Michael gives his own gentle and affectionate tribute Johnny Cash Is Gone, while the title track, a lovely yet clever solo guitar instrumental, shows Michael's a masterly musician too. Michael's regular backing band (which includes bassist Tony Markellis, Bob Warren and Michael's wife Teresina Huxtable) do sterling service as always, and one or two extra musicians add further spice to the proceedings on this appealing set.
David Kidman March 2008
Having reached the grand old age of 31, Ms Kilcher seems to have been struck by a mid-life crisis. Hence an album that, as she openly admits in the sleevenotes, is a deeply autobiographical journey through her life so far, from being raised a farm girl to eventually buying her own ranch. And selling some 25 million records along the way. But has fame bought her contentment? Not to judge by the songs here, almost all of which are soul searching numbers about relationships ending and the aftershocks, about being alone, longing, insecurity and the loneliness of fame. She even includes a new version of Fragile Heart from 0304 which fits right in with them theme.
There's more than a touch of self-pitying going down here, but at least she does it with musical taste and attractive soft rock melodies; and just a touch of cynicism as she talks about 'babies on beach blankets' trying to fix themselves with valium, power bars, facials and carrot juice on the decidedly Sheryl-like speak-sing Satellite. Though that too goes on about how rock n roll can't fix her broken heart.
After a while, the egoistic triteness of the 'I'm rich and famous but am I really happy without someone to love me' lyrics gets a bit wearing, but fans who lost faith with her when she ventured into electro pop will be more than happy to embrace her pain since it's couched in the sort of guitar based folk-pop that first set her on the road to stardom. Indeed, the rather fine Stephenville, TX (where she has her farm) shows that you can take the girl out of the country but not only can't you take the country out of the girl but she'll eventually find her way back home anyhow.
If you need entry points then the bitter veins of Last Dance Rodeo, Good Day (Jewel wakes up, goes to the fridge, watches TV and decides there are others more messed up than she is) and Long Slow Slide will help the album slip down nicely, but hopefully, now she's finished staring into the looking glass the next album will see her taking a sharper look at the world around her rather than the one within.
Mike Davies, June 2006
Well now here's a turn up for the books. Devotees of Ms Kilcher's winsome folk pop are advised to approach this only of they have medication to hand. Some of the songs still address the same sort of lyrical concerns that have characterised her past work - you know, social issues, the messed up state of America ("Marvin Gaye there's no brother, brother Woody Guthrie's land can't feed mother" she sings in Stand), dysfunctional relationships, image fascism - but musically it's like aliens beamed down took away the original and left a clone they misprogrammed with 80s dance beats and Madonna aspirations. Yes, while Fragile Heart may still bear echoes of her previous albums, basically Jewel's gone dance pop. That and some Duran glam just to add a bit of extra spice. There's even a Todd Terry remix. Now hang on before you start building bonfires and effigies. It's actually not bad. Lightweight an overly sweet in its shiny new skinny ribs and beatbox perhaps and really do we need more text messaging shorthand for titles and lyrics.
And yes, she has dumbed herself down to extent that she can now write lines like 'all the fishes in the sea could not be happier than me' and keep a straight face. But she still has a way with a tune (albeit co-written here with the likes of Guy Chambers and Lester Mendez) and, as Intuition with its barbed reference to Jo Lo's big butt and the vitriol in America's namechecking of the Osbournes and Anna Nicole shows, her pointed wit's not been blunted either. And come on, anyone who's seen the Intuition video with its parody of those MTV sex for sales promos by the likes of Minogue, Spears and Aguilera (at one point she's even gets hosed down in a wet t-shirt by a fire crew) will know her tongue's firmly in cheek. My God, the girl's discovered irony. It's unlikely that this is the way she'll proceed in the future (though with sales taking a career resuscitation upswing, who knows), but for the moment she's having fun with the fake and plastic and with a little forbearance, who knows, maybe you will too.
Mike Davies
A native of Boise (Idaho), Eilen (that rhymes with feelin', by the way!) writes accessible, easily memorable songs that sound like they've been around for years, and sings them with assurance and an idiomatic sway that's already reminded some critics of a cross between Gillian Welch and Lucinda Williams. I'd not quite go that far, but Eilen's is certainly an attractive, lazily hushed style of delivery that's bound to win her plenty of admirers. Her writing's more couched in the hinterland between country and western-swing than anything else, with a lightness of touch that doesn't always signify, or allow for, hidden depths I find. Not that there aren't any depths to her lyrics, but they're just not quite soul-baring in the way that the above GW and LW comparisons might imply; it's rather that any emotion within is relatively subdued, sublimated at times, you feel, to the classy musical settings. These are straight-down-the-line, no-tricks, twang-dominated but lively and soulful rather than merely retro, and (like Eilen's singing) often gently sensuous at the same time; featured alongside Eilen herself are Jerry Miller (electric guitar), Johnny Sciascia (upright bass), Daniel Kellar (violin) and Jason Beek (drums). There's a touch of the weary-blues, too, about songs like How Long (her setting of a Martin Luther King speech) and Dusty Boxcar Wall (a cover of the Eric Andersen number from the 60s). My favourite tracks tend to be those where Eilen feels most passionately involved in the lyric, notably the yearning Thanks A Lot and the hypnotic In The End; having said that, these tracks also demonstrate her mastery of the telling pause in her phrasing. The more uptempo tracks are really well turned too, though (If You Catch Me Stealing inhabits a playful, juicy rockabilly groove, for instance, while Too Hot To Sleep is a sultry twang-tango and High Shelf Booze is persuasive and seductively jazzy, with some neat guest clarinet from Alec Spiegelman). This is Eilen's second album release: I've not heard her first, but if it's anything like as assured as this it'll be worth catching up with. Me, I'm interested to hear what she does next as well.
www.eilenjewell.comDavid Kidman August 2007
David Kidman January 2007
Of Polish extraction, socialist persuasion and living in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Steve Jinski's from the busker side of the singer-songwriter school, as likely to be found playing in subways as folk clubs. Having been part of a benefit band during the 80s Miners Strike, he's also no wet behind the ears newcomer. Northern folk with a country tinge, he's reminiscent of fellow Tyneside lad Martin Stephenson, but with a deeper, darker voice that carries the emotion and conviction in his songs of the personal and political.
Basically working in tandem with guitarist Dave Kennedy, the songs are beefed up by various guest musicians providing strings, double bass and percussion with former Prefab Sprout singer Wendy Smith on backing vocals. The result's hummably easy on the ear but, with the likes of the jogalong Hand of God, the nostalgic In My Backyard and Goodbye Lucky Guy also capable of touching the heart and the mind.
He's probably unlikely to progress his core audience beyond the club circuit, but given that songs like King of the Radio, Good Morning and My Father's Hands respectively call to mind Martyn Joseph, Randy Newman and Steve Earle he's guaranteed to ensure full houses when he plays.
Mike Davies July 2008
JAPW, fronted by indie-rock songstress Joan Wasser (formerly of Antony & The Johnsons and Black Beetle), made all the right hits with their debut album Real Life, an impressive set which, while proclaiming Joan as a striking and original voice on the songwriting and performing scene, I found at times mildly wayward if ultimately I've grown to love its diversity.
The character and philosophy of Joan's followup record, To Survive, embeds its most massive clue in its double-edged title: the record was conceived while Joan's mother was battling (in the end unsuccessfully) with cancer, and it's a troubled, disturbed, often rather bleak affair informed by an unbelievable sense of loss and pain and yet often dripping with understatement.
Joan's plaintive, broken-torch delivery has never sounded more totally genuine (not that it's ever been anything other), and the listener is drawn right close into her world and held captive there. At the same time emotionally charged and emotionally drained, Joan's singing here combines the heartrending vulnerability of a bruised and troubled soul with an inner strength and a tough, dusky independence of spirit; she's reaching out from the depths of her soul to anyone who might listen, yet the mood is of a more intimate confessional that's exclusive to you, her one and only listener at this point in time.
The ten new compositions making up this latest album are drenched in an at times quite claustrophobic aura, out of which somehow manage to break the qualities of love, hope and determined optimism in the face of everything. It's these paradoxes, alongside the intense quality of Joan's performance of course, that make her music so very compelling. In one respect, you might feel the tender heartbreak of To Be Lonely says it all, but listen deeper and you find it's encoded with a knowing maturity of outlook that transcends the apparent innocence of the basic, initial emotional response; like several of these songs, it inhabits an edgily laid-back, resigned yet at the same time watchful emotional world, with the updrift implying that some kind of renewal is inevitably at hand.
For none of these ostensibly desperate emotional states are as simple as they appear, and the wholly plausible and stimulating musical expression of that complexity proves another of Joan's strengths. Curiously perhaps, one of the most immediately lush-sounding of the tracks, The Start Of My Heart, is also quite numb, almost resigned in its depiction of self-examination at a time of great stress. Even the casually upbeat rhythms of Holiday signal with their fractured soundscape a jittery escape route that's distinctly uneasy and hard-won - and yes, in the end not quite convincing for the protagonist. A similarly unsettling feeling pervades Furious, for its perplexed admonitions dare not go unheeded. And I'd not imagine anyone listening to the pained, desperate, feelings-laid-bare title track and remaining unmoved.
There's a deep musical empathy between Joan and her immediate band members (the credits don't entirely clarify, but I'd presume the current lineup of JAPW to be Joan, Rainy Orteca and Ben Perowsky, although Parker Kindred seems to be a key contributor here too). David Sylvian takes a vocal role on the album opener Honor Wishes, Rufus Wainwright on the ambitious closer To America, and there's a host of other musicians supplementing the JAPW trio, yet the arrangements (courtesy of Bryce Goggin and co-produced by Joan herself) never sound crowded in the least; on the other hand, the multi-layered nature of all you hear is striking in its clarity of detail and impact.
To Survive is an exceptional (if also quite disturbing) artistic statement, one that richly deserves your persistence and repeated listens. Critical comparisons have been invoked with Laura Nyro, Billie Holiday and even late-period Joni Mitchell, but Joan's very much her own woman in every sense; and incidentally, I wonder if I'm the only person to remark on the Virginia Woolf-like demeanour of the stunning cover shot?…
David Kidman June 2008
One of Scotland's longest-established traditional bands, the Bairns have been quiet on the recording front since releasing their award-winning comeback album May Ye Never Lack A Scone around four years ago. And even that release filled an over-long gap of nearly 20 years between previous releases (which incorporated a lengthy spell of "temporary retirement")! So Rare is aptly named! But Rare also makes you feel they've never been away, for it's like a continuation of that 2001record in ever so many ways - great tunes and exciting arrangements of traditional songs, laced with superlative musicianship. It deserves to sell as heavily as Scone, for it again showcases the Bairns' enticing way with blending songs and tunes into a relaxed yet rewarding listening programme that's suitably varied in tone, pace and mood. They've no need to tinker with their winning lineup either – Derek Hoy, Ian Hardie and Norman Chalmers both complement and supplement with their considerable instrumental skills those of singers Rod Paterson and John Croall. Rod and John once again prove themselves fine interpreters of song, ranging from the otherwise well-travelled Fause Knicht On The Road (which, typically for the Bairns, is done in an enterprising arrangement) and a simple yet atmospheric Aye Waulkin' O to the racy tale of The Soor Milk Cairt (a composition by the Calton Barber Poet, Tom Johnston). The CD's half-dozen instrumental selections combine intelligence with fieriness and finesse in roughly equal measure; I specially liked the Da Grocer set of reels (track 7) and the unusual, gently sprightly treatment of the strathspey-reel and march combination The Mull Waltz/Castle Stalker, while the various transitions through the slightly extended track 9 set are delightfully conjoined, bringing a smile to the face afresh each time you play the track. I also loved the way the instrumental textures open out during the course of each track; it's all managed in such an appealing and easygoing way, with art concealing art amid high production values. There's nary a weak moment, and the CD's 52 minutes flies by before you know it. Whichever way you take it, Michael Marra's observation on the cover note, that "Rare is the new Cool", is canny indeed.
David Kidman
David Johansen & The Harry Smiths - Shaker (Chesky)
This is the second album from the former New York Dolls front man and his superb band following the critically acclaimed eponymous debut. It is much in the same vein as the first and is full of great old blues songs. Don't expect the same old standards here though. Johansen has trawled the archives studiously and come up with a collection that would be hard to match.
The album begins with Furry's Blues, which, as the title alludes, is a Furry Lewis song. Johansen's voice is gritty and well suited to this type of song. The guitar work of Brian Koonin and Larry Saltzman is excellent, though understated, as it is throughout the album along with Kermit Driscoll's bass. I'll Go With Her follows and is a good example of how a delta blues should be played – this is certainly not 21st century blues played with clinical precision.
Tommy McClennan's Deep Blue Sea is the next to get the Harry Smiths treatment. The drums are more to the fore here than on the opening tracks and Johansen's blues shouting showcases his powerful vocals. On an album that is not exactly upbeat My Morphine is about as slow a song that you could get. Johansen's drawl is perfect as he states that his morphine will be the death of him. You can really feel the pain.
Ham Hound Crave is strangely familiar. I found myself singing Motherless Child at parts. It may be that Eric Clapton has covered this as well but I don't remember having come across that. Again, Johansen's voice is stupendous – this is blues the way it should be. John Hurt's Let The Mermaids Play With Me is a strange song about death and where we might go afterwards. A happy-go-lucky tune with deep lyrics (no pun intended).
The next track, I Can't Be Satisfied is a Muddy Waters classic. The band makes a fine attempt but I feel that Johansen's voice just lets him down for the one and only occasion on the album. A return to the slow, pain-riddled style brings us to Memphis Minnie's In Love Again and introduces Johansen's harmonica for the first time.
Death Letter is about the one true standard that has been chosen. I've heard a number of versions of this song and I have to say that this is as good a version as I've ever heard. This is a highlight and worth buying the album for alone. One of the more upbeat tracks is Lightnin' Hopkins' My Grandpa Is Old Too, a slightly humorous, cautionary tale that tells the listener all about his grandpa although some grandpa's may not want to be reminded of growing old as the song constantly reminds.
The country blues Jailbird Love Song has unknown origins but that just adds to the mystique. That voice again!! This is another triumph and you even get to join in at the chorus. Charlie Patton's standard jailhouse blues High Sheriff is sung with a pain that is beyond belief and beggars the question – why hasn't Johansen been singing the blues more often?
The album finishes with a second Furry Lewis song, Kassie Jones and The Last Kind Words by Geeshie Wiley. The former rolls along with the Keith Carlock's drums sounding like a train and is another of my favourites. It mentions a natural born shaker and that is exactly what Johansen is. The latter will have you reaching for the Kleenex, as it's a real weepy. This is a fantastic end to a fantastic album. There must be more to come, maybe some original material although perhaps the appeal comes in his treatment of the old songs.
David Blue
Do you remember when rock was young? Well, not young perhaps but still wet behind the ears back in 1975 when Elton John was at the peak of his powers. The previous two years had yielded Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Caribou, and now came Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, an album forged from the experiences he and lyricist Bernie Taupin shared in their efforts to carve success out of failure. Last year, he celebrated its 30th anniversary by taking it on tour, and now he picks up the story with its official sequel. We're back in the 70s, both thematically and musically, as Elton and Bernie crack America, welcomed with open arms on the album's lead off track, the witty Postcards From Richard Nixon, song that recalls the mutual admiration society between wide-eyed Brits and a jaded USA.
