MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE

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Pulled this gem off the shelf to re-discover is grandeur and realized that this should have been put on the website with a review long ago... JADIS then were a four piece electric quartet with Martin Orford (IQ) on keyboards, Steve Christey on the drums, John Jowitt on the bass and the amazing Gary Chandler on guitars and vocals. I remember giving a copy of this album to my brother several years ago (long time guitar player himself) and hearing his unbelievably positive comments after hearing this album. "More Than Meets The Eye" is one of those albums where everything clicked and in my opinion stands out above all the rest. Songs are incredibly delicious and offer great tempo and energy shifts with some high progressive rock twists and curls. Steve Christey's drumming is simply killer and has a extremely high level of competency.I would rank him as one of the best drummers about these days. Gary Chandler's guitar playing is stunning really! He plays with extreme dexterity and high emotion. Martin Orford adds his symphonic and lush keyboard atmospheres.and finally, my friend ,John Jowitt's and his precise bass jabbing (as he does so well). Another highlight for me is Chandler's use of harmony and this guy really has a nice voice... Fans of IQ and RUSH take note this is simply stellar progressive rock with a twinge of each aforementioned bands and a nice injection of originality throughout. For those who may be a bit jittery about them sounding too Neo-Proggish for your liking, let me dispel of your anxiety... Jadis play a wonderful and warm style of contemporary progressive rock without the plastic shrink wrap... Get it!

This record is the perfect example of what neo progressive hard rock is: NOT neo progressive rock! "More than meets the eye" is the best of the Jadis' albums. Despite there are 2 members of IQ (the bassist and the keyboardist), the album has few things in common with IQ. Surprisingly, the keyboards and the bass are the "weak" parts of the album: they are very good, but they are more elaborated and more progressive on the IQ albums.

First of all, Martin Orford's keyboards are almost always floating, so that they more accompany in a simple manner the OUTSTANDING electric guitars: compared to IQ, the keyboards here are less melodic and varied; The electric guitars here really steal the show: the aggressive & distorted rhythmic guitar sound is well crafted and flashy; the main attraction are the omnipresent PERFECT hard rock solos: Gary Chandler always plays on the higher notes, and his sound and style are absolutely unbelievable and extreme. Faster and more nervous than Steve Rothery (Marillion), the sound quality and performance level of his solos are comparable to Alex Lifeson's and David Gilmour's ones; Chandler's hard rock style is however a bit closer to the Eric Johnson's "Cliffs of Dover" track; Like on the Marillion, Pendragon and Arena albums, Chandler plays omnipresent clean & short electric guitar notes: this is a STRONG part of this album. The drums are VERY impressive: the omnipresent cymbals patterns are always VERY expressive & shiny, and the overall drums are just sophisticated and RESTLESS! Gary Chandler's lead vocals are not bad, but he is a far more accomplished guitarist than a singer. The tracks are not very progressive: one must rather talk about a sophisticated ultra modern ambient hard rock. The only mellow track is the beautiful "More than meets the eye", containing peaceful flutes and clean guitars, reminding Steve Hackett's early stuff. If you don't like ultimate electric guitars solos, then this album is not for you.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

A good promise it was, then not maintained!!But-apart from this consideration- I remark the role of Mr Gary Chandler alone at the composition, whose main leading harmonic solutions become boring at the end,being quite prolix too: the reason is that Marton Orford has got a secondary task here, except on the pretty track "Wonderful World", where he plays the flute, and it's a pity, cause it's such a splendid exception within the whole album!! In fact the keyboardist by IQ has been relegated to a simple music accompaniment here- apart from a few circumstances-by considering also some short symphonic breaks through...well these latter are almost continually directed by the guitarist only: this is definitely a disappointing number for me, as you know I'm a keyboardist-composer and I should like to appreciate a major role by the keyboards, especially in the development of the harmonic structure, instead..ok the melodic lines (sometimes much AOR-oriented) are a typical modern expression of such "new-progressive wave" and it doesn't disturb me too much;nevertheless "Wonderful World", "G13" and the first part of "Holding your breath (this latter becoming tiring at the end) represent the best effort by Chandler, who was not able to compose something really personal and not too much affected by the style of his best reference, Steve Hackett, afterwards...in fact after these remarkable examples he had a less creative "music imagination": however the good impact of their debut album doesn't erase its main defect, that is the lack of a real "team-work" (talking about the composition)...moreover the performance by Stephen Christey on drums is remarkable, but never reproduced (also live on stage) anymore,in the same manner..never mind, even though the presence of the guitar is a bit disturbing for me and really boring at the end, once again!!You could check it out (within a music genre-the modern light new prog- that I don't like very much as you know),for what "Wonderful World" concerns above all...

