Scroll down for reviews of the latest from The Contrast, Sidonie and IKE

Joe Jackson Band
Volume 4

(Restless/Rykodisc)

Release Date: March 11, 2003

www.joejackson.com

When Joe Jackson burst onto the music scene as one of Britpop’s angry young men in 1979, he was considered a brash upstart, delivering upbeat punk pop full of the attitude and venom that characterized the “New Wave” movement of the moment. He and his band tapped into the universal angst of frustrated youth then, and their live performances fed upon the energy of audiences just as eager to jump around as Jackson himself (I know; I was there jumping).

But time marches on and angry young men grow up, and the original lineup of Jackson on vocals, keyboards and harmonica, Graham Maby on bass, Gary Sanford on guitar and Dave Houghton on drums went their own separate ways after three fine albums (Look Sharp!, I’m The Man and Beat Crazy).

Since then, the ultra-talented Joe Jackson’s had a long career of musical diversity (and varying levels of success) with such styles as reggae/ska, Latin-influenced jazz, jive rhythm and blues big band bop, classical piano and symphonic works, among others. Still, every now and again he makes a foray back to his simpler pop music roots.

This time Jackson has done so with the added novelty of reuniting the quartet of his original band, after 23 years apart. Volume 4 marks the fourth go-round for these four and while fans may be hoping for the same type of musical product of a quarter century ago, it’s just not possible. Years of musical experience have changed what was; Joe Jackson is not that same angry punk of yore, though he looks back in fond reminisce. So while the public may hunger for that impossibility, the truth is this: you can go home again, but someone different lives there now.

This is evident from the first strains of piano on the opening track “Take It Like A Man.” This sounds more like something from Night and Day then anything from the first three CDs (not that that’s a bad thing). Lyrically, we get some of the old anger - only now directed at the battle of the sexes - a modern lament of how women rule and men have become expendable fools: “Don’t feel so down / you’ll find some job to do / Gangsta or clown / She’ll keep a place for you / You feel her touch / Fingers like icicles / She needs you so much / Like fish need bicycles.”

The Joe Jackson of 2003 is so much more a musician and composer than his younger self that the results are bound to be less accessible, more complex. “Still Alive” toys with an unusual syncopated rhythm that stretches things out (and also emphasizes the “traveling on” aspect of the lyrics too). Jackson remains adept at wordplay, ever the survivor: “You turned me upside down and turned my insides out, but that’s alright / You made me laugh then made me cry then made me shout, but that’s alright / But something keeps on beating in there, I guess my heart survived / I know I said I couldn’t live without you but I’m still alive.”

“Awkward Age” might seem the most likely candidate for radio “single,” an infectious upbeat bit of advice to an awkward youth that turns into a confession that age hasn’t clarified matters any for the narrator and then expands into a call to remain individualistic against the age’s onslaught of advertising and media demands.

“Chrome” is a pretty song about a star of a person, cold and hard and famous, and the fears attached to becoming involved with such a one. “Love At First Light” is a soft piano ballad laced with cynicism, sweet keys backing up observations the day after a night of purely physical pleasure with someone whose name has escaped him, a sad hoping for love beyond the remains of lust.

“Fairy Dust” is an acid take on the modern media’s ridiculous gay stereotypes; “Little Bit Stupid” tries to re-capture the old days, but turns out mostly as a throwaway fun exercise.
“Blue Flame” is another lovely ballad, an ode to an illogical love that mixes metaphors of love and war, regret and bitterness and hope. Jackson is at his best here, subtle and affecting.

“Thugz ‘r’ Us” is Joe Jackson’s nod to the danceable heyday of Madness and other fun ska bands, a bitter condemnation of bored suburban youth’s proclivity toward mimicking inner city fashions and lifestyles, whites wanting to be black, etc.: “I got some mash-ups with Snoop and Dr. Dre / I play ‘em louder when my dad’s away / We got a Volvo and plastic chandeliers / Know what I’m sayin’ - It’s boring me to tears.”