Hitting the Crocodile Rock piano boogie meets Stones swagger stride, Just Like Noah's Ark parties in the flush of their success, hitting the Manhattan streets and New York's Studio 54 scene on the love letter ballad Wouldn't Have You Any Other Way (NYC). And from hereon, the album continues to chart them wrestling with having the world at their feet just as its predecessor saw them struggling with trying to get a foot in the door.
Years pass and excesses pile up, recalled in the mid-tempo Tinderbox where 'the price of fame leads to overkill' and the bluesy lollopping cabaret styled And The House Fell Down with its memories of 'three days on a diet of cocaine and wine'. Then there's the counting of the cost and losses, the arrival of Aids and the loss of friends and lovers that haunt the muscular ballad Blues Never Fade Away which also notes the death of Lennon and Elton's wonder that he managed to come out of the era relatively unscathed.
Unscathed, but not unaffected. The Bridge addresses the need to risk everything you have in order to hold on to what you've got, a simple piano and vocal ballad (well, along with an angelic choir cooing) that may or may not be an apology for some of the rubbish he turned out in the 80s. Indeed, personal loss - lovers and perhaps artistic integrity - is the subject of I Must Have Lost It On The Wind ('you couldn't tell me I was wrong, you couldn't tell me anything' he sings, ego in the corner), while the country bluesy Old 67 looks back to harder but more innocent days, although contrasting memories of freezing on Oxford Street then and sitting in the South of France now does unfortunately call to mind Monty Python's Four Yorkshiremen sketch.
The country rolling title track closes up the scrapbook, an affectionate nostalgic snapshot of his relationship with Taupin,'an urban soul in a fine silk suit, and a heart out west in a Wrangler shirt', the Rocket Man and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, that references Tumbleweed Connection and Yellow Brick Road. It's hard to avoid the deliberate irony when Elton sings 'you can't go back and if you try it fails'; having taken a journey through the past with this album, he and Bernie return to the present, not battered by failure but with a sense of survival, optimism and a reaffirmation of having done it their way.
Note: A web link offers a download bonus track, Across The River Thames, a sort of companion piece to I'm Still Standing where Elton owns up to looking a bit of a prat dressing as Donald Duck, admits to having made some 'questionable friends', and smarts over critics and tabloid inventions but notes that he's still here, still doing the only job he knows.
Mike Davies, Sept 2006
It's been four years since Elton's last studio album, decades longer since he released anything consistently worth listening to. Instead we've been subjected to occasional decent tracks amid a pile of anonymity and, much worse, the El Dorado soundtrack and, spare us the pain, Aida. However he seems to have made the Tumbleweed reconnection and, hooked up once more with his veteran drummer and guitarist Nigel Olsson and Davey Johnstone, with Paul Buckmaster in the arranger's seat, this is arguably his best work since Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. The opening Emperor's New Clothes defines the musical arena. Elton and a resonating piano doing what they do best together. The song's intro immediately makes you think of a Stephen Foster melody and while the swaggering The Wasteland may lean heavily on gospel blues there's no doubt the credit for Ryan Adams - "who inspired me to do better" - explains the album's predominantly alt-country colourings.
Elton's not sounded this passionate at his piano in a long time, the emotion pouring from the fingers into the ivory keys, swelling into the same introspective moods that characterised Your Song and Tiny Dancer. Although Dark Diamond's rhythm section chunters along at a slow lope, The Birds, which almost evokes thoughts of Little Feet in its funky boogie, is the only other real uptempo cut, leaving an air of reflection and melancholy to settle over the remaining numbers.
The melodies would, of course, be nothing without Bernie Taupin's lyrics. And he's clearly hit a purple patch. Resignation and sadness are the key notes, a sense of times and innocences lost, of self-delusions running through the likes of Dark Diamond, Look Ma, No Hands, Mansfield (a town not the actress) and, most pointedly, This Train Don't Stop There Anymore (which features one Gary Barlow on background vocals), a song at once both full of regrets and triumphant at having rediscovered the ability to feel. Without question though the album's finest moments are American Triangle and Ballad of the Boy In The Red Shoes. The former, with Rufus Wainwright harmonising, is a heartfelt and harrowing account of the homophobic murder of gay Wyoming student Matthew Shepard, while the latter chokingly unfolds the story of a man dying of AIDS and holds the Reagan adminstration's wilful blindness to the problem accountable. Who'd have thought that, at 54, Elton John could still bring tears to your eyes that weren't simply those of derision.
Mike Davies
John Called Mark - The Money/Songs From The Basement (Eversong)
Christian music has changed out of recognition in recent years and these two albums, spanning 5 years, from John Called Mark aka John Everson, are testament to that. The Money, from 2002, opens with Ride On Me and this is very much like Chris Rea. John Called Mark is a fine vocalist, there's some superior guitar work and this is a good middle of the road rock song. Latter Rain is not overtly Christian and could be compared to Marc Cohn if you were so inclined. This is very catchy. Holy Men is the first outright religious reference, is very powerful, especially in the chorus and makes a great power ballad. Whether you believe or not, this guy will get you going on the title track. Another great song and, added to the grand production by Jim Gaines, you won't believe that you are listening to Christian music. Unfortunately, not all tracks are up to the standard and the weak ballad Liftin' My Eyes is one of those. John Called Mark is much better when he is rocking and on Preacher Man he does just that. The rock vocals are back and the gritty delivery makes this track. There's a Springsteen quality to the vocal and song writing on The Holy One. Great guitar solo too. Shadows On The Road is an acoustic-based rocker and could easily be mistaken for bands such as Nickelback if you close your eyes. This one is a personal favourite. John Called Mark can turn his hands to a few different genres and the blues influenced rock of Back To Memphis is a showcase for guitarist Jack Holder who certainly knows his way around a fret board. Gift Of Lauren is, I assume, a song about a loved one but, no matter how heartfelt, this type of song always manages to sound sickly sweet. The penultimate track, Muddy Highway, has John Called Mark on his continuing path of rock and he pays homage to the blues although the song itself is not a blues. Finishing on He's Coming Home is a masterstroke. Verging on new country, this is John Called Mark summed up in one song.
Songs From The Basement was released in 1997 and sounds as if it could have been from last year. Opening with Run To Me, Everson's gruff vocal is the stuff of great rock music and this song would pass for non-Christian rock easily. Start Livin' is bouncy and blues based and his voice would have won me over by now on this album even if I hadn't heard The Money before -- great piano from Ernest Williamson on this one. It doesn't matter if you are into Christian music or not, LOTW is just great acoustic rock with a sing-along chorus. Just enjoy yourself.
Prodigal One has guitar from none other than the great Larry McCray and the track is sheer class. Light Your World is another of the sugary sweet songs that will appeal to song, but not me. But fear not, Larry's back on Floatin' Boogie. This is blues based, as you would expect, and has one of the best lines that I have heard for some time – "To walk on the water, you gotta get out of the boat". Carry My Load is a slow one and could have become trite but is carried by John Called Mark's voice. There's a slide guitar festival on Master Of The Sea where Billy Earl McClelland adds his not inconsiderable slide talents to the power of Larry McCray. Glory Land is a Bo Diddley style chugger up to the choral chorus and the last original track is All I Know, a rock ballad that would not be out of place on a film soundtrack. The last six tracks are slightly different edits of Run To Me, LOTW, Prodigal One, Carry My Load, Light Your World and All I Know.
These albums are a good introduction to John Called Mark and Christian rock in general.
David Blue
The John Doe Thing - Freedom Is (Wah!)
Along with Exene Cervenka, Doe used to front 80s LA punk outfit X. In fact he still does, although since they tend to limit their activities these days to just the occasional gig, he's taken to doing the solo thing, both as a character actor (getting solid reviews for Boogie Nights) and as a singer. Released in the States back in 2000 (since which he's recorded Dim Stars, Bright Sky), this was his third album, a largely acoustic collection of alt country singer-songwriter numbers with guest appearance from Cervenka on the X sounding rocking Ever After. As evident on X's More Fun In The New Worldand his and Exene's spin-off outfit The Knitters, Doe's always had a penchant for roots country, and while it may feature the occasional fuzzy amped up guitar or clattering drum, that's the general direction in which the likes of Ultimately Yrs, Catch Me, Sueltame and When No One Cares head, albeit, as he says, signposted more by Elliott Smith's alt-pop than Gram Parsons country-rock. There's a pleasingly autumnal mood (to go with the inner sleeve photos of snow-covered roads) and while Too Many Goddamn Bands might erupt in anger, Doe's mood is mostly one of thoughtful reflection. There's not a whole bunch of classic songs, but Doe's writing rarely falls shot of absorbing and that muscle in his voice is still well flexed.
Mike Davies
An Ottawa five piece who make no bones about their musical affection for Gram, Neil, The Band and The Eagles, this is manna from heaven for roots-Americana devotees of lap steels, songs of wine, women, cabins and canyons, and embroidered shirts. There's country twang but also some Crazy Horse guitar (even wah wah pedals on the stomping Padawadamie), a burst of hoedown thigh slapping with Ain't Gonna Drink No More, the skiffle driven rockabilly Mo More Rock n Roll, echoes of Creedence on Thought Yourself Lucky and some 60s Stones r&b with Ugly Town.
I prefer them when they're in their Parsons and Young modes on the title track (which sounds like the Long Ryders but in tune) and the six minute Lost In The Canyon respectively, with Truth Be Told (Inez) recalling the best moments of the Jayhawks, but everything here promises a bright future.
www.thejohnhenrys.com
www.myspace.com/thejohnhenrys
Mike Davies December 2008
This is the fifth CD to be released by this (slightly infuriatingly quizzically-named) Wisconsin songwriter (is it his last name or a combined first-and-last?), but it's the first of his records I've heard and I sure hope it ain't the last! It exudes a tasty, relaxed vibe right from the word go, with typically open-hearted writing that draws you straight in. And it's like a top-notch Sugar Hill album that just happens not to be on Sugar Hill, for Johnsmith's backed by a stellar array of sidemen containing the cream of Nashville sessioners (Darrell Scott, Byron House, Stuart Duncan, Kenny Malone, Andrea Zonn, Tim O'Brien... need I go on?!). The quality of the songwriting is equally top-drawer, and, although it doesn't all immediately hit you right between the ears, moments like the stunning opener Back To The Mystery (a pulsating ode to spirituality complete with Native American sounding chanting) do more than hint at the multifarious wonders to come. The gentle, charming Celtic-folkiness of Barefoot In The Dew (with sublime harmony vocals from Sally Barris) and the intensely-felt Cold Cold Ground (written in memory of the writer's brother Davey) also provide immediate first-time highlights, but subsequent listens reveal an innate soulfulness in Johnsmith's attractive and deceptively light tenor tones that gives his songs an extra dimension (check out the bluesy title track for starters) and depth. For even the simple landscape-poetry of Silver Creek manages to convince you it's more than just a childhood reminiscence (this delightfully catchy song was but one that reminded me of James Keelaghan, in fact).The disc's three non-originals come from the pens of Darrell Scott (the tender, passionate Love's Not Through With Me), I.J. Booth (Box Elder) and Lancashire folk legend Alan Bell (the beautiful So Here's To You, a well-loved singing-session closer here on these shores). It'll be good to hear more of Johnsmith.
David Kidman Sept 2006
Formed seven years ago following Connecticut's famous Mystic Seaport festival, The Johnson Girls, a female a-cappella quintet, perform a hell of a repertoire of traditional and contemporary folk music embracing songs from the African-American and Irish traditions and incorporating work songs, sea chanteys, riverboat and minstrel songs and songs of fishermen and their wives. Phew!
This CD is their second, and like the first it concentrates - albeit probably less exclusively so - on chanteys and maritime songs. Material which many diehard maritime enthusiasts claim to be the exclusive preserve of the male singer - but the Johnson Girls triumphantly show this to be a fallacy and lend considerable weight to the argument that women's voices can (and increasingly do) contribute importantly to performing this repertoire. Some British crews employ just one or two female voices to good effect (and not just for harmonies), but the Johnson Girls are the only all-female crew I've come across so far, and their rivetingly forthright performances are the best possible advertisement for such a disposition. Back to repertoire, then, and for this CD, alongside selections that ought to be the bread-and-butter of shanty crews (Fire Maringo and Roll Boys Roll) – as opposed to endless renditions of The Leaving Of Liverpool, I mean! - amongst the strictly or loosely traditional pieces we get a suitably randy pumping chantey (The Priest And The Nuns), a fun broadside (Tailor In The Tea Chest), an Italian fisherman's ballad, a French-Canadian paddling song, a railroad worksong and a prisoners' treadmill song which (as the notes point out) might have been ideal aboard ship as a capstan chantey. The CD closes with an enchanting quasi-round adaptation of Mariner's Hymn, a dialogue song from the 1843 Millennial Harp collection.
Very few of the above pieces have been recorded on CD elsewhere at all, even by the specialist shanty ensembles, and this CD would recommend itself on that count alone. But the Girls' choice of contemporary compositions is enterprising too, with self-evidently maritime pieces like Jan Harman's magical Song For A Seafarer, Geordie McIntyre's White Wings and our own John Conolly's Married A Trawlerman rubbing shoulders with some decidedly non-maritime fare like Dave Webber's Working At The Coalface and Sue West's vibrant and slightly tongue-in-cheek toast Drink To The Laddies. Excellent songs all, and definitely deserving of wider currency. So, named as they are after the celebrated Menhaden net-hauling shanty, crucial to the effective performance of which is the accurate timing of interpolated bars of silence (honestly!), the Johnson Girls are indeed "mighty fine girls". Each "girl" is blessed with a commanding voice that can do either gritty or soft, forceful or gentle as required, and each can take either lead or harmony line with equal facility, though if pushed to single out I'll admit to enjoying the gutsy and full-throated lead contributions of Alison and Bonnie in particular. No sir, there's not a hint of tameness or incongruous prettification anywhere on this CD, you'll be pleased to hear, and the Girls' performances are consistently believable, displaying a musicality and a real empathy for their chosen material and a great feel for communicating it to an audience (even in the cold light of home listening, which in this repertoire is quite an achievement in itself). The booklet notes are consistently full and accurately informative. The only (and extremely minor) inconsistency is one of recording source, ie that two of the nineteen tracks were recorded live and give rise to a burst of applause; myself, I applauded many of the tracks spontaneously! A mighty, and mighty fine, CD!
David Kidman
A new name on the block, maybe, but on the strength of this high-quality offering we'll be hearing a lot more of Carolyn. She's a Canadian-born singer-songwriter now based in Nashville and thus firmly in the New Country mould, who made her name over a year ago as the writer of Chely Wright's country hit Single White Female, having previously toured as backup singer and guitarist for her idol Martina McBride (who appears on this album, along with Kim Carnes, Matraca Berg, Marty Stuart et al… nuff said!). Carolyn's own début album is a very assured affair, showing her aptitude for placing her direct, often acutely personal lyrics in a powerful, melodic yet assertive musical setting.
While keeping well within the conventions of New Country (great production values, well-defined backbeats etc), Carolyn obviously has a good ear too, for she's not afraid of a big production, though within all that she can allow for plenty of interesting instrumental touches, as on the thrusting, pounding I Don't Want You To Go. Her chosen musicians support well and provide some great solos, but know when to pull back from the spotlight so that we can focus on Carolyn's not inconsiderable vocal talents. But you can't fail to notice her songwriting skills, for the album consists entirely of her own songs, and contains some very durable material indeed - as evident straightway on the first four tracks (the outstanding opening vignette Georgia, then the commercial catchiness of Just Another Girl, the frothy I'll Think Of You That Way and the strong riffs of Love Is Always Worth The Ache).
