(2017) Blind Mr. Jones - Stereo Musicale Retrospective
Review:
RSD Exclusive Release …featuring every single song this seminal shoegaze band recorded surrounding their masterpiece, “Stereo Musicale”, including said record itself.
Presumably taking their name from the first two songs on Talking Heads’ Naked and jokingly referred to as the Jethro Tull of shoegazing for their frequent use of flute, Blind Mr. Jones formed in the early ’90s in Marlow, England, quickly becoming regarded as a young band to keep an eye on.
Guitarist James Franklin, guitarist/vocalist Richard Moore, flautist Jon Tegner, bassist/vocalist Will Teversham, and drummer Jon White comprised the band, starting out privately in their teens by aping bands like the Wedding Present. They eventually developed their sound to fit in line with shoegaze bands like Ride and Slowdive, and with a demo won the attention of the Cherry Red label, who eventually signed them.
Tegner’s flute leads off the opening notes of Stereo‘s first track, the instrumental “Sisters,” a good way of demonstrating what helps them stand out from the early ’90s U.K. shoegazing crowd. Blind Mr. Jones’ fusion of fuzzblast and melancholy Cure-inspired undercurrents continues to serve them in good stead on the quintet’s full debut record, and though the album is not a truly great one, it’s definitely very good. Not much immediately distinguishes them from their contemporaries per se — they lack the hushed gravitas of Slowdive or Chapterhouse’s increasing embrace of technological means to achieve similar ends. But with what they’ve got, they know how to kick up a storm more often than not, while Tegner adds a lovely element of pastoralism and sweet performance to temper the din.
Franklin’s lead and Moore’s rhythm guitars do the rest of the skybound business quite nicely, while Teversham’s bass and White’s drums keep the pace going well enough (Teversham in particular betrays his Simon Gallup/Peter Hook playing roots more than once). If Teversham’s lyrics aren’t much beyond general blissout romance, they at least suit the songs, which often do more with the sentiments than the singing, which is not always as strong here as on the earlier EPs.
Nearly everything on Stereo will be manna to shoegazing fanatics, but all-around standouts appear as well. “Regular Disease” has a particularly strong guitar line mixed with a lovely wash of effects, while the appropriately paced “Unforgettable Waltz” and the quietly triumphant feeling of the final, untitled bonus track. One interesting touch is the low-key but still striking cover version halfway through — “Lonesome Boatman,” a neo-Celtic folk classic from 1980 by the Furey Brothers. Tegner’s flute perfectly suits its haunting feeling, while White’s percussion further adds to the overall atmosphere.
Tracklist:
01 - Over My Head.flac
02 - Eyes Wide.flac
03 - Fading Fast.flac
04 - Stereo Musicale (demo).flac
05 - Caliban.flac
06 - Sisters.flac
07 - Spooky Vibes.flac
08 - Regular Disease.flac
09 - Small Caravan.flac
10 - Unforgettable Waltz.flac
11 - Going On Cold.flac
12 - Flying with Luz.flac
13 - Henna and Swayed.flac
14 - Lonesome Boatman.flac
15 - One Watt Above Darkness.flac
16 - Spook Easy.flac
17 - Dolores.flac
18 - Against the Glass.flac
19 - Touched (demo).flac
20 - Slow Thang (demo).flac
21 - Easy Tiger.flac
22 - Featherweight.flac
Summary:
Country: UK
Genre: shoegaze
Media Report:
Source : CD
Format : FLAC
Format/Info : Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : ~ 667-934 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits