London (Jesus Jones album)

Last updated
London
Jesus Jones London.jpg
Studio album by
Jesus Jones
Released9 October 2001
RecordedDecember 2000–August 2001
Genre
Length42:01
Label Mi5/Koch
Producer Jesus Jones
Jesus Jones chronology
Already
(1997)		London
(2001)		 Culture Vulture
(2004)

London is the fifth album by the British rock band Jesus Jones in 2001 through Koch Records. Following the commercial failure of 1997's Already which led to the band and EMI parting ways, the band took a hiatus before regathering for the recording of London for Koch/Mi5 Recordings, with a more alternative rock approach as opposed to the techno sounds on their previous albums. The album had low-key promotion, initially only being released in the United States. Two EP's were released from the album, "Nowhere Slow" and "In the Face Of All This".

Album collection of recorded music, words, sounds

An album is a collection of audio recordings issued as a collection on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium. Albums of recorded music were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78-rpm records collected in a bound book resembling a photograph album; this format evolved after 1948 into single vinyl LP records played at ​33 1⁄3 rpm. Vinyl LPs are still issued, though album sales in the 21st-century have mostly focused on CD and MP3 formats. The audio cassette was a format used alongside vinyl from the 1970s into the first decade of the 2000s.

Jesus Jones British alternative rock band

Jesus Jones are a British alternative rock band from Bradford-on-Avon in Wiltshire, formed in late 1988, who recorded and performed from the late 1980s to the 2000s. Their track "Right Here, Right Now" was an international hit, and was subsequently globally licensed for promotional and advertising campaigns. They also achieved chart success with the songs "Real Real Real", "International Bright Young Thing" and "Info Freako".

<i>Already</i> (Jesus Jones album) 1997 studio album by Jesus Jones

Already is the fourth album by the British rock band Jesus Jones, first released in 1997. The album followed a working hiatus by the band following the relative failure of 1993's Perverse compared to their international breakthrough album Doubt (1991). Although the band had come up with ideas that they submitted to Food Records for consideration, the label rejected them before finally accepting the reworked tracks featured on the release version of Already. It was their last album for EMI, and two singles were released from the album, "The Next Big Thing" and "Chemical #1". Already only reached No. 161 in the UK Albums Chart, although lead single "The Next Big Thing" had some radio play reaching No. 49 in the UK Singles Chart. EMI re-issued on the album on 1 March 2003.

Contents

Background

Already , the band's fourth studio album, was released in 1997 to mixed reviews and very bad commercial success, where it only reached 161 in the UK Albums Chart (their third album Perverse reached number 6 in contrast.) They band chose to focus on the US tour following the album's release. The band and EMI/Food Records parted ways in 1998, for unspecified reasons but presumably due to record sales. The band ultimately fell into recording hiatus following this although Tony Arther joined the band in 1998/99 as the band's drummer to replace Gen, who left during the Already era.

The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts Company (OCC) on Fridays. It is broadcast on BBC Radio 1 and published in Music Week magazine, and on the OCC website.

<i>Perverse</i> (album) 1993 studio album by Jesus Jones

Perverse is the third studio album by British rock band Jesus Jones, released in 1993 on Food Records. After their international success following the release of Doubt (1991), Jesus Jones, especially band leader Mike Edwards, conceived Perverse as a darker, more contemporary album. Fusing rave and techno music into more traditional rock and pop song structures, the album is heavier than its predecessors and features lyrics that concern the future. Edwards wrote the lyrics of the album during the band's 1991 tour, using a Roland W-30 sampler to conceive songs in their earliest stages.

EMI British music recording and publishing company

EMI Group Limited was a British Transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 2012, it was the fourth largest business group and record label conglomerate in the music industry, and was one of the big four record companies ; its labels included EMI Records, Parlophone, Virgin Records, and Capitol Records, which are now owned by other companies.

Mike Edwards formed the side project Yoshi for which he played lead guitar. He also worked on a solo album that he was approached to make by EMI in 1997 which he initially chose to put this on hold to focus on Jesus Jones' Already US tour, [1] although when Edwards found time for the solo album, the project was cancelled because he said the album was something "that they'd ultimately not be interested in" despite he himself finding some of the tracks to have "good points". [2]

Lead guitar is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure. The lead is the featured guitar, which usually plays single-note-based lines or double-stops. In rock, heavy metal, blues, jazz, punk, fusion, some pop, and other music styles, lead guitar lines are usually supported by a second guitarist who plays rhythm guitar, which consists of accompaniment chords and riffs.

