Jack Johnson

[John]

Very similar to Jamie Cullum in terms of jazzness, only he plays with an acoustic guitar instead of piano, and is more experimental with his instrument in my opinion. I'm going out tomorrow to buy his latest album "On and Off" after hearing a few tracks earlier.

At the moment my favourite tracks are "Taylor" , "Cookie Jar" , "Traffic In The Sky" , "Flake" ..... the list goes on, too many to mention and they're all really really good songs.

Music you can relax to, similar to Counting Crows in some ways, quite bluesy and jazzy with very distinct vocals. He's done a few songs with Ben Harper so it's worth giving him a mention too, also very talented, although different from Jack.

He isn't very well known, so I guess it makes him that bit more special.

Buy Buy Buy!

Here's a link to a (bad quality) preview of all the tracks on his latest album:
http://www2.hmv.co.uk/hmvweb/display...1;-1&sku=61179

[bigcumba]

Had a listen to some of those samples, sounds pretty good, a bit more laid back than the likes of Jamie Cullum, still worth a listen. Might try and download it first to get a better listen before I buy - nice one John!

[John]

Excellent! :) Some of those demos really don't reflect the highlights of the song... for instance Taylor has a really upbeat and bouncey intro riff that they don't show!

Happy listening mate. :)

[bigcumba]

Just downloaded a couple of 'different' albums - one by a band calling themselves Beatallica - they've done around 20 Beatles songs in the style of Metallica and with slightly different titles. The other is another Beatles tribute, except this one os by Bugs Bunny, Daffy, Taz and all the other Warner Brothers crew - the snippets I've listened to are pretty funny! I've also got a Bluegrass country version of Pink Floyd's The Wall - not checked it out yet but I'm sure it'll be pretty good! I like those sort of things where they do a really different take on some classic tunes. I've a dub reggae version of Dark Side of the Moon, country versions of Led Zeppelin and Beatles songs... plus of course there is the mighty Dread Zeppelin who do brilliant reggae tinged versions of Zep classics with an Elvis impersonator singing (called Tortelvis!). Now that's what I call music..... :wink

[John]

I absolutely love Led Zepplin, Jimmy Page is the world's greatest guitarist of all time in my opinion! Might check out those other bands you mentioned that have done covers etc, although sometimes they just don't live up to the originals.

I can't stop listening to Taylor, even though repeated listening is the easiest way to get bored of a song! :)

[bigcumba]

Ah, well if you're a big Zep fan then you will like the Dread Zep versions. They do some of their own songs as well, but the Zep stuf is excellent musically and the guy can actually pull off a decent Robert Plant as well as Elvis.

Have you got the Black Crowes and Jimmy Page double CD live at the Greek - almost all Zep songs and a few other classics as well. Page on top form and the Black Crowes obviously loving every minute of the gig! Sadly I never saw Zep live - had a chance to go to Knebworth in 79, but missed out.... luckily I saw Page/Plant in 95 in Glasgow and they were incredible.... I'd been worried about Plant's voice as every time I heard him live on telly he sounded terrible - not that night..... everyone came out of that gig with a big cheesy grin, they were that amazing!

[John]

Knebworth in '79... before I even existed!

Haven't got any Black Crowes or Zep material on CD, although seen a few Zep videos at a friend's the other day, brilliant stuff! Gigs where everyone comes out smiling are the best gigs, it happens at every festival too. :)

[John]

Any updates on the Jack Johnson story then BigC?

Just got back from a gig down the road, that's 2 gigs in 2 weeks! Ooo My flatmate persuaded me to come and see Therapy and The Wildhearts. Even though that genre doesn't appeal to me, they were still really good. I was surprised at the lack of 'true punk rockers' there were, today's society isn't as focused as it once was, a lot more mainstream nowadays. At least it was money well spent. :)

[bigcumba]

The Wildhearts are pretty good - they supported Motorhead last year. Therapy I saw once way back in around 95/96 and I liked them then, haven't really followed them since

Somethin you might like along the jazzy big band scene is Michael Buble - to me he's Sinatra to Jamie Cullum's Tony Bennett. He's another young guy with a fantastic voice, he does a cracking version of Van Morrison's Moondance on the album - really gets it swinging! Check him out if you can.

[markwales]

me thinks tomorrow will be spent downloading !!!,......sounds like some great stuff mentioned here.

I'm primarily a rock fan, but jazz does it for me too.

P.S. Thunder are touring this year...GET AND SEE THEM if you can !!!!!

[John]

Definitely Mark, like I said, Taylor is definitely worth a listen, it's the catchiest tune I've heard in a long time - what a shame they don't let you preview the intro riff! Haven't heard of Thunder, but I'm in a musical mood, so they're going on my download list.

