Search - Jacks :: Vacant World

You have to read the review to understand this ..

Gonzo | USA | 08/05/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This record is amazing. I discovered it from a former co-worker who played it once, years ago. Then I tried forever to track it down until finally I found the correct band "Jacks".



I'm not going to be able to do this record justice with my review but I have to do one since there isn't one already.



It's 1968 Japanese music. No english words. It's got a strong mixture of both Japanese and Western 60's rock vibe. There's alot of usage of some sort of bell type instrument. A very lovely soft sound.



The music swings from being really beautiful and soft ..very very soft, to some sort of acid-rock/surf-rock/jazz swing type sound. I really can't explain it. It's top notch quality stuff though. The guy has got a great soft voice but occasionally when they go into a more wild section of a song, he breaks out with this great yelling. It's not yelling like stupid punk rock yelling. It's yelling like god help me I'm sad and dying yelling. It's very sophisticated and arty sounding. I don't know much about the old Japanese 1960s scene but I find it really surprising that this came of out Japan in 1968. It's brilliant.



The atmosphere on this record is just amazing. Sort of like how you'd imagine the calm before a storm, in the warm but cooling windy air. Almost like you're floating, and occasionally all hell starts to break loose, and then it's back to this calmness. It's great.



Seriously, the only way in my mind to ever be able to describe the bulk of this record is to take a Japanese man singing the Beatles' "Yer Blues" in japanese, and cross it with the Radiohead song "No Surprises" which is very simular in calmness and with that bell type sound. It's just this incredible, other-worldy sound that the Jacks have.



It's the best stuff I've ever heard and I don't know how to explain it. If you check it out you won't be sorry. Good luck finding a copy though."