JOHN PAUL JONES

I'll begin this review by saying that Led Zeppelin and King Crimson are my two favorite bands. Overall, this album by LPJ sounds more like a demo than a finished product. That is really unfortunate. I hear a lot of good foundations and ideas that could have been further developed into outstanding pieces. I agree with an earlier reviewer that some tracks could definitely have used either a vocalist or (in my opinion) a lead guitar soloing over the other instruments. Nosumi Blues succeeds fairly well thanks to the lead guitar. It could have been used on other tracks as well.

It is, at times, repetitive, and at times it has powerful intensity. I find the non-prog numbers to be, in general, executed better than the prog ones, in fact.

Second stidio album under his name issued in 2002 named The thunderthif. To me this is equaly good as previous one Zooma. Here we have vocal parts coming from him on some pieces, we have Fripp as guest on Leafy meadows and we have a great album overall. Again the bass is very proeminent from more calm parts like on Daphne to crunchy bass lines as on Angry angry. His voice is not particulary strong, on Angry angry he sounding like is singing from a can or buckett. The instrumental parts are more then ok most of the time with good passages.Some synth appears sporadicaly also made by JPJ and have a prog atmospher , also some King Crimson elements are to be found here and there. Nice one, maybe I prefere little bit Zooma, but this one is close. Nice art work.3.5 stars.

3.5 really

First album named Zooma of this legendary bassist/keyboardist from ex Led zeppelin John Paul Jones. This is a groovy kind of album where his bass is all over the places, lots of great chops here with plenty of experimental twists and atmosphere. All album is instrumental and on each tune JPJ show that he is apt to call him one of the best and most influencel bass players ever. Zooma has many great moments on pieces like Zooma, Grind or Bass n' Drums. The album overall has a progressive direction and the arrangements are intricate and well performed. This a a fairly solid album that will please most of the experimental instrumental albums with crunchy bass parts. very nice one. 3.5 stars.

I just never realized that there was this album where it seems like the first album from John Paul Jones and might also be the first in scoring. Just found this from the cassette second market that cost me cheaply but really intrigued me to purchase because of two reasons: It's John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin fame whom his basswork as well as organ work I like (like in No Quarter) and there is one song that people have said as Jon Anderson's and famous in my country: Christie. So then I got it even though in a cassette format but in a good condition.

I expected that the music was somewhat similar like his solo work afterwards but I was wrong - it's a mixture of various styles of music especially pop and rock. The opening track 'Spaghetti Junction' sets the tone for the whole album with relatively fast tempo music in a loop programming style featuring guitar work by Page and organ by Jones. Quite an interesting opening, really - well....at leat I enjoy this instrumental bit. The second track 'Bad Child' features Jones in vocal. I love the two tracks where Jon takes vocal work: 'Silver Train' and the famous 'Christie'. 'Crackback' demonstrates Jimmy Page stunning guitar work and composition-wise I do enjoy this track. There are pop stuffs like 'When You Fall In Love', 'Take It Or Leave It'. If all songs were performed as the movie is on, I think all songs form a cohesive story line. But in this case is just a collection of songs.

Overall - it's a good collection of songs and a good start for Jones solo work. Keep on proggin' ...!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

Second ex-Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones solo album is the best of all three he is released till now (2010). From the very first seconds you will hear that energetic rhythm section pulsation, and you will stay with it all album long.

Pete Thomas,album's drummer, is real hero of this record as well - it's often quite difficult to say if this album isn't drummer's solo release. Paul Leary is competent guitarist and Trey Gunn's Warr guitar sound in many places gives you very Crimsonian feeling.

I have quite mixed feeling after some listening of this album though. Great energy, some groove and very competent musicianship from one side, and quite simplistic, straightforward compositions from the other. Bluesy roots here and there. Missing link between Led Zeppelin and post-80 King Crimson?

Possibly yes, but never as good as Led Zeppelin or King Crimson itself. Easy accessible music though, could have more fans I believe.In many places I felt Plant vocals would be a great improve of the compositions.

Very competent album, my rating is 3+.

