Clocks Are Out Of Time takes me straight back to the late 80's, walking into The Mean Fiddler in Harlesden with Michael from Teenage Kicks Fanzine to see Head, the moment he saw who the support band were, that were already playing, he grins and goes is that The Jack Rubies, I take a look and confirm it does look like them, we both ignore the bar to make sure we hear the rest of their set, they were far better than Head who we only went to see for the band's name!
Well The Jack Rubies are back with the bands original line-up of Ian Wright, SD Ineson, Lawrence Giltnane and Peter Maxted to show why they were already legendary even before they originally broke up, proving to be just as arresting and worthy of grabbing your attention as they ever were.
The album opens with Hark a good questioning song about where we find ourselves, with an indie meet's college rock edge, that has a very cool bass led instrumental breakdown before it all slowly comes back in as they note just out of sync everything currently seems.
Heaven Shook Me is a song of thanks for surviving the traumas and health scares life throws at you, with spry guitars as a new relationship reveals itself, allowing love to bloom as you try to resist singing along after a couple of listens.
Hidey Hole wants to make sure we don't forget anything as they are being sent off to the big house and are eating their last meal before freedom is taken away and they just want to go find a Hidey Hole to escape the privations while dreaming of following Edith Piaf's advice.
Angeline Soul opens with angelic voices, a mouth organ, as it leads into a deep dark song of the trickery of modern times, as they have the loyalty shown questioned, as the plead for normality, with the slightly western flavoured music.
Chandelier has a sort of Lloyd Cole & The Commotions feel, as they add some strings to the literate lyrics, as they hope the dollar signs floating before them is a good omen.
Corrupted is a plea for someone to corrupt them in the way you may have wished to be Corrupted in your late teens, as they tell the object of there desire that they just "Wanna fuck For Art", well better art for art's sake and this is a glorious song, hoping for some proper old school fun and games among the searing guitars.
Terrible Crime is for someone being urged to do the deed on the dancefloor making certain they will be caught in flagrante delicto, even if it then takes a dark turn or two, just don't go walking on any cliff edges with them, as you may find out just how dead the love is between you, I hear more in this song every time I hear it making it obvious why they chose it as a single.
Poltergeist shakes and shimmies like a dark ghost story, with the strange voices stuck in the television coming to scare the life out of you as they just want to leave this place behind, possibly retreating to the glory days of the late 80's once more.
Read My Mind has an indie funk edge to it, like they want to give EMF a round for their money, as the brass is in the background other elements keep this on the dancefloor as they try to charm you into leaving the club with them.
Shark Attack has a loping beat as the story starts to unfurl as to how that Shark Attack happens, why did you dip your toes into that particular piece of water, just what sort of shark it is and how the attack happens is well worth hearing.
Heaven slows things down to a horizontal tango amongst the jangling guitars as they claim the only way to find out if Heaven exists is to well make love to them.
The album closes with I'll Give You More that harks back to windswept widescreen indie love songs of the 80's, as they beg and plead to be the one, he won't let her leave, she has to be his for eternity, this could be creepy but certainly isn't a fine way to close a very cool comeback album.
Find Out More at https://bigstirrecords.com/product/957867 https://www.facebook.com/TheJackRubies
