Espresso Ecstasy
Jack Kid
Independent
2001
13 tracks
I was not surprised to learn that Jack Kid had spent a dozen years as a public school teacher. Although his songs touch on a number of serious adult subjects, his performance brings to mind nothing so much as the work of children's artists like Fred Penner and Sharon Lois & Bram. Most songs here feel like they might be directed at a classroom of five to eight year olds, complete with actions and sing-along lines. This is not a bad thing. Even adults sometimes need an approach that's a bit lighter.
"Flu Blues" is the one song on this release that reaches out and grabs the listener. It's a jumpy little number dominated by some masterful work on tenor sax by Billy Novick. The sound of that sax is wild and carefree and sets the mood for the whole song. This is the song that brings me flashbacks to afternoons watching Sharon, Lois & Bram with my kids. It's got everything. Kid's performance is lively and theatrical, sure to get the kids up dancing, and every line includes an opportunity for the audience to perform some action. I didn't just hear this song, I saw it.
"Move Washington D.C." has the feel of a Mark Russell parody with its play on a variety of American political icons. This performance would also please an audience of kids, but there's plenty here to keep the adults, especially American adults, entertained. The centre of the lyric gleefully embraces the idea of moving the capitol city from Washington to Lincoln, Nebraska, citing many perhaps spurious advantages for making this move.
Perhaps suggesting that this New Hampshire songwriter has an obsession with Nebraska, "Omaha Cha Cha" is a silly song about the joys of life on the prairies, featuring lots of nonsense phrases, western yodelling and a laughing thing that sounds like it belongs in "The Happy Wanderer" or some Swiss folk song.
While Kid's performance often reminds me of some of the better kid's TV, most of his lyrics have serious adult themes. "Lockerbie" is a heartfelt song about the tragic 1988 airliner crash in Lockerbie, Scotland. The instrumentation is kept simple as befits this subject matter. The vocal and the backing music maintain a mournful mid-tempo faux-Celtic style. The song works well as a tribute to those who died in the skies over Scotland because of a senseless act of sabotage.
"Espresso Ecstasy" seems to be trying to say something about pop-culture and, in partiucular, the lives and deaths of popular musicians. The message is unclear. Some of the lines seem to reflect the fate of artists like Jimi Hendrix. Others seem more generic but still about guitar players. The constant repeating of the term "Rave On" and the words "he's gone" bring me visions of Buddy Holly. Whatever it may be about, this song is a fun listen with lots of silly phrases and nonsense words thrown into the mix.
Jack Kid seems to want to reach an adult audience with his thoughtful and sometimes dark themes, but his performance has not escaped his years teaching children. This can actually be a good thing. There's that concept of sugar helping the medicine go down. Balancing a bit of fun and playfulness with more serious themes can help to keep the audience listening. Espresso Ecstasy presents an eclectic mix of the silly and the sublime, the hard realities of our world and the bright cheer that keeps us all going. It's a good balance.
Learn more about Jack Kid and his music at www.jackkid.com. On Kid's website, you can also hear RealAudio clips of four songs from this release. As one who never uses RealAudio, I'm disappointed that there are no mp3 clips available on this page for interested listeners. There are, however, mp3 clips available at CD Baby.
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Review written: March 2, 2005
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