Door Into Summer (©1989 Alarma Records)

1: Wind And Wave 2: Tell Me What You See 3: She Smiles At The Future 4: Church Of do What You Want To 5: Awfully Familiar 6: Waiting For The Son 7: Door Into Summer 8: If You Believe 9: Million Miles 10: All For You 11: Psalm 151

You know the saying never judge a book by its cover? Well, there's a lot of truth to the saying. Let me state unequivocally, that Door Into Summer features one of the coolest covers ever. It totally captures the band, and you know what you're in for.

I didn't just buy this record because I thought the cover was incredibly cool, I bought it because I saw Terry Taylor's name on the back (and it had a cool cover). Now, there's a lot to like here, and the guys were retro without being lame. They were playing 12 string Rickenbackers, and in the liner notes they referenced The Monkees. In short they were cool, in an age before nerd rock was even a genre.

The only thing that kept this album from blowing over the top was the quality of the production. Most notably the horrible drum sound that was used. It was a sort of wet, plate-reverbed thwack. Kind of the sound you'd hear if you were ever in my eighth grade French class. It was exactly the same sound as a large spit ball hitting the black board - it was a sound I heard a lot over a four month period. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't totally terrible, just a bit off. This was jangly music, like The Byrds, Monkees, Beatles, or Starland Vocal Band. An 80's new wavish snare seemed out of place.

There were some cool moments, and to be honest this album holds more appeal to me now than it did in '89. Songs like "She Smiles at the Future" the U2ish "Waiting for the Son" and the Taylor assisted "Awfully Familiar" are still excellent songs.

The album over all is pretty good, but it has a few great moments that put it over the hump.

Reviewed December 17, 2005

Knock Breathe Shine (©1990 Alarma Records)

1: Look At U Now 2: Little Red Words 3: Dreamaker 4: Further Up & Further In 5: Beggars And Kings 6: Is It True? 7: Islands, Buildings, And Freeways 8: I Believe In You 9: There Goes My Heart Again 10: Bad Lick & Gun Shot 11: Mr. Hitler 12: I'm A Little World 13: About Sex (Part II) 14: Wounded World 15: These Thousand Hills

The guys weren't sitting around gathering dust, and a year later released the right solid Knock Breathe Shine. This is one of those new to me albums fifteen years later. To be honest I really wasn't on a kick to gather up the back catalog of a defunct band, except for two things. First, through a message board Jerry called me on "trashing" their self titled album. Second, I got a couple of e,mails and comments in the guestbook telling me that judging the band based their first and last albums was being unfair to the band, and that I really out to get the rest. Being impressionable, and also wanting to suck up to Jerry and make amends I sought them out over a few months. Being so late in the game my opinion on the band's output doesn't matter at all, but I'm a man on a mission.

The first thing that struck me about the album was the hideous cover art. I'm not trying to sugar coat this at all, this is pretty much one of the worst covers in my entire collection. Actually, it may be the worst (John Tesh covers don't count) come to think of it. As I sit here looking at the cover I'm struck by the how truly icky it is.

This may have been the kiss of death for sales, but to me it was a good omen. Their first album had a brilliant cover, and the inside was okay. This one had an awful cover, so I figured the inside must be brilliant (this is based on the physics of Star Trek). And sure enough this was a really decent listen. The drums sounded crisp (hooray!), and the jangly elements were sharp and distinct. I wonder how much of their sound was due to the influence to Terry Taylor, and how much was brought in by the band. It's a bit of a chicken or the egg question. But I humbly offer up for your consideration this one point. If you listen to Daniel Amos' Motor Cycle which came out in 1993, you have to wonder who was influencing whom.

This isn't a perfect album, "About Sex (Part II)" probably seemed like a good idea at the time. This is why you can program CD players. But the missteps are pretty minor, when stacked against the standout tracks. Heck, even the venerable Sir Stonehill makes an appearance on "Further Up & Further In". They go cowpunk on "Is It True?" and Jerry and Terry mine pop gold with "There Goes My Heart Again" which is arguably the best song on the album. "I'm a Little World" is vintage Taylor. "These Thousand Hills" a song that in later years earned Third Day a gold album (no not the old Tunesmith band from the 80's, some other band) is a beautiful hymn and is a fitting way to end the album.

In all this was a very satisfying listen, and it's kind of sad looking back on this stuff knowing how it all ended for the guys. Still they left a decent legacy, and to those they inspired to carry on, they'll not be forgotten, at least not right away.

Reviewed December 17, 2005

...Let The Truth Run Wild (©1992 Alarma Records)

1: Something Good Happens 2: Mornin' Light 3: Never Would Have Known 4: Days That Passed Me By 5: Love Me Today 6: Walls Of Doubt 7: I'd Rather Have Jesus 8: Just Like You 9: O.N.F.S. 10: Icicle Face 11: Love Is The Reason We Live 12: You Scare The Hell Outta Me 13: Hope To See You There

Expanding their aural assault Jacob's Trouble added another guitar player and a drummer. I guess the intent was to enable the guys to recreate their arrangements in a live setting. Funny how adding the extra guys didn't seem to fatten up their sound. Which makes me wonder is some of the songs were recorded prior the the new guys joining (the credits would argue against this, but you never know). Both Ron and Keith took turns behind the mic. Their voices are pleasant, but the band had a lead singer, and unless you're The Alan Parson's Project or Van Halen people get used to hearing the voice of the band.

