Jack
The Jazz Age

The Jacks led by singer-songwriter Antony Reynolds with "The Jazz Age" (Too Pure - 1998) complete and perfect the narrative started with the already excellent debut "PIONER SOUNDTRACKS". The same references from the past: the more human SCOTT WALKER, ROXI MUSIC, BOWIE, but now assimilated into a more pronounced personal identity. Less tied to the TINDERSTICKS model but still akin to the various AUTEURS, the less sunny and baroque DIVINE COMEDY, SUEDE.

The Jacks play a decadent pop rock, with distinctly English intellectual aspirations, often tending towards the melancholic, even in the more upbeat tracks, yet not boring because of it. Listen to the rhythmic "PABLO", which I would gladly see on the lips of a vintage BOWIE, or the magnificent "MY WORLD VERSUS YOUR WORLD".

The pace slows with "SATURDAY PLAN", a more velvety SUEDE, reaching its peak with the poignant romanticism of "LOLITA ELLE".

Then resumes with the great melody and brisk tempo of "CINEMATIC" and the single "STEMING", tracks closer to the best of BRIT POP, and the silhouettes of SUEDE reappear.
The epic "LOVE AND DEATH IN THE AFTERNOON" leads us to the finale "HALF CUT, WHOLLY YOURS" of the lively and less sullen TINDERSICKS.

The great merit of the "JACK" is that they never go overboard, becoming pompous. Great credit goes to the arrangements of the tracks that succeed in perfectly balancing a wide range of instruments, including a string section that often is the downfall of many groups. The individual sounds are well-measured, including the otherwise good voice of REYNOLDS, making "The Jazz Age" one of the best English albums of 1998. Overlooked by the general public, it absolutely does not deserve to fall into oblivion.