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Product details
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Track Listings
| 1. Embers |
| 2. 253 |
| 3. The Day I Died |
| 4. Doctor Doctor |
| 5. So Wrong |
| 6. Blood |
| 7. All Night Cinema |
| 8. Astronaut |
| 9. Goth In The Disco |
| 10. Lo And Behold |
| 11. Basement |
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Success has done weird things to Just Jack. While his literate English pop peers--Lily Allen, The Streets--have responded to fame by becoming larger-than-life caricatures, channeling tabloid controversy back into the music, Jack Allsop’s third album is shy, understated--anonymous, sometimes. But if All Night Cinema is more everyman tales than indulgent self-analysis, it’s a look Just Jack wears pretty well. Lead-off single “Embers” proves that some pretty moving productions are within his grasp, an emotive production of dancing violins, hand-claps, and harmonies that overlay in beautiful patterns, while “The Day I Died” demonstrates that the knack for casual storytelling that Allsop demonstrated on The Outer Marker and Overtones is still present and correct, a relaxed lope of acoustic guitar and thunking drum break that hides a bittersweet twist in the tale. Other moments might prove a mite relaxed for fans who like their pop with more edge, but the album’s only real misstep is “Goth In The Disco”, an unconvincing electro-pop pastiche that overreaches somewhat as it tries to rhyme “dance” with “ambulance”. ––Louis Pattison
Review
Cleverer and kinder than Lily Allen and more mature than Mike Skinner, finely hand-crafted reflections on English life is Just Jack's speciality. His third album, All Night Cinema, is no exception from expectations, the man born Jack Allsopp turning his tried-and-tested lyricism to new stories of normal folks with extraordinary happenings.
Embers betrays more than a little influence of 60s era Steve Reich minimalism, with a joyful multi-layered backdrop of violins, hand claps and electric guitar. It's a comforting and energising demonstration of group inconsequentiality, our actions so tiny they blow away like dust.
Doctor Doctor is a fraught affair, channelling sexual anxiety, while So Wrong is a knowing celebration of scams and karma. Goth in the Disco is an I Don't Like Mondays for all who have grown up trapped in the suburbs suspecting there's more to life than the provincial nightclub.
Lolloping, laidback The Day I Died initially seems Jack Johnson-esque, souped-up by a one-man-band-style backing. But it's far richer, recalling a seemingly routine but strangely perfect day of a family man working in the city on his fateful day. The album’s title track is slightly dull, though, as Jack reveals the variety of his dreams without ever going into any detail, but finding time to pick up a violin sample of Ralph Vaughn Williams’ The Lark Ascending.
Instrumental effort Basement wouldn't sound out of place hidden away on New Order's back catalogue, with its Peter Hook-like bass line and old-school drum machine loops. The string arrangements continue, the album closer climaxing with lovely, slightly scratchy cellos, recalling album opener Embers.
Rewarding and wry, All Night Cinema is a successful juxtaposition of the mundane and shocking, rendered in high definition. Furthermore, Allsop's production skills and, dare one say it, classical knowledge smooth over the more synthetic sounds, giving depth to his subtle and astute observations. --Lucy Davies
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Customer Reviews
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bittersweet symphony,
By
This review is from: All Night Cinema (Audio CD)
Jack Allsop's previous LP 'Overtones' was a unique blend of sharp observations, sweet harmonies and hypnotic beats; this follow-up is more of the same but is less instant and more of a grower - I'm certainly not complaining though as it's as emminently listenable as anything he's done - even the ubiquitous 'Stars in their Eyes'. Alsopp's lackadaisical vocals coupled with hip-hop beats and topped-off with a Disco sensibility, are as intelligent, witty and droll as anything by Morrissey, Neil Tennant, Mike Skinner, Eminem or Paul Heaton, to name but a few.Standout tracks here are: 'Embers', arguably the most musically complex and most accomplished song Jack has written to date; 'Goth in the Disco', a quirkily humourous electro number that is so obviously tongue-in-cheek that the Amazon reviewer's comments made me chuckle; and 'Astronaut', as laid-back and droll as anything from previous CD 'Overtones' - however 'The Day I died' is the album's standout, a wry look at an unfulfilled life and as emotive as it is liltingly hypnotic. Endlessly emotive, pulling no punches, and avoiding becoming a pastiche (unlike some of his contemporaries); Just Jack is exactly that: Just himself, just honest - just right.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Just... Jack,
By
This review is from: All Night Cinema (Audio CD)
Enjoyed The Outer Marker, loved Overtones, and really wanted to love this. And yet, and yet, whilst there's nothing really wrong with it, somehow it's just a little too understated.His subject matter remains the everyday and it's a subject he wears well and easily. The lyrics are still smart, relevant and snappy without being too self-conscious with just about each song well crafted around them, telling a short (often bitter-sweet) story. But somehow this time round, the musical soul and variety which was there in Overtones is missing. The harmonies still work and the drum beats, violins and handclaps form a neat and clever backdrop to the lyrics but each song sounds just a little too similar and a little too underplayed. There's nothing which matches the lo-fi funkiness of "Disco Friends", the hip-hop-esque punch of "Life Stories" or soaring vocals of "No Time". Instead the tracks just roll into a steady and pleasant backdrop which just slides past you without you noticing. Clearly there's a couple of stand-out tracks - Embers matches the best of Overtones - but equally there are disappointments, especially Goth at the Disco which, absolutely blinding live, is stripped of its passion and turned into an overly engineered series of electronic blips. It's still worth getting, and better than a lot of similar music, but sadly just not what I'd been hoping for.
6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Scholar and a Gentle-man,
By
This review is from: All Night Cinema (Audio CD)
Jack Allsopp, the world is a better place with you in it.'All Night Cinema' is an accutely observed and beautifully constructed collection of 11 songs from a young writer of talent and distinction. Idiosyncratically, irreducibly English; shrewd, quirky and knowing, this lad knows his way around a good tune. Bursting with wonderful musical and lyrical ideas as well as boundless irrepressible energy, it's a heady and seductive mix ! Start listening anywhere on the album and you won't be dissapointed. 'The Day I Died' transforms the tragically ordinary into pure gold. 'Doctor Doctor' is a blast of a track. Canny sprechgesang of the funniest most articulate kind. The chorus is nothing short of delicious. 'Blood' is a terrifyingly topical tapestry of stark urban imagery. Love and death and loyalty amid the ruins of bleak and broken lives. Title track 'All Night Cinema' takes time to work its magic. The fragile, knowingly off-key vocal delivery adds to the composition's pathos. A haunting invention. 'Goth In The Disco' is very funny (every bit as silly as Frank Zappa's 'Dancing Fool'). A dark story gleefully told. Final instrumental 'Basement' delivers an unusual conclusion. A bit little epic. A little bit DIY. A whole lot thumbs up ! A magical experience from top to tail. Essential.
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