ONCE UPON A TIME

This will be my last Jadis review after doing the 6 studio albums and the other significant EP. Because there's not too much to say about this short EP (3 songs, just under 20 min. total time) I want to say my last things I have to say about this high quality band.

The thing that keeps coming back in descriptions of this band is their similarity to IQ. I know where that's coming from, it's not hard to find out. Two members (Jowitt, Orford) are from the famous neoprogband so it seems logical to state that Jadis is a sort of IQ. I can tell you: it's big nonsense (wanted to use another word but we don't do that on progarchives). I can hardly find any similarity with IQ. Important for the sound of a band are the vocals. And it's really a joke to even compare Gary Chandler with Peter Nicholls: 100% difference. So that's already 50% of the general sound of the 2 bands. The other important aspect in this case is the guitar. I don't want to insult Mike Holmes, he's a good guitarist but he is no Gary Chandler. Besides the fact that Gary is even far better (but that's a matter of taste also of course) they play the guitar completely differently. And there's a third big difference: IQ produces the occasional epic (at least one on each album) but that's the Achilles heel of Jadis. They never do so that results in a different kind of neo prog. IQ tending towards symphonic prog and Jadis almost to AOR or pop. And that is also an important statement for Jadis. It's hardly prog and this might explain the little attention they get on progarchives. There are only a few reviews for each album and that is strange for such a high quality band but I think the problem is that many proggers don't accept this music as prog. And as I also said in one of my other reviews for Jadis: Gary Chandler himself is actually contemplating to leave the progressive corner of music (Genesis, Yes, Saga and Rush come to mind) to become (even) more accessible to a wider range of public interest. He said this in an interview after his latest studio album so I'm curious what that will result in.

Now some words about this EP. It starts with the sweet Follow me to Salzburg. Funny thing occurred to me here: I often say I'm not interested in lyrics, now here's an interesting exapmle why that is. In this song Gary sings: for the first time in my life I'm looking down on you which is followed by I'm really drifting away now. What does this mean ? My first impulse says: he has looked up to someone his entire life until now when the tables are turned apparently. But what does the next sentence mean in that case ? The alternative interpretation could be: he is in an airplane and is literally looking down on someone because that would explain the next sentence: I'm really drifting away now (airplane that flies on). My point is: that's often the trouble with lyrics, if you can even understand and translate it you sometimes still don't know what it means. So why bother ? I don't have time or energy for this. I feel more like enjoying the instrumental music and judge that ! Next song (All in one day) is a little heavier before the slower View from above closes it down. It's stating the obvious almost to say that they are all three very good songs because I never ever have been able to catch this band on producing a poor song. And I have heard about 50 till 60 songs so far and I believe this is the only band I know who has produced this number of songs and achieved this unique fact.

So all together hats off for this fantastic band but because this EP is not really their very best I give it 3 stars but in their overall career it's at least 4 !