Coxon and Wales are so underappreciated it ain't even funny. That said, I wasn't so fond of them initially. I heard them at college in 96 and thought this record was redundant as hell, giving it a shit review for the radio station I dj'd at. At the same time, I was absolutely in love with Everything But The Girl's Walking Wounded album and song of the same name. That song was produced and co-written by Spring Heel Jack and having discovered that I decided it was time to reevaluate 68 Million Shades......, their US debut. It helped I had a lot of driving to do.
Listening to Spring Heel Jack is a little like being in your own private film noir, what with their skittering rhythms and excellent ability to hone a mood, all while capturing the best elements of drum n' bass while ridiculing it at the same time. Midwest is epic drama, beautiful and emotive while stretching out to allow everything an opportunity to flow. 60 Seconds is almost a parody of the jungle releases that sampled easy listening records but it rises above that status by actually being very good. Eesti breathes cold darkness, like a vampire hunting it's prey by moonlight. Take 1 and Take 2 are piano driven gems but Take 3 is where things gets really wonderful, taking everything they've displayed throughout the album and creating a penultimate breakbeat track with the amen break, something they didn't generally use throughout the album and they joyously distort here.
I hope all of this makes it clear that while Spring Heel Jack were generally considered a drum n' bass or jungle act at the time, they were more concerned with the music than just the beats and bass, putting them in the company of similarly pigeonholed artists like the amazing Squarepusher, the moody Photek and the abstract Hrvatski, and like each of those three they mine their own territory with expertise. It's worth noting though that while Squarepusher and Photek have allowed their music to grow, they've generally stayed close to sounds that made them famous, while Hrvatski has mostly retired his percussive beats to focus on ambient experimentalism. He would be the closest of the three you could compare to Spring Heel Jack as Coxon and Wales continued to evolve in any direction they chose, next recording an almost poppy jungle record only to become deeper and more abstract over their career, focusing more on jazz and abstraction than mere beats and working with artists as diverse as William S. Burroughs and Jason Pierce of Spiritualized. So as wonderful as 68 Million Shades...... is, it is a stepping stone throughout a career filled with wonderment. Don't be afraid to follow their path into the unexpected.
Spring Heel Jack - 68 Million Shades......
01 Take 1
02 Midwest
03 60 Seconds
04 Pan
05 Plates
06 Bar
07 Eesti
08 Roger Tessier
09 Island
10 Suspensions
11 Take 2
12 Take 3
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