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JackDrag
The Sun Inside

(Shifty Disco)

Released Spring, 2002

www.jackdrag.net

The Wild, Sometimes Weird and Usually Wonderful World of JackDrag

JackDrag’s last release, soft songs lp: aviating was like being held aloft in an ocean of light infused bubbles, albeit sometimes a very bitter substance. This one has flickering moments of both self-doubt and cynicism but in whole, that’s all they are: brief flickers. For that, they nevertheless make for two of the three best tracks on this album which is, to use the cliché’, “all killah, no fillah”.

While most die-hard fans of this band probably already have The Sun Inside, it’s recommended highly as a starting point for no one familiar with this outfit (primarily the multitalented John Dragonetti and various co-conspirators and musicians he brings aboard). For those already familiar with JackDrag’s previous work: it’s even better than The Dope Box. That particular record is so firmly implanted in my own brain that I often experience “cravings” for it, and hear the opening of it repeatedly until I go and play it ad nauseum. I’ve listened to that album so many times over the past four years that I am truly getting sick of it. And that is indeed a complement, not an insult.

The lesser material here remains at the least powerful if a bit slower. There are usually a few of these tracks on previous recordings as well. However, instead of these songs being rife with regret or anger, as in the past, they’ve become almost sugar-sweet love songs. Backing vocals are provided by another multitalent here: newcomer Blake Hazard, who shows up on many tracks (possibly all) throughout the album. She appears to be the muse behind the love songs, as well, if the liner notes and photos included are any indication. These tracks include “Smile On Fire” and the almost overly saccharine “April”. The infectious and fun “I Could Never Let You Go” is just a great late ‘60s/early ‘70s style pop song, with its chorus of tricky vocal “bah bahs and bop bops”. “Eighteen” is neither too sweet, nor too pop: it is simply gorgeous to listen to. It shows that Dragonetti has a great tenor voice, and shows his prowess at arranging and orchestrating.

The psychedelic “Now or Never” and “Her Voice Made the Angels In Hell Sing” are placed back to back behind the strongest track on the record. “Now or Never” is a strong track in itself, and not so difficult to take. The latter is almost too much: a brilliant slice of psychedelia, it may be, but it’s to the point of brain warp and deteriorates into cacophony at times. Definitely not everyone’s proverbial cup of tea. The title track and “Happy Songs of Lata” delve back into the Indian inspired tracks on the …aviating record. These songs are psychedelic the way psychedelic should sound: trippy and otherworldly and strangely beautiful.

“The Sun Inside” itself is probably the fourth strongest track on the recording. The opener, “My Favorite Hole” is a stunner and strategically placed. If Dragonetti has total control over his output and how it turns

out, he really knows what he’s doing. The rest of the album is difficult to turn off after this, which starts with a female voice repeatedly saying “come on, honey” behind what may well be his own whiny “I’ve had it, I can’t do anything” amongst other dialogue. As on 1998’s The Dope Box, the track is slightly subversive from a lyrical perspective (“somewhere from behind me, a voice calls out ‘I wish I had never been born’ ” is the chorus; “Hey man, do you a need a hand?” “I’m fine down here, no thanks man. I just need someone to know that I just fell in my favorite hole” is one of the verses) but the grooves are firmly in place. It leads into the techo-colored “FM Royalty” a cynical track co-written by Dan Nakamura. A brilliant dance tune, it too drips with the sometimes subversive: “Gotta find the chemisty that makes you scream,/off the silent pages of a magazine. I rest my case, your head is hollow/You’re the summation of every trick that you follow”. : verse one. Chorus: “You wanna be the next Apollo/FM royalty. You cannot think like you can swallow/but they can fix it with technology”.

