Sugar Jones, Bring Your Own Insanity
(Sovereign Music)

OffBeat magazine, March 2002

Who or what is Sugar Jones? Sugar Jones is not the Canadian pop group, at least not this time. Sugar Jones WAS a funk sextet in the mid-’90s. Sugar Jones is now the old band’s brainchild, Baton Rouge native Chad Thevenot, who wrote, arranged, and produced Bring Your Own Insanity himself and grabbed the best talent he could lay his hands on in the process. That includes George Porter, Jr., whose basslines could put the snap in any project; fortunately, it already had plenty to start with. Insanity is the most thought-provoking funk CD of this young year.

This is partly because Jones has a real need for musical exploration, which he demonstrates on the literally and metaphorically psychedelic "A Chemical Dream." It also helps to come with a truckload of personal blue-eyed soul, and Jones puts those cards on the table most effectively in "You Must Be Heaven," which manages to embody the sort of silky ’70s R&B that more famous practitioners like Lenny Kravitz can only sporadically get real with. The twin closers of "Sanctuary In Your Arms" and "The City Never Sleeps" also prove that he has a good command of Southern-rock styles.

But what really sets Sugar -- them, him, whatever -- above the crowd is his ability to craft tight and gently romantic songs for the grooves to anchor. Getting George Porter on your album is a neat trick; giving him something worthy of his talent is a much better one. You can purchase Bring Your Own Insanity at www.sugarjonesmusic.com.

-- Robert Fontenot

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Insanity is the most thought-provoking funk CD of this young year.