Even though there are several potential hit singles, there's a fair amount of sensitivity too. This is one of those few modern-day country albums that's decently accessible but also of more lasting interest, and has sustained a fair few repeated plays so far in spite of some fierce competition. This superb, gutsy and impressive release surely bodes well for Carolyn.
David Kidman
Pour yourself a cool beer, turn down the lights and slip Two Gun Green into the CD-player and you'll find yourself transported to a small club in the back streets of Georgia as the raunchy, down-home blues wash over you. And that's exactly the atmosphere Larry Johnson was trying to evoke when he went into the studio to record this slice of authentic southern states blues.
The wonder of it all, though, is that his backing band for this project is Stockholm-based Brian Kramer & The Couch Lizards and the whole was recorded live in the studio in six hours straight at The Grange in Norfolk - rapidly making a name for itself as one of this country's best small independents. It's the live feeling of this record that strikes you first, with the drums of Jim O'Leary in particular benefiting - you really do feel as if you 're in the room.
Born in Atlanta in 1938, Johnson can certainly be said to have served his blues dues, gigging for more than 40 years and having recorded his first album in 1965. The continuity in his writing, singing and playing dates back to that first album as it featured the song that gives this collection its title. Introduced with a rich, deep-brown chuckle from Johnson, the story - all Johnson's songs are his "stories" - tells of a New Orleans bar called The Bucket of Blood and a confrontation between Two Gun Green himself and Bad Man Dan. The narrative is related over a grinding rhythm, driven by the guitars of Johnson and Kramer and the harmonica of Mats Qwarfordt.
But, if the title track's neat little groove seems insistent, it pales beside the most appropriately monickered "Back to the groove", five minutes-plus of magic in which the title, or slight variations, comprise the only lyric as the band members explore the possibilities of the song's, somewhat minimal, chord progression. There's humour there, too, as Johnson, announcing that he has a plane to catch, asks Kramer, Qwarfordt and O'Leary how they'll be spending the evening, to be told by each that a woman will figure somehow. Bassist Pa Ulander, however, tells Johnson there's a great TV show on tonight - about frogs. Without missing a beat, Johnson replies: "Yeah, well, I guess frogs gotta have somebody, too!" Johnson's gospel roots show with a swift run-through of "Old time religion", and Leadbelly's "Goodnight Irene" is given a reverential reading. Elsewhere, Johnson's sandpaper vocals are applied to a selection of 12-bars, including his own "Midnight train", "Can't last very long" and "I used to be down" in which, despite the optimistic title, he does, indeed, sound very down. Throughout the album, and lending it a warming informality, spoken studio asides are included in the mix and that's truer than most in the album's last track, "Charlie Stone" in which Johnson tells his band how he came to write what was his first song before playing it solo, accompanied only by his own guitar.
If you like your blues as the blues was intended, shorn of unnecessary flash and phoney sophistication, but bristling with a gritty realism, I'd suggest you get that beer, reach for that dimmer switch and settle back with "Two Gun Green".
Fred Hall
Uncle Robb's latest is a brilliantly rousing, full-on band album that stokes our fires of justified discontent and goads us out of our indigenous apathy with a glorious fresh set of intelligent and abundantly catchy singalongs-with-attitude in the best agit-punk-folk tradition, chronicling Robb's inimitable ground-level view of the condition of Albion. It kicks off with The Spirit Of 45, a distinctly urban-folk marching anthem that's struts the jump-at-the-sun chutzpah of Kirkpatrick-meets-Oysters, after which in crashes the heavy-duty punk-rock groove of Saturday Night In Albion, a craftily ambivalent ode to the noisy celebration of folky culture - and there's even some of that good ol' Speed The Plough squeezin' along in merrie-olde-Englande counterpoint behind the barrage of killer leccie guitar licks! That right-on RJ stop-the-war conscience on parade again with the plain-speaking I Am Not At War and the caustic tho' poignant real-life juxtaposition of The Prince And Pt. Gentle, also later on Two Left Feet (introduced by Roger Watson singing a variant of the WW1 song Fred Karno's Army), while the slice-of-life vignette of Little Angels employs the additional twist that the mums depicted therein are the murdered Ipswich prostitutes. And even the more predictably rant-heavy songs score with typically succinct one-liners, like The Bigger The Car (the smaller the brain), or the post-Thatcherite parallels drawn by "it's no distance at all from here to Soweto" (set to a tasty jive groove with Attila The Stockbroker guesting on township viola). It's not all angry tho', for Robb brings a special, affectionate brand of English whimsy to his bittersweet-romantic portrayal of The Great West Road. And The End Of The Miracle evokes the (pretty-vacant) ambience of the pre-punk mid-70s when the Stooges and retro-VU were the necessary prerequisite for gig excitement, where "I give 'em Love & Death & Politics whether they wanted it or not" is Robb's defiant clarion-call. The relative lack of melodic invention in some of the songs is entirely forgivable – cos they ain't that sort of song, and hey, you don't slam that charge on punk d'you?! The punchiness of the material is granted a big, bold, forward sound by engineer Ali Gavan, reflecting the abundant toughness of Robb's current crack team of Irregulars (John Forrester, Roger Watson and Charlie Waygood), who have unquestionably gone from strength to strength as a working band, for they fit round the songs like an iron glove punching its tightly clenched fist in the air. For much of the time, Roger's gutsy, sturdy (and nicely forwardly-balanced) melodeon lends the band sound a heavy folk-cred, while Robb pays homage to the spirit of punk throughout (think vintage Clash/Pistols) with some magnificent thundering thrash-guitar (courtesy of Deryck, his new pet black Telecaster!). But this is no exercise in retro, it's now – so long may Robb keep on a-rattlin' them thar cages!
David Kidman November 2008
David Kidman August 2007
www.robbjohnson.co.uk
www.irregularrecords.co.uk
David Kidman
David Kidman
Shetland musician "Peerie" Willie Johnson, who died last May at the age of 86, could never be confused with any of his namesakes; he was a truly unique man, amazingly talented as a guitarist (but he could also play half a dozen other instruments well). He modestly described his own talent as just banging on a bit of wood, yet he was much admired by Martin Taylor, whose patronage was eagerly granted to the Shetland Guitar Festival bearing Willie's name. His enduring legacy is that of having brought jazz together with traditional folk music, whereas previously the two could have been considered distinctly uneasy bedfellows. He was regarded primarily as a jazz musician, in fact. Even more amazing is that while he rarely left his native Shetland his reputation preceded him and he managed to team up with some of the country's greatest traditional musicians (Tom Anderson, Aly Bain) in the 70s and 80s, yet he never recorded a solo album. This disc can thus best be described as an archive release, one which has been lovingly produced to the highest "house standards" of the Greentrax label (complete with quality remastering and a long and insightful booklet essay by Willie's sister Evelyn Leask). The music contained on the disc itself (Willie plays on 21 tracks out of the 24 here) is superb, and it was a revelation to me, partly in how very much Willie's style has influenced folk guitarists. Although Willie admitted to being heavily influenced by jazz pianists like Errol Garner as well as guitarists Eddie Lang and Barney Kessel, it's also been commented elsewhere that Willie was one of the key musicians in bringing the jazz-based approach of syncopation and improvisation into the playing of traditional folk music, and many of the recordings assembled on this disc demonstrate that aspect perfectly. And hey, what a tremendous sense of swing to his playing! Well over half of the tracks are versions of jazz or popular standards - there are stunning solo renditions of St Louis Blues and a couple of Gershwin numbers, while Willie shows his skill as a sensitive accompanist on very fine group treatments of Nice Work If You Can Get It, The Way You Look Tonight and Night And Day, even an extended runthrough of Dizzy Gillespie's Birks Wirks, with an atmospheric rendition of the Jerome Kern number Yesterday. The latter, like many other tracks, was recorded at the Shetland home of Willie's lifelong friend Billy Kay, a fine musician in his own right, whose own parlour-piano playing also graces the soundscape on occasion. Willie's peerless folk playing is represented by gems such as Margaret's Waltz (a 1984 recording taken from Aly Bain's first solo album), a lovely duet with Debbie Scott, some tunes possibly recorded in Sandy Bell's Bar and some 1958 recordings with fiddler Willie Hunter taken from BBC Scotland's vaults. Whatever the style though, the spontaneity of the playing on these recordings (many of which were made quite informally) produced sheer magic, and this 72-minute disc forms the most fitting imaginable tribute to Willie's considerable talent.
David Kidman March 2008
David Kidman
He's signed to a major label, been produced by all the hot shot producers from T-Bone Burnett to Butch Vig (of Garbage), was given a Rolling Stone Songwriter Of The Year Award and, yet, the UK seems to ignore Freedy Johnston. With an odd exception, his albums set a consistently high standard in song writing and, in an effort to catch the publics attention, each producer has added their own touch whether it be a rocking approach or a lush orchestrated backing. As with all good songwriters, the style shouldn't matter as the quality of the song should stand on its own. So, it is with 'Right Between The Promises' where all the angles are covered.
'Broken Mirror' makes an upbeat start to the album before arriving at the even more lively 'Waste Your Time' whose lyrics provide the title of the album. Freedy then opts for a cover of Edison Lighthouse's 'Love Grows'. He likes playing cover versions though they've normally only been heard at live shows or on an album which was only sold at the live shows. As we hit track four, we find a classic Freedy ballad with 'That's Alright With Me'. Then, there's Freedy alone with his guitar on 'Radio For Heartache'. 'Back To My Machine' slinks in with its funky rolling rhythm and quirky arrangement providing a bit of a surprise. So, already, we've seen him pull out all the weapons from his armoury.
Hopefully, this time, hell hit the target. However, don't hold your breath. The album is only available from the US at the moment and my impression is that their promotional budget in the UK normally doesn't stretch much beyond a round of drinks and bag of crisps. Go forth and seek this one out. Help a guy who deserves the recognition.
Steve Henderson
The Johnstons were one of Ireland's most influential and successful folk groups; their career began in the early 60s, and survived courtesy of expanded lineups through the West-Coast-inspired folk-rock years and into the early 70s, finally calling it a day in 1973. At the start, the group's nucleus was the family folk trio comprising Adrienne, Lucy and Michael; this lineup was often compared favourably to the Seekers, though after a couple of years they were to embrace a far more enterprising choice of material culled largely from American songwriters (a penchant they shared with the nascent Fairport). Coincident with this shift in musical direction came a major lineup change, whereupon Michael left the group and was replaced by Paul Brady and Mick Moloney, both of whom brought a diversity of musical influences, from skiffle to traditional Irish folk, to the group's repertoire of largely contemporary song. They had everything going for them, as their albums showed - vibrant lead and harmony singing and an excellent standard of musicianship, allied to an innate versatility and an exciting and often innovative approach to their chosen material. This new compilation takes up the group's story at a point when they had already moved on a long way from their traditional roots. Their second album, Give A Damn, recorded in late 1968, provides the first ten tracks here, which include ambitiously arranged covers of Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen songs alongside early compositions by Dave Cousins and John Ledingham (who later changed his name to Jonathan Kelly…). The following year's even more experimental Bitter Green album (recorded after Lucy's return to Dublin in early 1969) and 1971's more social-commentary-centred Colours Of The Dawn are represented by five tracks apiece, while the final three cuts, all original Brady compositions, are taken from the 1972 album If I Sang My Song, recorded by Adrienne and Paul as a duo after Mick's departure. All in all, this is a very sensible compilation, showcasing the group's tastefulness, discernment and musicality; it charts what one might term the loosely folk-rock/songwriter side of the group's repertoire very well indeed, with a fine insert essay by John O'Regan. Even so, if you want a more faithfully complete perspective that also embraces the group's more traditional side, then you'll need to invest in the late-90s (near-complete) reissues of the group's first five albums, which I believe are still available on Essential/Castle/Wooded Hill.
www.sanctuaryrecordsgroup.co.uk
David Kidman
A nasally voiced contemporary folk singer and multimedia artist with a strong socio-political conscience and reggae, blues, jazz and Asian musical influences, Jolly's material tends to focus on the struggle of communities and places but also throws in some offbeat love songs too.
His debut album System Fault featured songs about Liverpool Dockers, the BNP, sweatshop labour, the bloody history of Christian colonisation and Jeffrey Archer. Now, again featuring violinist Jila Bakhshayesh and Indian percussionist Jaydev Mistry, his follow up offers another collection of issue driven protest songs.
This time though he's in a more trad folk frame of musical mind as he addresses the manipulative control of agenda driven propaganda radio (Radio Independence), eco issues (What Makes A Place), the Iraq war from an indigenous perspective (Just Another Day In Baghdad), the de Menezes shooting and climate of fear paranoia (the spare, mournful State of Hysteria) and the homesickness of Kurdistan refugees (dirge lament The Singing Of Water), the latter two numbers both featuring Bakhshayesh on vocals.
The displacement experience also forms the backbone of Captives while Ghost Hill Farm, The Tortoise And the Hare and Swallows share a theme about the damaging impact industrial development and progress has on the rural landscape and communities. He's not got the strongest of voices, but with commitment and concern oozing from every word, the album undeniably hits home.
www.aidanjolly.com
www.myspace.com/aidanjolly
Mike Davies September 2008
I've lived with this disc for a few months now and I'm still undecided about it. I like some of it a lot, but think the album's title is very apt in that it may have caused a fault in my normally pretty infallible internal critical systems. I'm not sure how to explain that, for this is an immensely accomplished product, especially so for a debut singer-songwriter disc. Aidan's extremely capable in both departments, and his work is enviably genre-defying, covering many bases: perhaps too much so for the more folk-oriented listener; it's not that he does anything at all badly or half-heartedly: far from it in fact. The production and instrumentation Aidan uses is certainly more akin to a top-quality contemporary pop product: polished and yes slick, yet with some of the unpredictable edginess of urban new-wave. Aidan's surrounded by some fine Manchester musicians too (Bernie Murphy, Jaydev Mistry and Jilah Bakhshayesh), and production's by sample and keyboard supremo Dave Connelly; the overall sound is rich and attractive, and the best of the songs very persuasive indeed. I particularly liked Sea To The Sky, a powerful modern-day industrial folksong, and the incandescent opener Fire. Later, How Dare You (Be So Good)? evokes the world of club-romance, while Skin is a punchy litany of self-analytical foibles and Work engagingly examines the well-worn thesis that we're all slaves to mechanisation; the closing acoustic benediction I Wish You Joy, though, is just a little glib in its otherwise affecting simplicity. Aidan clearly has the courage of his convictions, and puts across his views convincingly, even on the more directly political satire of the Jeffrey Archer song (the bonus track). Aidan does, however, does exhibit an occasional tendency towards a kind of pastiche Ian-Dury-like clever-clever rapping patter-delivery (Dennis The Menace) and History, his take on the "white-man" situation, fails to make the desired impact due to a rather clumsy musical setting. An interesting mix though, with much to commend it, even if I'm not totally won over yet.
