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Piet: One
of the main exponents of the neoprogressive style is British band
Jadis. This group, actually being the brainchild of Gary Chandler,
was responsible for some fresh, exhiliarating progrock with the
subtile and melodic guitarwork of Chandler as a centrepiece. Albums
like ‘More than meets the eye’ and ‘Across the water’ clearly bear
this trademark.
I
admit to have not listened to Jadis for a fairly long time.
‘Fanatic’ is for me a sort of new introduction to the group and this
has provided me with some nice surprises. Whereas Jadis could be
regarded as one of the second division progbands, they now
definitely have made a promotion to the premier league. The overall
sound is yet more overpowering, and from time to time Chandler’s
singing has a harder edge than ever before. Thank God he didn’t
jeopardise his sense for melody and harmony by doing so; the more
subtle side of Jadis has remained untouched, but has been integrated
in a more symphonic soundscape.
’The great outside’ starts off with a bang and immediately sets the
mood for things to come; it’s a very stong opener -always crucial
for any album breaking new ground. ‘Into temptation’ is a song which
combines pop- and sympho tunes, giving space for some Chandler
guitar extravaganza. A more mellow track called ‘Each and everyday’
has a tendency towards the older stuff with the typical vocal
harmonies. ‘I never noticed’ is just a kick-ass tune, which enables
Jon Jowitt (bass) and Steve Christey (drums) to some pleasant
self-indulgence.
The
moody instrumental titletrack ‘Fanatic’ is the prelude for ‘Yourself
alone’, arguably one of the highlights of the album. Every aspect
of the music of Jadis becomes very apparent on this one. ‘Take these
words’ is a more subdued track which sounds nice, no more, no less.
What kind of reason’ clocks in at 8:17 and is no less than a future
classic. The acoustic prelude is just magnificent and is the first
stage to a true symphonic feast for your ears, in which Chandler
pulls all the stops. The music eventually clears away to the
pastoral moods of the beginning of this little masterpiece. The
powerful ‘Who can we be sure of’ is a worthy conclusion of an album
that surely will break new grounds for the band.
‘Fanatic’ by Jadis
is a very strong album by a band reborn. More power, more bravado
than ever before, proving to be very healthy for the group’s overall
sound. Strongly recommended!
Bobo: Those
familiar with the work of Jadis will be very surprised when they pop
the new album in their player. Instead of the familiar guitarsound
you hear a slide steel guitar together with all kinds of weird
sounds. In fact you could easily think you are listening to a new
Mark Knopfler album. However you don’t even have to wait a full
minute before Gary Chandler’s distinctive sound fills the room.
Jadis definitely still is Jadis after all ! A new album from
probably the best Jadis line-up ever including the powerful rhythmic
duo of John Jowit and Stephen Christey augmented with IQ’s Martin
Orford on keyboards. As happens most of the time those keyboards
mainly serve to back Gary’s guitarparts and are much less to be used
as a solo instrument. Often the stringsounds are used to give more
depth to the song. Listen to the more commercial approach of ‘Into
temptation’ where Gary also uses his head-voice as kind of an extra
gimmick. Commercial might be a bit wrongly placed here as the track
lasts longer than six minutes but then again isn’t ‘Bohemian
rhapsody’ similar what duration is concerned ?
With ‘Each & everyday’ Jadis
introduces electronic percussion to back a song which in nature is
an acoustic offering. The combination of both extremes works rather
well. Christey experiments even further during ‘I never noticed’ but
once the introduction is truly over the chorus is backed by a rather
predictable rhythm. Interesting contributions from Martin and Gary,
the latter who delivers a fair amount of flageolets. Instrumental
titletrack ‘Fanatic’ has that Moby element building up and up as
time passes and more and more rhythm is added. A great original
track ! Another highlight certainly has to be the soft ‘What kind of
reason’ which has Gary mainly accompany himself on acoustic guitar.
The strings in the background should have sounded a little louder in
the mix though. It’s ‘all systems go’ with the final track ‘Who can
we be sure of’ which has Orford add some synthloops to the rhythm
whilst Gary delivers some very hard sounding riffs.
Once again this is not a bad album but
I keep waiting for thé Jadis album that will knock everyone’s socks
off and it still doesn’t happen. I have given this band so much
credit over the years but you can’t keep on waiting. So what’s wrong
? For a while the line-up was what was wrong but since Gary has
joined forces again with Stephen, John and Martin this is the best
line-up Jadis will ever get so that’s not where the problem lies.
Musicianship ? Of course not because you’re listening to some of the
best musicians around. The songs ? Well, maybe some of the songs
sound a little similar but certainly lack that catchy melody which
sets them aside from anything else. Gary’s voice ? He has a good
distinctive voice but maybe a voice which at times is a bit limited.
What I mean is that he tends to sing in a similar way, not melodic
enough. Maybe the lyrics don’t lend themselves to be sung in a
melodic way ? Whatever the reason Jadis still hasn’t reached the
absolute top level of the progressive genre although they have been
together longer than most bands. Maybe they should try their hand at
some shorter songs which could nicely alternate with their longer
compositions. Maybe next time. Maybe ...
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