THE MYTH OF INDEPENDENCE

Compared to the two excellent albums that surround it - 1994's ...All The King's Men and 1998's Living In A Promised Land - 1995's The Myth Of Independence is relatively speaking a lesser album. Considered in its own right this is still a good album that exhibits at least some of the same qualities that made those other two albums so good, but in context I cannot help but feel that this album is somewhat disappointing.

The present album is a bit more laid back and generally less immediate. This becomes apparent from the start with the atypical, Pink Floyd-ish intro that opens the album's first track, Tower Of Babel. Princess Of The People is a more typical Jump number with clever, subtly sarcastic lyrics about "the burden of the crown". Depending on your interpretation, this could be the antidote to Elton John's Candle In The Wind. There are several other good songs, but they are generally not as memorable as those on the other two albums I mentioned above. One of the exceptions is the lovely Runaway, a brief, acoustic song on which John Dexter Jones really shines.

They try out a bit of Blues Rock on the track Keep The Blues, but this I'm afraid would have been better kept! The title of the album appears in the lyrics of Drivetime, an uncharacteristically funky number. One must applaud the band's eclecticism, but on this album they are best when they hold to their brand of Folk-infused Neo-Prog. These excursions make the album less coherent. Marillion's Mark Kelly produces the album and also helps out on piano on one track. Chrissie Hammond reappears on backing vocals, but her presence is more discrete here than on the ...All The King's Men album.

The Myth Of Independence is a good album by a great and often misunderstood band, but it is certainly not the best place to begin with Jump

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