JONO

The first album from JoNo was released in 2006 and was in fact a solo album by the Swedish artist Johan Norrby. The album does feature some of the current members of today's band but the sound of the record feels stripped down and centers around the vocals and keyboards delivered by Norrby. The material consists of shorter tracks, none of which goes beyond the 5 minute mark, featuring strong melodic hooks and distinct vocal approach from Johan Norrby who, to me, sounds like a mix between Freddie Mercury, Russell Mael of Sparks and Matthew Bellamy of Muse.

When compared to the later albums by JoNo it's pretty clear that this album is not as progressively inclined with most of the material following the strict verse/chorus/verse blueprint and the song arrangements are far from as memorable as some of their later standout compositions. Still it's far from a bad record predominately due to Norrby's strong vocal performance and the excellent melodic hooks that are featured on most of these tracks.

There are definitely a lot of familiar sounds here since the band clearly wear their influences on their sleeves with Queen, Supertramp and Muse being the most prominent ones. The most obvious example being the chorus of The World Is Spinning which sounds almost identical to Queen's Flick Of The Wrist. This is not necessarily a bad thing for a new band that have not yet found their own sound, so I'm not holding these moments against JoNo.

I would not recommend this debut album to people who are new to JoNo. If you're, on the other hand, already familiar with JoNo albums Requiem and Silence and feel that you need more of the band's material to hold you over until the next record comes around, then this debut album is definitely worth a few spins. Remember that this album is far from the team effort and thus does not yet feature some of the instrumental prowess that is shown later on.

***** star songs: The Meaning Of Life (4:30)

**** star songs: You Can't Touch Me (2:27) Feeling (2:57) When You Smile (4:21) Just A Man (2:42) The World Is Spinning (4:51) One Man (3:33) Live (2:13)

*** star songs: Every Little Thing (4:57) All Around (4:08)