David Kidman January 2007
One of the great English originals, this songwriter, singer and guitarist died unexpectedly just a few days ago (at the age of only 62), so it provides a timely reminder for me to wholeheartedly recommend this excellent anthology. Released last summer, but not hitherto reviewed on this site; it collects together the entire contents of the two LPs he made between 1969 and 1973, along with some rare EP and sampler-only tracks and a whole load of previously unreleased material. In the latter respect alone, this new two-disc set entirely supersedes the single-disc Mooncrest-label Alun Ashworth-Jones collection of a few years back; and moreover, it contains excellent booklet notes by David Wells and plenty of rare photos, all in the best traditions of the house.
Another bonus point is that the anthology is arranged strictly chronologically, kicking off with two prime examples of the country-blues styling of that debut EP - a Skip James cover and a witty self-penned number in the same musical idiom. It's interesting to note that his fellow-musicians on that debut included (now fRoots Editor) Ian A. Anderson… Another brief bluesy cut (from a 1972 Village Thing sampler) is followed by the whole of Al's glorious early-1969 Parlophone album, which showcased his ahead-of-its-time (and actually quite spectacular, if unassumingly so) guitar work. As well as two splendid instrumentals, the LP contained some very fine examples of contemporary singer-songwritery (the acoustic Railway Lines, the episodic impressionism of the almost Al-Stewart-like Big City, the neo-psychedelic Sarah In The Isle Of Wight and the quasi-baroque Come Join My Orchestra – the latter prominently featuring Harold McNair's flute traceries). After presenting an alternate take from the LP sessions and a pair of covers from the 1970 RCA sampler 49 Greek Street (including a brilliant It Takes A Lot To Laugh…), disc one then concludes with nine tracks (mainly covers, and ranging from Holst's Jupiter to a hilarious A Mess Of Blues and a medley of La Bamba and Twist And Shout!) recorded very much live at that venue (aka Les Cousins) for a cancelled second album (and by the way, it's worth comparing the new, improved - and folkier - take of I'd Rather Be The Devil from this set with the version on that debut EP). It's also interesting to realise that Al's predilection for resurrecting rock'n'roll songs predated the Steeleye and Bunch tryouts of similar material by a year or two.
The first half of disc two treats us to five superb tracks (all Jones originals) recorded in 1971 for a projected album on Bill Leader's label, followed by half a dozen 1972 demos of an altogether bluesier nature (including a tastefully authentic cover of Blue Suede Shoes). Then we get the whole of Al's 1973 Village Thing LP Jonesville, on which Al demonstrated both his mastery of "the two main strands of his approach, the visceral and the cerebral" and his typically playful sense of humour, along with two typically dextrous instrumentals (one of which sported the delicious title Most Chickens Are Mild And Friendly Or Would Like To Be!) and as finale, a "facetiously rocked-up" mannish version of The Wild Rover that provided healthy competition for the near-contemporary Fred Wedlock treatment on his Frolicks LP (Al's is more Muddy Waters than Chuck Berry!). Rounding off the anthology's second disc are two 1974 late-night demos recorded shortly before his deliberate 20-year-long retirement from music-making (as in performing - for he concentrated instead on developing transducer pickups). So now, I suspect, would be a good time for Weekend Beatnik to make available again Al's eventual return to recording, 1998's Swimming Pool album, perhaps with some Blues De-Luxe material that never made it to CD?
It's fair enough comment (often made) that Al's records, while always pleasing and worthwhile, never scaled any lofty peaks of wow-factor, but any fresh listen to the music on this anthology will reveal just what a talented guitarist he was if nothing else, and his songwriting can still stand very favourable comparison with his contemporaries. Taken on any level, All My Friends Are Back Again is unquestionably the definitive compendium of this generally quite underrated performer (as far as I can see, its only failing is the exclusion of three out of the five tracks on his limited-edition Saydisc debut EP); it will also serve as the definitive memorial.
www.sanctuaryrecordsgroup.co.uk
David Kidman June 2008
Bill Jones - Two Year Winter (Brick Wall)
With last year's Live At The Live providing a stop-gap, the erstwhile BBC Folk Awards Best Newcomer finally comes up with her much anticipated third studio album (fourth if you count the Bits & Pieces assemblage). After previously tackling Universal Soldier, Goin' Back and Kate Bush's Never Be Mine, there's no pop material this time round, the emphasis firmly on traditional and contemporary folk. There are covers though, the album opening with Eamon Friel and Dave Duggan's beautiful From My Window, a tune reminiscent of The Circle Game, while later on she features a voice and piano version of Pete Morton's Two Brothers, coincidentally the two recordings on which her voice shades towards Sandy Denny.
On her previous outings I'd felt her vocals a little too pure and lacking the edge of life experience, but that's no longer the case here. She may still bring a youthful lightness to the trad numbers The Holland Mistress or The Lover's Ghost, but you can now hear an edge to it that gives weight to the emotions of the narratives.
While she's provided the music and arrangement to regular Tom Paxton collaborator Anne Hills's words on Two Year Winter (where she evokes a young Joni Mitchell) and Lost Chances, a marvellous metaphorical tale of regret with Jones accompanied solely by mournful accordion and cello, she's also penned her own lyrics to traditional tunes for Bide on which a blacksmith quells a woman's pride, and a retelling of the Grace Darling story on, well, The Story Of Our Darling Grace.
The remaining songs are made up of an adaptation and arrangement of Robert Nunn's Sandgate Wife's Nurse Song rechristened Hey Away and the jaunty trad mating orgy in the fields recounted in The Haymakers. That breaks out into Mac's Fancy and there's a couple of other instrumental sets, Night-time Jigs and Diddling Set, to complete the line-up.
Produced by Jones herself, proving to have as fine an ear as she has a voice, working with instrumentation that includes flute, fiddle, double bass (provided by touring band member and harmony vocalist Miranda Sykes) and whistles, she casts her musical net across several genres, embracing folk-rock, a capella folk, jazz and world colours, while the flugelhorn on The Lover's Ghost may even find those of long memories thinking of Stackridge.
It's a fine coming of age for the Staffordshire born, North East bred Belinda, no longer a newcomer but well on her way to becoming one of the most stalwart of the new wave's seasoned veterans.
Mike Davies
I've followed Bill's performing career with interest from pretty early on, and right from the start I - in company with other critics - was firmly convinced that she had considerable potential. She's never lacked integrity, and her freshness of approach and willingness to experiment outweighed any (at the time inevitable) awkwardnesses in presentation or deficiencies in technique. Her two solo albums to date had demonstrated a good (if not outstanding) level of instrumental prowess tempered with open-minded inventiveness while containing some really lovely individual moments and songs. It's been inevitable, then, that she be showered with folk awards, not least as a highly promising newcomer to the scene. Latterly, Bill's taken to the road with a three-piece band that has thrown her own talents and creative ideas into relief, though also incidentally exposing her own shortcomings. The band setup, comprising Roger Wilson (fiddle, guitar), Miranda Sykes (basses, harmony vocals) and Keith Angel (percussion), provides an interestingly different mix, well complementing Bill's piano, accordion and whistles. This live CD was recorded in Newcastle in December 2001, a matter of weeks after the band had been convened to go touring. Perhaps the slightly tentative feel of much of their act as represented on this CD is attributable to their being recorded for posterity before they'd had chance to develop and grow into the material. Having said that, there's a clarity of vision and commendable assurance present in the confident arrangements and delivery (and the four musicians had obviously rehearsed plenty and well in a short space of time); in the second half of the CD (concert) I noted a distinct improvement in many respects. My uneasiness lies more with some continued presentational awkwardnesses and the occasional stylistic mismatches where either Bill's voice or the treatments themselves don't suit the songs. There's the overly jolly Blackleg Miner, for instance, and Bill's cover of Goin' Back just doesn't have the necessary maturity in timbre - yet; and I'm not sure the harmony arrangement of Panchpuran improves on the starker solo original. But Bill has the knack of putting together a set that's sufficiently well-balanced to satisfy on most counts; it's just that at times her show's still just a bit too much like a very good sixth-form end-of-term concert rather than a professional folk band gig. Of course no-one can be expected to get everything right first time; Bill's got age on her side, and so there's ample time for her to make the necessary fine tunings, many of which will come with experience; meantime, you can't help but give her full marks for effort.
David Kidman
Get your orders in for this one folks!
Following up from her well recieved debut 'Turn To Me', this is Bill Jones's second offering. Once again it's a mix of traditional and self-penned songs and tunes, featuring Bill's distinctive voice and musical influences - folk, jazz, brass band and string quartet. Guest musicians include Coope Boyes and Simpson, Kellie While, and Kathryn Tickell, but this is undoubtly Bill's album.
First up is a fairly standard run through of 'William Taylor', but this is followed by a very different take on that well known ballad 'Tam Lin' - slowed down to almost a crawl, and backed by a string quartet. Yes, it works - my, does it work! Sensational. 'The Barley and the Rye' follows - nice enough, but I found the backing vocals a bit unnecessary - perhaps itwill grow on me. The title track is next - this for me is the highlight of the album - an unaccompanied song written by Bill about her family's Anglo-Indian roots and their coming to England. One to play again and again to get the full emotion of the piece.
'Silver Whistle/Low Down the Broom' is a beautiful track, with excellent cello and piano, and a well thought out combination of songs. Next up is 'Rocking the Cradle' - this is given a light hearted jazzy arangement that works well, followed by 'The Hexam Lad/Blackleg Miner' - complete with brass band. Again another winner. 'Loving Hannah' is another stunner, with superb cello by Shanti Paul Jayasinha. My second favourite track. 'Tuney Song Set' is another lighted romp, which goes into the exquisite 'Stor Mo Chroi'. The album is rounded off by the Goffin/King song 'Going Back' and Bill makes this work as well. For an 'Important Second Album', this is a triumph!
Jon Hall
Arkansas born Billy Jones calls his music Bluez and he is a performer who is interested in extending 'Great Black music from the Ancient to the Future'. Nine of the ten tracks on offer are self-penned and he does encompass more than one musical genre. For example, Here With You is a slow groover to open with. Jones has a velvet voice and this tends towards Soul and modern R&B with understated guitar. Pull My 44 is a funky blues with snappy drums. It's the age old story – don't mess with my woman or I'll shoot you; fair enough! He returns to the slow soulful feel with Right Now and shows that his voice really suits more than one genre as it just oozes all over you. Crystal introduces another style and this time it's rock. The anti-drug message is well intended but the song really doesn't get going. Never Let You Go, the only song on the album not written by Jones, sees him continuing to swap genres. This is modern Soul but it's just a little samey. He stays on the Soul side for a pleasant offering, The Clown, before unleashing some Latin influences on the eponymous title track. This has the same lines as Crystal but it's Blues, it's Soul, they're all in there. You Upset My Soul is a stuttering Blues from the top drawer and The Rumour is acoustic based modern Soul. However, the latter is not one of the better tracks on the album. He closes with Bluez Comes Callin', a good finish that reminds me of Taj Mahal to a small degree. This is a curate's egg of an album, good in places, not so good in others.
David Blue April 2007
Carvin Jones has been voted in the world's Top 50 guitarists in Guitarist Magazine and this album confirms that status. Jones and the band open with the eponymous title track, a rousing blues with gunslinger guitar and vocal duet with Roscoe Taylor. You Drive Me Crazy has fuzzed guitar to introduce this slow burner. Strawberry Shortcake is R&B with Steven Von Wald's saxophone introduced to good effect. Carvin shreds up the fretboard on this instrumental which also has a clever piano break from Tim Furkes. Drownin' On Dry Land is a strong Chicago blues but with an unnecessary trumpet in the background. It is too much of a conflict with Jones' guitar, which overpowers everything. Born To Win is a fast paced R&B with stinging guitar. The excellent Patrick Riley on drums keeps the whole thing together.
They stay with R&B for Havin' A Bad Day and this confirms that Jones' guitar is the star. Excellent horns on this as well. The slightly familiar instrumental, Lightning & Ice is a fast paced, shuffling blues on which Furkes gets his share of the limelight. The electrifying guitar of Jones heralds Stuck In The Mud; a familiar tale of a lost job, no money and a woman leaving. This down on my luck blues at its best. There is a little more power to Roscoe Taylor's voice on One Night Stand, an R&B/Soul crossover with Jones' guitar piercing the sky. Miss You Baby is a rolling blues with a return to his smokey voice and prominent piano from Furkes. Wanna Walk Witcha Baby is another rolling blues and they finish off with I Need Your Sweet Lovin', a slow, delta blues with a primeval feel. Simple guitar and voice is a fine way to finish. Eric Clapton thinks that Carvin Jones is the next up-and-coming blues player and I am not about to argue with him.
David Blue October 2007
It's almost two years since I first heard her 2006 album, The Remembrance Of You, during which time her profile has risen considerably following Joan Baez's cover of Henry Russell's Last Words for her Emmy nominated Day After Tomorrow. Naturally, then, expectations are high for this follow up which features Jones' own reading of the song, inspired by a letter to his wife scratched out in coal on a torn paper bag by a victim of the 1927 Everettville, West Virginia mine explosion.
Unlike Baez's version, which sounded like a Hebrew funeral march, Jones's is rooted deeply in the beloved but wounded hills she sings of in Appalachia's love song to her adopted home. Stripped back to the bare bones of guitar and fiddle (Alicia Jo Rabins taking over from Jay Ungar), she sits you down beside the dying Russell so that you can almost taste the coal dust, before the song and the man's life ebbs away on a fading fiddle note. The song earned Jones fulsome acclaim as a major new songwriter able to get to the emotional essence in stories drawn from the lives of others and herself. No surprise then to find it's not the only diamond in this new collection to rise to the same level of excellence as things like Pony and Pretty Girl on the debut.
Co-penned with three other female writers and featuring guest vocals from Mary Gauthier, If I Had A Gun is sung in the voice of an abused wife's vengeance fantasy and could easily come from the same domestic milieu as the earlier album's Up In Smoke's account of a broken marriage.
Loss, leaving and emotional damage loom large. With a stirring old school mountain music setting that could have come from the folk songs of the Civil War, Soldier Girl (one of two to feature Nanci Griffith) finds a new recruit in the bus depot before leaving for boot camp, going to war to escape the poverty trap. Then there's the trad folk ballad sounding Evangelina, the story of a faithless lover who went to war and found a taste for drink and gambling, never returning to the lover and the child he left behind. And, on All God's Children, a deeply autobiographical tale of an adopted girl turning 18 far from home, her birth parents and 'faces that look like my own'.
Yet, for all this, as embodied in the often uptempo tunes, it's hope, optimism and transformation that are the strongest themes. The folk blues Something Crossed Over speaks of a spiritual epiphany, the simple, hymnal haunting Cracked and Broken is a celebration of survivors as, in her drawled, pure and earthy alto, she sings 'cracked and broken that's how the light shines through'. while Better Times Will Come speaks for itself and the airy barefoot on grass feel of The Day I Die finds no fear or sadness in passing over, for 'birds will sing the sun will shine'.
Even Ballad of The Poor Child, which laments a life of poverty and calls for (divine?) intervention and the 'cup of comfort' on behalf of those whose 'voices are too small', carries a prayer of salvation in its skip of a melody. An album of embracing warmth and unassuming brilliance.
www.dianajonesmusic.com
www.myspace.com/dianajonesmusic
Mike Davies February 2009
Being tagged the new Emily Dickinson must put a lot of a pressure on a girl, but Jones certainly rises to the occasion for her breakthrough third album. Adopted as an infant and raised in New York, when she was 15 she went in search of her roots. She eventually found them in Eastern Tennessee, explaining why, when her school friends were getting into Michael Jackson, she was more tuned in to Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris. Indeed her latest album was born from grieving the death of her grandfather, Robert Lee Maranville, who had once been in a band with Chet Atkins.
