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Track Listings
| 1. Lightning Bolt |
| 2. Two Fingers |
| 3. Taste It |
| 4. Seen It All |
| 5. Simple As This |
| 6. Country Song |
| 7. Broken |
| 8. Trouble Town |
| 9. Ballad Of Mr Jones |
| 10. Slide |
| 11. Someone Told Me |
| 12. Note To Self |
| 13. Someplace |
| 14. Fire |
Product Description
Product Description
Debut album from young Nottingham singer-songwriter whose breakthrough came with the songs "Trouble Town", "Country Song" (as featured in the Greene King IPA TV advert) and the single "Lightning Bolt".
Review
Aged just 18, Nottingham lad Jake Bugg has supported Noel Gallagher and The Stone Roses, soundtracked a beer advert and appeared on Later… with Jools Holland. Nothing seems to unnerve him, and while it’s a while since a singer-songwriter’s debut was so feverishly anticipated, he has such momentum that there seems little chance of anybody daring to initiate a backlash yet.
Bugg’s trick is to keep things simple. His influences – Dylan, Donovan – are blindingly obvious, but he brings a modern, metropolitan, post-Alex Turner consciousness to the strumming and couplets.
He comes in atypically fast and furious for opener Lightning Bolt, a blast of Blonde on Blonde refracted through the venerable Bad Moon Rising riff, the band offering a slice of punk-skiffle. Two Fingers is all echo and snare drum as Bugg sings, “I drink to remember / I smoke to forget” with a relish suggesting he’s moved on from behind the school bike-sheds to Clifton’s meaner streets. He at least has the guile to follow “been down some dark alleys…” with “…in my own head”.
He refers to the police, from whom he hides while “skinning up a fat one”, as “the feds”, which tells you something about the need for Midlands teens to self-glamorise. “A pill or maybe two” is taken in the car park as Seen It All begins: another indication that his virtues lie in his frankness and naivety, even if the recurring drug references get a bit student-bore.
There’s an odd anachronistic tendency towards rockabilly, though. So much so that at times you might believe Bugg was raised on the Sun Records catalogue by a well-meaning Richard Hawley-like figure, were it not for the pristine production values.
Things feel less derivative when he softens and just lets his voice and acoustic guitar nakedly affect. On the likes of Country Song and Someone Told Me, scepticism is tamed by the purity of the attempt. Fire is unabashedly romantic. That voice, with its hint of Gene Pitney, is a piercing, precise tool which lifts him above the laddish milieu. Ubiquity may beckon.
--Chris Roberts
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
159 of 161 people found the following review helpful
By D. Bruce
Format:Audio CD
48 years old and thought I'd heard it all until I walked through HMV and they were playing what I later knew to be 'two fingers' - liked it so much I wanted to ask them to play it again but left it until I got home and my daughter had Spotify playing and she asked me how old I thought the singer was - well he sounded like Bob Dylan but held a better note so I suggested 30's - turned out to be another track from Jake Bugg's debut album and, wow, what a revelation; obviously very derivative (as everything is when you think about it) but it turns out he's 18 and from a Nottingham council estate (apparently) and manages to sound like a mix of Dylan, Noel Gallagher, Simon Garfunkel, Lonnie Donegan and even a little bit of Johnny Cash.... writes his own songs....and every one of them is a killer....simple tales beautifully and clearly told with old school musical backdrops (and I mean old school - late 50's and 60's) - buy this, turn the volume up loud, sit back and smile - music lives and not with Simon Cowell, thank God. Well done lad - just keep your feet on the ground and remember those 2 fingers when the devil/devils come calling....
97 of 101 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I'm 42, old enough to be this kid's dad, from Nottingham, too, and I just find this the most magnificently honest and refreshing album I've heard in years. For once, it's time to believe the hype. Please buy it, and water cannon the X-Factor/manufactured pap from the charts, the fella deserves every penny. I initially downloaded this illegally, but it was so good, I felt guilty and came here and bought it. I just want him to have a pint in his pocket from me. Gawd knows how he's got so much soul at this age. A rare talent, and I'm just really proud he's from my town. I've been moaning for years there was no real talent to ever come out of Notts (do Black Lace count?) but now our saviour has arisen in the form of Bugg.
Good luck, youth, he's proper mint, me ducks!
Good luck, youth, he's proper mint, me ducks!
31 of 33 people found the following review helpful
By Big Jim
TOP 50 REVIEWER
Format:Audio CD
There is a persistent radio advert for this album which I have to admit was beginning to grate on me. Jumping as it does between 4 different tracks I was just left with the impression that the songs were good but the voice was a bit weedy. Having now listened to the album a couple of times I am glad to report that my first impressions were wrong, this is a serious talent with some excellent songs. The first thing to congratulate the young man for doing, and I don't mean to be patronising here, is that he hasn't gone down the X factor route but stuck to his guns performing his own stuff with aplomb. Hints of Beach Boys in the excellent "Two Fingers" mix with the Woody Guthrie meets the Arctic Monkeys of "Lightning Bolt" and "Taste it". Slower tracks include "Country Song" and "Someone told me" where Bugg's self proclaimed Dylan influences are apparent and the closing "Fire" is recorded all crackly and echoey, surely a direct nod to Woody Guthrie. I can't help thinking that a potential major international talent has been unearthed here and as long as he avoids the potential pitfalls inherent in this process he can only go from strength to strength. One for now and definitely one for the future.
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4.5 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cant stop playing it
I kept hearing a track I really liked but did not know who was singing - one day in HMV I heard it again and using an iPhone app found it was Jake Bugg Two Fingers. Read more
Published 1 day ago by Pauline Bennet
5.0 out of 5 stars
Love it
Heard one song and bought the album I wasn't disappointed. I listen to it all the time in the car.
Published 1 day ago by Emma
5.0 out of 5 stars
music for all ages
We bought this after my husband heard a snippet of Country Song somewhere. It's still his favourite. I prefer As Simple As This while our children adore Lightening Bolt. Read more
Published 2 days ago by mrsphipp
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good stuff
Good quality country folk tunes. Some teenage angst in there too which I'm probably a bit old now to get down with but on the whole great album
Published 3 days ago by Ian Davies
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best new artist
Jake Bugg is the best , most refreshing artist i have heard in a very long time. His music is unique, not like anything else out there. Read more
Published 6 days ago by Richard Tucker
5.0 out of 5 stars
Like, a lot!
Having heard the singles played a lot on Xfm and 6music I finally got around to downloading the album, and I wasn't disappointed. Read more
Published 6 days ago by Rachel
5.0 out of 5 stars
amazing first album
going to keep growing and growing this one. jump starting the focus on nottingham in the music scene. accommplished album. no filler tracks. Read more
Published 6 days ago by malc
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good, However perhaps a little too over hyped?
I actually have a lot of respect for Jake Bugg, he's a strong advocate for real music and is never afraid to speak his mind publicly and speak the truth by slandering the worst... Read more
Published 7 days ago by Mr. K. J. Parkash
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent young talent
I like this album. A bit patchy but overall a good listening experience. Worth a punt folks if you like new music.
Published 7 days ago by Mr Mark J Galloway
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great young singer
If you like Dylan or woody Guthrie then this is on a similar line a young singer with a good tale to sing
Published 11 days ago by KD
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