This seasoned Liverpool born singer songwriter has previously been with bands The Persuaders & Come in Tokio and can boast of having done three sessions for John Peel.
For what is only his second full length 'solo' album he has assembled session players Jon Lawton (Guitars, Production), Scott Poley (Pedal Steel, Dobro, Banjo), Chris Howard (Keyboards), Scott Whitley (Bass) and recruited three young women, Megan-Louise, Camilla Alice Sky and Vanessa Murray, for backing vocals.
The result is a sprawling 21 track collection of soft folk rock with a strong Americana flavour. The focus is on easy listening story songs, mostly looking backwards rather than forwards.
The overriding message seems to be that following your heart and chasing rainbows may be nice in theory but in practice these activities are fraught with difficulties.
"Why wait until tomorrow to find another kind of day?" is the rhetorical question posed in Quicksand but the man doing the asking then decides that doing nothing is safer than taking risks.
|
This leads to a paradoxical situation of an album's work of travel-themed romantic tunes in which stasis and indecision are recurring states of body and mind.
It's all cosy and easy going but ultimately the material lacks any true drama.
The impression is that the performers had a lot of fun making this record but which target audience might gain an equivalent level of enjoyment is anybody's guess.
John Jenkins' website
|
