{"id":22775,"date":"2022-04-13T05:30:01","date_gmt":"2022-04-13T09:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=22775"},"modified":"2022-04-12T13:42:20","modified_gmt":"2022-04-12T17:42:20","slug":"album-review-the-jars-make-love-not-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2022\/04\/13\/album-review-the-jars-make-love-not-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: The Jars — Make Love Not War"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"My new book, Disturbing<\/i> the Peace: 415 Records and the Rise of New Wave<\/i><\/a> explores the story of the Bay Area independent record label and the nearly 30 artists \u2013 most all local to the Bay Area \u2013 who released music on 415. The punk and new wave scene of the late \u201870s and early-to-mid \u201880s was centered there primarily around a handful of clubs in the North Beach neighborhood.<\/p>\n

But the scene most certainly existed beyond 415 artists. A lively and varied musical community thrived in those years, and among the more notable acts who were just outside 415\u2019s orbit were The Jars. The group was from just across the bay in Berkeley. That city was home to 415 acts The Uptones and Monkey Rhythm, and base of operations for Beserkley Records, the label that released music by Earth Quake, Greg Kihn, Jonathan Richman and a personal favorite of mine, The Rubinoos.<\/p>\n

The Jars were tuneful, but more adventurous perhaps than most of their aforementioned Berkeley brethren. Their sound folded in elements of punk and new wave, for sure, but in their music one can also detect the influence of garage rock, surf and even krautrock. That last one would have been particularly edgy in an era when bands like Neu! and Kraftwerk were considerably less well-known than they are today.<\/p>\n

The Jars\u2019 story is connected to that of Flipper, but then the scene in the Bay Are was small enough that most every band\u2019s history overlaps, intersects and intertwines with other story lines. They shared bills with the Dead Kennedys, but The Jars\u2019 sound was quite a bit more accessible and rooted in melody.<\/p>\n

And though the band ceased operations long ago, you needn\u2019t simply read about The Jars. A new compilation, Make Love Not War<\/em> collects fifteen tracks recorded between1979 and \u201881 or so. Five of the tunes have previously seen release, albeit on local labels Subterranean and Universal (no, not that<\/i> Universal) Records back at the dawn of the \u201880s. Those tunes \u2013 from a three-song EP and a single \u2013 make up Side One of the new LP.<\/p>\n

\u201cStart Rite Now\u201d is nervy new wave pop, with delightfully cheesy Steve Nieve-flavored Farfisa keyboards (courtesy of a musician with the wonderfully apt pseudonym of Gary Nervo). \u201cPsycho\u201d is a cover of the Pacific Northwest garage classic, and while it\u2019s recast here in a new wave style, the spirit of The Sonics\u2019 original shines through. \u201cElectric Third Rail\u201d sounds a good bit like the sort of thing Guadalcanal Diary was doing in the suburbs of Atlanta, albeit with some manic vocalisms added. A listen to \u201cTime of the Assassins\u201d suggests that The Jars were listening to both Television and reggae; the song is a synthesis of those seemingly incompatible sensibilities. As you might guess from the title, \u201cJar Wars\u201d is a peppy instrumental number, showcasing some twangy surf guitar and more of Nervo\u2019s appealing, straightforward keyboard work.<\/p>\n

Three live cuts round out the record\u2019s first side. A pilled-up reading of the Munsters<\/em> Theme is a great deal of fun, and the comparatively thin fidelity detracts not a bit from its appeal. \u201cNervo\u2019s Tune (The Liquidator)\u201d moves more in an Attractions direction, sans vocals. Completing the live trio of instrumental tunes is a cover of Nelson Riddle\u2019s Untouchables<\/em> theme. (Anyone sensing a, er, theme<\/em> here?) These three cuts are pretty much a Nervo showcase, though lead guitarist Michael Montalto takes his turns as well.<\/p>\n

Side Two of the LP features previously-unheard tracks. Five of those cuts were produced by famed engineer Gary Hobish at Fantasy Studios. The instrumental \u201cMake Love Not War\u201d dials back the keyboard textures just a bit in favor of a wiry electric guitar sound. Vocals return (courtesy rhythm guitarist Mik Dow) on \u201cTurn Out the Light.\u201d Some guest trumpet overdubs and Nervo\u2019s switch to Hammond (or similar) give the song a dramatic and very different flavor from anything we\u2019ve heard before from The Jars.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou and I\u201d is a reasonably interesting mostly-instrumental number, with some catchy lead guitar work oddly buried in the mix. \u201cBoys Night Out\u201d is the closest thing The Jars would come to a conventional pop-meets-new wave tune, and by that measure it\u2019s a pretty solid effort. \u201cTeenage Rebellion\u201d features slashing guitar work to match its title; here the band sounds a bit like what might happen if The Motors had a Farfisa Compact Duo.<\/p>\n

A pair of live tracks taken form two separate performances at San Francisco\u2019s Old Waldorf wrap up the LP. Underscoring the fact that \u2013 occasional vocals aside \u2013 The Jars were primarily an instrumental outfit, one influenced by the greats, they turn in a superb, new wave flavored cover of Booker T & the MGs\u2019 \u201cTime is Tight.\u201d A live version of their original \u201cJar Wars\u201d ups the energy from their studio version.<\/p>\n

This new vinyl release comes complete with a nicely put together four-page booklet that tells The Jars\u2019 story in words and images. The record is pressed on baby blue vinyl and the package include a download car for digitally-inclined listeners. As an artifact that captures a significant piece of the Bay Area new wave character of the era, Make Love Not War<\/i> is recommended.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My new book, Disturbing the Peace: 415 Records and the Rise of New Wave explores the story of the Bay Area independent record label and the nearly 30 artists \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22777,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,49,50,65,73],"tags":[4799],"class_list":["post-22775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-compilation","category-new-release","category-new-wave","category-review","category-vinyl","tag-the-jars","cat-19-id","cat-49-id","cat-50-id","cat-65-id","cat-73-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22775"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22778,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22775\/revisions\/22778"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}