In the wrong hands, nostalgia can be a dangerous influence, a suffocating effect on creativity, where rose-coloured historical revisionism masquerades as artistic inspiration. Whereas American Graffiti explored burgeoning political divisions, Happy Days was a tedious sequence of trite pseudo-sociological observations in which the most complex of cultural situations was reduced to two-dimensional characters and facile one-liners.
The Jim Jones Revue does nostalgia, but in a good way. There’s nothing particularly new about either the band’s schtick, or its latest album, The Savage Heart – but therein lies its undeniable charm. There’s a guttural elegance snarling within It’s Gotta Be About Me that stares you straight in the eye and dares you to respond. On Never Let You Go, the spirit of Carl Perkins takes a couple of black beauties and wreaks havoc. 7 Times Around the Sun takes a chain gang chant and a jug of moonshine and gets down and dirty wit’ your ass; Where Da Money Go is the perennial damaged rocker’s question, writ large with time-honoured blues sensibility, a serious dose of speedrock and Jones’ Bon Scott-like emphatic vocal delivery.
On Chain Gang, the Jim Jones Revue is hanging out with the Beasts Of Bourbon learning the mythology and wonder of Max Roach’s Driver Man, while In And Out Of Harm’s Way makes a pact with the devil and revels in the Jon Spencer-like consequences of the transaction. Catastrophe is anything but, a boogie fest unseen since the beer cans, spliffs, and terry towelling hats of Sunbury ’73. Eagle Eye Ball channels Jailbreak AC/DC on the wrong side of a three-day bender; like a David Lynch exploration of small town culture, Midnight Oceans and The Savage Heart is warm and tender on the surface, and dangerous just below. The Jim Jones Revue get the paradox of nostalgia – and they’ve got great songs to boot.
BY PATRICK EMERY
Best Track: Never Let You Go
If you like this, You’ll Like This: Jerry Lee Lewis, Southern Culture On The Skids, Heavy Trash
In A Word: Dirty
