Liverpool Sound and Vision Oct 2014

John Jenkins And That Sure Thing, Intruder. Album Review.

Published on October 28, 2014 by in Music

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There are moments, polished, sincere but approachable and with the sly upturned grin of an aged valet who anticipates your every whim and desire; that you have to wonder whether fate, destiny or kismet knows exactly what you need at the exact right time. When listening to John Jenkins and That Sure Thing’s album, Intruders, it could be tempting to take a sneak peak out of the window and check to see if providence is keeping a wary eye on you.

Intruders seems to pay so much homage that the songs seem wonderfully recognisable, the foot taps out a distant memory of notes that have played in the ether and yet the foot, the memory is wrong, this is a set of songs that are so unique, so exclusive, that a Panda Bear wearing a flat cap and walking a whippet wouldn’t be able to get into an afternoon’s meet for Yorkshire Penguins racing their hounds round Leeds.

Intruders is not just a collection of songs neatly delivered into the hands of the admirer by Kismet, it is an assembly of musicians put together with the precision of a skilled professional. With contributions from the likes of Andy Dyson, Rachel Gore, Jo Smullen, John Kennedy, Paul Clements, David Goldberg and Steve Owen, the album sounds more smooth than a make of chocolate being pampered in a bath and stepping into the realms of musical genius quicker than Bach turning round to his wife and uttering the words, “Quick, write this down.”

Some albums are meant to touch in ways that others cannot or will never do. It may perhaps, depend on your mood, the attitude to openness at the time of musical delivery, however the best albums, the novel ones that gently hold your hand no matter the storm going on outside and tell you that all will be well, catch you with breathe poised and ready to be let go with dignity, any time of day or night.

Songs such as Nothing Hurts Like The Truth, When She’s Looking Straight Into My Eyes, Is It Love, the brilliant Midnight Driving and Radio KBCA all make Intruders a joyful act in which is hard to follow. At times as silicate as a butterflies wing gracefully catching the edge of a sea breeze, and at other times packing a harder punch than a 30 stone kangaroo who has remained undefeated and undetected in the Heavy Weight Championship of the World. Intruders is arguably a tremendous moment for John Jenkins and his marvellous accomplices. Kismet really knows how to spoil you rotten.

Ian D. Hall

Musicxray Review 2014

It's Been One Long Day - Review from Musicxray.com 29th Sept 2013

Your free form review has been completed. Dear valued customer, Your critique for this musicxray: http://www.musicxray.com/xrays/1046244 Has been completed. Your Quote Is “ This song is for all ages.” Your review Is It's Been One Long Day's intro goes perfectly with the vocals and the instrumentation. The vocals of the song tells the story along with the live guitar and other instruments. The intro and outro to It's Been One Long Day is cool. This song is calm and cool while also building a peaceful mood. This song is for all ages.

JosieJo Show November 16th 2014 - U Better believe me
“Has a beautiful vocal and a power pop sound that is layered with interesting twists and intriguing and unexpected musical turns. The mix is clever without being self-conscience and has so much going on it requires a few listens really. I don’t know why the great vocal turns into a half rap and spoken thing in the middle but I quite like it. It gives the song a twiddle in the middle just before the sax twiddle happens. It’s essentially a love song with a theme (Please believe me that no-one will love you like I do) I feel like it would make a good Christmas present. Go on give someone you love music this year”




7th Nov 2013 - Review of "When There's Nothing Left to Say" and "When She's Looking Straight into my Eyes"  by Stuart Cheese - Vice President of UK A&R One Night Stand Music
1 - "Every so often you hear an artist or a song that makes you think, why is this person not already huge? That's exactly the case with John Jenkins and "When there's nothing left to say". What we have here is a stunning vocal performance and what can only be described as an ultra cool and equally written song. Simply Awesome.!
2- From the moment you hear this song you get real expectations. It sounds like a song that is building and heading somewhere very exciting ... and guess what ... it totally delivers. "When She's looking Staright into my Eyes" is the second track i have had the pleasure of hearing from John Jenkins and once again i was not disappointed. John has some serious songwriting ability going on here and if you are looking to be straight out rocked and entertained, then get yourself a copy of this track!