TAS Rated 3.5/5 Music, 3.5/5 Sonics in the October 2011 Issue of The Absolute Sound!
Acoustic Guitarist And Vocalist Performs High-End Folk Music!
A great deal has been said about Blues and RocknRoll musicians being inspired to great things by folk music. But one hears little about those who work quietly in the background, far removed from dazzling light shows, power amps and fog machines, and who create new strains of tender plants from the roots of traditional folk, so to speak. One such person is Wizz Jones from south England. He can write songs, and he can sing but it would be far too simple to describe him as a songwriter. His cultivated and versatile performance technique on the guitar bears witness to his personal aspiration for perfection on his instrument. With Jones all this culminates in highly original high-end folk: hes particularly laid-back in groovy numbers ("Right Now", "No More Time To Try"), where the elastic and springy sound of the guitar is enhanced with chirping sitar and wavering bottleneck slides so typical of the times. Alongside these are the carefully re-worked traditional melodies ("American Land"), a 17th-century tune ("Raven") where the singer plays 'call-and-response' with himself, and a solid 16-bar blues ("Deep Water") in the early Chicago style. Particular attention should be paid to the numbers in which he collaborates with Alan Tunbridge and is fired by his genial ideas.
"The style is folk-pop crossover of the sort that we might associate with Pentangle or even Al Stewart... A solid achievement in a long, productive career." - Duck Baker, The Absolute Sound, October 2011
"I've certainly learned a lot from listening to Wizz and when the opportunity arose to do some record production I asked him if he had any ideas about putting an album together. It turned out he had plenty and apart from his own songs and the many blues and folk numbers that typify his playing, he was already working out some new Alan Turnbridge songs with a small group of sympathetic musicians. The hardest thing was to know what to leave out but I think the tracks that we finally included will give you a fair indication of the variety of Wizz's music." - from liner notes by producer John Renbourn
Recording: 1972 by Colin Caldwell at Marquee Studios, London
Production: John Renbourn
Features:
180g Vinyl
Musicians:
Wizz Jones, vocals, acoustic guitar
Sandy Jones, banjo
Pete Berryman, acoustic & electric guitars
Reanna Sutcliffe, piano, vocals, harpsichord
John Renbourn, harmonica, sitar
Andy Fernbach, piano
Sue Draheim, fiddle
Malcolm Pool, bass
Ian Hoyle, drums
Selections:
Side 1
1. Which of Them You Love Best
2. One Grain of Sand
3. City of the Angels
4. Raven
5. Right Now
Side 2
6. Find a Man For You Girl
7. American Land
8. No More Time To Cry
9. Mary Go Round
10. Deep Water
Acoustic Guitarist And Vocalist Performs High-End Folk Music!
A great deal has been said about Blues and RocknRoll musicians being inspired to great things by folk music. But one hears little about those who work quietly in the background, far removed from dazzling light shows, power amps and fog machines, and who create new strains of tender plants from the roots of traditional folk, so to speak. One such person is Wizz Jones from south England. He can write songs, and he can sing but it would be far too simple to describe him as a songwriter. His cultivated and versatile performance technique on the guitar bears witness to his personal aspiration for perfection on his instrument. With Jones all this culminates in highly original high-end folk: hes particularly laid-back in groovy numbers ("Right Now", "No More Time To Try"), where the elastic and springy sound of the guitar is enhanced with chirping sitar and wavering bottleneck slides so typical of the times. Alongside these are the carefully re-worked traditional melodies ("American Land"), a 17th-century tune ("Raven") where the singer plays 'call-and-response' with himself, and a solid 16-bar blues ("Deep Water") in the early Chicago style. Particular attention should be paid to the numbers in which he collaborates with Alan Tunbridge and is fired by his genial ideas.
"The style is folk-pop crossover of the sort that we might associate with Pentangle or even Al Stewart... A solid achievement in a long, productive career." - Duck Baker, The Absolute Sound, October 2011
"I've certainly learned a lot from listening to Wizz and when the opportunity arose to do some record production I asked him if he had any ideas about putting an album together. It turned out he had plenty and apart from his own songs and the many blues and folk numbers that typify his playing, he was already working out some new Alan Turnbridge songs with a small group of sympathetic musicians. The hardest thing was to know what to leave out but I think the tracks that we finally included will give you a fair indication of the variety of Wizz's music." - from liner notes by producer John Renbourn
Recording: 1972 by Colin Caldwell at Marquee Studios, London
Production: John Renbourn
Features:
180g Vinyl
Musicians:
Wizz Jones, vocals, acoustic guitar
Sandy Jones, banjo
Pete Berryman, acoustic & electric guitars
Reanna Sutcliffe, piano, vocals, harpsichord
John Renbourn, harmonica, sitar
Andy Fernbach, piano
Sue Draheim, fiddle
Malcolm Pool, bass
Ian Hoyle, drums
Selections:
Side 1
1. Which of Them You Love Best
2. One Grain of Sand
3. City of the Angels
4. Raven
5. Right Now
Side 2
6. Find a Man For You Girl
7. American Land
8. No More Time To Cry
9. Mary Go Round
10. Deep Water
