JC-Desire
(1989 Jumpshot Productions/USA)
This cd released on the
Lilliputian Jumpshot Productions label in 1989 has
managed to stealth under the collecting radars of even
the most prolific of AOR hunters for over ten years!
After listening to just one track from the album, you
really begin to wonder whether its the sheer
obscurity of the release or just plain old dumb luck as
to the reason why it has eluded the ears of so many for
so long. Thankfully, this reviewer is here to state the
long overdue case for this lost gem!
The band moniker JC is actually an acronym
version of the albums musical mastermind John Clouse. He
could easily be labeled as the 80s version of PHIL
VINCENT, given the fact that he handles all of the lead
and background vocals and the solo and rhythm guitars, in
addition to keyboards, bass and drums as well. Clouse is
backed by the efforts of some other musicians on the
album too, but he alone is the primary writer and
troubadour contributor to the albums sound
.and
what a sound it is! Lets start listening shall we?!
The album begins with Stay With Me. Clouses
love for the use of massive tempo setting keyboards
becomes evident right away, as the song takes flight
under the sweet harmonies of their synthesizing wings.
Soon the song includes a great rhythm section of guitar
and drums, and of course Clouses fabulous melodic
vocals. His style is comparative to some of the better
singers in the AOR genre, and although specific examples
evade me at present, I cant help thinking of names
like JAY GRAYDON and Peppy Castro from BALANCE when I
hear his voice. However this is not West Coast style AOR
at all. This is pulse quickening high energy AOR with a
steady beat and a strong melody, smooth and classy like
the West Coast style, but with a lot more attitude and
flare. Stay With Me has a nice chorus and
good solo section in addtion to some extra keyboards over
the ones in back and tops out as one of the better tracks
on the album. You get the idea right away that this is
very good!
Next up we have What Do You Want. Once again
the keyboard sounds are ominous and form the powertrain
of the amazing melodic heartbeat for this cut, which is
quite possibly the best on the album. This reminds me a
bit of early STAN BUSH and perhaps VAN STEPHENSON is a
nice comparison too. The verse parts and vocal harmonies
are nothing short of almost dead solid perfect and the
track evolves from a bubbling cauldron of emotion for the
first 45 seconds into another fast and steady paced
rocker with a great chorus and an outstanding guitar
solo. All hugely melodic! Thats a word you get used
to repeating when listening to this album and it will
most likely come up in every song I talk about, so please
forgive the repetitive journalism on my part, theres
no other word to properly describe the music. What
Do You Want leaves you answering that question very
easily
..MORE!
Third in line is Walk On Wind, and the beat
is established early on with good light guitars and bass,
a snare drum, and of course
.keyboards! Once the
initial instruments establish the backbeat we again find
ourselves listening to another great melodic (sorry!) AOR
tune. This song sounds like it could easily have been on
one of those great 80s movie soundtracks. It would
be right at home on films like Iron Eagle and St. Elmos
Fire. The song has a fabulous chorus and we hear a new
musical element amongst the keys and big melodies halfway
through the song when a roaring sax solo occurs. Uncover
your ears all you true AOR fans, it doesnt slow
things down a bit and along side the energetic backdrop
reminds me quite a bit of bands
like ADRENALIN circa Road Of The Gypsy (see,
Iron Eagle I tells ya!). In short, its another
classy, smooth, heart racing, melodic and somewhat jazzy
(for just a few seconds) winner for JC and company on
this one.
Say Lana marks the fourth track of the albums
ten cuts. This is about the only truly balladesque effort
from JC and his gang on the entire album. The track
begins with a quaint blending of keys, acoustic guitars
and some ocean sound effects from YANNIs relaxation
audio series (just kidding all you Chameleon fans!). I
cant help but instantly think of OUTSIDE EDGE when
I hear this song get underway. No, the vocals arent
nearly as scratchy, theyre smooth and clear, but
the sound is really similar to a lot of their slower
paced material. JC manages to create an extremely
emotional landscape for this ballad whilst also not
failing his undying love for all things electric with a
moving guitar solo around the songs mid-section. Say
Lana slows things down only a little bit and doesnt
leave you dripping in sap from head to toe. Its a
good thick sounding ballad in a well placed position on
the album.
Open your mind up now and think back to the last time you
found an instrumental track on an AOR or hard rock album
that was anything but a filler. Can you remember such an
occasion? Well youre going to have something to
remember when the title track Desire hits
your ears. The track is, quite literally, too cool for
words! By beginning with one of the most classic grooves
Ive ever heard on any AOR record with the perfect
portions of keys and guitar, the stage is set for some
unexpected orchestral arrangements to come in the mix.
Nothing overly LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA mind you, but
just enough to add that extra something that any
instrumental needs to hold your attention while youre
busy not following along with the lyrics. The songs
rhythm section becomes a melodic journey of accelerations
and steady braking which allows Clouse to show off some
of his fine guitar work and let his chords climb the
musical Matterhorn in the framework. Truth be known, when
I heard this song begin for the first time, I was
disappointed at the outset when I realized there would be
no vocals on this track. But as I listened more, I began
to understand that a cut like this doesnt need
words to tell its story. It is, at it promises to
be
.Desire!
If we were listening to an LP I suppose wed be
flipping to side two now, but since this is a cd, we can
just say that weve past the halfway point on the
album and are now on track number six. Since Youve
Been Gone arrives after weve finished off a
ballad and an instrumental and within a few seconds
immediately reestablishes the albums main theme of
classy melodic power. The keys are massive and once again
a major instrument in the forefront. As with many of the
other tracks on the album, this is a slick up tempo AOR
rocker with a great melodic sound and the chorus is
particularly extraordinary on this track. Contrasts?