I first found out about Jadis when I went to a Marillion concert in 1987 and they were the support. I bought their demo cassette which contained 2 songs (G13 and Out of Reach). I played this cassette over and over again. Thanks to the website dprp.net, I found that Jadis are still going and I decided to get back into them. The music still sounds class after all these years, which I think is a mark of quality. Jadis (which are 50% IQ) just play so well. Jadis deserve a lot more recognition than they have been getting.

'More Than Meets The Eye' is Jadis' debut album, and the yardstick against which all successive releases continue to be judged, thus far without success. It would be true to say that the debut offers both the widest variety, musical complexity and technical prowess of any of their studio albums, and as a consequence the best vehicle for Chandler's clean, catchy guitar work, which can alternate with ease between melody and aggressive hard rock riffs. That this is often reminiscent of Steve Hackett, (and for me, at times, Andy Latimer) for many is Jadis' raison d'etre.

For those new to Jadis' work, they give us a richly layered, upbeat and optimistic form of neo-prog, ideal for listening to while driving through country lanes on a summer's day. The compositions are never complicated, but varied enough to be interesting, and are of a consistent strength throughout the album to never sag, or disappoint. While looking at the track listing, it would be difficult to give an adequate description of each, as many of the tracks move through different phases, tempos and styles.

Having said that, 'Wonderful World' is generally a more straightforward rocker, containing more hard-edged power chords, while during the title track, Orford accompanies Chandler's acoustic guitar on flute, lending a pensive atmosphere to the melancholic ballad. It is rare for me to pick out an instrumental as the highlight of an album, however 'Holding Your Breath' is the exception which proves the rule, as from the opening keyboard solo to the twinkly guitar work, this 9 minutes worth of toe tapping pleasure embodies all that is good about Jadis' contribution to the neo-prog scene.

There are of course criticisms of Jadis. Because this is Gary's band, while the bass and keyboards are always highly effective, I feel that neither Orford or Jowitt are ever quite given the free reign to express themselves here, as they are in IQ; both of whom contribute enormously to the intense, sombre atmosphere which is so evidently lacking here. Secondly, the main interest will always be in the musical arrangements, as Chandler neither has the vocal range to amaze, or the lyrical prowess to dazzle, with the heart of tracks often revolving around enigmatic emotional imagery laden lyrics and choruses. These however are minor criticisms of an album, which I would thoroughly recommend to all neo-prog fans, as this is surely one of the cornerstones and principle statements of the genre.

I use to love Neo-prog.but releases like that one make my love weakening from day to day!

I have no desire to rate JADIS further or to listen to other stuff from them.Shame on Orford and Jowitt - why the hell are they here?The tracks in hard-pop-rock vein bordering PINK FLOYD's pompous ballad style vary from just boring to unbearably boring (the closing instrumental beats them in all in universal boreness!!!).The only nice track here is "More than meets the Eye" with wonderful Orford's flute.I was going to give them 3 stars,but 2 and a 1/3 would be alright - they don't deserve more

Creating the template

Jadis first album very much sets out their stall in terms of the good but by and large unexceptional neo-prog they create. Taking their name from a character in one of the books of the "Lion the witch and the wardrobe" series, the band share many influences, not to mention band members, with IQ. As with IQ, the music is largely derivative of their acknowledged influences, i.e. Genesis (especially Steve Hackett), Yes, Camel, Pink Floyd etc.

