Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Even the spectre of near biblical sounding April rainfall and destructive wind whistling round the building couldn’t deter the sound that Gary Edward Jones and his band were making in Constellations. If anything, as the heaviest of raindrops fell upon the roof of the building and the wind roared down the Mersey River and into the heart of the Baltic Triangle, it was almost if the elements, the drive of nature was applauding and cheering on The Cabinet Maker. Each droplet heard in time as if the polite ovation of a classical music audience had somehow been thrown into the mix of the night; it was one that was most welcome and assuring.
Kicking off the evening with the songs Half To Death, Big Big Love and the superb Free Falling, Gary Edward Jones and the band took the evening on and in the glow of candle light, the haunting nature that such shadows make, the stage was filled with sound and colour, with appreciation and sincerity but most of all with the realisation that in such a short time Mr. Jones has become a darling of the Liverpool music heartbeat and one that is rightly seen to be so.
The gentleness of the man is highlighted by the strength of character he possesses, the strength in the bond between him and Elizabeth Anne Jones and one in which his songs and his life truly capture. In songs such as Mr. Lonely Times, Lovestruck the super and praise worthy Bang Bang Bang, appropriately changed for the night slightly as the theme for the evening was the showing of the painstaking video created for the song and the brilliant and stomach punching Animals all filled the heavens and the Constellation air with purpose and style.
It was a style carried off with a smile by all on stage and one that typified the man to whom many have been urging on since he came back to the true world of music.
In Gary Edward Jones the music will always resound, it will always flow and capture something rather thrilling, that sense of determination, of understanding the nature and benevolence of second chances; it is evidently one that Gary Edward Jones is grasping with both hands and who can blame him or wish him every ounce of love available.
A dramatic and fantastic night of music, one that really captures the depth of imagination and music ability in the heart of one of Liverpool’s finest.
Ian D. Hall