Well, the keys lead me to start thinking about names like
SHY and FORTUNE and even newer high class AOR acts like
NEWMAN. But overall, Id have to send this one down
the pathway of VAN STEPHENSON type material. Actually, my
initial comparison to PHIL VINCENT is not a bad heir
apparent if you need one to file this song next to. Think
Circular Logic era and youre at least
halfway there. Anyway you slice it, another fabulous cut
and another one in the running for best on the album.
In seventh position we find Feels Like Love.
Keyboards, keyboards, keyboards! They command this track
from the get go yet again! This song is, yep, you guessed
it, another rocky up tempo melodic classic! I hear so
many influences at work on this song. Beat Street
era PRISM and DUKE JUPITERs White Knuckle
Ride pop in as first impressions. The track is
rockier and more modern sounding than these classic early
and mid 80s references however, and certainly more
melodic, and when the saxophone reappears in the middle
of the track to give us another jazzy solo blast, I cant
help but stray back to
ADRENALIN again or perhaps FRANKE & THE KNOCKOUTS
crossed with JOHN PARR or AIRPLAYs Close To
The Edge (remember the St. Elmos Fire
soundtrack?). This one could have definitely been on the
radio and making a run to crack the top forty during the
80s. Another really fine piece of work from Clouse
and his entourage. Not to be missed and not to be ignored
during the course of this album.
I Never Knew Someone Like You holds the
eighth position on the album. This begins with the
typical keyboard parts that by now youve gotten
accustomed to hearing from JC, and evolves to include
another fine rhythm section of knifing guitars and bass
parts. When this gets going, youre nearly thinking
that it should be time for another ballad, and in the
opening few seconds the track actually has the feeling
that it may be just that. But it turns into a much
speedier and steadier paced AOR song than that. With all
the trademark elements frimly in place, Clouse scores
another radio worthy AOR power ballad thats really
more of a heartfelt rock song in disguise. The keyboards
do a ton of the work in this track as they do in nearly
all the others too. This is, by comparison, the shortest
song on the album and also in this reviewers ears,
qualifies as one of the best as well. Keep piling up all
the keyboard laden classic 80s AOR acts you can
think of and you wont miss the mark by much in
comparison.
By song nine youre reasonably certain that Clouse
is not about to throw you a major disappointment, given
the strength of the other material on the album, and he
in deed delivers yet another powerful and classy melodic
AOR track in Im Coming For You Tonight.
Although the keys are big on this track as in the others,
the guitar seems to be the more dominant sound this go
around and its a bit of a welcome relief to hear
Clouse wailing out so many powerful solos as he does
throughout this number. Its one of the more
simplistically structured of the ten cuts, although not
by any wide margin because none of the albums songs
are tremendously technical in their arrangements. This
one may be a bit long by about 30 seconds or so is all,
its another good one and if you were to have
singled it out and played it before you did the rest of
the album, its actually very good! But by now you
need something pretty amazing to make you forget the
moves youve already heard from JC and on a whole
Im Coming For You Tonight just doesnt
quite get the job done. One thought that comes to mind at
this point on the album though, is that Clouse must not
put any syrup on his pancakes because he loves to belt
out the steady hard driving rockers and seemingly
almost deliberately stays away from the sticky sweetness
of too many ballads. Its a rarity within this genre
of music and one of the nicest attributes about the album
and JCs music. Me likes!!
Closing out the album at song number ten is Talkin
About An Angel. Stack another rock hard flapjack on
Clouses pile of melodic AOR and hold the syrup! No
ballads allowed! This song much like many of the rest is
a steady paced AOR tune driven by its nice lead
guitar and of course the keyboards. There are a few
acoustic guitars spinning about the fray and the chorus
is a little bit tamed and layered with some fine
background vocals to help give it somewhat of a soothing
feel. This could easily qualify as a rock ballad because
of the chorus parts but again the guitar solo seems a bit
too noisy for that to be the case. Its one last
reminder of the high class melodic AOR music that spans
the course of the albums 45 minutes. Not as strong
as some of the other songs on the album, but again very
good and leaving you wishing this was a double length cd!
Closing arguments are few for this disc. Its good,
in fact, its very good. Im not sure how the
rest of you rate a classic, but surely this has to be one
of the better discoveries of the last few years for me
and upon hearing it for yourself, I think youll
agree. Perhaps not quite stupendous enough to warrant
classic status, but its got to be
making a strong case to at least come close. Im on
the case at present to try and find out if Clouse had his
hands in any other AOR projects during the 80s and
90s. Hes obviously a very talented musician
and surely went on to a few other creative endeavors
before he was finished. I have no idea where he hailed
from, but given the fact that the label of this cd
(Jumpshot Productions) was based in Concord, California
and that the only geographical reference he makes
lyrically on the entire album is on Talkin
About An Angel when he mentions the gates of
California, it leads me to believe he may have been
from San Francisco or the surrounding area. Any new
information I manage to track down on Clouse will
certainly be shared when it comes to light. In the mean
time, enjoy this cd should you run across it. Im
not certain of how rare it is but it seems to be a
popular fixture in some of the cut-out bins around cd
shops in the United States, since I have now had two
copies of it, one of which came from just such a bin. Who
knows, if it gains a cult following, it could be worth
quite a bit someday! Certainly the music alone is a worth
while investment!
Rating: 9.0
out of 10
Reviewed by Christian Hansen, United States Of America
|