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Jude Cole's solo debut

Tim Brough | Springfield, PA United States | 01/30/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"By the time Jude Cole was given a chance by Warner Brothers to record a solo album, he'd already been a well established player. He's got old credits on The Records' Crashes and with Moon Martin, so it was kind of surprise that his debut was rather inauspicious. The WB obviously saw a soft-rock/blue-eyed soul star in the making, and producer Russ Titelman surrounded Jude with Adult Contemporary players like Rob Mounsey, Kenny G and John Oates.



The result was an album that Jude would quickly shift gears away from, kicking into a Bryan Adams/John Mellencamp rocker vien for A View from 3rd Street and Start the Car. Given the power-pop roots of both "Crashes" and his time with Martin, the softening of the sound seemed odd at the time of its 1987 release. The closest thing to a rocker here is the new-wavish "Like Lovers Do," which definitely hinted at the soon to come hit "Baby It's Tonight" (from "A View"). While his ballads have always been well done, Jude has more weight than the single "You Were In My Heart" (which featured the 80's omnipresence of Kenny G's sax solo) lets on. There is one other superb ballad here, the album closing "Crying Mary."



"Jude Cole" is not a bad album, it's just the sound of a young artist being groomed too hard to be something he wasn't. I still have my original CD signed by Jude (along with my LP autographed copy of "Crashes": he paled when I pulled that one out of my bag!), and still have a weak spot for the singles on this CD. You'll hear strong songwriting, but you'll also catch whiffs of the better albums to come. If you've been waiting years for this to come back into print and resisted the siren call of the pricey used copies, now is your chance.

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Jude Cole's Debut reissued

John Kelly | 11/10/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"An absolutely amazing debut album reissued on wounded bird. Jude cole's first solo work is easily available now and has stood the test of time. This will be on my ipod and many radio playlists for years to come.



It's just a shame no new material has been released since his reporting work for warner bros. on Xtra and more recently co-owning Ironworks records with long time friend Kiefer Sutherland, producing for bands Lifehouse and Rocco Deluca and the Burden and others"