Basically, all you need to know is that this is Jesse James best album to date, by quite some distance. Forget all you think you know about the band – from over-produced Ryan Greene albums to silly songs about shoe fetishes – this is where you need to start your JJ collection. While it would be easy to start saying how mature this sounds, or how the band have grown up, I think it’s more a case that this record is possibly the first where it all sounds so effortless; it’s like the band went into the recording studio with a smile on their face, rather than faced with the daunting task of writing an album and then recording on it.
Some of the band’s best ever songs are here and with four different vocalists in the mix it really gives the band something different. I’m not saying Donagh is a bad vocalist – far from it – but the variety offered up makes this sound like a more complete JJ record. I’ve been quite vocal in years gone by that Jesse James weren’t one of my favourite UK acts, so I’m quite happy to eat my words when bands release records that are genuinely good. Strike off Jesse James as a ska band at your peril – this is seriously good stuff.
www.jessejames.co.uk
Deck Cheese
Paul