Blind Jackson
Stop The Clock (self-released)
by Marc Hirsh
originally published in Space City Rock,
Spring 2005
Blind Jackson
probably could have cleaned up in 1990. The London
band has the feel of Britpop in the days before it was stadium-sized by
Oasis,
and the three songs on Stop The Clock
have a neatly kicky punch. “Keep On Running” and the garage-y “Where
Did You
Sleep Last Night?” (not a cover of the Leadbelly song), earlier singles
reissued here, are both underscored by a bluesy feel, but “Stop The
Clock” is
the EP’s most interesting song: it draws from the same well as the La’s
when
they were in a minor-key mood, with a harder rhythm that seems to
collapse the
complexities of ska into a 4/4 singularity. Despite the clean
melodicism, sharp
playing and Marc Bolan-meets-Mick Jagger snarl of lead singer Sy
Badham,
though, the song, at a mere(ish) 3:37, goes on about a minute too long
(recommended
cut: everything from the start of the first bridge to the start of the
second).
That shows that Blind Jackson doesn’t know what to do with its good
ideas.
There are worse places to start out.
Back to reviews