I'm going to download some Michael Buble now you've recommended him BC, the name rings a bell but I can't remember where I've heard his name. I buy NME every week so probably from there. Any stand out tracks you recommend?

Rock on! :)

[bigcumba]

Any of the tracks off his album are worth getting John, but Moondance is a cracker.

Mark, Thunder are a great band, only seen them a handful of times live but always good. They keep up the classic Whitesnake (late 70's early 80's version) tradition of great British blues-rock.

[markwales]

Nice to hear BC.....I'm a Thunder devotee......all the albums, all the singles, most of 'em signed and so on....The next gig will be my 52nd.....I know it's sad, I don't need telling !!!

[John]

Re... Johnson...

http://www.jackjohnsonmusic.com/music/default.aspx

Heaven. :D

The Windows Media Player ones didn't work for me, so I'm getting the Quicktime ones.

[bigcumba]

52 gigs by the same band - that's a real 'fan'! I guess I've been into too many bands to be able to do that with any one band. Seen Motorhead and Hawkwind nearly 20 times each, Saxon around 15, Marillion nearly 20, mostly with Fish.

[markwales]

Ooooohhhh Chill !!!....superb head nodding stuff SJ

[John]

Ooo

I just can't wait to get to V Festival to see The Strokes.

[markwales]

Thunder were the first rock band I ever saw, and I just got hooked. Plus the fact that they're a nice bunch of guys, always have an after gig party with the fans (fan club members), and now and again get the beers in !!!...lol

[John]

Ooooohhhh Chill !!!....superb head nodding stuff SJ

Methinks someone likes Jack Johnson. :D

[bigcumba]

Just had a listen to a few bits myself, and was able to watch a bit of video as well - pretty good and just the job for this time of night to go with my bottle of wine... :wink Much better quality than on the HMV site. He reminds me of someone but can't quite pin it down. There's a hint of Lou Reed, and a wee bit of James Taylor in there, but much more... voice is different enough to catch the ear right away, the guitar style is different as well. Wonder when we'll see him on Parky! BTW that might be where you saw Michael Buble SJ...

[John]

Very chillout isn't he, but not your average chillout... has a bit of an edge to him, and some Lou Reed material is quality.

Just downloaded some Michael Buble including Moondance, haven't listened to any yet... have a guess why! :)

Any chillout music like this is great for this time of night... Sting, Dido, David Gray, Counting Crows, Suzanne Vega.....

[bigcumba]

Ah, Suzanne Vega... beautiful voice! Got her first 3 albums way back, one of the best female singer/songwriters ever!

[John]

True, not to mention Sade!

[bigcumba]

True, not to mention Sade!

Sade.... zzzzz... :) Only joking, she is very good, and damn sexy with it!

[John]

Well 4 weeks later, and everyone who I've convinced to listen to Jack Johnson likes him. :) Managed to get my parents off my back as well as they seem to like him so far. It's a perfect album for the occasional bottle of wine and dimmed lighting. My dad just said he sounds like Paul Simon from the 60's, who I don't know of, so time to grab what I can of him as well!

[Alex]

Got to say that all these so called fresh faces are a load of **** and bring nothing new to jazz. As a student of jazz for many years and as a musician all i can say that you are lowering yourselves listening to this regurgitated dross.

May i suggest: John Coltrane, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny

as a few examples of jazz.

My opinion by the way, dont take offense :)

Alex.

[sparkyminer]

Paul Simon of Simon and Garfunkel, surely even at your tender age you've heard of him.

[John]

Alex, Jack isn't trying to recreate jazz, infact I don't even think Jack Johnson is all that jazzy now that I've listened to him more. I think Cullum is trying too hard to recreate jazz, as he is certainly more upbeat and jazzy, but all he said he wanted to do was to make jazz appeal to younger people. Why not give him a try and then come back and give a second opinion.

Sparky, course I've heard of Simon and Garfunkel, I just didn't realise Paul Simon was the guy linked! :)

[bigcumba]

May i suggest: John Coltrane, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny

as a few examples of jazz.

Great musicians, but perhaps a wee bit too 'out there' for newcomers to jazz, Alex. I do like Jamie Cullum, a very talented youngster with a long future ahead of him....he'll improve with age. My dad is a big jazz fan, but of the trad variety, Chris Barber, Acker Bilk, Kenny Ball etc, great music to catch live!

[sparkyminer]

Had a quick listen to the Jack Johnson snippets, definitely worth a further listen methinks, don't normally like jazz, always sounds like 2 or 3 of them are playing from a different sheet to the others in the band. :wink