As may be expected the album's steeped in the music of the Appalachians, drawing comparisons with Gillian Welch, Lucinda Williams, and Iris DeMent for her open, honest songs and strong, deep and pure voice. Taking care of guitar, with a splash of mandolin and fiddle, she's got a solid set of musicians behind her, among them Jay Ungar on fiddle and singer-songwriter Ferron who provides harmonies on the heartbreaking Pony, a 20s set story of an Indian child taken from her Dakota reservation and parents to live among whites.
A strong sense of loss, not belonging and insecurity runs through many of the songs. The bluesy tribal rhythms and slow stomping Cold Grey Ground (which could be a later years companion piece to Pony) asks to be buried back among the family hills, the trad American folk flavoured All My Money On You finds a gambler looking for the big win so he can go home again, the old-tyme country weeping title track speaks for itself, Up In Smoke waltzes through a marriage fallen apart, while, one of the saddest things you'll hear, the bluegrass dappled Pretty Girl is a bar room girl's aching wish not to be the one all the good old boys want to take home.
It's not all downbeat moods, though. Driven by Ungar's scraping fiddle, the perky Fever Moon finds her hoping to bewitch the man she's fallen for, slipping into throaty vocals folk-blues A Hold On Me is a defiant refusal to let go the earthly ties while Willow Tree is a Southern spiritual about finding grace in accepting God.
Brushed with the smell of old wood and ancient hills, warmly lit like rays of afternoon sun dancing through mountain cabin windows, and heady with the sense of deeply ingrained life, Emily Dickinson would be proud to be spoken of in such company.
www.dianajonesmusic.com
www.myspace.com/dianajonesmusic
Mike Davies July 2007
Mr Jones is of course best known as former member of the hughely successful (sic) Spinners group, yet that (many would say unfortunate) fact has occasionally proved a barrier for appreciating his artistry, and it's not always readily acknowledged that his subsequent solo work has already produced two satisfying recordings for Fellside. Liverpool Connexions continues the series, and proves another eminently accessible set, on which Hughie remains loyal to his Liverpool roots by choosing from the large corpus of songs either from or directly concerning that fair port, supplementing these with a few songs which are associated with Liverpool's "twin city" New York (though I feel this is stretching the "connexion" a tad too far!). Some, like Glyn Hughes' Seth Davey, are quite well-known, and generally speaking Hughie's latest renditions do them more than adequate justice (though I always find Shep Woolley's Down By The Dockyard Wall a bit overlong, whoever sings it!). Having said that, I really do question why Hughie felt it necessary to give us yet another version of Dirty Old Town (even when he explains the over-tenuous connexion in the booklet note). - yawn! Yes, it's in Hughie's choice of less well-known songs that the bulk of the CD's interest resides; I specially liked the "professional song" from the Whall collection Unmooring (which like the Liverpool Lullaby is sung unaccompanied here), as well as Hughie's recounting of the true story of Alexander Selkirk (model for Defoe's Robinson Crusoe) and the pair of songs Hughie wrote about the strange historical figure Joseph Williamson, the self-styled King Of Edge Hill. Hughie's takes on the brace of C. Fox Smith/Alan Fitzsimmons pieces are credible enough (though I still prefer Derek Gifford's version of Shanghai Brown for its extra bite). Finally, Hughie revisits his own composition The Derbyshire (first recorded in its unfinished state on his Seascape CD, and now completed with the news of the enquiry's conclusions), and earlier in the CD performs a simple recitation reflecting the impact of Hillsborough 1989 on football fans of both sides in Liverpool. Hughie's melodious voice and guitar are accompanied variously by Brian Peters (squeezeboxes), Robin Garside (fiddle and mandolin), John "Count" McCormick (double bass), Dan Conroy (banjo), Dan Jones (keyboard) and the backing voices of Chris Lock, Linda Adams and Bob Hallard. Altogether, Liverpool Connexions maintains the standard already set over the years by Hughie, a singer whose consistent and easygoing style of presentation has stood the test of time without ever becoming dated; it won't frighten the horses or place you on the cutting edge of folk, but it's an unpretentious and likeable product that shouldn't disappoint Hughie's legion of loyal fans.
David Kidman
JW returns with his latest set for Crosscut and things have not gone too bad since 2004s My Kind Of Evil. He opens with the high paced eponymous title track. This is more in the Rock n Roll era than blues but JW flits between the two quite often and to great effect. His guitar was one of the driving forces on the last album and there's no sign of him letting up on this. Hey Girl keeps up the fast start to the album and again is on the Rock n Roll side of the fence, but only just. Clean guitar and saxophone are the highlights here. On All My Money, JW harks back to the golden era of the 50s and gives the song a 21st century feel. This swing blues has the classic themes of infidelity and money at its centre. I Don't Want To Hear is classy, brassy and full of soul. In addition, there's a lovely bass line from Nathan Morris and a sweet sax solo. Games has echoes of Robert Cray and has the horn section on top form whilst Parasomnia is a high octane big band blues instrumental that allows JW to be let loose on guitar.
The big band feel continues on Fly To You, which is smoothness personified. Got Me Chasin' is an electric Kansas City style blues that shows JW can turn his hand to a number of techniques. There's also some good harmonica work from Frank Seanga who also contributes sax to a number of tracks. There are some slower tracks on offer and Way Too Late is one example. This has full backing from the horns and the piano segment leading into the guitar solo is seamless. Hallelujah I Love Her So is an example of the swing blues that JW is so good at. He has to be one of the best exponents around. Pretty Little Sweet Thing heralds the return of a faster pace and this funky blues showcases a band that is on top of its form and Standing In Line is hard hitting electric blues that contains references to Elmore James' The Sky Is Falling. The blues theme of love and death helps contribute to one of the highlights of the album. The staccato guitar and drums of JW and Artie Makris gives No Love a jumpy feel and this is a blues with a twist just listen. The set is rounded off with Here She Comes, another that harks back to the 50s. It's a medium pace finish to a high class album. Very professionally produced and played by a band that knows where it wants to be and ably backed up by the excellent Wind-Chill Factor Horns.
www.jw-jones.com
www.crosscut.de
David Blue, July 2006
JW-Jones Blues Band - My Kind Of Evil (Crosscut Records)
JW's third album for excellent German label Crosscut Records opens with two old style songs, the big band blues of Shake That Mess and the 60s style R&B of What You Do To Me. Both have prominent saxophone and the latter has ringing guitar. This guitar and horn sound is indicative of the JW Jones vibe. The horns are ably provided by the Wind-Chill Factor Horns and Jones is on guitar, writing 11 of the 14 songs himself or in conjunction with others.
Ain't Gonna Lie is a strange one. It doesn't really know what it is, 60s beat, R&B, rock and it doesn't do any of them. What is does have is a very good guitar solo and rhythm section but it's really out of kilter with the rest of the album. I Don't Know is the classic Willie Mabon song. Barrelhouse piano supplied by Geoff Daye is excellent and Canadian JW opens up on the guitar. Cheating Woman is a slow blues, suited to Jones' voice. Kim Wilson literally blows you away with his harmonica and this is a bonus as he's always been one of my favourite harp players. Jones' guitar playing just seems to get better as the album goes on.
Nothing On Me is a Booker T style instrumental rhythm and blues and Jones & the bands turn their hand to an urban blues on You Can't Fool Me. This is a strong song that Robert Cray would have been proud to produce, I'm sure. The up-tempo, strangely enough, Slow Down is a swinger. The slow down part being where the band pleads for JW to slow the tempo down but it's not too long before he speeds up again on this fun instrumental. Blue Monday is the Fats Domino song and it is well handled by the band, with Kim Wilson turning in a fantastic vocal.
The title track is on the rockier side of R&B but it's not one of the stronger songs and is outclassed by the slow rolling blues of You've Got Me (Where You Want Me). Code Blue returns to big band swing with the horn section on form again. Another instrumental and it's held together, as is the rest of the album, by the drumming of Bill Brennan. This shouldn't be too much of a surprise as his credits include playing with Muddy Waters and Buddy Guy and his rhythm section partner Nathan Morris is coolness personified on upright bass.
Aching Pain is a primeval blues with a distorted vocal, disjointed rhythm and strong harmonica. Just feel the pain. The closing track, Let's Have A Ball is the way an album should be finished, upbeat and a happy feeling. It's R&B swing with one final rip-snorting solo from JW. All in all, this is a very good album and is likely to make you want to search out his previous two.
www.crosscut.de
www.jw-jones.com
David Blue
Mickey Newbury was both an inspiration and a mentor to the young Kacey Jones when they met back in 1980. With this CD she is expressing her gratitude in the way she knows best and which benefits us all.
It opens very fittingly with sound of the rain then a slow smooth orchestration before Kacey's vocal glides in. The timbre and richness of her husky low voice is superb against the strings. Song Of Sorrow is the perfect start somehow for this superb CD along with the whistling contributed by Laura Shayne Newbury. Then with nary a pause it slides effortlessly into Some Memories Are Better Left Alone and the pathos in her voice combined with her phrasing cuts right to the bone, just as the original version did.
Lie To Me Darlin' is superb as is Apples Dipped In Candy, another 'goose bumps' one. The crisp piano in counter balance to Kacey's sultry bluesy jazz vocal interspersed with the trumpet is just magnificent. The mix is superb and with a good stereo, the volume up and a glass of wine, it is not hard to feel as though one is in some basement bar in Berlin ~ and sitting surrounded by the band ~ but with plenty of space to weave effortlessly around and through them.
San Francisco Mabel Joy is quite possibly the song that those who have never experienced Mickey Newbury's awesome talent directly will recognise immediately. Kacey manages to use her voice, like a paint brush, to cover the canvas of Mickey's song that makes this so much more than just a passive listening experience. One is completely drawn in to the emotional experience to the extent that one feels one actually knows that Waycross Georgia farm boy.
In Why Have You Been Gone So Long the beat kicks up a notch with a laid back soulful groove that is mesmerising. The rhythm section are tip top on this track as they are, indeed, throughout the CD. The sequencing of the tracks is well thought out and the tracks flow, almost seamlessly, from start to end.
I have listened to Mickey's albums when down and managed to emerge, as though refreshed, through cathartic tears. Kacey has achieved this same potential here. The world would have been a far poorer place without Mickey Newbury. May this help to spread the word of his prodigious talent even farther afield. If you only knew of Kacey for her comedy CD's, then please do try this one. And lastly, Remember The Good,.~ yes indeed!
www.kaceyjonessingsmickeynewbury.com
www.kaceyjones.com
Miranda Ward April 2007
www.myspace.com/mirandawarduk
Kacey Jones - Every Man I love Is Either Married, Gay or Dead - Live! ( IGO Records)
From the opening monologue, where Kacey says that she should now be known by her new Moslem name Seldom Bin Laid to the plea to toilet train men in Put The Seat Back Down, this is a bundle of laughs. Men do come in for a fair amount of criticism but it's all in good fun and shouldn't be taken too seriously. The best way that I can describe Kacey is that she's a Country Victoria Wood. Cutting humour and a genuine rapport with the audience makes Kacey Jones a force to be reckoned with. She fills the spaces between the songs with what she calls bits and sometimes these are funnier than the songs.
Her ex-husband Bubba comes in for some particular attention on the Bubba bit and 1-900-Bubba and she's not adverse to make fun of herself with stories such as the one where she says that her doctor told her that she had furniture disease – that's where your chest falls into your drawers. She can be a bit risqué but never steps over the line. Song titles such as Waitin' For The Guy To Die and I'm Down To My Christmas Underwear will give you an idea of her humour. The first is her Anna Nicole Smith song (married an old guy for money) and the other is about having no clean underwear and having to wear the novelty Christmas pants (complete with antlers!!).
There is one sombre song on the album, We're All In This Alone, and although the song is well meant and good enough in its own right, I just can't take her seriously. It would make a great, big production country song though. There are four studio tracks added as a bonus but I don't think that they add anything to the album. Of the three tracks that also have live versions I think that the live ones are better and she might have been better playing The Vasectomy Song live as well – that would definitely have got a few laughs. A mention for the cover photographer, none other than one Kris Kristofferson.
This is Kacey's first live solo album and this is her medium. Bring on some more!
www.KaceyJones.com
www.igorecords.com
David Blue
L.A. Jones and the Blues Messengers - Birthday Suit (Barking Blues Music)
W.C. Handy nominated, left-handed guitarist and his band are caught here on their 2001 release, Birthday Suit. It opens with She Can't Not Be Satisfied, which is a solid opener and whets the appetite for the guitar playing on the rest of the album. The only slight criticism is that the quick beat is sometimes too quick for the vocal. Got My Ax To Grind is a rocking blues with screaming guitar and begins a run of Albert Collins themes that pervade the album. The rhythmic The Blues Is Brewing moves along well and leads into the classic How Blue Can You Get?. This song, made famous by B.B. King is rarely covered - there are not enough brave players about willing to take it on! Jones shows his bravery here and he pulls it off magnificently. Although he lacks B.B.'s vocal power he does turn in an exquisite display of guitar work.
Smokin' Drinkin' Woman is R&B (and I mean real R&B) played the way it should be and features some intricate guitar playing. Harmonica backing from Magic Dave Therault is a delight. The title track is 8:42 of slow blues and it's great to hear that good old blues innuendo is still alive and kicking. Listen out for the classic line 'It's my birthday today, can I put my candle in your cake', but don't let the lyrics hide the fact that this is a very good blues with scorching guitar, excellent organ from Benny Yee and able backing from the top rhythm section Rick Reed and Hank Deluxe on bass and drums respectively.
Off The Edge Of The Earth is a swinging blues and features a great horn section with Jones on top form with more Albert Collins licks. This is a highlight as it builds to a frenzy by the end. Sophisticated organ work is the order of the day on I Got A Rap Sheet On You Baby and this track shows that Jones is not afraid to push the envelope with his guitar style even if he doesn't always pull it off. Tumblin' Tumbleweed is in the Chicago blues style and it arrives a la Hoochie Coochie Man. It is very good but not as powerful as the song that it is trying to imitate. The album closes with the low-key acoustic Little Queen Of Hearts. This is delivered in the style of Robert Johnson and LA does what Eric Clapton didn't do on his recent Johnson tribute, he sticks to guitar and vocal.
All in all this is a very good album, played by excellent musicians and I've just added another favourite left-hander to my list.
David Blue
Natasha Lea Jones - The Morning After (www.natashajones.org)
Spawned in Manchester, briefly located in Birmingham, female duo Pooka never enjoyed commercial success on the same level as their glowing reviews. An acoustic duo when singer-songwriters couldn't get arrested, they released a series of wonderful albums and singles that went studiously ignored by the world at large. Then, when the singer-songwriter bandwagon was travelling at top speed they were to be found collaborating with Orbital and Ultramarine and releasing an album with electronic artist Brian Duffy.
The band now defunct, Sharon Lewis is based in Brighton, gigging and working on a solo album while, living back home in Lancashire, Tasha has been busy putting her own project together with the help of grants from the Arts Council, the Prince's Trust and her hometown of Wigan. Bedrock tracks recorded in her bedroom on guitar and Hammond, then augmented with percussion, sometime PJ Harvey and Laika collaborator Rob Ellis producing and arranging two tracks, the album will initially only be available via her website and at gigs.
