CD Review: Paul Jones – Starting All Over Again (Collector’s Choice)

This is a definite blast from the past right here! This legendary English R&B singer has named his new album quite perfectly as he is indeed Starting All Over Again in the American market, where he has seen only sporadic music releases since leaving the band Manfred Mann in the early ’60’s. And if you’re searching your brain and wondering if Jones may have sang on the band’s hit cover of Bruce Springsteen’s Blinded By The Light in the mid-70’s think again. By that time, the band was called Manfred Mann’s Earth Band and Jones had been gone for about a decade or so. So, as the album title suggests, this is indeed a new start for Paul Jones, who has only been active in the music business sporadically since his departure from the band in 1966.

When Jones joined Manfred Mann in 1963, the Beatles were just getting big in England and hadn’t hit in the US yet. Still, the for lads from Liverpool had helped popularize the English trend of covering American R&B songs and the Jonres’led Manfred Mann were getting rave reviews in England and would eventually score several hits there and a couple in the US. Jones had a natural charisma rivalling that of The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger and after two years with the band, the newspapers and music rags were speculating as to when Jones would bolt and start a solo career. To his credit, Jones stuck around another year or so before bolting. The band Manfred Mann pretty near vanished (as far as the American record buying public was concerned) and though Jones scored a couple of minor solo hits, his career did not take off. Jones ended up pursuing a career in theatre and films before returning to music sporadically over the next forty years.

For this new release, Jones has enlisted help as solid and as veteran as he is in personnel such as guitarist Jake Andrews, bassist Tony Marsico and drummer Alvin Bennett comprising the core trio with guest appearances by Eric Clapton and saxophonist Ernie Watts among other top-notch studio ringers. Though Jones obviously felt a few ringers would help sell his album, truth be told, he doesn’t really need them as his voice is the main focus on this set, as it should be and he sings as if he never lost a step. Full of fire, passion and vocal power, Jones acquits himself like he has something to prove, and maybe he does considering he is basically Starting Over, so to speak. The music is beyond reproach as well, with the classic British take on the American blues at the forefront, guitars ringing and drums bashing as the band manages to reinvent the blues and provide the perfect backdrop for Jones’ inspired singing.
Jones is essentially a new talent at this point in his career, as it’s doubtful anyone really remembers his work with the early Manfred Mann outfit and his solo releases were very, very obscure. One good thing about essentially starting over is he’s a very seasoned professional with a voice that is still in great shape, with the added soul and shadings only a life well-lived can bring to a singer. Sure, he doesn’t sound young anymore, but there’s an attractive world-weariness to his vocals that lends itself well to the music he’s playing, sort of like how singer/songwriter Nick Lowe has approached his own albums. Anyone who appreciates blues, old school R&B or simply enjoys a great singer singing great songs in a convincing, soulful way will enjoy this album. Hopefully, this album will spark Jones’ career like recent albums from Solomon Burke and Bettye Lavette has rekindled their own fortunes. We shall see. For now, please give this album a listen as I haven’t been able to take it out of my own personal rotation for weeks and that is always a good, good sign of greatness.

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Scott Homewood