Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Jadis
Label: Inside Out Records
Released: 2003
The original lineup of Jadis, with Gary Chandler (lead vocals, guitar), Steve Christey (drums) and two stalwarts of the excellent I.Q., John Jowitt (bass) and Martin Orford (keyboards), a band that has been around since 1987, has finally got a new studio album in the can (their fifth overall). These Englishmen represent the wave of progressive rock whose guidelines were firmly staked out on British soil in the eighties by bands like I.Q., Marillion or Arena, and they stick to their winning formula by tradition, without budging an inch. Jadis don’t chase the sounds or styles of the present day, and they aren’t driven by any special obsession like some modern-day nostalgics à la The Flower Kings, flirting with the legacy of seventies prog rock.
These guys are real “connoisseurs” of their craft, no doubt about it. At every turn the music carries that proper cool Celtic touch. It’s part of these guys, part of their traditional essence, the whole deal of the Saxons, the English, the Brits, the pulse of the highlanders from the north. The production is crystal clear, hair-splittingly precise, and the multicolored motifs flow seamlessly into one another. It’s all put together so perfectly that the listener can barely notice the transitions between the ideas. The songs are varied, the contrasts extreme, with a full measure of unpredictability at every step. The record opens with a song with a harder riff, The Great Outside. Much livelier and steelier than the bands I rattled off above, so surprisingly, at the start, it negates the band’s membership in that genre in many ways. With the exception of the opener, where the riffing is deliberately pushed up front in the production in places, the guitar on most tracks is a completely equal partner, and its “drive” fantastically grounds the spaciness of the keyboards, so the two elements sit in harmonious balance. Woven wittily into this partnership is a sparkling rhythm line, phenomenally balanced in the production, with an expressive bass of melodic lines and tasteful contrasting transitions that give the songs extra breeze and keep the mood of the whole record high. The atmosphere gets a contrasting kick and climbs another step with the dreamy Into Temptation, then intensifies further through Each & Everyday. You won’t have to guess that Martin Orford is with us at the latest when you hear the title instrumental. For those who know I.Q. there’s nothing new here, in short, it’s an ocean of drifting esoteric keyboard sounds from Martin Orford in all his recognizable glory. The song flows fantastically into one of the atmospheric highlights of the record, Yourself Alone. Gary’s voice is tailor-made for the style Jadis cultivate, since he belongs to that special fraternity of British singers all the way from P. Gabriel to Fish (ex-Marillion). A clean and sensitive voice that blends into the compositions with total commitment throughout. It’s marked by a sophisticated, subtle approach with no room for melancholy, pathos or self-pity; instead, the vocals radiate complete self-awareness and devotion to an indestructible faith in carrying out the purpose of one’s own path.
The guys speak that green language that Yes or Barclay James Harvest already used so astutely. The preaching is full of gnosticism, clothed in full awareness of and devotion to the forces of the cosmos. There’s no room here for pathetic weeping over the everyday troubles of the little man; Jadis have risen above that, and their lyrics and music are a total assault of light and life force, nothing but positive vibrations. If I may touch on Great Britain’s servility toward the big brother across the ocean, Jadis’ philosophy offers a mirror image of it. Like Agent Smith and Mr. Anderson in The Matrix. Fear of the unknown (total control), or love above all (total freedom). The masses are currently deep in the grip of the first option.
“Fanatic” is a record made under the total dominance of pure “feel”, or put differently, the principle of honestly listening to the voice of the heart. It’s hard to single out highlights; the songs are equally weighty, varied little stories, polished to perfection. Music with a strong esoteric moment and a significant touch of spontaneity, a fantastic, uncompromising and grandiose atmospheric blend, makes the Jadis story magical, full of seductive mysticism, with a beam of light shining through it from start to finish. In short, welcome aboard an interstellar spacecraft where time and space lose all meaning. “Bye-bye Descartes, we’ve left your world!”
Lineup
Gary Chandler – guitar, vocals
Martin Orford – keyboards, backing vocals
John Jowitt – bass guitar
Steve Christey – drums, percussion
Production
Gary Chandler
Track list
1. The Great Outside (6:34)
2. Into Temptation (6:38)
3. Each & Everyday (6:09)
4. I Never Noticed (5:24)
5. Fanatic (4:04)
6. Yourself Alone (6:56)
7. Take These Words (4:16)
8. What Kind of Reason (8:17)
9. Who Can We Be Sure Of (4:51)
Album length: 53:09
