Track Listing

1. Only Rain
2. No Defence
3. Close Your Eyes
4. Carolina Skeletons
5. Outside The Machine
6. Returning Jesus
7. Slow It All Down
8. Lighthouse
9. All That You Are

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #103783 in Music
• Released on: 2001-03-27
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
The job of reinventing the ballad would require more imagination and ingenuity than most acts would consider worthwhile. But then those are two attributes that experimental duo Tim Bowness and Steven Wilson--separately known as Darkroom and Porcupine Tree--have never been short of, and with their fourth long-player, Returning Jesus under the No-Man moniker they take a valiant stab at remodelling the singer/songwriter's favourite fallback into lush soundscapes and ambient pop. Their method is simple: set a heartfelt lament to a backing of anything from dinner jazz, to atmospheric analogue noise and bleary-eyed country, veer off after a couple of verses into an abstract instrumental break before dropping the vocals in for one last verse. It's not an exact science and the formula works better on some tracks than others; the stirring cinematic strings and languid trumpets of "Only Rain" would have been better left as an instrumental, and "Outside the Machine" sounds like two gorgeously sensual, epic and seemingly unrelated pieces of music bolted uncomfortably together. Even so, when it works, as with the Bowie/Depeche Mode-esque "Close Your Eyes", Returning Jesus is mesmerising. --Dan Gennoe

Customer Reviews

The best & most complete no-man album to date
"Returning Jesus" is No-Man's most complete (& most satisfying) release to date. Delicious, understated melodies, more Bowness slices of life lyrics, ballads to melt your heart, all held together by real songs performed by real musicians.

If you like your music unforced and natural, then this album is for you. Featuring guest appearances from Steve Jansen, Ben Christophers & Ian Carr.

Stand-out tracks include "outside the machine". Resting on Steve Jansen's dry, jazzy drums, and Steven's effortless piano, it's such an intimate song, no longer dependent, yet full of intense yearning. The instrumental section seems to draw inspiration from the textures on Bowie's classic Outside album, before being drawn back into the song proper. "lighthouse" is the most complex performance on the album, progressive and not ashamed of it - shifting from light to dark, epic to feather light.

A masterpiece
This album is a masterpiece. From the moment Ian Carr's trumpet sounds in Only Rain, I was swept into one of the most beautiful musical experiences I have ever known. Every song is crafted to perfection, different, exciting and creative. The sound is more mellow than No-Man's previous albums, exchanging trip hop for jazz influences. The double bass and 'human' drums provide a more organic 'band' feel to the CD. I think this is the best thing No-Man have done, and probably the best that Steve Wilson has produced in all of his projects. By best I mean the most wonderful to listen to - at least to my ears. Returning Jesus deserves a wide audience, if only so that more people could learn what great music exists out there.