Sugar
Jones: Bring Your Own Insanity Toasterhead Music News Network, October 2001 By Scott Gruber Chad Thevenot -- singer, songwriter, producer, and frontman -- describes Sugar Jones' sound as "new root funk," but the roots defy pidgeonholing. The styles covered on Bring Your Own Insanity range from pure 70s soul to blues to countrified folk to Indian-spiced grunge. The band sounds most comfortable with straight-ahead funk/soul tunes such as "Too Many" and "You Must Be Heaven." The former could easily serve as a homing beacon for George Clinton’s mothership, and the latter could've been an outtake from the Superfly soundtrack. Except that it wouldn't have been left off -- it's far too good. Even the more eclectic tunes are still served up with a large helping of soul, due largely to some masterful instrumentation. Arrangements like these long to be jammed on, and some tasty accompaniment by guitarist Miles Sapp, cellist Hans Christian, and keyboardist Dave Ylvisaker, pushes several tracks over the "Ooohoohoo, dat's pretty" threshold. Holding down the low end masterfully is Meters bassist George Porter, Jr., who moves easily from exploring every corner of the chord, to the shadow of the mix, with an impeccable sense of song. Thevenot's lyrics are infused with a healthy dose of intelligence and irony, so the more tender tunes avoid the curse of trite sappiness, and the more political tunes avoid meaningless platitudes. His delivery slips easily from Curtis Mayfield falsetto to James Taylor smooth to Corey Glover growl. Yeah, the guy from Living Color... On
a few songs on the album, something about the mix or the EQ makes
the vocal tracks sound slightly detached from the rest of the band.
I wanna stick Chad in front of an SM-57 or play with the reverb
or bump up the low end on the track or something. But this is a
minor criticism of an otherwise well-crafted album. The average
listener will be too busy grooving along to notice. |
Press
Kit
Thevenot's lyrics are infused with a healthy dose of intelligence and irony |
