Jobriath [Import]

Jobriath | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 5, 2010)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Indie Europe/Zoom
• ASIN: B001BS4RDG
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #442,162 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Album for Those Who Understand Music...., July 5, 2008

By 

Timothy Roseborough (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jobriath (Mlps) (Audio CD)

I have been fortunate enough to have been introduced to Jobriath through one of my favorite artists, Morrissey. I purchased "Lonely Planet Boy" and found the compilation to be of such high quality as to prompt me to dig deeper and purchase both Jobriath releases, "Jobriath" and "Creatures of the Street."

Other reviewers have made negative comments regarding Jobriath and his music; That Jobriath is a second-rate Bowie or "Fake" Jagger (as if -- with all due respect -- Jagger was ever "authentic" in his blues affectations). None of these things are true: Jobriath is a talented pianist and musician with a distinctive voice and vision.

A listen to the debut eponymous album verifies this assertion. The album's opener, "Take Me I'm Yours," sets the tone for the album. It is a walk down the seedier side of city and psyche and pre-dates the sentiments of groups like the New York Dolls in its unabashed trashy glamour. It is true: Jobriath was the Real Thing when it comes to being Queer, Street and Proud. As the same time, the musicianship on the album shows a delicacy and virtuosity that equals or exceeds that of albums like "Ziggy Stardust..." or "Aladdin Sane." I feel confident saying this even as a disciple of Bowie and his music.

Yes, folks, it is possible that there can be more than one Glam Superstar. So what if Jobriath didn't reach the pinnacles of stardom in his age? His music deserves a serious re-evaluation without the charges of fakery or the underlying current of homophobia.

It is more than true that Jobriath and his music are before -- and possibly outside of -- his time or any time. But his is music of passion, fun, beauty, nastiness, tenderness and violence. The Sacred and the Profane is what makes a work of art transcendent, and I hear this in Jobriath's music.

In sum, I highly recommend both of Jobriath's albums for fans of Bowie, T. Rex, Roxy Music and their spiritual heirs including the Smiths and Suede.

Rock on, Jobriath.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Superb 1973 glam-rock LP rescued from purgatory, September 30, 2008

By 

hyperbolium (Earth, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jobriath (Audio CD)

Thirty-five years after its initial release, it's hard to grasp the critical invective that followed this artist's solo debut. Taken on its musical merits, this 1973 release is a gem: an inspired album of glam-rock that drank deeply of Bowie's theatricality, Queen's grandiosity, Lou Reed's decadence, and T. Rex's trashy glamour. Jobriath even personally expanded upon the gender-bending sexuality of the times by outing himself as the first-ever openly gay rock star. Without considering the overblown promotional hype that surrounded this album, it's hard to imagine its failure, and how the critically ignored follow-up album all but consigned Jobriath to the footnotes of rock `n' roll.

Jobriath's pop music story began the Los Angeles tribe of the stage musical Hair. He subsequently became lead singer, songwriter, guitarist and keyboardist of the Los Angeles group Pidgeon, combining stagey California vocal-harmony sunshine production pop with baroque and psychedelic influences. The group's self-titled 1969 release on Decca failed to fly, and Jobriath languished in obscurity for another four years. Fortuitously (or perhaps just legendarily), the rejection of his audition tape by Clive Davis led to a chance encounter with industry veteran Jerry Brandt. Brandt's promotion of Jobriath met brick walls at A&M and Elektra, and the artist was finally left to produce his own debut with engineer Eddie Kramer. Jobriath scored the sessions (teaching himself orchestration in the process), recorded in London with a full orchestra, and created a surprisingly grand and muscular rock album.

Had the album been allowed to sell itself, things might have been different, but in circling back to Elektra (and becoming label founder Jac Holzman's last signing), Jobriath and Brandt unleashed a publicity wave of gigantic billboards, hyperbolic press ("Elvis, The Beatles, Jobriath") and plans for a fantastical stage show that never materialized. Jobriath's space-oriented fantasies were not unlike Bowie's, but his theatricality was more finely attuned to American entertainments such as Tin Pan Alley and Hollywood. The nostalgic piano-and-vocal "Movie Queen," for example, speaks more to Irving Berlin and Cole Porter (whose names Jobriath would combine a few years later for his lounge lizard persona "Cole Berlin") than to then-contemporary hard-rock influences.

