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Amazon.co.uk Review
Frayed by the ocean-hopping promotional commitments required to stay apace of their accruing popularity, South London's Mercury Music Prize-nominated urban folk-pop duo Turin Brakes took stock and hunkered down in their Brixton studio bolt hole to record their third album JackInABox. Wagons duly circled, one might have anticipated a portfolio of dry, woebegone claustrophobia. However, what JackInABox actually tenders is the elixir of easy living, the lure of the open road and an emancipating two-fingered gesticulation in the prevailing direction of the sick city rat race. From the breezy, footloose opener "They Can't Buy The Sun" - imagine if The Eagles had listened to Loaded by The Velvet Underground - to the supple funky country acoustics of "Asleep With The Fireflies", JackInABox" is all open fields, the heavens above and sunsets in rear view mirrors. "Oh no, my world is on fire, someone fetch some water cos I think I’m going to burn" sings Olly Knights on the feverish title track, a magnetic aggregate of Pentangle's jazz-folk merry-go-round and The Notorious Byrd Brothers. "Forever" is mind balm for seekers of mellow, come-down reverie but - notwithstanding one or two ponderous pregnant pauses - JackInABox finds Turin Brakes with a reinvigorated spring in their step. --Kevin Maidment
Review
It's hard to believe we've had the swooning acoustica of Turin Brakes for half a decade now. They say time flies when you're enjoying yourself, and if gentle, handcrafted gems are your thing, you'll soon find that the days and weeks quickly disappear while listening to this album.
Ether Song, the follow-up album to the deliriously received debut The Optimist, was tragically under appreciated, and chances are that JackInABox will receive the same fate. Not because the album of acoustic led songslacks anything, but because somehow the critics just don't seem to get it.
Too often lumped in with the coffee-table elite (stand up Katie Melua, Jamie Cullum and Eva Cassidy), a fair listen to the third album from Olly Knights and Gale Paridjanian reveals a progression to their sound that shows a depth and ability far beyond that of their more bland contemporaries.
The band's detractors often lazily accuse them of producing a long list of moaning nonsense, butI don't thinkthey've been listening properly. The truth is that JackInABox is full of toe-tappers such as "Asleep With The Fireflies", "Over And Over" and the Radio 2 friendly "They Can't Buy The Sunshine". Then there's gut-wrenchers like the angelic "Forever" (showing off Olly's choirboy past to its limit) and the pearly "Above The Clouds".
There's even something of Nick Drake in many of these songs, all twisted and complex guitars combining to create something beguiling and magical.
Turin Brakes haven't done themselves any favours by releasing the album's most ordinary track, the untaxing "Fishing For A Dream", as the single to promote the album. If you happen to like it, great; if you don't, ignore it and buy the album anyway. It might just be the perfect soundtrack to this summers sunsets. --Chris Long
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
A fabulous album...best listened to in the warm summer months. It totally invokes that lazy summer afternoon feeling for me. If you've listened to previous 'Brakes' albums then you wont need me to tell you how good this is...and if your new to the 'Brakes' then i can wholeheartedly recommend it. Excellent.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Old fans of Turin Brakes, like myself, will find that 'Jackinabox' has a lot more of the acoustic-pop lustre that started to creep in on tracks like 'Pain Killer', from their 2002 album, 'Ether Song'. Admittedly, this album has a much more commercial ambience, but that doesn't mean that it's bad.
What struck me about this cd, in comparison with their other two, is the subtle element of 'soul' which lingers around like a vapour throughout (notably in tracks like 'Asleep With The Fireflies', 'Last Clown' and 'They Can't Buy The Sunshine'). What comes as a shock at first, soon feels justified by the concept of re-invention - the reason why this album should appeal more to the new fans rather than the old.