It's not a million miles away from the organic sound of Pooka, the sound still very much cobwebbed wood-sprite folk with Jones's pagan New Age whispery witchery vocals (conjure Kate Bush spliced to Bjork and soaked in drugged potcheen) often suggesting her more of a female Nick Drake than the female Coldplay comparison quoted in her biog. There's also a hint of Eastern influence creeping around the otherwordly Welsh-Irish tendrils of her melodies that give things an even more esoteric texture.
Lyrically the frequently poetic songs centre around relationships - skewed and otherwise, at times sensual at others slightly unsettling, rippling with yearning and desire, devotion and doubt. And about the need for union, to not be alone. On Hidden Treasures she sings "let me be your mirror", on Monsoon "one kiss is better than no kiss at all," and on Other Things, adapted from words by Alfredo Ricioppo, "I want to share with someone you give me no one you give me thoughts in my head instead! Yet on Many More, she warns a perhaps distant, noncommittal lover that "if someone's not enough to keep your sweet love there's many others."
Elsewhere Birthday is about the fears of growing old, pondering whether we have kids to hold on to being young, the title track details the awkwardness of waking up with the lover of the drunken night before, confused between feelings of pleasure and tongue-tied embarrassment at where impulse can lead you, while the shivering A Little Voice would seem to be about either pulling back from suicide or hanging on to life.
Together they gather into an hypnotic haze not entirely without a certain hippie vibe, like love viewed through muslin. Although first impression are that, the gutsier Many More aside, the 11 tracks tend to shade into sameness, the more you listen, the more subtleties you begin to hear in the voice and the arrangements, making this a truly beguiling grower. Hopefully this time the synchronicity is spot on.
Mike Davies
As time goes by, more and more folk musicians are recognising and acknowledging Nic as a key influence on, and inspiration for, their own performances of, and research into, the songs of the tradition. Certainly he was one if the folk revival's most creative performers, and was responsible for composing sympathetic benchmark tunes for traditional ballads, many of which, though common currency today, remain uncredited to Nic. However, with Penguin Eggs, the final album Nic was able to make before his near-fatal car accident in 1982, consistently hailed as a seminal work of the folk-revival (an assessment with which few would demur), and his earlier four albums still frustratingly unavailable on CD, interest in any releases of Nic's music is bound to be high. There have been two collections of live and previously-unrecorded material, 1998's In Search Of Nic Jones and 2001's Unearthed (both still available from Nic's own label, Mollie Music in York), which even through the murk of some less-than-perfect-quality recordings only served to enhance the man's legendary status by exhuming some truly classic performances. Game Set Match is a successor to those two releases, although this one comes from the label that brought us (and to its credit has kept available) Penguin Eggs - Topic. Under the guidance of the estimable David Suff, the vaults have been duly trawled, and the result is a goodly hour's worth of mostly pretty good quality recordings, all previously unreleased, of Nic performing live at a variety of disparate venues; surprisingly perhaps, the booklet doesn't tell us where or indeed when (the only clue is given on the back cover, which places their temporal origin merely as "from the late 70s"), and on most of the tracks any telltale audience noise or applause has been completely edited away. Nearly all of the 14 songs on this disc have appeared on Nic's previous releases, though mostly not in the same versions as here - providing for illuminating comparisons (whereas the 15th item on the disc, the brief instrumental piece Hamburger Polka, had previously appeared on the Unearthed collection). I actually prefer the more animated and spontaneous nature of many of these renditions, several of which are also more intense, darker and starker than their "official" recorded counterparts - Dives And Lazarus may be more of an acquired taste, but the versions of Bonny Light Horseman, Flanders Shore, Rufford Park Poachers, Clyde Water and the acappella Jolly Bold Robber included here are all fairly outstanding, confirming at a stroke just why Nic's held in such high regard for his innovative and artful reinterpretations of traditional song. Perhaps even more than with the two aforementioned previous archive collections, Game Set Match really gives the listener a sense of rediscovery, not only of the performances but of the songs themselves. Superb.
www.nicjones.net
www.topicrecords.co.uk
David Kidman, October 2006
Nic Jones - Unearthed (Mollie Music)
This compilation continues of the project began with the (now over two-year-old) In Search Of Nic Jones collection, which brought into the public domain many unreleased recordings. Considering the vast importance (for reasons I shouldn't need to go into - preaching to the converted and all that!) of Nic's limited official recorded output, and especially since so little of it is available on CD (to date, only the
Penguin Eggs album on Topic and one track on a Fellside compilation), In Search Of was doubly valuable, rough though some of the individual recordings thereon were.
Now comes Unearthed, which has exhumed yet more previously unreleased treasures. And it's a very fine collection indeed; many of the recordings, particularly on disc 1 of this bargain-priced set, are of significantly superior quality to those bootleg jobs on In Search Of, and Nic's performances are tremendously assured and genuinely innovative, even by his own standards - whether bringing a stunning instrumental, vocal and interpretative freshness to whatever he sang - traditional song (often supplying his own tunes too, as on the celebrated Warlike Lads Of Russia), Bob Dylan covers (a wrenchingly emotional Boots Of Spanish Leather), eminently worthy relative obscurities (Anne Lister's Icarus, Jeff Detchman's Jukebox As She Turned) or even an Ivor Cutler curiosity! At the time most of these recordings were made (predominantly in live performance), not only was Nic's guitar style fully formed yet still developing (not quite the contradiction in terms it sounds!), and his repertoire explorations were taking him into new and increasingly productive directions, but also his vocal work was especially outstanding, notably in its natural use of ornamentation and infectious responsiveness to the text.
I'm aware that many recent converts to the folkscene have been wondering what all the fuss was about, and why Nic's work is constantly cited as such a major influence; this release should provide the answers, and ought to put his name well and truly back in the frame. By the way, all revenues from the sale of this release go direct to Nic himself, which is entirely as it should be.
www.fishrecords.co.uk/nicjones.html
David Kidman
Nic Jones - Unearthed (Mollie Music)
'A collection of club, concert and studio recordings'. Following on from the superb 'In Search of Nic Jones', comes this double CD of assorted performances by Nic. A labour of love for all those concerned in it's production, this is simply one of the best CDs that one could ever buy. The sound quality is exceptional, taking into account the diverse nature of the garnered recordings, and Nic's voice and guitar are mesmerising. So many highlights, it's difficult to select favourites - but 'Annachie Gorden' will tear your heart out, as will 'Icarus'. 'Barbara Ellen', while suffering from a rather dodgy sound problem, is still magnificent. 'Boots of Spanish Leather', 'William of Winesbury', 'Ten Thousand Miles' - all so, so good. I could go on and on about this collection, but instead will just say, BUY IT!!
www.philbeer.co.uk/nicjones.htm
Jon Hall
Norah Jones - Come Away With Me (Parlophone)
Prepare to purr. Born in Brooklyn, raised in Dallas by her mother and now based back in Brooklyn once more, the biog discreetly neglects to mention that Jones is the daughter of Ravi Shankar. Partly, I presume, because his absentee status is a source of some personal antagonisms, but partly because it may well colour expectations.
There's no ragas here. Not a sitar in sight. Singing and playing piano professional since her teens, raised on a listening diet of her mom's Bill Evans and Ray Charles albums, Jones got into jazz as a student at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (the same one as Erykah Badu trivia fans), then majored in jazz piano at the University of North Texas for two years.
It was in New York, hanging out at places like The Living Room, that her horizons broadened and she began to work on her own material, honing her art in the Manhattan clubs. It's no surprise to note Billie Holiday and Nina Simone among her influences, what's more unexpected is to hear those pillow talk vocals wrapped around the country flavours that suffuse much of the material on her Arif Mardin produced debut album. The explanation is simple. Her gran lived in Oklahoma and all those family visits found Willie Nelson records seeping into her skin. He's a master of fusing country, blues and jazz, which - when you add Patsy Cline and Charlie Rich to the mix - goes a long way to underlining the journey that's resulted in something like her smoky piano bar version of Hank Williams' Cold Cold Heart.
Working with a basic keyboards, bass, guitar, drums format, the album also features her interpretations of Hoagy Carmichael's The Nearness Of You and (via Nina Simone's recording) J.D. Loudermilk's Turn Me On, but classic styled piano quartet numbers penned by band members bassist Lee Alexander and guitarist Jesse Harris can hold their head high among such distinguished company, most notably so the opening Don't Know Why, the tumbleweed rolling Lonestar, a gorgeous rippling country soul Seven Years and the 'summer down the creek' mood of Shoot The Moon. But it's Jones's own songs that really set the seal. The spiritual slow funeral march of The Long Day Is Over which harks back to her days singing in church, a liltingly delicate and melancholic Nightingale and the magnificent countrified slow waltz title track which really should have Willie himself beating a path to her door to beg for a duet version.
Mike Davies
Back in 1979, the beret-wearing Jones released her self-titled debut album, had a hit with Chuck E's In Love and found herself variously hailed as the new Joni Mitchell and the female Tom Waits for her brand of beatnik jazz pop. However, despite picking up a couple of Grammy awards along the way nothing she's released since has quite matched that early success. Dropped from the Warner stable 10 years ago after a succession of indifferent releases, there looked to be a return to form back in 2003 when she signed to V2 for The Evening Of My Best Day. But nothing really transpired, so here we are, four years on with yet another new label. This time though things could shape up rather differently. For a start it's her first real rock album and it's the best thing she's recorded since Pirates. It also happens to be an album about Jesus. No, hang on, it's not some God bothering collection but rather an attempt to rescue Christ from the TV evangelists and right wing politics and set his teachings in an everyday context of spirituality and wisdom..
It all began when her friend, author Lee Cantelon, invited her to recite a passage for an audio version of The Words, his book of Christ's teachings. Jones began but felt uncomfortable with her voice. Instead she said she'd sing, improvising her own lyrics to the already recorded Velvet Underground styled drone backing track. She listened to it for 20 seconds and began with 'for a thousand years I lay upon Lake Victoria, I was winged and many-coloured and nobody knew my name.' Thus was born Nobody Knows My Name.
It's an immediately compelling start to the album (six tracks recorded in the same sessions, a further seven a year later), but what really strikes is the fact that Jones sounds uncannily like early Melanie.
It's a tremulously quivering but full-lunged comparison that applies equally to Gethsemane, her chorus soaring on loose limbed art-blues single Falling Up, the country flavoured Elvis Cadillac (the King cruising heaven with Joplin tending bar) and the spare, bluesy eight minute I Was There.
Elsewhere though the Velvets-like Circle in The Sand (originally recorded for the film Friends With Money) has her coming on like a female Lou Reed and It Hurts is a treble toned Patti Smith while devotees who year for those old Waits parallels will be beside themselves with joy on the rumbling Eastern jazz blues of Lamp Of The Body and Donkey Ride and the clanking clattering of Tried To Be A Man.
Part produced by Rob Schapf who guided The Vines and of Peter Atanosoff, scratching out dissonant desert brooding shapes on Where I Like It Best and providing the muscular guitar backbone throughout, this Sermon deserves to be heard from every radio pulpit available.
Mike Davies February 2007
Rickie Lee Jones - The Evening Of My Best Day (V2)
Once hailed as the female Tom Waits and the new Laura Nyro, after a promising start with the hit Chuck E's In Love and her self-titled and Pirates albums, Jones has been off the musical map for far too long thank to assorted drug and alcohol related problems. For many her last decent album, Traffic From Paradise, was over a decade ego with the trip hop experiment Ghostyhead and a couple of covers collections doing little to restore her lustre.
But this is a smart return to form with its bluesy soul jazz ambience and songs that reflect her views on the state of the nation under George W, the opening track, Ugly Man, specifically dedicated to the cowboy Potus. Stylistically harking back to the 60s with tracks that embrace gospel favours (Tell Somebody (Repeal The Patriot Act Now)), R&B (Little Mysteries, another Bush dig), swamp blues (Lap Dog, Mink Coat At The Bus Stop), folk (Sailor Song), bossa nova (It Takes You There) and the sort of jazz funk polish trademarked by Steely Dan (Second Chance), the often helium inflected childlike voice remains something of an acquired taste this, and especially the lovely sad piano ballad title track and the wistful love song A Tree in Allenford, ample impetus to for anyone seduced by those early recordings to renew the affair while there's plenty here to attract new young lovers too.
Mike Davies
David Kidman December 2007
This ironically-titled and inordinately fine album by celebrated and highly influential guitarist Wizz was only his second LP release, and made its first appearance on the tiny west-country independent label Village Thing right at the end of 1970, instantly becoming a favourite of critics and broadcasters alike, as much for its superb playing as for its excellent, hauntingly original songs (mostly from the pen of Alan Tunbridge, with one of Wizz's own - If Only I'd Known - and a couple of traditionals). Its gently imposing, relaxed and in-control ambience made a virtue of simplicity, with little in the way of additional accompaniment; this allowed for maximum concentration on Wizz's nimble guitar work, which was both intricate and unfussily managed. Aside from Wizz himself, there's some delicate, sensitive and admirably undistracting accompaniment from Pete Berryman on a number of tracks, while Ralph McTell contributes electric guitar to When I Cease To Care and harmonium to Dazzling Stranger (a remake of a song from Wizz's first LP) and Reanna James plays piano on Slow Down To My Speed. The album's final track, the singalong-a-Wizz Stick A Little Label On It (a typical example of Alan's cynical humour), is a live recording of Wizz at Bristol Troubadour. Rather neatly, on this CD reissue it leads straight onto a trio of live tracks recorded in Germany only months after the album sessions: those two bedsit classics Leonard Cohen's Sisters Of Mercy and Bert Jansch's Needle Of Death frame that perennial Wizz standard Glory Of Love. It's great to have The Legendary Me back on the racks, and there's more good news in that I understand Sunbeam have plans for further Wizz Jones reissues.
www.wizzjones.com
www.sunbeamrecords.com
David Kidman, July 2006
The first of three acts tonight, Tom Higgins, usually part of the local band Mello Doubt gives a rare acoustic solo performance. His songs, such as the opening country tinged tribute to rap outfit NWA, display an obvious sense of humour and he is not afraid to wear his feelings on his sleeve. However, along with the bundles of confidence he has, comes a profound naivety in his song writing, as evidenced in the one-sided look at 'yob culture' in Lance. It is clear that what Tom Higgins needs is experience, something all the talent in the world cannot compensate for.
Next came local band Jennifer's Parents. Dressed in bowties and cummerbunds their blend of indie-pop, comedy and childhood reminiscence provides a hugely enjoyable performance. Their local following seems reasonably wide and one can see why. With songs about traffic cones and Fuzzy Felts, a charismatic front man and significant musical prowess the band glitter with charm and a definite sense of fun. While not commercially bothering, surely local cult status awaits.
Jont, the night's final act is a well-seasoned performer on the London circuit. Generally a solo performer in the past tonight sees him joined by an able band giving his songs a more rounded sound than before. Jont's music is difficult to define; his voice and captivating intensity is reminiscent of a less versatile Tim Buckley, his music taking in influences from indie-pop to classic 70's singer-songwriters. The resulting work sparkles with intelligence, wit and experience, the set providing evidence to suggest that if Jont is lucky he could just make it commercially. If he does here's hoping he loses none of the enjoyment and vitality that made his music so successful tonight.
