I just need to check the calendar before I write this review. Yep, it’s 2012, it’s just that at the moment it feels like the best part of twenty years ago. Over the last few months I have written reviews of Galahad, Landmarq, Citizen Cain, Big Big Train and others that were active in the Nineties and now here are Jadis back with their first album in six years. I have to confess that ‘More Than Meets The Eye’ is one of my favourite albums of all-time of any genre, I am probably the only person in New Zealand with a Jadis ringtone (a snippet of “Wonderful World”), and still have very fond memories of the first time I saw Jadis in concert with some outfit called Shadowland on the ‘Lurve Ambassadors’ tour (and that was 20 years ago!).
So, let’s be honest, the chances of me writing a bad Jadis review are pretty slim. Since the last album, ‘Photoplay’, both Martin Orford (keys/flute/backing vocals) and John Jowitt (bass) left the band and they were initially replaced by Giulio Risi and Andy Marlow respectively but Giulio has also since left and on this album the keyboards are provided by Arman Vardanyan. But, the stalwarts over the years have been the backbone of drummer Steve Christey and the heart and soul of guitarist/singer Gary Chandler. As long as they are there, then Jadis keep going.
I don’t know what has been happening over the last six years, as there are very little details on the website, but let’s hope that it isn’t another six years until the next album as yet again this is superb. Jadis have a sound like no other, with the dual-tracked vocals and the focus on the guitar. Keyboards and bass have their role in all bands, but here it is to provide a backdrop to allow Gary to fly, something he does extremely well indeed. Yes there are times when all of the guys have their turn in the spotlight, but this is all about the guitar. If one has to put in another band reference, then the nearest is probably Camel, but to me Jadis are Jadis: they steer their own path, with less layers and demonstration of virtuosity than many others, yet always very melodic with songs that stick in the mind and demand to be played time and again.
If you have yet to come across this great British band, then you owe it to your ears to do so. For more details visit www.jadismusic.com.