Third JP Jones solo album ( I count his duet album with Diamanda Galas as her album, for sure) is music for his fans mostly. And for fans of Robert Fripp, which participates on one song (Leafy Meadows) here. This song is album's opener. Fripp's guitar sounds very KC-like, for both good and band. I like this sound, but all of KC fans listened to it so many times!

Second song has vocals (JP Jones himself), I am not sure that was good idea. John also plays all string (big list) and all keys. In fact, all the musicians team is duo (JP Jones plus drummer Terl Bryant ) with three guest guitarist , each just played on one or two tracks.

The music is complex and muddy, but with real lack of composition. It looks JP enjoy playing so many instruments, mixing the sound in one final product. But too often it is more attractive to himself, than to listener.

"Ice Fishing at Night" ( how many of you know what does it means? I love it!) is a ballade, intention was good, but the musical result is very limited.

"Daphne" has it's roots somewhere in Led Zeppelin's vaults."Angry Angry" shows JP going punky. Plenty of dirty energy in sound, but the result is too faceless again ( or it was the initial idea - just to record real punk opus, which should be faceless, dirty and full of energy).

"Down to the River to Pray " is bluegrass song played acoustic with some eastern scent, sounds better than you can expect. "Shibuya Bop" is a hard fast instrumental with Nick Beggs on Chapman Stick. Sounds as LZ goes KC.

The final song "Freedom Song" (real song - with JP singing) is acoustic Eastern ballade.

Overall, the album is interesting work for LZ,KC and JP Jones heavy fans. Far from masterpiece, it brings some interesting moments from music and musicians we love. Don't think it has any attraction for newcomers .

While Zooma showed us how good John Paul Jones can be on his own The Thunderthief introduced some of his flaws as a solo artist. Although instrumentally it's still a great album the quality of lyrics and vocals bring it down just a bit for me.

It's great that Jones Paul Jones pushes things forward by trying new ideas but I believe that he should instead improve on the things he is good at and not try to succeed where other artists can do a much better job with less effort.

Having said that I still consider this release to be highly enjoyable and overall it's a great successor to Zooma. Jones increased the ante by exchanging Trey Gunn's Crimsonesque guitar solos with the real deal. Yes, I'm talking about the legendary Robert Fripp performing on an ex-Led Zeppelin members solo album. The whole concept just blows my mind especially considering what an amazing performance Mr.Fripp gives on Leafy Meadows!

The Thunderthief might not be the follow-up I way expecting from John Paul Jones but it's great to know that he can still surprise the listeners and it's truly a pity that Jones still haven't released a follow-up to this album.

***** star songs: Leafy Meadows (5:10) Daphne (4:50) Shibuya Bop (5:56)

**** star songs: Hoediddle (7:00) Ice Fishing At Night (4:31) Down To The River To Pray (4:17)

*** star songs: The Thunderthief (5:58) Angry Angry (5:54) Freedom Song (2:37)

Zooma has been criminally overlooked on this site. Maybe it's because not many cared to check out a John Paul Jones album released in 1999 or just that most people don't know that his discography is on Prog Archives. Personally I really hope that it's the latter and I'm looking forward to reading many more reviews in the near future!

After listening to this album I have finally realized why Robert Plant / Jimmy Page-solo albums never sounded as good as their work in Led Zeppelin. All of the best songs were actually contributed by Mr. John Paul Jones! And this instrumental album actually proves it one crunchy bass line at a time!

Zooma is one really heavy album that will most likely put many of Led Zepplin compositions to shame. I'm not talking about the production values which are understandably superior to Zeppelin's 70's records but Zooma is dominated by the heavy sounding bass which really makes these compositions almost sound like the later King Crimson material. This can actually also be contributed to Trey Gunn soloing on some of the tracks with a Crimsonesque type of vibe.

This is truly a must have album for fans of heavy prog music. So if you are lucky enough to find this album, grab it and never let go!

***** star songs: Zooma (5:52) Goose (4:58) B. Fingers (5:26) Tidal (4:20)

**** star songs: Grind (5:20) The Smile Of Your Shadow (5:50) Bass 'N' Drums (2:32) Snake Eyes (7:32)

*** star songs: Nosumi Blues (5:48)

Oh the irony, as I write this heavy thunderstorms are actually rolling in.