“Dirty Martini” is a playful ditty about a night that never ends in New Orleans, getting “down and dirty.” The closer “Bright Grey” again examines the tired ongoing battle of the sexes, lamenting how relationships between men and women never seem to work out well.

So this is what has become of the angry young man - he’s now an older, wiser, astute observer of popular culture and trends with a bit of a bitter take on things that sometimes seems tired. Nothing here is quite as catchy as the best of the old stuff, but that’s not to say Volume 4 should be dismissed. It’s quite a good CD, Jackson’s best since Laughter and Lust or perhaps even Body and Soul, and one that reveals more of its subtle charms with additional listens.

Time has not dulled the musicianship of these four. In fact, quite the opposite is true. While Maby and Jackson have often worked together through the years, Maby, Sanford and Houghton all have benefited from working with others as well. Reunited, they are an experienced, precision team, able to finesse a wider realm of musical challenges than in years past (and Jackson’s music gives them ample opportunity to display this here).

In addition, this album was recorded in 10 days without computers (no ProTools or sequencers), just live to 24-track analog tape with some overdubbed piano parts, and there’s a real chemistry evident (most songs were 2nd or 3rd takes).

Volume 4 also comes with a special bonus live CD cut when the band were preparing to go on their world tour, featuring six of their nostalgic “old days” tracks. Some see this as unfortunate (as it only points out how less catchy the new songs are in comparison), but I disagree. Here is a band as comfortable with the past as with the present, having fun as they play.

All said, Volume 4 does not deliver the same type of music as Look Sharp!, but manages to provide a good pop record nonetheless. For fans of Joe Jackson, it’s a welcome arrival - easily his best CD in years, even if the acid stances seem a bit labored at times. He proves he still can master pop songs in a variety of styles, but now you need to invest a little more time to fully appreciate them.

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The Contrast
Wireless Days

(Rainbow Quartz)

U.S. Release Date: April 22, 2003
U.K. Release Date: November 11, 2002

www.rainbowquartz.com

David Reid is singing angst for the memories. The creative force behind The Contrast alternates his lyrical tendencies between the obscurely eclectic, the culturally knowing, and the heartbrokenly mundane, then couches those words behind strong beats and a slick mastery of the Rickenbacker guitar. His band’s sophomore effort Wireless Days is an impressive and solid package of music, a dozen songs that build on the promise laid out on their debut Mystery #1.

The Contrast has grown as a band, and are a solid quartet now with Reid leading with vocals and guitar, James Crossley on drums, Richard Mackman on bass, and Spencer Hart on backing vox and rhythm guitar. Andy Hawkins is back as producer/engineer and also lends an occasional keyboard accent to the proceedings. There’s a feeling of confidence borne of playing together well (yes, the band is tight in live performance too) but the real magic comes from Reid’s ability to tap into what’s gone before and translate it into something moody and new.

The Contrast’s sound is not unfamiliar. Most would argue that it resembles early Tom Petty (with a little Tom Verlaine as well), but I hear the earlier Roger McGuinn/Byrds antecedent as well. Reid is a very adept guitarist with a soft voice who manages to find the subtle hooks that grab hold with repeated listenings.

The CD opens with the infectious single “Can’t Stand The Light,” an anthem to things not being quite right in a relationship complete with jangly Rickenbackers and sweet harmonies (and I love how the music ceases suddenly mid-song to match the lyrics). Sweet “Association-like” harmonies appear later in the song as well. The guitar-adorned title track is an ode to a restless mind: “Too many fears / Too many ideas drowning on a wireless day.”

My current favorite here is “Fortune.” Opening with a Crossley drum riff that seems borrowed from Pete Thomas on Costello’s “This Year’s Girl”, then quickly changing into something reminiscent of Tom Petty, the song tells the tale of a woman unsure of herself and eager to become someone she’s not: “You’re never gonna change your fortune / hiding inside every hole like you never got lost / you’ve got all the bills but you can’t tell the cost / you’re never coming back and you’re thinking about wondering why.”