When this album was released, the band was a trio featuring the guitars and vocals of Gary Chandler, and the keyboards of Martin Orford. The rhythm section consisted of drummer Stephen Christey and "guest" bassist John Jowitt, who would go on to formalise his membership.

While the music is proficiently performed and highly enjoyable, it can be hard to distinguish one track from another. There are no killer melodies or distinguished solos, each track sounding like the next. "Wonderful world", "Sleepwalk", "The beginning and the end" etc. are all accomplished pieces of music, but all have the same sound and dimensions. I do not wish to dwell on the similarities too much though, as the album as a whole is well crafted and a fine listen. The title track offers some variety too, being softer and more acoustic than the majority of the album.

The keyboards can at times sound rather synthetic, despite the lush textures Orford creates with them. Chandler's guitar work, while clearly Hackett influenced and typical of the neo-prog sound, is skilful and melodic.

Lyrically, the songs tend towards fantasy themes, and positive vibes. The vocals are fair if rather bland, the band sensibly sticking to unchallenging vocal melodies.

While it has to be remembered that this was the band's first release, the musicians were not starting from scratch as such, having previously been members of other similarly styled outfits. Nevertheless, this is a praiseworthy first release, which establishes the template for future Jadis offerings.

A neo prog classic, one of the best debut albums by a band like this. I could not believe my luck when I found this double CD containing the Steve Rothery demos! The extra CD recording quality is outstanding and the songs are all very good for its time. Jadis is something quite odd in the progressive world. Their guitar driven sound may no be that symphonic or avant gard, but from the start the group sounded like no one else and that's a quality everyone's looking for and very few can achieve, much less in their first efford.

This CD is a winner form the first chords of the classic Sleepwalker to the very final notes of the 9 minutes great instrumental Holding Your Breath. No fillers here. Jadis never sounded like a Genesis or Marillion clone like so many of its peers. Even with the help of IQ and Marillion members, Jadis music is very unique. Love it or hate it. And More than Meets the Eye deserves every bit of fame it gained since its initial release in 1992. The band may have come a little late for a neo prog act, but it proved to be one of the best with a good CD released after the other. And this is their very esssential work. If you like prog music in general this is amust have. Highly recommended!

"Jadis" released a very good debut album. Not a masterpiece of course but a solid start. Even if some "IQ" members sit here we won't get a poor man's "IQ" album. "G 13" is fully remininscent of this good band as well as "Sleepwalk". Its structure is very similar to countless "IQ" songs but and it is one of the highlights. Most of the tracks are easy to listen to (but I do not mean easy listening music).

Guitar is more prominent than in "IQ" which I quite like, and Garry Chandler does a pretty good job on the vocals (his guitar play being just brilliant).

"Genesis" is the model for several songs of which the well-named "Wonderful World". It is indeed a very good track which should please a lot of progheads. It is sufficiently diversified to be of interest. The balance between keys and guitar is perfect. I would have liked to get this more on "IQ" work BTW. It gets real strong during the instrumental middle part. Strong but not hard. The guitar work is so melodic, so inspired. One of the highlight of this album. Wonderful music.

The sweet flute intro of the title track is another touching moment of this album. Here again, "Genesis" ("Trespass") is really close. A very peaceful and pastoral number. Somewhat derivative, I admit. But I have always liked this type of music (well, the love story started with "Trespass" in 1974). Lots of emotion when I listen to such a track.

"The Beginning and the End" is probably not really on par. It sounds as if Gary wants to emulate PG. Music sounds totally like "Genesis" again with some pleasant instrumental passages but weaker vocals.

The closing number starts as lots of long "IQ" tracks : a lenghty instrumental intro with a harder attack (guitar in this case). It is well constructed and when the climax has been reached some beautiful acoustic guitar / keys emerged and prepares the finale with again very effective guitar. This is a fully instrumental song which closes the album on a good note.

Three stars.

