LIVING IN A PROMISED LAND

The contract with Cyclops Records really pushed Jump's fame, who by mid-90's had become a live beast, supporting almost all famous UK Neo Prog acts.The band took some three years of break between the recording sessions of a new album, eventually coming up with their sophomore album on Cyclops in 1998, entitled ''Living in a Promised Land'', which also meant to be the last one with the classic Barker/ Mo/ Gascoyne/ Hayes/ Davies/ Dexter Jones line-up.

And it seemed actually like the band certainly needed some new blood in the process, as with ''Living in a Promised Land'' Jump returned to the weak sound of their first albums, although more polished and refined.The band seems to take the direction JADIS would take a few years later, a simple-structured guitar-driven mix of straightforward Rock and Neo Prog with adventurous passages being totally absent and heavily relying on Jones' impressive vocal lines.And the man prooves to be Jump's trademark, with his voice being expressive, theatrical and romantic at the same time.But the musicianship has little to offer, some ideas on the guitar department and a few keyboard flashed are really interesting, but the majority of the tracks contain cliche choruses, simple grooves and typical song structures with no risks at all, making Jump one of the lowest values among the genre's list of bands.

''Living in a Promised Land'' was rather a step backwards for the band than just the slightest of a development, still Neo Prog fanatics will find something to like among these cliche tunes with Jones' being the most reasonable reason to buy the album.