Sometimes bad things happen to good people. Perhaps that’s what Kris Kristofferson was thinking after he signed on to help promote Jubal, a rather toothless collection of early ‘70s country-flavored soft rock. The iconic tunesmith—on the cusp of stardom courtesy of Janis Joplin’s successful interpretation of “Me and Bobby McGee”—used his name to endorse this obscure quintet’s self-titled debut album. First released in 1972 on Elektra Records, Jubal is a mostly maudlin affair, a record peppered with limp-wristed ballads and acoustic-based light rock numbers. “Friendly Goodbye,” “Morning of My Life” and “Castles in the Sand” are typical of the group's overly sentimental sound, the latter even featuring ocean wave sound effects. There is one great moment. “For Becky,” a splendid ballad, features an effective mix of piano and saxophone amidst a series of delicate time changes. A few more songs like this and Kristofferson might have been a bit more accurate in his praise. Jubal’s musical approach is probably best captured on “Really Not a Rocker:” “I’m really not a rocker/never was a rocker,” insists the band. “Always was a country boy.” I'm glad they said it so I didn't have to.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Jubal
Sometimes bad things happen to good people. Perhaps that’s what Kris Kristofferson was thinking after he signed on to help promote Jubal, a rather toothless collection of early ‘70s country-flavored soft rock. The iconic tunesmith—on the cusp of stardom courtesy of Janis Joplin’s successful interpretation of “Me and Bobby McGee”—used his name to endorse this obscure quintet’s self-titled debut album. First released in 1972 on Elektra Records, Jubal is a mostly maudlin affair, a record peppered with limp-wristed ballads and acoustic-based light rock numbers. “Friendly Goodbye,” “Morning of My Life” and “Castles in the Sand” are typical of the group's overly sentimental sound, the latter even featuring ocean wave sound effects. There is one great moment. “For Becky,” a splendid ballad, features an effective mix of piano and saxophone amidst a series of delicate time changes. A few more songs like this and Kristofferson might have been a bit more accurate in his praise. Jubal’s musical approach is probably best captured on “Really Not a Rocker:” “I’m really not a rocker/never was a rocker,” insists the band. “Always was a country boy.” I'm glad they said it so I didn't have to.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
after a lot of searching, i finally found some audio samples for this one on (what i think is) a korean site. pretty good stuff, if you like the genre. i can't see "i'd hate to be a black man" being a very marketable name on a CD re-release, though.
Wormpiano, thanks for your note. I agree - a song title like "I'd Hate to Be a Black Man" is rather jarring despite its anti-racist lyrics. Strangely enough, I actually think it's one of the album's better tracks.
Post a Comment