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Editorial Review:
In More Friends Jools Holland (and his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra) return with a growing motley crew of musicians that have appeared on his eclectic music show Later With Jools Holland. Again, the focus is on what Holland calls "big band blues"--there's a rock & roll big-band extravaganza with Tom Jones, a boogie woogie piano jam for Robert Plant and a classic cover from Dionne Warwick to mention but a few of the performances from the great and good that appear here. But Jools' show has always been about championing new and cult artists too, and female jazz vocalist of the moment Norah Jones just had to put in an appearance with her cover of the Nina Simone classic "In The Dark", along with indie regular Badly Drawn Boy. In fact his offering, "The Can Is Open" in particular shines given the Jools treatment with all the big easy listening Bacharach trumpets and playful piano melodies giving it the simple but epic sound so characteristic of his recent album. Likewise the ever charismatic Huey from the Fun Lovin' Criminals is perfect for a good old croon with the band on the old Sinatra standard "Fly Me To The Moon". Sounding like a late night music fan's fantasy jam session, (just listen to Huey joking "hey is there anything left in that bottle?"), More Friends is essential for fans of that big band sound--young or old. --Caroline Butler
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Why Can't a Man Stand Alone? The success of the first Jools Holland and Friends album `Small World, Big Band' was such that a sequel was unavoidable and there where at least the idea had the benefit of being original here it seems tired like an album of outtakes that weren't good enough to grace the original. Again the tracks I enjoy the most here are the ones where as well as been an admirer of Jools I'm also a fan of the guest star, this particularly applies to the songs recorded with Chrissie Hynde and Ray Davies. It is... more info
A let down... I was really looking forward to this CD as Jools is capable of some amazing performances and the tracks here are all winners. Unfortunately, I have to agree with another reviewer here - the sound quality is very poor to the point of being almost unlistenable on a decent system. The music is very compressed and as such it's just a bland wall of sound; all the emotion that was put into the live performances has been lost. This disc is another unfortunate casualty of the loudness war.
Up-beat, uplifting and fun Jools Holland gets the best out of a wide variety of artists here; I'd never give too much time to the Stereophonics, but their rendition of 'First time Ever I Saw Your Face' falls into the category of 'Covers Better than the original.' Other high-points include Jeff Becks virtuoso blues guitar, and Chrissie Hynde's haunting 'Out of this world'. Pride of place, howver, goes to Bono's stunning 'If you wear that velvet dress', clearly placed at the end because nothing can follow it. It's not wall-to-wall... more info
Stompin !!! This is the second of three "Jools & Friends" albums, and is in my opinion the best. The rhythms are slightly quicker, the Friends let rip even more, the soul is even deeper, the gladness of being even richer. Turn it up loud.
Tracks:
Together We Are Strong feat. Sam Moore And Sam Brown
In The Dark feat. Norah Jones
Snowflake Boogie feat. Edwin Starr
The Only Face feat. Bryan Ferry
What Goes Around feat. Dionne Warwick
Don’t You Kiss My Cheek feat. Tom Jones
Out Of This World feat. Chrissie Hynde
Rock Me feat. The Blind Boys Of Alabama
First Time Ever I Saw Your Face feat. Stereophonics
Fly Me To The Moon feat. Huey (Fun Lovin’ Criminals)
The Can Is Open feat. Badly Drawn Boy
Yours Sincerely, Confused N10 feat. Ray Davies
Tuxedo Junction feat. Jools Holland And His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra
Let The Boogie Woogie Roll feat. Robert Plant
Drown In My Own Tears (Instrumental) feat. Jeff Beck