Another very catchy song here is “Mask,” one selected for repeated airplay by Stevie Van Zandt on his Underground Garage syndicated radio show. Again, there is some sense of hiding behind a mask (real or metaphorical, can’t say for sure) - a common theme in many of Reid’s songs.

The lovely “What You Want” offers layers of pretty guitar in the style of The Byrds that surround the tale of a man reluctant to be pursued by a woman who is always around. The happy sound of this song belies the words contained within it.

“Ansaphone” is another candidate for radio airplay, an infectious song of miscommunication with strong drums and guitars that builds to the beauty of an a cappella harmony ending.

While the first half dozen songs are all standouts, the second part of the CD requires a few more listens for proper appreciation. “Unfair Game” seems a little derivative of the previous (and stronger) song “Fortune,” following a similar formula with strong drum rhythms leading the verses. While I like the song (another tale of drunken misgivings and faulty communication in a failed relationship), I think it suffers some from the comparison.

“Charlie Grey” is another lament of lost love made all the worse by the odd misfortune of getting messages for some fairly popular stranger named Charlie Grey. “Drop Dead Gorgeous Love Song” is a soft ballad about laughing at one’s troubles in love, including (yes) more miscommunication (“I guess I didn’t tell you everything”).

The Contrast show some “1950s/Elvis” influence in “Late Train,” which features a different Brian Setzer/Stray Cats-type flavor not heard on other tracks. The moody contemplative “Elvis Fix” is the closer here, a ballad of memory problems and mysterious revenge.

All told, the majority of these songs are real winners, with a sound that’s familiar yet new. The Reid we see in song is a thinker who hasn’t fared well in relationships, and may drink and smoke a bit much at times to get over this fact. Thankfully, that angst is put across with winning melodies, layers of great guitar, strong rhythms and pleasant harmonies. Wireless Days is a big step forward for a band that deserves a larger audience. With a little more favorable airplay, The Contrast just might achieve that goal.

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Sidonie
Let It Flow

(Rainbow Quartz)

U.S. Release Date: April 22, 2003
Spanish Release Date: August 20, 2002

www.rainbowquartz.com

Start with the feel and rhythms of traditional East Indian music, add in harmonies and melodic components of late ‘60s psychedelia, then extend the sitar solos and tabla rhythms into the realm of synths and modern dance beats and guitar rock, and you’ve got the eclectic underpinnings of the marvelous amalgam of music coming out of Sidonie as Let It Flow.

This talented but unlikely trio from Barcelona has done well with this debut offering, and now this popular CD makes its way from Europe to the U.S. market. Sidonie is comprised of Marc Ros (vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, sampler and percussion), Jesus Senra (vocals, bass, sitar, guitars, keyboards, sample and percussion) and Axel Pi (drums, tabla, bongos, keyboards, sampler and other percussions). These talented lads manage to mix it up quite a bit, yet the majority still sounds like some sort of laid back stoner soundtrack from decades ago.

They start it out with “Love,” a musical pastiche of many elements with words that seem to be a random collection of thoughts and wishes loosely attached to romantic notions of love and fame (e.g., “I’d like to fall in love in Paris; I’d like to be famous like Peter Sellers”). Here, as in many of these songs, the overall musical feel is more important than the lyrics. Sidonie is about atmosphere, an uncanny ability to mix genres effectively.

“Cry” is another song that could well be an undiscovered Traffic tune from decades past (mixing in bossa nova-style whoops at song’s end is a nice touch as well). The title track “Let It Flow” opens heavily with sitar, bongos, tablas and Indian flavor and morphs into a more psychedelic sort of musical endeavor, offering up a microcosm of what Sidonie is all about. The wonderful percussion by Pi and Senra’s guitars here recall the vibe of “Tomorrow Never Knows” and “I’m Only Sleeping.”

