This is an album that is one with its backstory.<\/p>\n
The story\u2014already slipping into the category of urban legend\u2014goes something like this.\u00a0 One night in 2008, unknown young Welsh singer-songwriter JP Jones was drinking at a London art opening when he spotted a famous face at the bar.\u00a0 Where others might have slunk away, the combination of curiosity and alcohol spurred JP to strike up a conversation with the one and only Chrissie Hynde, of Pretenders fame.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Where the conversation that followed between 32-year-old Jones and 59-year-old Hynde eventually led isn\u2019t entirely clear; the pair avoid direct answers and drop sometimes-contradictory hints about the personal dimension of their relationship, which included a spring 2009 sojourn to Cuba, where most of these songs were written.\u00a0 Regardless, all available evidence suggests that there was an immediate creative and romantic spark, but that the latter element of the relationship was doomed from the start by their age difference, resulting in an album full of songs about perfectly matched lovers fated only to pine for one another.<\/p>\n
Leadoff cut \u201cPerfect Lover\u201d immediately etches a new entry in the book of classic songs about star-crossed lovers, a composition with genuine kick-you-in-the-gut power, exceptionally poignant and magnificently executed.\u00a0 \u201cI found my perfect lover but he\u2019s only half my age \/ He was learning to stand when I was wearing my first wedding band \/ I found my perfect lover but I have to turn the page \/ But I want him in my kitchen and standing on my stage.\u201d \u00a0Hynde\u2019s longing on this track is real enough to send shivers up your spine.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Jones, who provides support and counterpoints to Hynde\u2019s lead vocals on \u201cPerfect Lover,\u201d takes the next lead and attacks the topic at hand with all the intrepid urgency of youth, insisting in the anthemic \u201cIf You Let Me\u201d that \u201cI\u2019m gonna make you love me \/ If you let me, if you let me, if you let me.\u201d\u00a0 This billowing emotion is set to a driving beat, with expansive Van Morrison-y guitars and piano and choruses that get bigger and bigger.<\/p>\n
If it isn\u2019t obvious yet, listening to this album is both thrilling and unsettling.\u00a0 Thrilling because the emotion is so raw and genuine, and unsettling for exactly the same reason; these songs are so intimate the listener feels almost like a voyeur.\u00a0 Take \u201cAustralia,\u201d which seems to narrate the pair\u2019s first meeting\u2014except here she goes home with him, whereas in \u201cPerfect Lover\u201d she\u2019s already declared that \u201che\u2019ll never share my bed.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s a bittersweet contradiction that blurs the boundaries between what\u2019s real and what\u2019s fiction.<\/p>\n
Many of these songs feature Jones and Hynde either dueting or trading verses, and the remainder generally feature one prominently supporting the other in a sort of running dialogue.\u00a0 There are two exceptions.\u00a0 \u201cMisty Valleys\u201d is a pure Hynde lead vocal, and well it should be; the way she massages the melody like a lover, slipping into falsetto at exactly the right syllable, is nothing short of magic.\u00a0 Jones\u2019 vocals are an interesting contrast, as you\u2019re reminded when he takes the lead on \u201cCourage.\u201d\u00a0 He\u2019s got a rough, breathy, rather Springsteenesque voice that speaks easily of hard living.\u00a0\u00a0 (\u201cUnder the railway bridge we\u2019ll hide\u201d \u2013doesn\u2019t that just sound like a Springsteen line?)\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cLeave Me if You Must\u201d showcases Jones\u2019 weariest tones, letting a little anger creep in around the edges.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Notions of fairness and balance aside, realistically, Hynde is the lead attraction here, and shows once again why \u201cthe legendary\u201d increasingly precedes her name in print.\u00a0 She had a remarkable voice 30 years ago; one of the most amazing parts of this album is to hear her singing today as well as she ever has, in a voice as powerful and subtle and enthralling as it\u2019s ever been.\u00a0 The vulnerability she conveys in songs like the wistful \u201cMeanwhile\u201d is incredible\u2014and her ability to follow it with the insouciance and steeliness of a song like \u201cYour Fairground,\u201d amazing.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Another of those things you do when you\u2019re falling in love with someone is bend a little in their direction, to try to meet them halfway.\u00a0 You actually get to hear that happening when Jones tries to match Hynde\u2019s upper-register vocals on \u201cNever Drink Again\u201d by using his own falsetto; it almost feels like it could be a reflection of their relationship, because he\u2019s trying so hard, and you feel for the guy that much more hearing him strain to match a woman who\u2019s literally out of reach.<\/p>\n
The album finishes with \u201cFidelity!\u201d a song that\u2019s a bit of a puzzle.\u00a0 \u201cI can see that you\u2019re itching, you\u2019re young and you\u2019re able to love \/ Lord above save me from my misery\u201d\u2014that\u2019s clear enough.\u00a0 But the chorus of \u201cIt\u2019s life, you\u2019ve got a little girl, fidelity!\u201d\u2026 is the little girl the child Jones has acknowledged in interviews that he wants to father one day?\u00a0 In other words, is the fidelity Hynde is urging to Jones\u2019 desire to be a father?\u00a0 Or is it fidelity to the truth of their lives, i.e. the difference in their ages?\u00a0 Or are those really one and the same thing?<\/p>\n
I could offer caveats and quibbles here and there\u2014the acquired taste that Jones\u2019 rough-edged voice represents, the occasional samey-ness of the mid-tempo arrangements\u2014but those are insignificant footnotes to what is an undeniably terrific album.\u00a0 For songwriting, vocal collaboration and pure artistic courage, Fidelity!<\/i> is close to as good as it gets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":30463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8630],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-42127","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-jp-chrissie-the-fairground-boys","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42127"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}