But even with Jobriath's feints to the past, the album rocks with dramatic, high-register vocals, scorching electric guitars, thundering piano, and a soulful backing chorus. The disc opens with an edgy, obsessive love song, but one that's more Jim Steinman grand than Lou Reed (i.e., "Venus in Furs") cold. The low piano notes and backing chorus of "Be Still" give way to more lyrical passages and Jobriath's fascination with outer space threads its way into the lyrics. Back on Earth, the proto-rock-rap "World Without End" takes on religion, hypocrisy, prophesy and reincarnation, analogizing the latter to looping repeats of vintage films, and "Earthling" essays an alien's point-of-view.

Bowie's vocal influence is heard on "Space Clown" amid crashing circus sound effects and calliope themes woven into the background. On "I'm A Man" you can hear the theatrical vocal and arrangement style Ray Davies' developed for his rock operas, with music hall dynamics instilling grandeur into the productions. Jobriath paints a poetic picture of a rainy day on "Inside," sketching the chill, splash and soak from the confines of a warm, dry perch, and "Rock of Ages" decorates its salute-to-roots with the squealing electric guitar leads of glam. The album closes with the moody, tortured soul of "Blow Away (A Peaen for P.I.T.)."

When his grandiose tour of European opera houses failed to materialize, the dilettantish claims to rock music's crown sparked an inevitable backlash. Stateside critics had been generally kind to the album, but UK critics dismissed it amid the surrounding hype. A follow-up album, Creatures of the Street, faired even less well, prompting Jobriath's retirement and rendering him a rock 'n' roll footnote who passed away in 1983. With this reissue, the audience that never found Jobriath can now hear him outside the cloud of controversy. While this isn't the game-changing album its publicity promised, it is a superb glam-rock album that deserved a broader hearing than it was originally afforded. [©2008 hyperbolium dot com]

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THOSE FOOLS THAT DON'T KNOW 'NOUGH TO COME IN OUT' THE RAIN, December 16, 2008

By 

J. Gunning "Allhallowsday" (Midst the Oaks of SRH) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Jobriath (Audio CD)

Long forgotten, originally overhyped, reviled, and terminally underrated, JOBRIATH has had a mini-renaissance thanks in large part to the admiration of MORRISSEY who collected tracks from JOBRIATH's only two albums on his Lonely Planet Boy collection, including a previously unreleased song. That collection was followed by the rerelease of JOBRIATH's two albums (due to contractual obligations, JOBRIATH was unable to release anymore new material and languished in obscurity, writing and recording unreleased material until his early death in 1983).

The great Rock voice is not necessarily a great voice (NEIL YOUNG and BOB DYLAN to mention just two come to mind) and though JOBRIATH's voice is a bit shrill and nasal, it's no more offensive than, say, ELTON JOHN's and frequent comparisons to MICK JAGGER seem unwarranted to me. JOBRIATH could certainly sing well enough to get his point across. I will say that it's the songs that showcase JOBRIATH's untapped potential, astute songwriting ability, and innate musicianship. Also unfairly compared to DAVID BOWIE because of BOWIE's otherworldly persona at the time, JOBRIATH most certainly took a cue from BOWIE as evinced by songs like "Space Clown" and "Morning Star Ship" and his onstage costumes and antics (check out YouTube for a pair of rare Midnight Special clips). The piano, vocals, and quality songs are reminiscent of ELTON JOHN, but there really was no one quite like JOBRIATH, who, like BILLY JOEL, may have been best pegged as a displaced Broadway composer. Here there is drama, humor, and touching insights reflecting self deprecation, aggrandizement, and sorrow.

Still an easy target, openly gay (at a time when such revelations may have been fashionable, but hardly commercial) JOBRIATH is the lost American Glam-Rock god, the most tragic flash-in-the-pan that I can think of, but nearly 4 decades later, well worth a listen. He wrote beautiful tunes, intelligent lyrics, and personal indictments of the hypocrisy and disappointment he saw around him, reveled in seedy street anthems, rocked with the best of them, and welcomed his audience to embrace self expression. Come in out' the rain, don't be a fool. JOBRIATH may be gone a quarter of a century, but his music, finally, lives on.