| Artist: | Jadis |
| Title: | Across The Water |
| Label: | Giant Electric Pea GEPCD100? |
| Length(s): | 46 minutes |
| Year(s) of release: | 1994 |
| Month of review: | 06/1994 |
| 1) | Touch | 6.01 |
| 2) | In Isolation | 6.40 |
| 3) | Daylight Fades | 7.49 |
| 4) | Everywhere I Turn | 6.16 |
| 5) | A Life Is All You Need | 4.23 |
| 6) | The World On Your Side | 7.07 |
| 7) | No Sacrifice | 7.55 |
The second full CD by neo-proggers Jadis. They have taken quite some time to record their new one (their first More Than Meets The Eye was well received and later on they released a mini-cd called once upon a time, containing three previously unreleased tracks). They also recorded two songs, one for each of the SI compilation discs. Especially This Changing Face of the second SI disc was to my liking. I have also seen them live a few times and I will see them live again (and if everything goes the way it should you can expect an interview with them by me shortly).
For people who have never heard anything of Jadis, I think you can place them alongside IQ (Orford writes for Jadis as well as IQ), but there are differences. I think Jadis can be described as a band that puts a guitarsolo into every song and the songs have been very much build up around those solos, while the melodic content of the music is left unharmed (which means that it's not just plain rock). They have also been known as Marillion copycats but that's not correct, though there are influences in the guitarwork. Stephen Rothery of Marillion has repeatedly been involved with this band in its early years. The guitar is at times melodic but the overal sound is a bit rockier (or riffier) than the average progressive band. They are definitely progressive though, mind you and it's not only the keyboards doing that.
I will not compare their new CD to their old one, because I simply do not have it and I'm not the copying type.
Most songs follow the same format: they start out quietly, then some singing after which we get an intermezzo introducing at least a new guitarsolo after which the singing is restarted and the song can after a few remaining lines of lyrics end in a quiet way again. The choruses are usually a bit of the singalong type, but in a positive way.
Naturally they do vary (it would be a very boring CD if they didn't) somewhat but I think this format describes it pretty accurately. Not all of the melodies were to my liking, especially in the first two songs.
A notable exception to the rule is A Life Is All You Need that is quiet all the way through and is the high point of this album. On Everywhere I Turn they introduce vocal harmonies into the song that remind me a bit of IQs Nomzamo. Anoter song worth mentioning is the sixth one The World On Your Side that contains some very good vocal melodies, but I would have liked some of the guitarparts to be left out, so you can concentrate yourself more on those melodies. I have that a lot with the songs: there are parts I really like but usually one or other guitarsolo destroys it for me. Maybe I'm, just not a big fan of those solos anyway.