Daylight and Stars - Jim Jones

After the brief but wonderfully titled opener The Underwater Orchestra, Winter Song gets us going steadily and softly builds, finishing with a nice outro, but it’s not until the subsequent Road to You that this album truly begins. It’s a very accomplished song with echoes of contemporary bands currently doing the rounds and without question the highlight of the album. “Am I a passenger or just a visitor?” enquires the songwriter. Emphasised even more so by this track you can’t help but feel that the listener is the passenger on Jones’ soulful journey throughout the album.

There is a very personal theme running through his work, but Jim is no tortured soul. No tales of heartbreak or desperation here, thank you very much. Far from it. Tracks like Find Me Out and Evelyn are testament to this with the latter conjuring images of summer love, maybe lost, maybe not, but upbeat nevertheless.

The mid-section of the album continues in a similar vein with One Step Away and Treading Water which are supported nicely by Severn, a folk-infused one-minute instrumental which could possibly do with being longer.

A Cornish Western is pure indulgence on Jones’ part and probably an unnecessary filler but given the quality of the material surrounding it, we’ll forgive him this time. After this experimental interlude the album finishes strongly and beautifully with Daylight Breaks and another stand out number Illuminate, and as the title may suggest with slightly spiritual overtones.

Jim is obviously a guy with a positive outlook on life and it’s well reflected in his lyrics and musical style. The inclusion of a number different instruments makes the album feel more polished and never feels overdone, always keeping the formula simple, and is admirable considering that it could be tempting to over indulge.

In an industry saturated with successful solo artists with arguably little more than style over substance there’s easily enough here to stand up against and even surpass them.

For more information on the music of Jim Jones and to buy Daylight and Stars visit his web site at www.jimjones.co.uk

Reviewer: Country Bear Jamboree

and now for an intermission............

Twister Valley Records office top 10 play list.........


1. Joe Volt - Derwent Water Gaint (Bootleg) sorry Joe, send us a copy please!

2. Pete Coe - In Paper Houses (Backshift Music)

3. Sonic Youth - The Eternal (Matador)

4. Forest Sun - Harlequin Goodnight (Painted Sun)

4. Dinosaur Jr. - Farm (Pias)

6. Bon Iver - For Emma, forever ago (4AD)

7. Great Lake Swimmers - Ongiara (Nettwerk)

8. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Jacksonville City Nights (Lost Highway)

9. Neil Young - Mirrorball (Reprise Records)

10. Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegen - Sunday at Devil Dirt (V2 Records)

Snaps - An article by Forest Sun

You know what I like about cowboy shirts? Snaps. Snaps are far superior to buttons. Elegant. Attractive. Practical. And most importantly-easily accessible. When I was a kid I wore shirts with snaps. (I had a pair of red cowboy boots, too.) With snaps you can pull your shirt open like your superman getting ready to fly or the incredible hulk, muscles bursting out of your shirt. Or even better have someone else pull your shirt open and off. And toss it recklessly on the floor while they kiss your newly exposed clavicles and fondle your love handles. Buttons don’t have that going for them. You rip a buttoned shirt off a body you can’t put it on again in the morning. Snaps you can. Plus the word snap has an inherently musical quality to it. It’s a verb. A rhythmic action. A percussive event each time you put on that shirt. That satisfying pulsation betwixt thumb and forefinger that buttons just can’t provide. Snaps are about speed. They’re streamlined. Aerodynamic. They may lack the propriety and ubiquitous homogeny of the more widely accepted buttons, but they more then make up for it in personality, relaxed attitude and sexy, pearlescent shine. And for that I am grateful. Forest Sun

Twister Valley Records will be reviewing Forest Sun's new album Harlequin Goodnight soon. Keep posted.

9c from Benelux - Jinder

Jinder, Jinder, Jinder… a very pleasing moniker that just rolls of the tongue. So much so that I spent a while doing just that. Then I started trying to make little rhymes, but that proved to be difficult. Try it yourself. Here I’ll start you off:

“There once was a tunesmith called Jinder…”

There will be a prize for the best one.

But I digress. You want to know what I made of “9c from Benelux” don’t you?

Jinder is a very assured singer and guitar picker. The production is on the button with a soft warm sound and tastefully sparse use of slide and banjo here and there. The songs ache with longing for a world of long dusty trails, big skies and dumb gas station attendants.
He is at is best with intimate and heartfelt subjects such as “Aimee” which is as sweet a love song as you’ll hear this year. I’ll say nothing about the cover of “Vincent”. You probably don’t associate the song with a childhood holiday in Morecambe and it would be unfair to burden you with the detail.

Also there’s another problem.

Songs that couple “slide guitar” with “whisky bar” are fine when you’re from Austin Tx, but Jinder is from rural Warwickshire UK. That knowledge just grates on me and I can’t help wondering why pubs, pedestrian shopping precincts and cheap cider aren’t worthy of Jinder’s impressive songwriting skills.

Maybe I’m being unfair. After all, no one ever criticised Zep because they didn’t actually come from Middle Earth and Dr Octagon probably wasn’t born on Jupiter. This is a good little record from a class act.