Mark Heard produced this one and the sound takes a subtle turn from the Byrds, to a more organic rock sound. Kind of like The First National Band on steroids. He also brought along long time friend Pat Terry who played harmonica on "Mornin' Light" and a tasty guitar solo on "Days that Passed Me By". The band seems to always put in a cover tune or two, and they do a pretty much note for note cover of Daniel Amos' "Wall of Doubt". The first baby baby of "O.N.F.S." had me cringing think I was in for an Amy Grant cover ... thankfully it wasn't.

Let The Truth Run Wild would be the band's last album with Mark Blackburn who would leave to pursue other musical opportunities. Which was too bad considering he shaved and eveything. I think there were hints on the cover too. Kind the "Walrus was Mark" stuff.

I'm still kind of out on this one as there are some good moments, and the songs are all good, but there's nothing that jumped out and gave me a shiver. Having said that, I will say that the band's sound is aging incredibly well. The guy's should be proud.

Reviewed December 19, 2005

Jacob's Trouble (©1993 Frontline Records)

1: Wild, Wild Ride 2: Lovehouse 3: Desiree 4: This Moment 5: It's A Boys', Boys', Boys', Boys' World 6: Best Part of Me 7: Time Bomb 8: Better Days 9: Tears of An Angel 10: Lovin' Kindness 11: Way of The Cross 12: Let Me Love On You

Sometimes it doesn't matter how much you want to like something, you just can't make yourself like it just because you want to. My only other experience with the band was from their debut album back in 89, which I thought was okay but nothing special (it did have a great cover). It was good enough for me to want to give them another shot when I found this one on sale.

It did start out pretty good with "Wild, Wild Ride" - heck any song dedicated to Cheap Trick can't be all bad. A couple of the songs were lame INXS rip-offs and the rest of the songs puttered along but never really got any traction. Although I'll give full marks to "This Moment" which is in my opinion the best song on the album, and really holds up well, given it's about 10 years old now.

Like I said, you can tell the guys are trying to have fun and make fun happy tap your foot music, but it just never makes it over the hump.

Reviewed May 20, 2002

Diggin' Up Bones (©1994 Alarma Records)

1: If You Believe 2: Eden Again 3: Wind And Wave 4: Million Miles 5: Psalms 151 6: Church Of Do What You Want To 7: Dreammaker 8: Is It True? 9: Cosmic Mailman 10: Let It Rain! 11: About Sex 12: Wounded World 13: Terry's Theme 14: If Superman Got Saved 15: Turn, Turn, Turn (Live) 16: Lovehouse (Demo Version) 17: Wild Wild Ride 18: Better Days 19: Church Of Do What You Want To (Dance Mix) 20: Awfully Familiar (Awfully Redundant Mix)

The band was hardly a foot in the grave, and here they were exhuming bits and pieces for public consumption. Perhaps history would be different if the band had sold a bajillion albums, but one gets the sense that the band wasn't about money. It was about music and message. If it could do both at the same time how cool was that?

This collection of demo recordings shows the band in all its glory, and answers the question "What would the band sound like if ..." Considering the caliber of producers the guys employed, it's surprising to see how much of band's spark was sucked out of the songs. It's quite possible that during recording they tried so hard to make good albums that perfection overcame spontaneity.

It is arguably the band's best effort, and if it included "These Thousand Hills" this would be the definitive JT collection. Of course there are some "grins and giggles" but they're deliberate and are included to show that the band's musical heroes weren't the only ones with a sense of humour.

Given the bands short run, it packed a lifetime into a space of a few short years. They took ol' Neil's advice to heart and added their own twist. They burned out and faded away.

However, there are still a few of us out there who remember.

Reviewed December 19, 2005

Sampler Pak (©1999 KMG)

1: Step By Step 2: Island,Buildings,& Freeways 3: Had This Been An Actual Emergency 4: Wild, Wild Ride 5: Wind And Wave 6: Lovehouse 7: The Monkees' Theme 8: There Goes My Heart Again 9: Morning Light 10: Walls Of Doubt 11: This Moment 12: Desiree 13: Jacob's Truble Vs. The Monster Trucks 14: Something Good Happends 15: Waiting For The Son 16: Little Red Words 17: Church Of Do-What-You-To 18: Psalm 151

In an interesting move, five years after their last outing KMG goes back to the vaults and releases yet another posthumous album. Not to be confused with Digging up More Bones, or Red Skelton’s in my Closet, Sampler Pak is a really solid collection from the southern gentlemen. Heck, there’s even a new tune here titled “Step by Step” which smokes. Who knows what might have been had this album sold like hotcakes – but like Mister Gump said, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” The general record buying public must have thought the guys were trying to push a bunch of those horrid orange nougat filled beauties and stayed away in droves.

It’s cool that KMG decided to pull tracks from JT’s back catalog, (I don't think the folks at Star Song could have been more creative in beating a dead horse) and best of albums, are always a bit of a trick. You never make everyone happy, although I have to ask how in the heck “Desiree” made the final cut rather than their version of their almost biggest hit “These Thousand Hills” is a mystery best left to Robert Stack. Oddly out of place are the live songs, of which there are a few, and don’t get me wrong, they’re fun and kitschy but wouldn’t they be better served fleshing out a live album?

Now at this point you may be wondering how I can give four stars to an album I’m being unfairly hard on (tee hee, I said hard on). Would you like to know how I can? Okay I’ll tell you. I had to listen to this on it’s own merit. And musically, with the exception of the truly icky “Desiree” the songs mesh into a wonderful musical arch that shows Jacob’s Trouble as a band that is still relevant and stylistically pleasing to this day. Why is that? Because the boys studied pop music, and knew how to craft a song.

Yeah, it's quite possible that one day these guy's will get their due and win a special Dove Award for their role in securing the mullet as the acceptable hairstyle for cool hip youth pastors the world over.

Until such time, pass an orange nougat.

January 24, 2006