Saturday, 15 April 2017

629 Hello Jesus Jones - Info Feako



Chart  entered : 25  February  1989

Chart  peak : 42

Number  of  hits : 12

My  mate  Sean  had  a  particular  animus  against  this  lot , based,  I  think  on  the  gap  between  their  mouthy  frontman's  grandiose  claims  and  the  quality  of  the  music  produced  ( see  also  Boomtown  Rats, Sleeper ),  and  I  can't  say  they  did  much  for  me  either. I  recall   citing  these  on  Popular  as  one  of  the  prime  exponents  of  "Crap  Pop"  in  this  era  and  a  number  of  commenters  coming  to  the  defence  of  this  debut  single. I  missed  it  at  the  time  so  there's  some  curiosity  involved  in  hearing  it  now.

Jesus  Jones  started  with  school  friends , Mike  Edwards  ( guitar / vocals ) and  Simon  "Gem"  Matthews  ( drums ) playing  in  bands  together  in  their  home  ton  of  Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire. In  1986  they  picked  up  bassist  Al  Doughty  and  moved  to  London  as  a  band  called  Camouflage . They  attracted  some  attention  from  labels  but  no  deal  was  forthcoming. A  change  of  name  to  Big  Colour  changed  nothing. They  decided  on  their  second  re-brand while  on  holiday  in  Spain  in  1988 . They  quickly  picked  up   Iain  Baker  ( keyboards )  and Jerry  De  Borg  ( guitar ) .  They  had  a  similar  vision  to  the  likes  of  Big  Audio  Dynamite  and  Pop  Will  Eat  Itself  in  trying  to  create  a  hybrid  of  alternative  rock  and  modern  dance.  Simon  knew  the  people  at   Food, the  EMI- sponsored  label  set  up  by  former  Teardrop  Explodes  man  David  Balfe  and  they  were  signed  up  before  they'd  even  played  a  live  gig.

  EMI  were  persuaded  to  give  "Info  Freako"  heavy  promotion  and  it  got  on  the  Radio  One  playlist. Starting  with  a  barrage  of  radio  babble  similar  to  Landscape's  Einstein  A  Go Go, the  music  is  a  mix  of  thrashed  guitars , Art  of  Noise-style  keyboard  samples, funky  drums, white  noise  and  Mike's  electronically distorted vocal  snarl. It  got  rave  reviews  and  while  it  doesn't  sound  so  remarkable  now,  I  can  see  why  people  found  it  thrilling  when  the  charts  were  choked  up  with  Stock,  Aitken  and  Waterman.

The  lyric  deserves  further  consideration. Mike  hymns  the  virtues  of  autodidacticism  and  makes  the  fatal  declaration  " it  means  I'll  always  have  the  edge  over  you ". It's  hilariously  ironic that  a  band  so  concerned  with  producing  music  for  the  future  could  call  it  so  wrong. Technological  development  in  the  forthcoming  decade  was  to eviscerate  the  value  of  knowledge  and  research  and  make  it  practically  worthless  outside  the  well-fortified  walls  of  academic  publication. Yous  truly  has  long  since  accepted  that  these  blogs  have  no  commercial  potential. Even  that  last  redoubt  of  the  autodidact, the  pub  quiz, has  been  stormed  by  people  looking  at  their  mobiles  under  the  table   ( as  well  as  the  ever-dwindling  number  of  venues  in  which  to  operate ). Mike's  Info  Freako  didn't  have  "the  edge" ; he  was  teetering  on  it.
  

1 comment:

  1. In reference to your pub quiz comment, I have attended a couple of football quizzes in town and noted that certain individuals frequent trips to the Gents would indicate phone-checking or one hell of a cocaine habit.

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