Review:

on 2012-07-22 onenamedpeter Said:

Found on Putney Bridge?reviewed by Mark Taylor
What will you leave behind you? Thoughts, memories, fragments of a life? The new album by Jaybeemusic tackles another question. How do you make an album that deals with life and being aware that you have only a little more time to live without creating music that is unbearably angst-ridden or laden with I did it my way triumphalism? Found on Putney Bridge manages to be none of those things and instead be funny, sad and original.
The understatement in the vocal delivery creates a lovely sense of intimacy and some of the arrangements are really quite startling. The beautiful patchwork of sounds on To Live in the Moment, gentle saxophone and earthy harmonica emerging out of an ambient backdrop of synth and pedal steel, the severity of the first section of Jump You Bastard that turns on a piano figure into the unsettlingly rousing chorus. Its all beautifully judged and contains enough sand against silk to keep things unpredictable.
Its the lyrics however that mark this album out as Jaybees best. Hes always been a fine lyricist but this contains long stretches of brilliance. Jaybee mentions in the liner notes that the words come via Karen but the arrangement and construction of the lines are his, it is all his voice. And I love the voice in There is Inspiration in Everything, almost like the Caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland. The touching and then unapologetically pervy voice in I Love Nipples.
?It should, somehow, be all too sad. There are times when the reality of cancer makes you flinch (The Glums,  Found on Putney Bridge). But there is so much humanity here, so many stories that concentrate on the daft stuff that happens to us that you feel somehow that life has found a way to succeed over tragedy. There you are death, you thought youd won but you were wrong.
Quite often, you read about an album that is supposed to be a return to basics. Putting song-writing first, creating all the music with the help of nothing more than an acoustic guitar and some awful (but fortunately inspirational) experiences. And then you look closely and its smoke and mirrors. The acoustic guitar used to belong to Bob Dylan and it was recorded at Abbey Road, the songs were co-written and fluffed by a gang of steely pros. Found on Putney Bridge is the exact opposite. Beautiful, intimate but ambitious in so many ways and its the work of one man. Its a thing of wonder and you should listen to it.
Rating: 10/10