James Coslett
Fred Jordan is viewed by many as the iconic English folk singer. He first came to the attention of the then-nascent folk revival in 1952 aged 30, and subsequently entertained audiences all over the country, from his native Shropshire out increasingly to folk clubs, concert halls and festivals, for nearly half a century, virtually right up to his death in July 2002 following a bout of increased ill-health. This reasonably-priced (£16.99) double CD presents 44 tracks (127 minutes' worth) of Fred's singing, in field recordings recorded over almost 40 years between 1952 and 1991 which convey the essence of this larger-than-life character and give a very fair overview of Fred's development as a singer and song carrier, allowing the listener to concentrate on the characteristics of his interpretative style without the ancillary (albeit important!) distraction of his strong visual presence which seemed to prevent many (even within the fraternity of folk enthusiasts) from gaining or forming a realistic assessment of the qualities of his singing. Those familiar with Fred's (limited) recorded output will appreciate therefore that A Shropshire Lad is a compilation gathered together primarily in the spirit of celebration of the man's achievements rather than an attempt at a comprehensive survey (let alone a completist's dream); what we get, then, is a representative selection taken mainly from the principal officially available albums and tapes. Sound quality is mostly excellent, although the early BBC recordings are (inevitably) comparatively lacking in presence. If you're concerned with such matters as the surprisingly small proportion of Fred's recordings that are available on CD, four out of the five recordings that appear on Topic's Voice Of The People set would appear to be duplicated here (the exception, the recording of The Bonny Boy on this Veteran set, comes from the 1982 recording made for the EFDSS). Nobody could ever claim that Fred was blessed with a flawless technique or a "beautiful" singing voice; Fred was, however, undoubtedly a creative singer. His large repertoire embraced both "discovered" folk songs and popular songs, and he knew a good song when he heard it. In the words of Peta Webb, "he could take any song from any source and make it his own song, in his own style". In his introduction to the copious 64-page booklet that accompanies this set, Derek Schofield constructively observes that Fred's "occupation, his life-style and his songs were of the nineteenth century, yet his singing context became the twentieth century folk revival". Arguably more so than "obvious" features of Fred's singing (e.g. the pronounced vibrato), this apparent temporal mismatch I suspect is partly the key, or at least one of the salient factors within the reason for the polarisation of opinions of Fred as a performer and interpreter of song. Indeed, just as Peter Bellamy perceptively commented, Fred was "obviously a case of 'love him or hate him', with very little middle ground", which, let's face it, is the attitude that often greets any artist of true integrity who is blessed with an individual or distinctive performing style (embodying a genuine expressiveness) and who takes the straightforwardly professional and unselfconscious approach to his/her art. Finally, this set scores almost full marks for its presentation; the impact of the exceedingly well-researched booklet is only slightly compromised by the song texts not being included, possibly also by the lack of a complete listing of the songs in Fred's repertoire. But this set still remains an important issue.
David Kidman
David Kidman August 2007
Steve, originally a native of the remote West Country, moved to Southampton in the 70s and has since made Hampshire as his home. Becoming resident at the celebrated Fo'c'sle Folk Club, Steve has over the years carved for himself a deserved reputation as a fine and charismatic singer; I've not come across any recordings of Steve before, so was very pleased to get this one! In keeping with Steve's laudable wish to produce a CD free of studio effects and tricks, the whole CD was recorded in the little thatched room at the back of the White Lion in Wherwell (WildGoose territory!) where Steve holds his monthly "Song & Supper" nights, over two days in January 2003; the last 14 songs of the CD together form a continuous, unedited live concert-session. The full CD, presenting 20 songs within its generous 76 minutes, really gives the full measure of Steve as a "story-singer" of high renown, a performer of real "character" and straightforward honesty who, while taking the professional approach to his chosen material (he's equally fastidious whether it be classic balladry or songs from the tradition or the music-hall), is also able to effortlessly charm his audience with his performance, putting them at ease and encouraging them to laugh with him at his inimitable introductions (which, as you hear, actually prove valuable rather than irritating). The description "effortlessly charming" could also be applied to Steve's singing voice, for its distinctive tenor timbre, though outwardly quite "softly spoken", is found to contain considerable reserves of inner strength; its apparent vulnerability is appealing and is enticingly matched by his evident relish in communicating the message of the songs. Indeed, Steve's whole "act" possesses an "outside-of-time" quality that links him with more-widely-lauded source singers such as his namesake Fred and even Bob Copper (the latter is called to mind in Steve's version of the Family's Babes In The Wood, performed here with his partner-in-crime Geoff Jerram). I've already hinted at the healthy diversity of Steve's repertoire, which encompasses fine versions of traditional (Fanny Blair, Little Musgrave, The Ship In Distress) and composed songs alike. Into the latter category come less familiar (but still eminently worthwhile) songs by Keith Marsden, Graham Penny, Mike Sadler, His Worship & The Pig, Cyril Tawney; possibly the jewel in the crown here is Geoff Lawes' powerfully moving Falkland Sailor. On the majority of the "music-hall numbers", Steve's accompanied by Paul Hutchinson and Paul Sartin (as in Belshazzar's Feast), and Steve's wife (the justly respected singer Sarah Morgan) brings some sublime "choral" harmonies to his version of Rosebud In June. And another brownie point goes to Steve for being careful to properly and copiously credit his sources. What a superb CD, one which so well captures the essence of the singer and his repertoire. Only one word of caution - the individual songs within the "live session" part of the CD are banded separately from the introductions, which is useful, but you need to refer to the access cues given on the booklet rather than on the box cover…
David Kidman
Brian Joseph - King of Echo Park (FrogSongs)
Doing ok as an actor, five years ago Joseph jacked it in to become a singer-songwriter. Well, theatre's loss is music's gain. Resembling a young Tom Waits in his goatee and pork pie hat, blessed with soulfully warm voice with just the right degree of husky catch and tremble and tagged as a folk flavoured troubadour with comparisons that range from John Prine to Paul Simon and Randy Newman, he's now up to his third album and has clearly attracted some impressive admirers with Wendy Waldman handling production duties and musicians including such session legends as Kenny Edwards, Freebo and Julie Wolf.
The Costello-ish opening track, God Save The King may reference the Union Jack but it's a clear swipe at Bush, the Iraq war and the right wing conservatives who reckon anyone who protests are just pinko troublemakers and domestic terrorists. The rest of the album though largely steers away from politics in favour of the personal with a clutch of love songs that range from the heartfelt tenderness of the finger-picked Louise and the funky futile denial What's That Sound to the down home nature of the Prine-like Cal's Chevy where an old battered car becomes a metaphor for getting through life's troubles. It's not just cars and girls that get the affection either, Walk On Alvarado is a wonderfuly sax stained late night bluesy love song to Los Angeles while the title track is a touching hymn to a child's imagination.
There's loss here too though, the images of lonely death that haunt the piano gospel tinted ballad Nobody Misses You (the most obvious Newman influenced track) and (underlining his Shakespearean background) the unexpectedly heartbreaking Cordelia.
He also has a nice line in wit and irony. The Road To Endarkenment is a bubbling tuba, spoons and ukulele arranged piece of whimsy about getting new agey trying to win the girl while the jazzy Ways of the Cool pins the image of bored youth's minor rebellions. But he can be pointedly sharp too, the gospel handclappy Hallelujah may present itself as a jokey Badlands tale of some hold-up merchant disguised as a priest but there's a subtler comment there too while the closing spare, bluesy and darkly atmospheric God Bless The Storm is a bitter tale of the desolation, death and despair wreaked by storm and flood in the name of God's 'reasons.'
The King of Echo Park may not quite be Joseph's Little Criminals or Sail Away, but you can sense that such a masterpiece is only a whisper away.
Mike Davies
Jerry Joseph & The Jack Mormons - Mouthful Of Copper (Terminous)
At last we have a 2-CD live album from the rockin' power-trio Jerry Joseph & The Jack Mormons, whose songs are emotionally rich with intense faith, righteous anger, sadness and a story so huge that it's tough to know where to start. God & sex, pain & passion I guess, but best to first go with the music. How it rocks! Crunchy guitar and driving rhythm section, melodic hooks, tight uptempo grooves, extended improvisations and strong ballads. Lyric are full of outrage, hurt and images so raw they're almost bleeding. Brad Rosen on drums and Junior Ruppel on bass are the hard-edged pulse to his guitar and effects. Jerry Joseph's words are sermons in song to transport you - not poems to dip into. Listen and experience them you must, coz you ain't gonna get them in the sleeve notes (or on his website - yet). Fearful and looking for something to believe in in a terrible world? Join the church of Jerry Joseph - he's a rebel and he's searching too.
Let's back up a bit and get the Jack Mormon thing out the way because I know you are curious. Tauntingly called 'Jack Mormons' are those who don't adhere to the regulations of the Mormon Church, however, JJ is American-born Lebanese Irish and raised a catholic. He's an ex-heroin addict and leader of the late (not released by Capricorn Records) reggae/rock band Little Women. The Jack Mormons were founded in 1996 and this is their second album for Terminus, the follow-up to 2002's excellent Conscious Contact.
Producer/engineer Betty Cantor-Jackson, well-known for her work with the Grateful Dead (Workingman's Dead, Live Dead and much more) and Jerry Garcia, has delivered a wonderfully exciting 'live' album. I first saw JJ at the 12-Bar, London, with his acoustic guitar and Jnr Ruppel on electric bass. Up close and personal, both were barefoot. This album has captured that same edge and sweaty honesty.
And finally the title and album cover? A toxic scene: a train track entrance to a mine via a skull with burning eye sockets. I haven't reconciled the iconography yet, so I'll have to come back to you on that after I've listened to the album again and again ...
Sue Cavendish
Jerry Joseph & The Jackmormons - Conscious Contact (Terminus)
Jerry Joseph & The Jackmormons - you're not going to forget that name. Jerry J has his own instantly recognisable sound - a voice full of passion - really great songs that are no-frills ballads with a country edge or gutsy guitar/rhythm section, jam-band rockers - those uncompromisingly honest lyrics oozing pain, sex and redemption. Altogether catchy and hummable, yet this is not commercially driven tosh.
Raw and a bit scary, Joseph is a poet and a preacher. He looks you in the eye and you know he's been to hell and fought his way back. He's tough, but these songs give you a glimpse of the stitches where they sewed him up and the places where he still bleeds.
The Jackmormons are a three-piece band based in Portland, fronted by singer-songwriter Jerry Joseph and they deserve to be hugely successful. Maybe this album will do it. They have a punishing touring schedule across the states of America, occasionally dropping in on London where I saw them play the 12-Bar - Jerry wild, wonderful and barefoot - and so compelling I've bought everything he's ever recorded, but this is his best. I love this album. It's a little like Elvis Costello meets a pared-down Bob Seger and records 'live' in the studio?
Produced by Dave Schools (a bass player with great ears!), Conscious Contact was recorded in Athens, Georgia with guests including Chuck Leavell on piano and organ, Vic Chesnutt on backing vocals, Randall Bramblett on organ and Wurlitzer, John Keane and John Neff on pedal steel.
Sue Cavendish
Grab his Goodlandia if it comes within your grasp. Essential stuff - a band 'live' and really enjoying the occasion.
First Loudon Wainwright III did it, now the man who's been dubbed the Welsh Springsteen has gone back and revisited some of his early songs in the light of the years and experiences since their inception, taking 15 numbers and stripping them back to acoustic guitar and occasional harmonica to reflect how they live and breathe in today's performances.
Indeed, as illustrated by Kiss The World Beautiful, it's the nearest 'studio' album to come close to the power of his live shows and the heartfelt passion as he digs into the core of the songs' stories and themes.
Packaged in a card slip case with individual art card lyrics, here are vulnerable self-examinations of faith and doubt like Turn Me Tender and Weight Of The World, laments for lost innocence such as Arizona Dreams, the deeply felt compassion and social commentary of Working Mother and This Being Woman and the political clenched fists and charged anger the fuel The Good In Me Is Dead and Dic Penderyn.
Given a fiery folk ballad intensity, the latter's one of five of the Welsh-centric songs revisited here and, like the Aberfan disaster Sing To My Soul, the broken redundant miners of Please Sir and the dignity and defiance infusing Proud Valley Boy's memory of Paul Robeson's inspirational visit, is hewn from the coal face heritage of his native land.
The fifth from his dragon's den, the chokingly tender and achingly sad father and son Cardiff Bay brings to a fitting close an album of songs that once were children and have grown to be men.
Mike Davies October 2008
The "Welsh Springsteen", now on his 29th album, shows no diminution of songwriting powers, and the record embraces all the usual MJ trademarks, containing plenty of typically engaging vocal work and powerful lyrical and melodic import. As usual, Martyn delivers his thoughts to you with that special "look you direct in the ear" stance, involving you right from the first phrase and keeping you hooked. Also as usual, Martin's preoccupations veer from the personal to the political with total conviction and facility. But this is not a mere "as usual" album, as there seem to be an added frisson to the words and images this time round, an intensity and unity that comes as much from the quality of the songs as from the real immediate one-take feel of the performances and recording. The title track motors on in with a striking little vignette that may seem a tad brash but whose observations are quintessential MJ: it's a tribute to Elvis, but not quite as you know it, Jim! Following which, every last track is strong, from the intimate declaration of Kindness to the poignant apocalyptic desolation of The Fading Of Light, the almost too unreasoned romantic beauty of Invisible Angel to the bold, triumphant Things That We Have Carried Here. There's also two fine examples of MJ in vintage anthemic mode: the angry, brutal Nobody Loves You Anymore (where Martyn plays a mean electric guitar) and the positive, thrusting charge of I Have Come To Sing. Other standouts include Weight Of The World, one of four co-writes with Stewart Henderson, which conveys brooding desperation to an edgy twang setting, and the gentle reassurance of Nobody Gets Everything. Not only is Martyn on a creative high with this collection, supplying some tremendously potent imagery and very fine singing, but the work of his supporting musicians (Phil Beer, Miranda Sykes, Nigel Hopkins, Ryan Aston and especially the sax playing of Mike Haughton) is second-to-none in both sensitivity and appositeness. By fourth playthrough, I'm finding myself almost convinced that Vegas is Martyn's best album yet (an observation tempered by the sad but necessary admission that I've still not heard quite all of the previous 28!). And don't forget, Martyn's touring the UK for five weeks starting from later this month.
David Kidman October 2007
Martyn Joseph - Deep Blue (Pipe)
It's a given, of course, that anything he does is going to be rewarding, intelligent quality music informed by deeply felt emotions, sensitive insights, concerned social conscience and humanistic compassion, but this is also one of the best things he's done.
Beefed up with a more fuller production than usual with Nigel Hopkins' keyboards adding extra depth and several cuts adopting a solid band sound, it strikes powerfully in its response to the current world climate ongoing legacy of Messrs Bush and Blair.
The simple acoustic guitar picked How Did We End Up Here is forthrightly specific in referencing prisoner abuse, rigged elections and the economic agenda behind American foreign policy while his potent cover of Larry Norman's harmonica blowing Dylanesque Six Sixty Six sees the sign of apocalypse among those doing the devil's work. However, while the jangling acoustic Yet Still This Will Not Be (echoes here of fellow Welshman Mike Peters) talks of 'nurturing child soldiers with the munitions from our factories' and political self-interest, Joseph also sees hope that the 'kingdom of the fool' will eventually fall as the 'broken-hearted' are elevated to caretakers of the world.
Mortality strikes in This Fragile World's note on a boy drowned while, ever the questioning Christian, his recurring themes of doubt, faith and a reason to believe in a better dawn inform the hushed Turn Me Tender and the opening slow waltzing Some Of Us, a litany of human hopes, dreams, sufferings and fears trembling in the anticipation of eventual grace.
