I am in the fortunate position of being a friend of Jerry King, so consequently he sends me material he has been working on, and given he is wonderfully prolific it means I get to hear music from some very different bands. One of these is Cloud Over Jupiter, and while it has taken four years, he is finally back with the fifth album. Unlike many of his other musical adventures, where he is either a full member of the band he is working with or coming in for session work, COJ is Jerry’s outfit and he brings in friends to help fulfil his musical ideas which means he is the only person who plays on every track adding lead guitars, rhythm guitars, bass, trombone, synth, and arrangements. He often works with Dave Newhouse (Muffins) and Ian Beabout (Colouratura) so it is no surprise to see them involved, while Paul Sears (Muffins), Ric Parnell (Atomic Rooster, Spinal Tap), Bill Jungwirth, Michele King and Pete Prown are just a few of the very familiar names who are back again.
What makes this such a fascinating release is there is a multitude of different styles on offer, from hard rock-based 70’s prog (“Lord of the Flies”) through complex King Crimson jaunts (“Leaf In The Wind”) to songs which are dramatic yet timeless (“Levitation To Eden”). We even get a traditional power trio in “Love Under The Blue Oyster Cloud” where Jerry is joined by drummer Bill Jungwirth and guitarist Richie Castellano (Blue Öyster Cult of course) in an instrumental which is way more rock-based. I often think of Jerry working in a jazz or experimental field, especially when playing with Dave Newhouse, who plays on half of the tracks on the album, but here he has allowed his imagination to run amok as musically this is all over the place, but always maintaining a progressive viewpoint as its base. This makes for a wonderfully satisfying release as one never knows what is going to come next, and while it is a patchwork of ideas this album has come together like a wonderfully designed quilt, guaranteed to keep the listener warm and to stand the test of time. When an album musically shifts as much as this one there is always the danger that it sounds disconnected and disjointed but that is not the case with this one, which to my ears is the finest Cloud Over Jupiter release to date.
