Trollheart

Fanatic --- Jadis --- 2003 (InsideOut)


To be perfectly honest, I'm still somewhat uncertain as to how I ever heard of, much less got into this band. I think I read a review somewhere, and decided to give them a go, and man am I glad I did! For a relatively unknown band, Jadis sure tick all the boxes. This is their sixth studio album, and although I have listened to most of the rest of their output --- and it's very good indeed --- I still see this as their best album to date.

It starts off with what can only be called the sounds of the outdoors: insects, birds, wind and alongside it the solitary chords of an electric guitar, before “The great outside” gets going, with hooks that remind me of the more recent Yes songs, and great vocals by Gary Chandler, frontman for and creative force of the band, who also plays guitar. It's a long song, parts of it firmly stamping their own brand of neo-progressive rock on the track, but still with the power and energy of standard rock music. The song is generally led by guitar, with great drumming by Steve Christie, John Jowitt keeping the bass nice and steady. It's a good opener, but the following “Into temptation”, by contrast, fails to keep the excitement level up. A good solid rock song, but a little unremarkable, I fear.

Not to worry though, as normal service is soon resumed with “Each and every day”, a laid-back, almost acoustic ballad with some great vocal harmonies. As the album progresses you begin to realise that Jadis have their own distinctive sound that, when you hear it again, you just know at once that it's them. It's hard to explain, but I think it's down to the guitar playing. Somehow, whenever I listen to a playlist now, I can tell a Jadis song, from any album, as soon as it begins. If for some reason you're not sure, then once the singing begins you're left in no doubt, as Chandler's voice, like his guitar work, is unmistakable and inimitable.

“I never noticed” is the most immediately commercial song on the album, would have been a definite candidate for a single release (though I can't say if it ever was, as information on Jadis is notoriously scarce, even from their own website!), with its gentle percussion opening and melodic guitar which often puts me in mind of Marillion's Steve Rothery. We get to hear keyboardist Martin Orford properly for the first time here, as he tips a hat to Talking Heads' “Once in a lifetime”. Orford and Jowitt are both of course also members of prog rock giants IQ, but resist the urge that may be there to take over the band, or perhaps Chandler has such a tight control over it that they haven't the option, but either way it works very well, and the band comes together as a very cohesive whole, much more than the sum of their parts.

The song ends on a nice spacey keyboard run which takes it into the title track, a really nice instrumental on which Orford finally gets to give those fingers a good workout. It's a real showcase for the keys man from IQ, joined by Chandler, pulling off his best Gilmour impression as the song takes us into “Yourself alone”, a slow rocker with a really nice melody and some great piano work from Martin Orford. Best track on the album goes to the waltzy ballad “What kind of reason”, with its gentle acoustic guitar opening with keyboard backing, Chandler's clear, powerful voice rising above the music like the sun over the ocean. It's a long song too, over eight minutes, easily the longest on the album, even beating out the opening three, each of which racks up over six minutes. A real centrepiece for the album, and a proper showcase for the talents of Jadis.

This isn't a perfect album, by any means: closers “Who can we be sure of” and “The flame is burning out” fail to reach the heights achieved by other, better tracks mentioned above, but even when Jadis are below par they are better than many bigger bands. But then, when they're good, they're just incredible!

Ignore this album at the risk of your immortal musical soul...!

TRACKLISTING

1. The great outside
2. Into temptation
3. Each and every day
4. I never noticed
5. Fanatic
6. Yourself alone
7. Take these words
8. What kind of reason
9. Who can we be sure of?
10. The flame is burning out

Suggested further listening: “Photoplay”, “Somersault”, “More than meets the eye”, “Across the water”, “Understand”, “Medium rare”

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018