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Buckinghamshire proggers Jump are back once more with their eleventh album, The Beachcomber. Frontman and lyricist John Dexter Jones certainly knows how to tell a tale, and this album, arguably their best to date, contains eleven finely crafted songs, full of meaning and insight.
The songs here mix stories about dead relatives, young love, wasted lives and misguided hope, and have been honed over the last few years in the studio, and on the live circuit, and this has paid more dividends than BP recently, and left beaches in a better state.
The album opens with Down Three Times, which tells the story of JDJ's grandbrothers mother John Henry, who was a sailor during the Great War. The title refers to his having been sunk three times by the Germans, which is considered lucky in Wales. Elsewhere, he would have been considered a "Jonah", but we're not elsewhere. From this track onwards, it is apparent that the band have finally shaken off their lingering "prog rock" leanings and adopted a more comfortable rock groove. The addition of Alice Atkinson on violin here even gives this a slight folk vibe. But don't let that frighten you!
Dead Man’s Shoes keeps the tempo going nicely, with its off kilter drumming, courtesy of Andy Barker before bringing in the cheeky Kingston Corner Blues, which was written after overhearing a discussion (if kids have "discussions" nowadays) between two freshly broken up ex-sweethearts, outside The Peel in Kingston. Obviously. The writing and musicianship on this track is up there with Fish at his best, which is the unfulfiled love song. As is common with the rest of this album, although the lyrics and the storytelling are the main focus, the rest of the band are not just backgrounders, or wannabe Wedding DJ's like guitarist Steven Rundle
The mood is brought crashing down quite deliberately with Rosetta Stoned, the third and final part of the unnamed trilogy that also features Four Winds Blow and Runaway. A slow mournful song, cataloging the heroines heroin downfall and featuring Beth Donald playing the part of Rosetta. This is followed by the quirky No-one Spoke, a tale about a bus journey / old lady combination situation. The sort of uncomfortable trip we have all been on. But in a nice way.
Jones returns to his family tree, like a dog to its favourite bone, to bring us The Sniper, featuring the same David Jones that was mentioned on Bethesda in 2001, over some great and atmospheric guitar work from Rundle. I'll not give the story away, but like Rosetta earlier, he meets a grisly end. The band get almost poppier on On Bended Knee, with a chorus crying out for audience participation, while Eyes On The Prize fairly whizzes by.
The next track, Lennard’s Blues is dedicated to a friend of the band, Gordon Lennard, who died a couple of years back and was by all accounts a bit of a loner, while Suffering in Silence is a massive dig at the spoonfed masses, the celeb culture vultures, more interested in Cheryl Cole's latest eye shadow than the news from Haiti, or wherever. The album closes with the reminisfull Forgive Me My Sins, a heartwarming way to end the album
It's easy to see why Mick Pointer thought John Dexter Jones would make an excellent front man for his Script project, his lyric writing is very evocative of Fish, and the songs are just as personal. It's also clear why he felt he couldn't do the job. He tells his own stories, he is his own man, uncomfortable in reciting someone elses' script.
This is an excellent album from the Buckinghamshire boys and girls, full of proper "songs", not just a long jam with some meaningless words chucked on top. It captures your attention from start to finish, through its highs and lows. As already stated, not one for the prog-purist, but one for the lover of good music, the listener to tales, those of you enthralled by the vignettes painted by artists such as Fish.
The album is available from the bands website, www.jumprock.co.uk while you can read about the background to the songs at the dedicated website, www.jumpthebeachcomber.co.uk
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Comment by Pete Jackson on 2010-11-08 02:04:27
I got this album at the Aylesbury gig. Another excellent release form the guys. And an excellent show too. I remember Silhobbit got a namecheck |
Comment by Darren Evans on 2011-01-02 23:13:37
This has to be their best album to date. Down Three Times and Rosetta Stoned are great tracks that seem even better live.
The only track I didn't take to was Lennard's Blues. Anyway buy the album and support this excellent band, and try to catch them live soon. |
Comment by lofealupe on 2011-01-22 08:42:10
I love www.silhobbit.com! Here I always find a lot of helpful information for myself. Thanks you for your work.
Webmaster of http://loveepicentre.com and http://movieszone.eu
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