Mike Edwards got re-interested in Jesus Jones with the idea that some of his solo songs from the cancelled project could be shaped into Jesus Jones and then to sell via the internet. [2] Gen, who left the band years prior, then got in contact with Mike Edwards indicating he was keen to work again. [2] Lastly, Mi5 Recordings in the United States got in touch with the band in spite of a record contract. Mike Edwards travelled to New York City where he met with the label's manager and discovered they both had similar thoughts on the state of the music industry. [2] The band subsequently signed to the label in 2001 and played several gigs in the UK and US.

New York City Largest city in the United States

The City of New York, usually called either New York City (NYC) or simply New York (NY), is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2017 population of 8,622,698 distributed over a land area of about 302.6 square miles (784 km2), New York is also the most densely populated major city in the United States. Located at the southern tip of the state of New York, the city is the center of the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass and one of the world's most populous megacities, with an estimated 20,320,876 people in its 2017 Metropolitan Statistical Area and 23,876,155 residents in its Combined Statistical Area. A global power city, New York City has been described as the cultural, financial, and media capital of the world, and exerts a significant impact upon commerce, entertainment, research, technology, education, politics, tourism, art, fashion, and sports. The city's fast pace has inspired the term New York minute. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy.

Music industry companies and individuals that create and sell music

The music industry consists of the companies and individuals that earn money by creating new songs and pieces and selling live concerts and shows, audio and video recordings, compositions and sheet music, and the organizations and associations that aid and represent music creators. Among the many individuals and organizations that operate in the industry are: the songwriters and composers who create new songs and musical pieces; the singers, musicians, conductors and bandleaders who perform the music; the companies and professionals who create and sell recorded music and/or sheet music ; and those that help organize and present live music performances.

Music and release

When asked in 2001 if London bore musical similarities to the band's previous work, Mike Edwards said there was influences that were "less popular as he was writing the last album that are a central part of this album.", citing drum and bass and garage music as influences on London. He further commented that "those things make it sound very different, although saying that my signature hasn't changed in the last 10 years either so I think it's still clearly a Jesus Jones album" and that he thought the album was much more relaxed and happy since "it's been made in a far better atmosphere than the last two [Jesus Jones] albums." [2]

Drum and bass, is a genre and branch of electronic music which emerged from rave and jungle scenes in Britain during the early 1990s. The style is often characterised by fast breakbeats with heavy bass and sub-bass lines, sampled sources, and synthesizers.

Garage house is a dance music style that was developed alongside house music. Garage, which had a more soulful R&B-derived sound, was developed in the Paradise Garage nightclub in New York City and Club Zanzibar in Newark, New Jersey, United States, during the early-to-mid 1980s. There was much overlap between it and early house music, making it difficult to tell the two apart. It predates the development of Chicago house, and according to All Music, is relatively closer to disco than other dance styles. As Chicago house gained international popularity, New York's garage music scene was distinguished from the "house" umbrella. DJs playing this genre include Tony Humphries, Larry Levan and Junior Vasquez.

Mike Edwards said in promotion of the album that London was a US release primarily, where it was released on 9 October 2001, although the band were currently working out ways "of getting sold [the album] around the world. Obviously the UK is important to us but there are plenty of fans around the world still that we need to look after". Two singles were released, which were also the last two songs on the album, "Nowhere Slow" and "In the Face of All This". They did not chart. The band embarked on a US tour in December 2001. [2]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [3]

The album received positive reviews from critics. AllMusic however gave the album three out of 5 stars, noting "London is about [the band] and the natural progression in perfecting the music they want to play out live. However, the loyalists who made them superstars nearly ten years prior to this release might have outgrown them." [4] The album did not chart in the UK or US. The band transferred to Mi5 Recordings UK for the next release, Cultue Vulture ! . Following the release of London, EMI released a compilation of pre-London material, Never Enough: The Best of Jesus Jones . The band also performed in November 2002 for a one-off gig in The Marquee, London where some of the setlist was chosen online by the band's fanclub. This was released as the DVD Live at the Marquee in 2003, and later as a live album with the same name in 2005.

Track listing

  1. "Message" - 2:24
  2. "Stranger" - 3:28
  3. "The Rocket Ships of La Jolla" - 3:50
  4. "Asleep on the Motorway" - 3:17
  5. "Hello Neon!" - 4:05
  6. "The A Team" - 3:09
  7. "Half Up the Hill" - 3:27
  8. "The Princess of My Heart" - 3:34
  9. "Getaway Car" - 2:43
  10. "To Get There" - 4:28
  11. "Nowhere Slow" - 4:01
  12. "In the Face of All This" - 3:35

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References

  1. ↑ Jesus Jones Archive - 1994
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Jesus Jones Archive - 2000 to 2010
  3. ↑ London at AllMusic
  4. ↑ London - Jesus Jones | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic
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