Track Listing

1. Hearts on Fire
2. Jesus East
3. Another Sun
4. Underground Star
5. 13 Days
6. Surrender
7. Randy Sez
8. Simple Plan
9. Valiant
10. Path

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #108540 in Music
• Released on: 2007-04-16
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Follow-up to 'Altamont Diary'
Black Cab follow up their classic conceptual debut 'Altamont Diary' with 'Jesus East', a less conceptual piece that advances on the climes of that fantastic first album. James Lee (guitars) and Andrew Coates (vocals, arrangements, programming)are joined by a supporting cast including Andrew Paine (bass), Richard Andrew (drums), Alex Jarvis (guitars), Ashley Naylor (guitars), Steve Law (keyboards), Hermant Kumar (tablas), Radhey Gupta (sitar), Dead-associate Sam Cutler (spoken word) & Sayaka Yabuki (vocals).

'Jesus East' offers an advance on the sixties-inspired electronica of 'Altamont Diary', though the album isn't just a blend of sixties and zeroes - opener 'Hearts on Fire' has a Joy Division-style bass-line (think 'Incubation'), while 'Simple Plan' sounds like the Black Rebel Motorycle Club and the Mary Chain would sound if they experimented a bit! The title track feels a bit Mary Chain-inspired, though the production is much more layered and whoozy - maybe the Mary Chain if they'd been overhauled by Kevin Shields (some great jangly guitars on this one, sort of doing with late 80s experimental rock what Death in Vegas were doing with Krautrock on their last album).

'Another Sun' advances on the sitar-heavy track on 'Altamont Diary', the table and sitar coming together as Black Cab build their sound over it - the song sounding like a blend of Cabaret Voltaire, Morcheeba and Secret Machines. 'Underground Star', meanwhile, is an apparent tribute to the late great Syd Barrett, though musically it sounds like Suicide after too much My Bloody Valentine - this is the direction Prml Scrm should have gone in after 'Xtrmntr.' '13 Days' features more sitar and a disembodied vocal over acoustic guitars, not far from material by the Brian Jonestown Massacre or Spacemen 3, which can be no bad thing!

Single 'Surrender' takes another Suicide-style approach to Black Cab's material, I can't help thinking it sounds a bit of a curious choice for a single - certainly not the track I'd have picked. 'Randy Sez' is a relative of 'Jerry Sez' from the first album, a brief soundscape prior to the excellent 'Simple Plan.'

The longest track here, 'Valiant', is in excess of seven-minutes, and features Dead associate Sam Cutler, who is reminiscing over the sixties scene and Black Cab provide the perfect soundtrack. Stunning stuff and probably the track everyone should listen to first - if you don't want to buy this album then...I just can't help you! Again, it's a bit like the Jonestown, but with an awareness of electronica and related dance music. Closing track 'The Path' is a minimal piece that reminds me of the feeling given by 'Prologue/Epilogue' on Yellow Magic Orchestra's 'Technodelic.' Cutler's voice comes back in with an ambient take on the sitar-noises on the album, the final track feeling like an echo of everything that has gone before...

'Jesus East' is as good a follow-up to the brilliant 'Altamont Diary' as could be expected, definitely part of the soundtrack to 2007, let's hope that Black Cab tour the UK sometime in the near future. Needless to say, one of the albums of 2007, a multi-genre joy and a much more interesting record than the somewhat overrated 'Sound of Silver' by LCD Soundsystem!