You can buy 9c from Benelux and other titles from Jinder's back catalogue at www.jinder.co.uk

Reviewer: CP Mandrake

Do you know "Mrs Partridge passed away today"

We have a pub next door the TVR HQ. It's called the Agricultural Arms or the Aggi as it is known by the locals. The bar itself is nothing much to shout about. In fact I usually avoid the place. But it does have one redeeming factor. It as a big back room. More of a hall really, for gigs and functions. It also has a stage a decent PA and a lighting rig, a rare thing for a pub gig. The reason for last nights visit was to see Devon's very own answer to The Yardbirds, The Devil Delta Blues Band. As usual TDDBB delivered a faultless set of both blues standards and their own classically crafted vintage blues tunes. It was a shame that harp player Joel Squire couldn't make the show. I was told he had taken to his bed with a bout of the ill's. After the show I got talking to the drummer, Mr Keith Giles, and the conversation turned to previous bands he had performed with.
Keith, it turns out, was the drummer for the 60's psych-pop band Fortes Mentum. Not a band I knew anything about, but I do now with a lot of help from the web. Now I know that there are certain folk out there who get very excited over such things and are willing to part with large sums of cash for such vinyl gems. Especially when it comes to rare psych/rock/pop and folk bands from the 60's. So before I get inundated with mail asking for Keith's contact details, he assures me that he has not got any Fortes Mentum LP's or singles for sale.

I found a couple of tracks online but as expected the web is peppered with bits and pieces about the band but their website is far the best place to glean any information you may require about the band.
I found their 1968 single release on Parlophone Records entitled Saga of a Wrinkled Man and a download on Rhapsody and their web site has some classic photos and an up to date band biog. Well worth a look if you want to experience some classic English psych-pop from the 1960's. Hope you enjoy and thank you Keith for unlocking the doors to your psychedelic past. Keith's next appearance with the with The Devil Delta Blues Band will be 5th September at The Pier Tavern, Illfracombe, Devon.

Is this Summer? The P4R Live Music Night

Paddle4Relief will be holding another fundraising music gig at The Aggi, Braunton on Friday 21st August 2009! Founder, Tim Tanton is heading back to Sri Lanka in September, for three months, to complete a number of projects before the East Coast Monsoon Season hits!

. . . . . . featuring headlining band 'The Artists' – a quartet of talented young men who gave an energetic and powerful performance at their inaugural P4R music gig in June, who are fronted by the charismatic Pascal on lead guitar and vocals.

. . . . . . a new sound for P4R are 'Tied Loose' - a five piece band consisting of Keira - Vocals, Wilf - Rythm guitar, Dan – Bass, Adam – Drums and Darren - Lead/rythm guitar. They play their own material along with covers including; Communication Breakdown, Bring it on Home, Knockin on Heavens Door, Back in Black and Sweet Child o Mine. They are in the majority, a classic rock band, drawing on influences from Zeppelin, Hendrix, AC/DC, Guns N' Roses, The Stones etc. But with their very own unique spin on it, largely helped by their female vocalist, Keira.

. . . . . . the enigmatic youth of Jim Heard as 'Ashbeck Goes Acoustic' – Jim was asked back following such awesome feedback from the crowd he entertained at the main P4R event on Saunton Beach back in June. The 19 year old singer/songwriter knows how to wow the crowd with his acoustic set. Jim's musical influences include Stereophonics, Blink 182, Get Cape Wear Cape Fly and anything acoustic.

. . . . . . and finally but definitely not last, we have the mature and experienced Douglas E Powell – an absolute backbone of P4R's music gigs.
. . . .'Douglas E Powell's own take on folk and Americana has earned him great respect from fans of his music all over the world.
Choosing to play solely with acoustic guitar and harmonica, Douglas tips his hat to his musical heroes Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Burt Jansch.
His live performances are intensely charged with deeply personal lyrics over gritty and beautifully simplistic guitar work.'

And to help them blow the roof off, the ever present PINKY PA!
The evening will be kicking off around 8.30pm. A donaton of £3.50 will be requested on the door. All funds raised will go towards further Well and Water Projects in the village of Arugam Bay, Eastern Province, Sri Lanka.

Come on down from that mountain

Mark Lennon – Down the Mountain (Vagabonds Tune Records – cat No 3683-A)

From the outset of this very short long player, a mere 27minutes and 23 seconds to be exact, you’re left in no doubt this is a country album that airs just on the side of alt and country rock. The opener, Down the mountain, rolls gently on through with accompaniment from hammond, pedal steel and vocal harmonies. We have here in place all the elements of a pretty decent album.

My Home Town bridges that gap between country and alt with Marks no fuss approach to song lyrics, singing honestly about a longing for the tree lined streets of his hometown back in the south. Mark now resides in Los Angeles, a place devoid of any tree-lined streets he would have us believe. But we get the sentiment.

With Wildside Mark moves down a gear and into, I feel his best mode. Leaving the full band behind for a moment, this track sees Mark laid bare, if only for a short while. With vocals from both Mark Lennon and Simone Stevens, a big acoustic guitar, a dash of piano and horns makes up by far the best track on this album. Now, this is no Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris moment, but I will admit there is a certain twang to the combination, but this track is so far removed from both alt-country or country rock. This is fresh. This is simplicity at it’s finest. There is a wise use of space between the two opposing melting and sliding vocal harmonies and a lack (I am please to say) of any drifting and a tad over bearing solos from his fellow band members, which is an all to common reoccurring fault with this album. What I could be with you and I’m doing fine both suffer from the same affliction.

This only goes to show that when Mark’s music is stripped down to its component parts it still functions so perfectly well.
The penultimate track Tennessee and the final track Broken find Mark musically grounded and in full control of his run away band and finally able to show case his obvious talents as a gifted songwriter.

For more information on the music of Mark Lennon or to buy this album visit www.lennonmark.com

Reviewer: DE Powell

Hello to our new followers

Massive thank you to all our new friends who have joined us over the last week as a result of our recent social networking recruitment drive.
Thanks also to the musicians, writers and bands from all over the world who have sent us albums to review and articles to contribute. Our very own dedicated team of reviewers and contributors, CP Mandrake, D E Powell and The Country Bare Jamboree are hard at work sorting the wheat from the chaff. Please keep sending us your music and anything else that you think that we might be interested in.

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