There's more than usual religious imagery to the lyrics this time with specific references to Judas, Jesus, Satan, the Psalms and, of course God, but never to extent of Bible bashing if you don't subscribe to the same beliefs so that, for example, the wonderful swelling Coldplayish I Can't Breath (revisited in acoustic form for the closing track) and the Van Morrison soulfulness of I Would Never Do Anything In This World To Hurt You are as easily read as secular love songs as they are about adoration, doubt and spiritual failings.
Only one track doesn't seem to quite fit into the album's scheme of things, but no one would surelyw ish away the strummed Proud Valley Boy's angrier return to Please Sir's lament for the destruction of the Welsh mining industry. Adopting the voice of 'Evan Merthyr born', he sings of retraining schemes, discarded dreams, backbones bent and the 'legions of the coal dust brow' now just 'photographs in fancy bars' while recalling egendary singer and civil rights champion Paul Robeson who, equating their struggle with that of the American Negro, paid tribute to them in his 1940 film The Proud Valley. He lit a fire in the soul of Wales; with album's like this Joseph continues to ensure the flame still burns.
Mike Davies
Martyn Joseph - Run To Cover (Pipe)
Having already released his first studio album of new material in four years, in response to fan demand Joseph's been back in his attic to put together a collection of cover versions he's been performing live over the years, along with a few others that have meant something to him and which he's always wanted to get his teeth into.
Wholly acoustic with Nigel Hopkins providing keyboards and programming and featuring drums and bass on just one track (Harry Chapin's bitter Peyton Place style tale of hypocrisy and unwitting incestuous desire, The Mayor of Candor Lied), it's as potent and pointed a choice as you might imagine, underlining Joseph's own humanistic, social and political affinities.
It opens with a passionate Chimes of Freedom (a popular Welsh choice also covered in janglingly fine form by The Alarm), setting a tone of protest that runs through several of the choices; Bruce Cockburn's Call It Democracy, Springsteen's The Ghost of Tom Joad, Larry Norman's The Great American Novel (previously recorded for a ltd edition EP), and, closer to home, Max Boyce's haunting lament Rhondda Grey.
Both Norman and Springsteen turn up again, the former on the forlorn, keyboard accompanied Pardon Me and the latter on a stirringly stripped down version of Thunder Road that bitingly exposes the defiance and anger at an American home and foreign policy that remains as relevant now as when it was written. Other songwriter luminaries represented here include Sting (Why Should I Cry For You?), U2 (getting to the very heart of Stuck In A Moment) and, closing the album on an optimistic note with Anthem, Leonard Cohen.
He reaches back into the obscurity of the distant past with Clive Westlake and David Most's How The Web Was Woven, a simple profession of love originally recorded by Jackie Lomax, while the remaining cover is of Eric Bazilian's One Of Us, a hit for Joan Osborne but now given Joseph's own distinctive note of spiritual questioning.
An album for the fans perhaps, but yet another persuasive reason to become a convert if you ask me.
Mike Davies
Martyn Joseph - Whoever It Was That Brought Me Here Will Have To Take Me Home (Pipe)
Although there's been live albums available through the fan club, this is Joseph's first fully commercially available album in four years. Recorded as live with just Martyn and acoustic guitar (illuminating the obvious but largely unremarked Ralph McTell comparisons), the other instruments (cello, fiddle, piano, backing vocals) layered in later, although Wake Me Up is a rallying cry against encroaching apathy, for the most part it puts politics on the back burner in favour of a more reflective, intimate songs about 'knowing' and 'acceptance' as epitomised on Every Little Sign (he nicely sings the last word as sigh...n) about a drifting relationship in need of reawakening.
A list song, the opening Love Is is about, well love actually, but while that emotion may inform the album it's not the lynchpin of the material. Co-written with Stewart Henderson, This Being Woman is a wonderful celebration of the strength, dignity and grace of older women (the album's answer to Calendar Girls if you like), Strange Kind of Friend is really about Joseph's attraction to rain (you'll recall one album where you could hear the drops pattering on the window of the home studio) while Walk Down The Mountain stems from the true story of Beck Wethers who, left for dead on Everest in 96, woke from his coma and walked back down to survival, here presented as a metaphor for taking life in our hands and getting on with it. Just Like The Man Said is a lighthearted tribute piece to some of his favourite writers, nicking lines and phrases from the likes of U2, Springsteen and Woody to echo their sentiments for hope in a world where truth comes way down on the spiritual agenda.
Whether its walking down the mountain with head held high or being stuck in a car on a highway of tears, journeys and mysteries abound; on Be Bo Norman's Where The Angels Sleep it's about rediscovering a sense of self-grace and the ability to be open to others while on the slowly swelling title hymnal (Welsh Chapel version) track it's a simple surrender to the question rather than struggling to find the answers in a time when anxiety is at the gates and excess fills the shop windows. Let it travel with you.
Mike Davies
Martyn Joseph - The Great American Novel (A Startled Chameleon)
Martyn Joseph offers five compelling pieces of evidence on this EP why folk music with a raging conscience will survive the vagaries of fashion. All five songs in different ways show why the singer songwriter is a beast to be cherished.
You could hire the remaining members of Led Zeppelin to provide a backing track to the title track and not drown out the song's message. It is as much an indictment of society – not just America's – as a Harper Lee novel, Joseph's insight is as incisive as The Great American Novel that gives it its name. Like all great music it as much prophetic as historic.
In between it and another cover, this time a searing live version of Tom Robinson's War Baby - the story of a doomed relationship and a metaphor for much more - lie a trio of originals. The Good In Me Is Dead highlights the consequences of an imprefect world. Arizona Dreams is the 60s protest song brought into a new century and Swansea is a poignant love letter to life, to fully appreciate the song insert your own life.
In five songs Joseph has re-affirmed the bond between musician and listener, Martyn Joseph is a man you can trust and there aren't too many you can say that of these days.
Michael Mee
Martyn Joseph - The Great American Novel (A Startled Chameleon)
A Dylanesque protest song written in the 70s by Larry Norman, Joseph's been singing the title track at his gigs for around fifteen years but, one obscure live recordings aside, has never committed it to disc. Encouraged by discussions on his web site, he's decided to take the plunge as part of the wave of response to the Iraq war, linked in with the War Child charity. Updated to include a reference to e-mail, the song's theme of hypocrisy is as timely now as when Norman penned his song about of America's racism, its oppression of its poor and involvement in "wars that are not our own. " Armed with just an acoustic guitar, Joseph gives it the angry passion the song and the times demand.
The musical mood and lyrical theme's sustained over the EP. One of the best of his recent songs, Joseph's own The Good In Me Is Dead a thoughtful reflection on the changes wrought in those who are deemed disposable when weighed against the bigger picture envisioned by those who wield the power and wealth, the sort of people who turn to terrorism because they can see no other recourse.
Swansea's a poignant letter home from the front line, the writer reminding that "the Sierra is due its road tax" while viewing the landscape through the night sight of his gun, dreaming of pubs that glow gold while the "sky's been on fire all week."
A more optimistic note's struck on Arizona Dreams, a snapshot of an innocent age, of what the American Dream could and should be, a cry to reclaim the grace that was, while the EP ends with a recording of Tom Robinson's War Baby, taken from the forthcoming live album of the Faith, Folk and Anarchy tour with Robinson and Steve Knightly.
The EP sleeve's designed to recall the old Penguin Classics. Seems appropriate.
Mike Davies
J-Stone at The Kashmir Klub - 27th April 2000
My reviews tend to commence with some crushing comment on the music industry. Today's is the age-ist attitude of the music business; music should be about talent but in this country, particularly, it has more to do with a fresh young face with media appeal. J-Stone is young and talented but he's been working in a genre largely ignored recently by the media: good songwriters who play their own instruments.
J has been not-so-quietly working under the radar for about a year. He's a talented songwriter who performs with tremendous impact. He's an original with a husky sing-out voice, uniquely his own and instantly recognisable. He created quite a stir at music industry events In The City in Liverpool last year and at the British MIDEM acoustic showcase in Cannes this January. He's been maturing, writing more songs, working with other musicians and performing storming sets for those lucky enough to see him.
Last Wednesday he was at the wonderful Kashmir Klub, accompanied by Danny Vacovic on electric and acoustic guitars and one of the best Djembe players in this country, Reuben from MUST. Raw-edge acoustic pop: strummed and finger-style; melodies that linger on after the gig; strong ballads; sharp, loud, sing-along numbers; Jay puts his shoulder behind his performance with infectious good humour linking his songs. From his opening numbers, Me & You and The Flood, through to the finale - a superb cover of Smokey Robinson's The Tracks of My Tears, J was at his compelling best.
Unfortunately, you still can't buy his music as he hasn't released an album yet. Catch him at a gig if you can and check out the Kashmir Klub website where future gigs are listed and performances can be heard 'live'.
Sue Cavendish
No idea why, but I'd not come across Jugopunch before, so when I discovered that Where Are We Now? is their seventh CD I was distinctly feeling I'd missed out somewhat. The band, a five-piece, have been together for just six years; based in Newcastle under Lyme (Staffordshire), they're big at festivals both here and abroad – so why haven't I seen 'em then?! (OK, put it down to one of life's mysteries!). Jugopunch seem to be well regarded for their erm, punchy, full-on mix of rootsy Irish and early Pogues/Levellers/OysterAcoustic dash (though without the political edge of the latter two). Unusually for the band, this new CD showcases their original compositions at the expense of traditional material (there's just one of the latter here, MTA). Many of the songs are performed in a similar fashion – not entirely a bad thing, as it goes. Like the opener, Cold, which is strident, fiery and upfront, much in the time-honoured twin traditions of the Clancy Brothers and the Pogues, and very much banjo- or guitar-led with occasional harmonica, whistle or melodica to flesh out the sound. Later on, Lower Than The Lowest even makes inroads into Americana-style, even bluesier territory, and not unsuccessfully too, although not all of their stylistic diversions emerge as well from the experience (Sweet Nancy Rose is a sub-Mungo-Jerry,jugband thrash, for instance). But let's be honest - the majority of this offering probably does encapsulate "where they are now", ie at worst "likeable rogue" and at best "pretty fine fellow", generally fun to be around both in regard to musical character and musical interest, and with plenty of energy there's no denying.
David Kidman
As evidenced by Beth Gibbons, a background in beats, dance and trip-hop is no barrier to making a folk album. Case in point fellow Bristolean Tammy Payne who got her first deal as a soul singer and whose CV includes collaborations with Smith And Mighty and, indeed, Portishead. This is her second album under her nom de music (her debut being released by Twisted Nerve) and bears witness to such cited influences as Nick Drake, Syd Barrett, the Velvets and, on Something Important and Born In The Sea, Ennio Morricone had he composed lounge mood soundtracks for 50s noir movies.
Although MotherSister takes her into PJ Harvey blues fields (she also worked with John Parish) and The Stupidest Things is a taut nerve slice of psychfolk, for the most part her introspective reveries of love and loss are all very pastoral and slightly fuzzed around the edges. Headed up by the fragile acoustic storytelling of Pears and Milk, which wraps reverb guitars around some strong Leonard Cohen influences, with further standouts in the narcotic haze of I Love The Snow's dank leafy ambience and the Pooka-like hushed Spiderwick colours on Lose A Day, it might not move too far beyond its secure borders but it still casts a hypnotic spell.
www.myspace.com/jukesukMike Davies February 2008
Gary Jules - Trading Snakeoil for Wolftickets (Sanctuary)
Mike Davies
Richard Julian - Smash Palace/Good Life (Blackbird/My Good Man)
The Delaware born singer-songwriter has established himself a comfortable niche on the New York scene, custom built for the coffee and cellar bar circuit where people are there to listen to the words rather than talk over them. But despite fulsome praise from such fellow practitioners as Randy Newman, Jill Sobule and Marshall Crenshaw, comparisons to the likes of Paul Simon and Beck (though you may find Tom Waits, Harry Nillsson and Bruce Cockburn more to the point), and a recent tour with Norah Jones he remains pretty much a close kept secret as far as the rest of the world's concerned. A literate storyteller for whom songwriting is a craft not an occupation, who observes and comments with a painter's eye and a filmmaker's vision, he writes urban songs about real people who inhabit real life in the real world.
Smash Palace was his sophomore release, his second and last for the Sire distributed Blackbird label, an eclectic collection that skips from funky r&b (Big Big World, Pussycat, Boca Raton) and rattling beat pop (the Springsteen-ish The Second Smallest State) to wistful balladry (As If), mutant clattering blues (The Restless Sea) and rootsy acoustic numbers like the John Prine flavoured John And Florine and the strum n slap Roman Polanski, a song about the director in exile sung from his perspective.
Julian's big on creating characters to tell you their own stories rather than simply singing about them, whether that's a damning portrait of a disintegrating society or a decaying love affair.
Good Life is his new, independent album, and while the Latin rhythmed title track comes with a bonus full on produced night club mix with trumpet, percussion and background chorus of revellers (Norah J among them), it's a sparer, more acoustic work (though you do get a dishwashing solo), sounding at times (especially on the opening Please Rene, Not Now) like a wearier, huskier, less adenoidal Steve Forbert. But stripping back the arrangements merely serves to place further emphasis on the songs themselves and the piercing and evocative quality of the words and images, enfolded in wit, irony and compassion.
The New York state of mind vignettes are just as compelling as before; The Wrong Bus a sharp swipe at a bigoted cabbie, Your Friend John a vitriolic spoken bitch by a wife about her husband's buddy's tramp girlfriend, the two day one night stand with a stranger in Full Moon Face, Ragged Point's snapshot of a car wreck that serves as metaphor for taking life as it comes, One Slip Away and So Damn Beautiful regrets at letting the most important parts in it slip out of reach. Everything's Cool is even an ode to air-conditioning that serves as a nostalgic washed browns memoir of a more innocent era in the American Dream.
It's a pity that no lyric sheet's included, but when that's the worst criticism you can level at the album, he's obviously doing something right. And he almost got to second base with Jill Sobule too, told you he's a smooth talking devil.
Mike Davies
The West Midands based label's second signing after Scott Matthews, while the album features contributions from guitarist Pete Gough and drummer Sam Martin, The Junipers are essentially Leicester duo Joe Wiltshire, who writes, plays the instruments and sings, and Marc Johnson, who takes lead vocals on eight of the 15 tracks (of which two are brief instrumentals).
This, their debut album, is packed with rather lovely soft psychedelic folk-pop like the summery lolloping Fly The Yellow Kite, the Sgt Pepper influences evident on Gordie Can't Swim and Mortimer and, for real psych-pop devotees, the spangly joys of Mark (Teenage Opera) Wirtz, Terry Melcher and Curt Boettcher to be heard buzzing around Song That Fades Away, Callooh Callay and the psychedelia carousel ride of Little May Rose.
Elsewhere, Already Home shows a jangly jogging country element, Sheena is pure CS&N West Coast shimmering pop while the title track is S&G folkie and Sunnydown Ave suggests a lost collaboration between Brian Wilson and McCartney. They're definitely a gin and tonic.
www.thejunipers.com
www.myspace.com/thejunipers
Mike Davies August 2008
Damien Jurado - Where Shall You Take Me? (Secretly Canadian)
www.secretlycanadian.com
www.damienjurado.com
John Stacey