Just to keep you guessing, Sidonie shows they are capable of some interesting work on covers. The choice here being the unlikely Madonna cut “Beautiful Stranger,” Sidonie manage to turn it into a fairly intriguing sonic journey, heavy on organ, synths and effective repetition. Those enjoying this funked-up psychedelic version (yes, it is a strong song) may have to concede that Ms. Ciccone has true talent.

“Gene Clark” trades on a riff lift from The Monkees (taking it into new territory), then turns it into something both fresh and retro-psychedelic. “All Is Cool In The Evening” mixes in a little more funkified R&B to the trippiness, allowing for some pleasant vocals, bass lines and harmonies.

“Curious Change” is one of my favorites on the CD, an extended sitar and percussion jam if you will, that extends into very trippy trance-like areas. Put on the headphones and travel to other dimensions with this one. Another trance-inducer (but perhaps less ambitious and structured) is the longest track on the CD, “Through The Hole” (at 5:47). This is all about atmosphere, electronic noise and synth sampling, sitar noodling, and intriguing percussion.

In “Sidonie Goes to Varanasi” you’d expect it to be heavily influenced by Indian music (Varanasi being one of the most ancient living cities in India, a sacred place of Hindu pilgrimage), but it doesn’t appear to be. Instead, you again get a fairly interesting song full of many disparate eras/elements that Sidonie mixes into a fresh whole (there’s some chanting thrown in a la Enigma toward the end of the song as well).

“Sidonie Goes To London” opens with didgeridoo and a virtuoso bass, blossoming with some sitar into basically a more formal instrumental extension of “Through The Hole” which precedes it. There is impressive work from all three musicians here encompassing sitar/guitar, percussion and bass.

Don’t be fooled by the slow start to the closer “Entertainment.” Fifty seconds into the song, it launches into something resembling “Funkytown” and rides that disco beat for another five or so minutes, complete with electronic game noises and a wonderful percussion solo that is guaranteed to have you dancing along. Also here is an interesting percussive use of sampled sounds of passion that fits well with the lyrical question: “Will they remember us when our cocks leave the Earth?”

Sidonie love all kinds of music and have incorporated a variety of their influences and more into their unique amalgam of East meets West and old meets new (you’ll hear some Stone Roses, some Air, some Divine Comedy, some Beta Band among others mentioned above). Let It Flow is an auspicious and richly entertaining debut from this talented trio, but a lot of this seems to be about either the novelty of mixing disparate elements or the fun of doing an extended jam off simple riffs (which probably reflects to live performance well). While Sidonie have a knack for melody and harmony, I think I’d like to hear more of that on whatever comes next from them in the studio, along with more unexpected covers.

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IKE
Parallel Universe

(Bisbee Roadkill)

Release Date: March 11, 2003

www.ikeonline.net

John Faye has come a long way since the split-up of his major label band The Caulfields in 1997. While The Caulfields’ two albums were critics’ favorites, they never achieved the level of commercial success they deserved. By 1999, Faye had re-grouped with Cliff Hillis on guitar and Dave Anthony on drums to form what would become the John Faye Power Trip. This trio put out a self-titled album that again delighted critics and increased the numbers behind what has become a very solid, loyal fan base.

When bassist Joann Schmidt joined the touring band supporting that album, things clicked in a big way. Now, at long last, this quartet has released their first full-length effort under a new moniker. Why the name change? According to Faye, the band had evolved way behind his original solo thing and since it was the foursome’s first album together, he thought it fitting to get a fresh start with a much shorter name.

Progress toward a studio release first was hampered by costs. The band turned to its loyal fan base and a groundswell of support answered back. Patron fans actually donated some $18,000 into a collective recording fund to help finance this new effort, but the road to Parallel Universe remained a rocky one. After nearly half the album was done, a hard drive containing the recorded tracks crashed during a routine back-up, and not even high-tech information retrieval specialists could get the music back.

