Customer Reviews

Door Into Summer

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At a time when most of their peers in the Christian rock camp were busily trying to become the next Def Leppard or Bon Jovi (or, perhaps Richard Marx for those in the more pop-inclined fringe), the members of Atlanta's Jacob's Trouble must surely have seemed like a musical anachronism. Foregoing the usual ritual of leather pants, emptied hair spray cans and amps cranked to eleven, bassist Steve Atwell, guitarist Mark Blackburn and front man Jerry Davison set their sights on all things Sixties.

Clad in mod boots, love beads and tie-died clothing, the trio charged out of the proverbial starting gate, Rickenbackers blazing, looking like members of a time travel experiment gone awry. But while the period-specific garb seemed little more than a gimmick at the time, the band's incisive wit, razor-sharp instrumental skills and genuine love for what many consider music's most exciting and inventive decade soon elevated them well above the lion's share of their peers.

The chiming, magnificently wistful guitar work of "She Smiles at the Future" is of a piece with that of early Byrds classics like "Turn Turn Turn" and "Mr. Tambourine Man." "If You Believe," by comparison, harks back to that group's ground-breaking forays into country-rock. "Tell Me What You See" and the title cut are graced with an infectious earnestness and enthusiasm that their original owners (the Beatles and Monkees, respectively) would surely approve of. And the lilting, yet powerful "Wind and Wave" is simply one of the catchiest, most enjoyable pop songs ever committed to disc. By far the strongest entry in the JT oeuvre, the debut record is an absolute requisite for `60s afficionados and connoisseurs of intelligent, well-performed pop.

At a time when most of their peers in the Christian rock camp were busily trying to become the next Def Leppard or Bon Jovi (or, perhaps Richard Marx for those in the more pop-inclined fringe), the members of Atlanta's Jacob's Trouble must surely have seemed like a musical anachronism. Foregoing the usual ritual of leather pants, emptied hair spray cans and amps cranked to eleven, bassist Steve Atwell, guitarist Mark Blackburn and front man Jerry Davison set their sights on all things Sixties.

Clad in mod boots, love beads and tie-died clothing, the trio charged out of the proverbial starting gate, Rickenbackers blazing, looking like members of a time travel experiment gone awry. But while the period-specific garb seemed little more than a gimmick at the time, the band's incisive wit, razor-sharp instrumental skills and genuine love for what many consider music's most exciting and inventive decade soon elevated them well above the lion's share of their peers.

The chiming, magnificently wistful guitar work of "She Smiles at the Future" is of a piece with that of early Byrds classics like "Turn Turn Turn" and "Mr. Tambourine Man." "If You Believe," by comparison, harks back to that group's ground-breaking forays into country-rock. "Tell Me What You See" and the title cut are graced with an infectious earnestness and enthusiasm that their original owners (the Beatles and Monkees, respectively) would surely approve of. And the lilting, yet powerful "Wind and Wave" is simply one of the catchiest, most enjoyable pop songs ever committed to disc. By far the strongest entry in the JT oeuvre, the debut record is an absolute requisite for `60s afficionados and connoisseurs of intelligent, well-performed pop.