This is another tough call between 4 or 5 stars because it's a really magnificent debut from this very entertaining band. On the other hand somehow it fails to be a real masterpiece for me but I can't really explain why. I mean there are some great tracks on this album and there is quite some variety between the songs if you compare it with other Jadis albums. I did give the successor (Across the Water) 5 stars although I must admit this was also a close call. But what I liked about that one was the overall Jadis sound coming through a hundred percent and that's what I like. That aspect is failing a little bit on this album. You don't get in the true Jadis groove with this album maybe because of the variety.

The album starts great with Sleepwalk with a tremendous guitar intro by Gary. But then the next two songs are not really the best they ever produced. Still good songs but somewhat less. Wonderful world is another great one almost epic for Jadis standards. Also great guitar passages on this song. Then comes the title track, a wonderful ballad but not really Jadis to me. Then a straightforward Jadissong again, a really nice one I believe. Grand finale of the album is Holding your breath, probably my favourite Jadis song ever in which Chandler is really giving everything he has, superb instrumental track.

So summarizing it's really heard but I let my feeling about it do the job and then it's going to be 4 stars though actually 4.5.

I remember clearly that by the 1998 I realized that it was the time for me to look back prog music after I was quite disappointed that Fish left Marillion sometime in 1988. After that I practically did not pay attention to any prog music development until in 1998 when I visited a colleague prog friend, Ricky who happened to be the second generation of prog lover because I actually knew his dad who is really a prog head, I'an Arliandy. But Ricky was the one who triggered me back to prog. How come? Yes, he invited me to listen to a neo prog album by IQ through "Ever" (1993) when I visited his dad's hous in Bandung. It blew me away and opened my mind that prog was still alive. That meeting with Ricky was memorable to me because he then lent me his IQ "Ever" CD plus a catalogue of progressive bands under CYCLOPS (Malcolm). Everyday I then looked the catalogue from one page to another and I found new bands under "highly recommended" comments plus some "brief" description of how the bands "like" legendary band. So I found Sinkadus, Citizen Cain, The Flower Kings etc. under the "like" of Genesis and later I found JADIS as "like" of IQ. I then ordered tens of CDs from Cyclops including three or CDs on JADIS. That was in 1998 / 1999 when I was very active buying new CDs especially from Cyclops and some from Amazon.

JADIS "More Than Meets The Eye" I purchased it in April 1, 1999. I do agree that the music is in a way has some similarity with IQ but when I look in to deep, it's basically different in style and nature. While IQ is basically a keyboard-based music in terms of rhythm and basic structure with add on of guitar solo and keyboard solo, melodic singing line. JADIS' style revolves around guitar solo by the band's leader Gary Chandler. While the music of IQ is practically fluent and fluid in nature in terms of flow, the music of Jadis has basically lacked melody that flows naturally from one segment to another - it tends to be flat. It does not necessary mean than the music of JADIS is bad at all - in fact, if the mood is right, I can enjoy the music of JADIS quite well.

This album was released one year before IQ "Ever" album and to me this album sounds different than any IQ album even though in some ways there are segments with similar style as IQ. The attracting point of this album lies on Gary Chandler's aggressive guitar work combined with neo prog as the main basic structure of JADIS music. Throughout this album, JADIS comprises three players plus one session player on bass by John Jowitt. Martin Orford of IQ is also contributing here in this album. The Opening track "Sleepwalk" demonstrates stunning guitar work by Gary Chandler especially during the long intro part.

The melody is basically what JADIS lacks in most of its albums. While the opening track has its stunning guitar work, this second track "Hiding In The Corner" does similar thing even though the melody is basically weak. The guitar work is something needs to put my attention. It bring the music beautifully from one segment to another backed by tight bass lines.

Almost all tracks contained here have similar vein from one to another, presenting excellent guitar solo by Gary Chandler. You can find at "G 13" that gives long portion of guitar to demonstrates the solo combined by tight bass lines. The keyboard makes its accentuation intertwiningly just before the vocal enters the music. Track 6 "The Beginning and The End" has an opening part which reminds me to early Genesis style especially under Anthony Phillips. The guitar solo that follows is excellent and I can find it in most of neo prog music.

Overall, the music is good even though most of them lack the catchy melodies. Gary Chandler's guitar solo is entertaining. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW