Jump - The Beachcomber (2010)

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Jump - The Beachcomber (2010)

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The Beachcomber is the new studio album by British Rock Band Jump and as ever the guys never let their loyal fan base down with an album crammed with songs that are bound to become crowd pleasers when they play them live.

John Dexter Jones has been one of the best and underrated songwriters of the last twenty years, his personal and sometimes dramatic stories making their way onto albums with apparent ease and yet you know just by listening to songs such as Kingston Corner Blues which deals with the idea of people declaring their life stories on the phone in public and the incredible No One Spoke.

John is joined once more with fellow Jump stalwarts Steve “Ronnie“ Rundle on electric and acoustic guitar, Keyboard player Mo, drummer Andy Barker and the great Steve Hayes on guitar. This cohesive unit of collective styles has worked well for the band over the years and it would be odd to think of the band without any of these fine musicians.

The band has changed personnel slightly since the last studio release Faithful, Faithless back in 2005, with Phil Mayhew taking over the duties on bass from Andy Faulkner and it is a change that has worked well for the band. The bass may be an overlooked musical instrument in some bands but in Jump it adds perfectly to the level of consistent high achieving the band always tries to strive for.

There may be those who will struggle to pigeon hole the bands musical leaning with each song being uniquely Rock but at the same time with an air of truth and humanity rarely heard in the genre. That’s the point though as a band like Jump and their music is not able to be likened to other bands and they should be congratulated for that fact.

The Beachcomber follows in the tradition of fine, beautifully written songs and brilliant musical arrangements in the mould of A Man Was Made, Matthew and The Myth of Independence. The Beachcomber is great album to add to anyone’s collection.

Review by Ian D. Halls

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Jump - The Beachcomber (2010)

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Jump:

JUMP is a band from England that started out in 1990, at that point in time consisting of Andy Barker (drums), Mo (keyboards), Hugh Gascoyne (bass), Steve hayes (guitars), Pete Davies (guitars) and John Dexter Jones (vocals).

The band started doing the live circuit, and released three studio albums in quick succession on independent label Salad Records- "The Winds of Change" (1991), "World of Wonder" (1993), "…and All the King's Men" (1994).

At this point in time the band had established themselves as a decent live and studio act, and gained lots of attention by playing with many different acts. This led to the band being offered a record deal by progressive rock specialist label Cyclops Records, and that Mark Kelly of MARILLION offered to produce their fourth studio album, "The Myth of Independence", released in 1995.

1998 saw the release of "Living in a Promised Land", and one year later the live album "The Freedom Train" was issued. At this point in time a rare occurence in this band's history took place, as Hugh Gascoyne left the band, replaced by Andy Faulkner (bass).

With this line-up change in order JUMP continued were they left off, releasing three more studio efforts in quick succession. "Matthew" (2000), "On Impulse" (2001) and "Home Songs" (2003) were created in between live gigs and tours; and then it was time for some further changes to happen.

Pete Davies left, replaced by Steve 'Ronnie' Rundle (guitar), and at the same time the band left Cyclops Records, all future productions by this outfit now being issued by Den-Tel Records.

With these alterations over and done with, JUMP has continued pretty much as they did in previous years, albeit toning down the touring and recording activity somewhat. The studio productions "A Man Was Made" saw the light in 2004, "Faithful Faithless" saw the lgiht in 2005, and in 2006 it was time for the band's second live album; "Something of the Night".

2008 saw the release of an EP with 3 new compositions, named "The New EP", and several live shows as a full band or acoustic trio were scheduled throughout the year.

In the 18 years this outfit have existed, they have done more than 1000 live shows, have opened for a plethora of acts in the British prog and rock scene, and have also introduced their own audience to up and coming acts which later have achieved critical or commercial succcess; such as Karnataka, Mostly Autumn, Dead Like Harry, White Buffalo, Lorien, S.A.D.

~ Progarchives