Search - Sam Jones :: My Front Porches

Sam Jones' "My Front Porches" is a masterwork that truly defies comparison, but critics worldwide have compared this record to Bob Dylan's "Blonde on Blonde," the Beatles "White Album," The Beach Boys "Pet Sounds," the Clash's "London Calling," and Nick Drake's "Pink Moon." The record was made in Jones' "Big Orange Studios" over the last two years, with Jones playing many of the instruments, and bringing in his friends to flesh out some of the tracks, ala "The Basement Tapes." Included on this record are drummer Dan McCarroll, who has played with Aimee Mann, Sheryl Crow, and the Grays, Davey Farrager, who is now in Elvis Costello's band, and Val McCallum, who's latest project is playing guitar for the Wallflowers. The songwriting is the thread that holds this incredible American patchwork of song styles together, with Jones' distinctive voice telling tall tales of truth over swirling melodies, mysterious soundscapes, and honest playing. The record ranges from the punk-rock snarl of "Astronauts in Motion," a song that is so very biting in its demystification of heroes, but at the same time aware of the pyschological undercurrents that drive people's dementia: "we are astronauts in motion/divorcing our wives and leaving our children/nothing on earth can ever compare/with the feeling of just floating in the air," to the lush pop sensibilities of "Suit of Lights. This song is a brilliant telling of a love lost not through carelessness, but through self-destruction. The lyrics evoke comparisons to Elvis Costello, while the music would make Brian Wilson smile."My Front Porches" is a record that grows and grows on a listener. Sam Jones has created a piece of music that will last long after his own death.