SMALL TOWN JONES – FREIGHT SHIPS
2012 – Self Released
4****
Having recorded his previous solo album at Peter Bruntnells studio in Devon, Small Town Jones was invited to record the follow up, Freight Ships, at Third Ear Studios in Amarillo, Texas, with friend, collaborator and multi instrumentalist David Little. The sound evokes the sparse
wide open spaces of not only the geographic location whence it was recorded but also the intimate, at times introverted, North Devon location of his roots.
The atmosphere created in many ways is as important to this album as the well written lyrics. It is generally slow and always hauntingly moody with an excellent sparse instrumentation that
perfectly suits his edgy, emotive vocals. When taking everything into account from instrumentation to vocals and the general feel of the album there is quite a lot of originality in what Jim Jones (no, Small and Town are not Christian names …….. although Townes ………. !) achieves with this album. He doesn’t actually sound like anyone else although funnily enough, some of his vocal inflections are not dissimilar to Peter Bruntnells.
Jim is very succinct and spare with his lyrics, even in the areas in which he uses analogy and metaphor. This is a sure sign of a quality songwriter in that he manages to get to the meat of the story
without a lot of flowery language which is exactly what Jim does on this recording. Whilst there is a paucity of instrumentation there are a variety of sounds and atmospheres without ever losing the albums flow and sparse feel, all helping signal the quality of the songs on this mellow in sound, but thought provoking album. David Little deserves his share of the credit as well, with his beautifully atmospheric guitar playing adding to the power of the album.
The album opens with Waves, with it’s acoustic guitar intro, added to by a moody steel guitar, with vocals that are pleasantly raspy creeping in, with a tempo and feel that strongly evokes the title of the song. A quite original treatment of the instrumentation with the blend of steel and acoustic guitars plus drums, on a nice analogy for the changes in life and the fact that nothing stays the same,
all said in very few words. There is the hauntingly atmospheric Oxygen with keyboards perfectly matched to the feel and eventually joined by a lovely twangy guitar sound, whilst on Something Real there is some excellent drumming with lovely tuneful guitar on a tale that says love can’t survive on
broken promises! Big Screen Reality is another beauty, with chiming guitar sound on a tale that bemoans the fact that so many people live in a fantasy world rather than the warts and all real
world! The new single release from the album is Red, an excellent slow, moody, murder/lost love ballad with haunting steel guitar, on a song that shows the great strengths of the writing and musicianship the listener can expect to encounter on this fascinating album.
‘Waves washing over our lives’ is the opening sentence of this album and that is exactly what this tremendously intense and at the same time mellow sounding recording does with it’s wash of
soundscapes! This is certainly not music to make a party go with a swing but it is high quality roots music that stands comparison with some of the best in the genre. On first listen I thought that whilst it was a decent album, three stars was probably the most it was worth, but with many subsequent listens it has gradually crept up to it’s current score, so if it doesn’t grab you at first give it a chance because it will reward your patience.
http://www.jimjones.co.uk
4****
Having recorded his previous solo album at Peter Bruntnells studio in Devon, Small Town Jones was invited to record the follow up, Freight Ships, at Third Ear Studios in Amarillo, Texas, with friend, collaborator and multi instrumentalist David Little. The sound evokes the sparse
wide open spaces of not only the geographic location whence it was recorded but also the intimate, at times introverted, North Devon location of his roots.
The atmosphere created in many ways is as important to this album as the well written lyrics. It is generally slow and always hauntingly moody with an excellent sparse instrumentation that
perfectly suits his edgy, emotive vocals. When taking everything into account from instrumentation to vocals and the general feel of the album there is quite a lot of originality in what Jim Jones (no, Small and Town are not Christian names …….. although Townes ………. !) achieves with this album. He doesn’t actually sound like anyone else although funnily enough, some of his vocal inflections are not dissimilar to Peter Bruntnells.
Jim is very succinct and spare with his lyrics, even in the areas in which he uses analogy and metaphor. This is a sure sign of a quality songwriter in that he manages to get to the meat of the story
without a lot of flowery language which is exactly what Jim does on this recording. Whilst there is a paucity of instrumentation there are a variety of sounds and atmospheres without ever losing the albums flow and sparse feel, all helping signal the quality of the songs on this mellow in sound, but thought provoking album. David Little deserves his share of the credit as well, with his beautifully atmospheric guitar playing adding to the power of the album.
The album opens with Waves, with it’s acoustic guitar intro, added to by a moody steel guitar, with vocals that are pleasantly raspy creeping in, with a tempo and feel that strongly evokes the title of the song. A quite original treatment of the instrumentation with the blend of steel and acoustic guitars plus drums, on a nice analogy for the changes in life and the fact that nothing stays the same,
all said in very few words. There is the hauntingly atmospheric Oxygen with keyboards perfectly matched to the feel and eventually joined by a lovely twangy guitar sound, whilst on Something Real there is some excellent drumming with lovely tuneful guitar on a tale that says love can’t survive on
broken promises! Big Screen Reality is another beauty, with chiming guitar sound on a tale that bemoans the fact that so many people live in a fantasy world rather than the warts and all real
world! The new single release from the album is Red, an excellent slow, moody, murder/lost love ballad with haunting steel guitar, on a song that shows the great strengths of the writing and musicianship the listener can expect to encounter on this fascinating album.
‘Waves washing over our lives’ is the opening sentence of this album and that is exactly what this tremendously intense and at the same time mellow sounding recording does with it’s wash of
soundscapes! This is certainly not music to make a party go with a swing but it is high quality roots music that stands comparison with some of the best in the genre. On first listen I thought that whilst it was a decent album, three stars was probably the most it was worth, but with many subsequent listens it has gradually crept up to it’s current score, so if it doesn’t grab you at first give it a chance because it will reward your patience.
http://www.jimjones.co.uk