First Review in for Sunshine Avenue by Geoff Helisma of the Clarence Valley Review - Just listened to the new album Sunshine Avenue - amazing, not sure how it fits into the youth or mainstream marketplaces, but on first listen, it hits the mark on at least 22 of the 25 songs here. Jans-Brown cites being inspired unashamedly by 70s and 80s Classic Rock n Roll - but its more than that: his appropriations are left of centre and mainstream at the same time (there are multiple genres within single songs). If I was looking for one album to compare it to, it would be Matthew Sweets Girlfriend from 1991 - there are echoes of Robert Quines, who played on the album, guitar style. Quine came to prominence with Richard Hell and the Voidoids in 1977 and went on to play with Lou Reed (notably on The Blue Mask), Brian Eno (on Nerve Net), Lloyd Cole, Tom Waits (Rain Dogs) and others. However, singling out one album for comparison does Jans-Brown a disservice - theres much more than that going on. This album (and it is an album in the true sense of word - not just a collection of songs) is the result of an extraordinary pooling of talents to bring Jans-Browns songs to life. Echoes of the faux Byron Bay funk rock groove thang, which were evident on disk 2 of his previous double disk opus Letting Go, have been expunged from the record. Sunshine Avenue may embrace seemingly anachronistic influences, however, the beauty of pop musics ability to eat and reinvent itself flourishes here - all of this without any evident compromise. Youll be singing along to the title track before its three minutes and 35 seconds have expired. If justice prevails, Jans-Brown should become more familiar with the worlds music consumers. Im an unashamed fan of disk 1 from Letting Go; this time around both disks will be spinning in my players. 4.5 out of 5 for me. - G.H Thanks Geoff, much appreciated and Ill be straight onto listening to Mathew Sweet and Robert Quine. :)
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 01:29:35 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015