Jim's Super Stereoworld

Strange sight of the evening #1: A crowd surfing stage diving gentleman immaculately dressed in a suit and tie.

Strange sight #2: Immense bald bloke reliving 1991 stagediving, crowd surfing, and being forcibly removed from the stage.

Strange sight #3: two former punks of the 90’s Great Indie-punk Wars fronting a pop band.

At the front are the two veterans JimBob (ex-Carter) and Salv (ex- These Animal Men), all big thrashy guitars and shouting, and at the back, two tuxedoed keyboard geniuses in the shape of Pete and Ben. It sounds as odd as it looks. The music itself is an equally unexpected mix - sleek, cheesy disco style anthems with spatterings of guitar and shouting. Choruses as catchy - but not as well known - as anything by The Beatles come and go in seconds, especially 'Touchy, Feely', which in another life is JimBob’s very own 'Hey Jude' (and just as irritatingly stuck-in-my-head-and-I-can’t-get-it-out-of-there).

In many respects, JimBob (for he records alone, and then builds a band around him, much like Nine Inch Nails without the stigmata) is a low budget version of a pop svengali. Without the major budget for fame starved teenage pop strumpets though, his songs, such as the insidious 'You’re My Mate And I Like You', and the slinky Prince-style of 'Could U B The 1 I Waited 4?', are unfortunately destined to be loved deeply by only a small percentage of the UK population (but one with fine taste). If these sonsg were sung by Liam Gallagher - or Kylie - they’d be rightly hailed as the work of absolute genius. But these songs that are certainly as melodic and memorable as anything composed by a team of soulless automatons, and far far more meaningful and sincere. Especially when they perform 'My Name Is John',a touching tale of a divorce gone wrong which reminds me of nothing so much as one of Philip Larkin’s finest works set to music (much like the epic 'Girls Can Keep A Secret' from the final Carter USM album).

There’s also plenty from the new album - 'Big Flash Car On A Saturday Night', that shows him further honing his craft as one of the UK’s premier, neglected songwriters - a concise nine song cycle of short pop music that shows as much attention, care, and cohesion as any classic album. Each song falls securely into the next as part of a whole. Genius.

And whilst the average age of the audience is - at best - early 30’s upwards - its the age that counts against them in some respects. The glorious past of JimBob unfortunately is also the one denying him a future on the front cover of the NME. Fickle thing that the NME is, it seems to favour the latest in unoriginal retreads by rich kids, instead of people trying to do something new who don’t wish they were regulars at CBGB’s in the early 70’s.

Shame. You don’t know what you’re missing. And I wish you did.