Jim Jones is a surprising gentleman.
As he and his band walked on stage at the Ruby Lounge last night he greeted the audience in a down to earth, Southern England twang, explaining that this is the first night of the band’s UK tour and how it was great to be back on the road.
All very pleasant and level headed so far.
Then however, from the count in on Mind Field, Jim Jones transforms into a screaming evangelical-style lunatic who you could be forgiven for thinking hailed from America’s Deep South and had spent many an hour on one of those ‘put your hand against the screen and feel the presence of The Lord!’ type channels.
The only difference between the evangelical preacher and Jim Jones is that if the evangelist feels he was put on this earth to remind you about all things wonderful regarding ‘the big guy upstairs’ then Jim Jones feels he was put on this earth to remind you about all things wonderful regarding the very foundations of Rock ‘n’ Roll.
To say The Jim Jones Revue are a band who are basically immersed in mid-to-late 50s’ Rock ‘n’ Roll does not really do them justice however. There is one hell of a lot more too them than that.
You can hear the spirit of Iggy and The Stooges in there, you can hear the MC5 and you can certainly hear how Eddie Cochran’s guitar would have sounded if the overdrive pedal had been invented before he died. Throw all of that into the mixer with a 21st century Jerry Lee Lewis on piano and you are maybe somewhere closer towards a true description of them.
The raw power of Jim Jones’ vocal chords was absolutely astounding last night and how he keeps this level of screaming going from one evening to the next without tearing his voice into absolute shreds is anyone’s guess.
Seven of the first ten tracks in the set last night came from the band’s latest album The Savage Heart. All high-energy stuff and all executed with an urgency that, on more than one occasion, showed Jim Jones visibly itching to move onto the next number as quickly as possible.
It was quite telling however that The Savage Hearts closing number and possibly The Jim Jones Revue’s slowest number to-date, Midnight Oceans And The Savage heart, was one of last night less successful moments. The audience seemed to lose interest slightly and maybe without even intending to, managed to communicate exactly which side of The Jim Jones Revue they were there to see.
Following Midnight Oceans…The band briefly left the stage only to return and announce part two of the set which Jim dubbed “The Jim Jones Jukebox!” where the band basically asked the audience to shout out requests from The Jim Jones Revue’s back catalogue and the band would play them.
Much to Jim’s surprise the audience continued to request songs from the new album prompting him to quote Michael Corleone from The Godfather, “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!”
The Rock ‘n’ Roll spirit was unrelenting for the remainder of the set as the audience were treat to Where Da Money Go?, Jerry Lee Lewis’ Meat Man, Dishonest John and High Horse. At times last night, Jones resembled the wide-eyed Rock ‘n’ Roll side of Paul McCartney when he does his best Little Richard impersonation. A side of McCartney that sadly is too seldom seen.
By strange coincidence, as soon as this had been observed, Jim informed his audience that it would have been John Lennon‘s 73rd birthday on the day of the gig. The reaction was disappointing and slightly nonchalant, especially when you consider how much the man actually did for what was being experiencing last night – British rock ‘n’ roll.
As the ‘Jim Jones Jukebox’ continued, the band had truly hit their stride and even though Jones did struggle with the power of his vocals on one or two occasions, the sheer exuberance of his performance more than made up for it.
By the time they got to the end of last nights set, they showed that rather than merely reviving Rock ‘n’ Roll, they are actually bringing its spirit kicking and screaming into 2013 and putting a completely new twist on the form.
Picture courtesy of Josep M Marti, with thanks.
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