Jones' third solo album is a rather eclectic affair. After the all instrumental Zooma he decided to add some vocals into the mix, his own. As you might expect the style is nothing like Robert Plant's, but not bad to my ears. Jones also plays diverse collection of instruments, including oddly enough 4, 6, 10, and 12 string basses. Maniac. Yeah, he's pretty much a string freak though he does do keyboards, too. John is also supplemented by a percussionist and three guests including Robert Fripp doing a guitar solo on Leafy Meadows. This album is on Fripp's label, by the way.

The afore mentioned Leafy Meadows is nice heavy prog instrumental. John's kind of fond of slide guitar. The Thunderthief is the first vocal, a weird, dark little tune. Hoediddle has a little hoedown/celtic jig flavoring to it. Ice Fishing At Night, the second vocal (both were written by Peter Blegvad) is a nice mellow piece. John takes a break from the strings to do solo piano with vocals, very mellow. Back to the bayou flavor with instrumental Daphne. Angry Angry is another quirky little vocal. Kinda punky. Don't let it get to you. Down To The River To Pray is a bit folksy/gospel flavored and thankfully instrumental, as I don't think I'd like to hear him try to sing a gospel style tune. Shibuya Bop kicks things back into heavy overdrive. Freedom Song wraps it all up with folksy with John on guitar and singing once again in probably his best style for the whole album.

As a bonus, I ordered this one used and it came autographed. I don't know what that says about it, but this might be a hard one to enjoy for the average Led Zeppelin fan. They'll probably take better to Zooma.

Epilogue: after a few hours the storms have passed. Maybe this damn thing actually works. Unfortunately, now I've got to try and get some sleep.

"The Thunderthief, he puts us under. While we sleep he steals our thunder."

Nobody's fault but mine

While any discography of John Paul Jones will (rightly) list "Scream for help" as his first solo album, this is in reality a little misleading. "Scream for help" is a soundtrack album, the music being composed by Jones for the Michael Winner TV movie of the same name released in 1984. That said, the music here does not have the feel of soundtrack music, the tracks being substantial songs in their own right. Winner originally asked Jimmy Page to write the music, but as Page was unable to fulfil the request, he suggested asking Jones.

I should say straight away that there is no connection whatsoever between the music here and that of Jones' day job with Led Zeppelin. The album does though give some indication of what we can expect on his first true solo album, "Zooma". There is a rather incoherent feel to the album overall, the songs not sitting together particularly well, but heard in isolation they are of a decent quality. All of the tracks are written or co-written by Jones, two with his daughter Jacinda.

The album opens with the instrumental "Spaghetti junction", a track with a strong resemblance to the music of Booker T and the MG's, and not just because of the dominant organ work of Jones. The following "Bad child" sees Jones taking on vocals himself, and doing alright at it. His voice reminds me a bit of Tony Banks' solo effort ("Fugitive"). "Silver train" features Jon Anderson's distinctive vocals, supported by some incisive guitar work by Jones. It sounds like it should be good, but unfortunately the actual composition is repetitive and very ordinary. The following "Crackback" sees bandmate Jimmy Page contributing lead guitar while Graham Ward adds some heavy drums. The track is effectively a solo improvisation by Page, which sees him performing something somewhat jazzier than we are used to from him.

"Chilli sauce" is a synth instrumental performed entirely by Jones. The piece reflects his jazz influences, the synth tones being suitably slurred. "Take it or leave it" sees the first of two appearances by the fine vocalist Madeline Bell (of Blue Mink etc.) who also co-wrote the song. This lighter song with a straightforward dance rhythm is one of the highlights of the album. "Christie" is a delicate ballad sung by John Anderson and again another highlight. "When you fall in love" is the second and final song sung by Jones. The piece has a strong folk/Simon and Garfunkel feel, the acoustic guitar of John Renbourne (Pentangle) being familiar but effective. The album closes with a further ballad "Here I am" (omitted from the first pressings of the LP), Madeline Bell displaying her vast talents with tenderness and grace.

Despite the film credits, there is no orchestration on this album, the focus when compiling this release clearly being to gather together the songs rather than the background music. The result is an eclectic mix of disparate songs, some of which are highly appealing while others much less so. We should however recognise that these songs were composed with the film in mind, and may well have complemented the on-screen happenings well.