...AND ALL THE KINGS MEN

No particular changes for Jump,who immediately entered the Mars Studios in Buckinghamshire at the fall of 1993 to record their third full-length album ''...and All the King's Men''.Female singer Chrisie Hammond helped the band on additional vocals in a few tracks and the album, again on Salad Records, was released in 1994.

That was eventually a good offering by the band after the previous rather weak works.With ''...and All the King's Men'' Jump deliver a familiar Neo Prog attitude, somewhat like a cross between MARILLION from ''Clutching at straws'' period, the intense atmosphere of TWELFTH NIGHT and the melodic, rhythmic style of JADIS.The 14 tracks are split between melodic compositions with great guitar work and some nice breaks and up-tempo cheerful numbers with some decent grooves, finally supporting sufficiently John Dexter Jones' brilliant voice, which was always the band's strong point.But now the arrangements are more polished and well-crafted, also less straightforward, with an impressive lyricism and a number of inspired tunes, which you can't get easily out of your head.The unmemorable bluesy sound of the previous album is gone for good.The addition of Chrisie Hammond and her lovely voice gives the band some extra point on the vocal section as well.Of course a few inclusions will remind you of Jump's earlier period, being quite weak overall, while the keyboars remain still on the background.But the final taste is positive to say the least.

Seems like Jump kept all of their interesting ideas in one album.''...and All the King's Men'' has all these good ingredients to be classified as nice Neo Prog: excellent vocals, catchy tunes and a bit of compositional adventure.A little diversity and a richer sound wouldn't hurt, but this album still is good.Recommended to all fans of qualitive Neo Prog and Melodic Rock.