The highlight of the album (well for me anyway) has to be 'Buildings Wrap Around Me'. It's a beautiful combination of the classic ethereal Turin Brakes sound with the melodic string picking of artists like 'Gordon Lightfoot', who seem to have been forgotten in time's obscure ebb of trend. The result is a wonderfully balmy and tuneful guitar track, worth buying the album for alone.
With the abundance of meaningless synth littering the charts at the moment, it's hard not to be prejudice towards a lot of artists. What's true about the title 'Jackinabox' is that 'Turin Brakes' are are band who's (I don't like saying it) mediocre lyrics, and sometimes melodies, seem to keep them confined within 'the box'; however their passion is certainly still evident and this LP really shows that their music is just waiting to explode onto a new lateral level.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
”All in all it’s been a blast, but fame and fortune never last” are the first words sung on JackInABox. Quite a startling opening gambit but lets hope that this doesn’t signify the end of Turin Brakes for this is a very fine album indeed.
JackInABox contains well-crafted, largely acoustic pop-rock with nice softly sung vocals and exquisite guitar-work. The additional presence of tasteful slide guitar on several tracks gives it more of a US west-coast sound than the duo’s previous two LPs with the already quoted opener They Can’t Buy The Sunshine and Asleep With The Fireflies particularly benefiting from some superb six-string playing. Other highlights include the more acoustic opening single Fishing For A Dream and final track Come And Go which is gradually swathed by whooshing synths reminiscent to me of Stereolab, the resolutely uncommercial 90s indie band.
All in all it is indeed quite a blast and Turin Brakes deserve a good measure of fame and fortune for this accomplished LP. An excellent underrated album with some good songs and superb playing.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
This is a nice mess
Psych-folk is not exactly a new phenomena -- Turin Brakes has been doing it for years now.
But this enchantingly mellow British duo add a catchier edge to their third... Read more
But this enchantingly mellow British duo add a catchier edge to their third... Read more
Published on 25 Feb 2007 by E. A Solinas
Smooth and skillful
Following the atmospheric musings of Ether Song, Jack In A Box finds Olly Knights and Gale Paridjanian in a noticeably more upbeat mood. Read more
Published on 26 Nov 2006 by Mark Thomas
Simply wow!
I cannot understand how or why people have any dislike for this album. I have fallen in love with every single song, and the unmistakable voices of Gale and Olly are still there,... Read more
Published on 21 Nov 2006 by Alex Haines
this is a nice mess...
This is Turin Brakes' third album. It isn't as good as the previous two albums 'The Optimist' and 'Ether Song'. Read more
Published on 28 April 2006 by thom
Copy Protection madness
Now here's a plan. Create and album then protect it so hard your public cannot listen to it.
Of my 5 cd players including my car this will only play on two. Read more
Of my 5 cd players including my car this will only play on two. Read more
Published on 11 Jan 2006 by Gav
Very Mellow
I have been a huge fan since hearing Mark and Lard play "The Door",and even though I wasn't overly impressed with the first single "fishing for a dream" i decided to buy the... Read more
Published on 24 Nov 2005 by "oakecs"
Jackinabox
Psych-folk is not exactly a new phenomena -- Turin Brakes has been doing it for four years now.
But this enchantingly mellow British duo add a catchier edge to their... Read more
But this enchantingly mellow British duo add a catchier edge to their... Read more
Published on 27 Sep 2005 by E. A Solinas
Second time lucky.
My second posting for this record! I don't think i did it much justice the first time round. I listened to it a couple of times and thought that it was quite good, but then I... Read more
Published on 25 Aug 2005 by Curlynob
More perfect ambient tunes, but not for mp3
A more upbeat album than The Optimist Lp and Ether Song, this is just right for summer. I'm giving this review a low rating because of the ridiculous copy protection coding: it's... Read more
Published on 1 July 2005 by Victor
Another fantastic album
I LOVE this album and I love all their albums! I saw Turin Brakes in Houston,Texas and was instantly hooked on their music. Read more
Published on 25 Jun 2005
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