Joker - The Vision

Jonjon gave Joker's new album a listen. Here's what he thought:

Joker’s The Vision is all over the place. What you get is a mishmash of styles and genres with a few pop-tinged singles thrown in. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but it requires that the songs are good enough in their own right. The Vision fails in this. For a start there are too many tracks on this that sound like demos that had been floating around for the five years this album was in gestation, that were drafted as filler once a release date was decided.

How can I convey this? Let’s go to the tracks...

Opener Intro sounds like the soundtrack to a British film from the 80s. That may seem a vast generalisation but think of the opening to Edge of Darkness or the more synth heavy tracks from the Local Hero soundtrack (what? You don’t own these?). Think Clapton and Knopfler suddenly discovering synthesisers (as they had on those soundtracks). All atmosphere and building tension that jumps to...

Wahb, wahb, wahb, WAHBBER, wahhhhb 

You know that sound. Track two, Here Come The Lights is a dubstep-infused work of pop that wouldn’t be out of place on any commercially-minded music clips show. It jars with the previous track and doesn’t stand on its own as a good enough single to set it apart from all the dubstep-influenced pop that has appeared over the last few years.

Next, Tron or, as I call it, I can be Timbaland too. More dubstep-influenced R‘n’ B with some of those Timbaland-style vocals (the little asides of “Hey, eh” he’s uses in every track so he gets to appear in the clip). Then another pop-style song and a track that sounds like yet another demo that never developed.

Let’s jump to Level 6 (Interlude). If you had said to me when I was 10 that 20 years later I would be reviewing an album that appears to not just sample but replicate the music to Sonic the Hedgehog I doubt I would have believed you. Partly because I was an extremely arrogant and stupid child, but also because who beyond a few ultra nerdy nostalgia whoring filmmakers would want music like that? Well welcome to Level 6 (interlude). Yes, I am aware the title of the track is a videogame reference. That doesn’t mean it isn’t indulgent.

There are 12 songs in total but... it doesn't get better. Taken individually, some tracks show Joker’s talent, but it’s drowned between the misfires and mismatch.

Review by Jonjon

Teddy Thompson & David Ford, The Thekla, Bristol

It was quite a novel feeling to watch a gig in the bowels of a boat. Never mind that it is approximately six foot from shore and indeed still moored, Bristol's Thekla is a cool little venue, and was rammed for the appearance of Teddy Thompson.

The advancing years of many of the audience members suggested that more than a handful of Thompson's followers learnt about him through his parents - folksters Richard and Linda Thompson - and they would perhaps have been pleased enough with his non-threatening, MOR folk-pop. The problem though was that there was a serious lack of dynamism about his set, which made it seem as though it was going on FOREVER, as one moderately pleasant mid-tempo effort followed another. Also, Thompson's lyrics often tend to be somewhat cheesy. His words about a beautiful girl in a beautiful world or whatever, were painful, especially considering that, between songs, his banter offered the perfect dissection of self-deprecation and slight smugness that proved to be genuinely amusing. If he could pour more of this wit into his lyrics, it would add some desperately needed edge.

In complete contrast, support act (and temporary member of Thompson's band) David Ford combined political anger with a sense of bloody-minded romance across a varied set that showcased how one-man, a load of instruments and a loop pedal can make an awesome noise. There were plenty of songs from his latest album, while the bile-fuelled State Of The Union from his debut still bursts with life even after all these years. "What a model of Christian behaviour/Preach on with the message of Go Fuck Thy Neighbour," he spat, as furious and intense as the first time he ever sang it. Elsewhere, lovely piano ballads To Hell With The World and Song For The Road were also highlights in a 45-minute performance which proved, again, that Ford is one of the most underrated performers in England today.

Review by Rob Townsend.