Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
It might be a vision of things to come, or at least it could just be a one off confined to one very special musician; either way, a release before the release is not to be sniffed at, especially if it means fans of James J. Turner get a set of four new songs to listen to and enjoy.
In a move that is like having your favourite band announce a one off gig at Wembley Stadium, only to announce that during the day, they will also be offering seats to hear them run through a completely different set of songs just for the sheer hell of performance, James J. Turner has released four new songs, in E.P. format, cunningly titled James J Turner, Singer-Songwriter. , four songs that are acoustically blessed and which serve as the ultimate appetiser ahead of his full scale album release in the summer.
The listener benefits from the knowledge that these particular four songs have never appeared before and will not appear on the new album, not only is it an incredibly beautiful idea, it is not one that ranks of the old style hypocrisy placed before the nations when some record labels would arguably greedily release single after single to stoke up the fire of interest in a forthcoming record. It is after all, a changing world and James J. Turner is a man of principle.
The E.P. is a raw progression of sound which has only Mr. Turner’s iconic and strikingly rich voice on it and his trusted Martin acoustic guitar, nothing else, no bells and whistles, no additions and nothing taken away, it is four songs recorded live and with his heart on show.
The songs, The Cycle of Life, Heaven’s Inside You, Rattling The Chains and Kalahari Rain, have an earthly, non-materialistic but highly significant spiritual value attached them, they play with the emotion of time in such a way that the songs have a full scale feel placed within them and yet the listener intrinsically understands the music is in itself vibrant and lively, full of the type of pleasure that is normally reserved for a pulsating evening in the most energetic of settings. It is music that confirms one of the absolute truths available to humanity, that to be alive is to seek out beauty and in the f0ur track E.P., beauty is everywhere.
If this a taste of what is to come, without even being a taste of what is to come, then beauty is not everywhere, it has a sideline in guiding James J. Turner’s fans to the point of complete musical appreciation.
Ian D. Hall