The true standout among all standouts, however, is #7: “Gettin’ High With Jesus”, another somehow retro-sounding tune that remains firmly rooted in the present to future of musical technology. Though not a certainty, due to the avalanche of other instrumentation and sounds, there is slight detection of a Hammond organ here, so this song follows the same type of vibe that the Charlatans’ Some Friendly and Between 10th and 11th had in the early 1990s. Perhaps that’s why I’ve always been so smitten with the Charlatans: this kind of music doesn’t become dated. There isn’t a way to tell when it was released, because there are too many influences and instruments on display. This song, too, like many of those the Charlatans have released throughout their career, and JackDrag has done as well, is another great dance song. The sole indication it may become dated at some point is that the first few lines deal with “downloading”. The remainder of the lyrical content, in true JackDrag form, is cynical. The protagonist is “gettin’ high with Jesus” amongst everything else he tries, in an effort to find something to do---he’s bored.

If for nothing else, the album is worth its purchase price for tracks one, two and seven alone. This is an exceptionally good release from a very underrated musician. Highly recommended to both fans of JackDrag and non-fans alike. Brilliant, and the best work I’ve heard from Dragonetti yet.

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Vinyl Kings
A Little Trip

(Vinyl Kings)

www.vinylkings.com

All Hail The Fab Four

This release will be a big, wonderful present for fans of the Beatles themselves, and probably XTC. It will definitely strike a chord with those who are familiar with Myracle Brah and Starbelly and admire both those bands. The Vinyl Kings themselves did the album as an homage to their greatest inspiration, and as they say themselves, in the notes, as a “kind of musical thank you” to the boys and producer George Martin.

Do they miss a trick? No. Do they ever do anything wrong on this record? Nope. Does it sound like the Beatles? HELL YES, IT DOES! From the very early mop tops through Abbey Road, this album sounds as if someone has actually unearthed some long-lost songs, remastered them, and released them, finally.

I can’t say one bad thing about this album. Some Beatles’ fans might sour on it, finding it too close for comfort; those may feel it’s all a rip off and not take it for what it is. I pity anyone who does, though. I’m a “practically from birth Beatle-maniac” and honestly thought I’d keel over from excitement when Josh Leo (who is one of ‘em) sent it my way and I heard it the first time.

The background on the band: five long-time Nashville session musicians, engineers, and producers who have worked with everybody, including Foster & Lloyd (you know, that duo Bill Lloyd used to sing in?). Why did they do it? Love. Every one of them has a life-long, diehard admiration for and has drawn a life’s worth of inspiration from the Fab Four. It’s a labor of love, pure and simple. If there’s any ulterior motive, it hasn’t been exposed to me. As Leo himself told me in a few e-mail exchanges: “We’ve all been very lucky to make our livings doing what we love, which is making music”.

The tunes range from poppy gems like the title track (reminiscent of “Got to Get You Into My Life) and “I Took a Chance” (which sounds like early Macca, as much Paul himself ever has) through the “I Am The Walrus”-esque warped “Chocolate Cake” and the “Strawberry Fields Forever”ish “What If I Were You”.

This is heady stuff, up on par with those outings from Todd Rundgren and Utopia, like Deface the Music, and XTC dressed up in funny outfits as the Dukes of Stratosphear. Yeah, it’s that fine a piece of work. High quality, infectious songcrafting will make the listener say “I want to listen to Abbey Road and Sergeant Pepper right now”! This all makes it seem as if John and Paul and George and Ringo are all alive and doing fine. This is truly an astonishing display of Beatlesesque and Beatlesish pop and rock’n roll. Moreover, even the more cerebral music that moved the four Liverpudlians, with George Martin’s assistance, as someone in Compleat Beatles quipped, “from beyond ritual dance music to something popular music had never been before: something meant only to be listened to” has been given its share of respect and Vinyl Kings have done an excellent job of that, too.

As previously stated, never a bad moment here. Also as previously stated, very high quality. Hats off to both the Fab Four, and this fab five who love them: Thank you all!

Buy it at www.vinylkings.com. Well worth checking out, this is one truly brilliant stunner of a record.

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