Review- Jesse Jones/ Jesse Jones

Jesse Jones/ Jesse Jones (Burger, 2015)

I am admittedly out of my depth reviewing this album. I picked this up because Bobby Harlow (of The Go, Conspiracy Of Owls, Magic Jake And The Power Crystals, etc.) produced it, buying it blind. Being more of a classic Rocker type, this left me scratching my head on the first spin. I always give an album three spins before I form an opinion, and I do this for two reasons. One, there have been albums that have bowled me over on the first spin but by the third I am yawning, and Two, there have been albums that went right over my head on spin one but by spin three I get it and realize what it was that the artist was trying to say and dig the shit out of it.

There are many textures and sounds that are pleasing to the ear. Jones' voice bends in a number of directions, my favorite being the Carole King direction. (Yes, I am so Metal that I can freely admit to owning Carole King albums.) Make It Spin is bizarre, bouncy and catchy while not being an obvious Pop song. It is though, at least in the traditional sense. I am sucker for Psychedelic music, and this is some trippy shit. Underneath all of the trippy table dressing you have to have songs or it is a waste of everyone's time, and this album does indeed have songs.

There are Indian or Asian scales in Prisoner's Cinema and Lady La De Da that sound very strange to my western world ears. My wife, who majored in music at one time (she has 2/3 of a music degree but switched majors way back when) was all over this album. Normally she rolls her eyes at most of what I play but dug this big time. All of this is sort of Avant Garde and a bit above my pay grade.

Twelve Hour Man is absolute genius. Think of the best big sounding early 1970s song. Pick anything off of the first Steely Dan album early Chicago, Carole King...this stands up to, if not surpasses, any of those songs. To call it bliss is an understatement. The song is a gift to the ears.

Again, I have no real reference point or a yardstick to point at for this type of music. Is it Rock? Pop? I have no idea what to call it, so let's just call it good.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5.

The OCD zone- This is the part where I go into nitpicking aspects of physical media. iPod or mp3 folks can feel free to leave. Thanks for stopping by, hope to see you around. For those of you still here, I am a square and so I bought this on CD, so that is what I am reviewing here. It comes in a trifold sleeve, with the CD sliding into a pocket inside. The lyrics are all printed on the foldouts as well as the album credits. Part of me wishes that I bought it on vinyl, and maybe I will grab it on vinyl too. Who knows.