The only solution was to go and re-record the lost cuts. Thankfully, the band took the news stoically; they rebuilt the record and re-evaluated song selection, taking the opportunity to try to out-do the originals and even add new songs. Happily the end product, Parallel Universe, is another strong effort from John Faye. This Korean-Irish American often has had to deal with adversity; as such, he’s a man who tends to write from the heart.

His voice remains the compelling centerpiece to these compositions; with words that express equal parts light and dark (“Parenthood has made me a little bi-polar,” Faye explains) and music that draws from rock’s past along with traces of Philadelphia soul.

The opener “Deathbed (Na, Na, Na)” lets Faye vent his angry side in a tune that is infectious as can be. The deathbed confession chorus “na-nas” inspire singing along, though only the really passionate need join in on a verse like this: “The wise man said: don’t ask me / all I know is you’ll be sorry / Sorry when I’m dead / dead and gone in a bitchin’ blaze of glory / Holding a grudge can take a lifetime and there’s a lot that I got to say.” That angry side shows up again on the hard-driving “Revenge,” a song allegedly written as payback fantasy for a friend killed in a car accident.

There are two songs here that Faye wrote for his new daughter. “Welcome Home” is a catchy upbeat number that hides the fact it is an assurance from father to child that “you’ll never have to worry ‘bout me lovin’ you as long as I’m around.” “Big Wave”
is a pretty ballad that builds into a more up-tempo piece, all about fascination with the innocent wonders of this “deep blue ocean of a universe.”

“When I Fall” is an examination of commitment beyond the limelight, asking the musical questions: “When I fall / when I’m over will you stick around / When I fall / will you shelter me when I come crashing down.” The power of the band as a tight unit is evident here, as guitars, drums and harmonies all fit together seamlessly.

Artistic integrity is the topic of “Pure,” which actually is a John Faye tribute to Joey Ramone (though you wouldn’t know it unless told). “Dandelion” is a powerful love song about the wonder of meeting a soul mate in a coffee shop; “Never Take It Back” is a strong reminder of the power of words, especially in a relationship. And speaking of words, Faye is at the top of his game lyrically with “Trojan Horse,” taking on double and triple entendres about sex, Trojans, and horses: “You can lead me to the water / you can stop me at the source / I can scream at you with all my life / but all I ever get is hoarse / and anti-social intercourse.”

Another fine lyrical journey is found within the summer relationship nostalgia of the hook-laden “Katy Cry”: “Another endless summer / melting castles in the sand / Another boy you thought might be a man / into hibernation with a drink and Steely Dan.”

The bonus track is the amusing “Y Don’t U Come Home” that offers a rapping middle bridge that resembles the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Give It Away.” This is a tale of a man left by his promiscuous lover (he thinks she was scared off by a confession of love) and his trying to make sense of it all while asking her to come home regardless.

Faye is in fine voice, and the guitar work of Hillis, the drumming of Anthony, and the bass work of Schmidt all are deserving of praise (these are not simple compositions - Faye writes some complex pop/rock). Atlanta wunderkind Don McCollister (Sister Hazel, Indigo Girls) produced a clean sound for the majority of the album and Marvelous 3’s own Butch Walker produced two songs as well, while Greg Calbi did a fine job of mastering.

So while IKE had a bit of a tough time getting this music to you, the end result is well worth your listen. *Parallel Universe* doesn’t go out of its way to be trendy - these merely are mature-sounding, intricate, yet catchy songs that come from the heart and stick in your head. John Faye, his fantastic voice and very solid supporting band are content to continue to build that loyal fan base, gig by gig, though soundtrack placements also are in the big plan. It’s been a while since the slogan has been used, but don’t be surprised to start hearing it again from the rafters. Yes, folks, it’s true - “I like Ike.”

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