NO ALTERNATIVE

This is not bad for a first effort, it definitley makes me want to check out their next two albums and see how they progress as they add horns to the mix. A lot of people compare this to King Crimson, but I think that is misleading. There is one ballad that features a lot of up front Mellotron, but the rest of the album is one half heavy bluesy rock and one half early jazz-rock. I would compare them more to Atomic Rooster, Colosseum, Wishbone Ash or early Camel.

All the musicians in the band are very good and I really prefer the instrumental parts where they really take off. Unfortunately the weak spot is the vocals. In fact, I find this to be a weak spot with a lot of rock bands. Why is it that you can't find a pro RnB band in the world who wouldn't think of hitting the stage without a great vocalist, but this standard seems to be much more hit and miss with rock bands. Sure there are many rock bands with great vocalists, but there are also many fronted by mediocre singers. This CD is totally devoid of information so I don't know who the singer is, but I will give him credit for having a sincere delivery and thought provoking lyrics.

It would have been nice to get a lyric sheet with this CD because it sounds like they have something to say. Lead song "No Alternative" has working class anti-government lyrics delivered in an angry voice making Jonsey a bit of a proto-punk band. The CD cover artwork is also very stark and urban for an early 70s progressive rock band. This is not "pretty" progressive rock, although Jonsey can get complicated, their delivery and tone never stray to far from their obvious bar-band roots.