House Jacks

Review: The veteran, edgy House Jacks take some major creative chances with their new circus-themed 'Fitchy & Grikko.' The four Jacks, who just added powerful Los Angeles singer/composer Troy Horne to their exciting mix, bring us 12 original songs wrapped in one of the most graphically stunning (on a level with the Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper' album cover in our opinion) liner notes of the year. This slick, 6-panel mixed-media art may or may not have anything to do with these 12 cuts, songs like 'The Bone,' 'This Man's Pride,' 'Athena,' 'The Fall,' 'Light of Stars,' 'Conversations,' 'Take It,' 'I Am The Man,' 'Broken Up' and 'Cereal'-possibly the Jacks are messing with our heads, or simply found a really cool computer graphic artist and told him/her to go nuts. It doesn't really matter because the music, as in all Jacks CDs, rocks! The guys are quite comfortable in any number of musical styles, soul, funk, pop, alt, techno-it's all good. As long as the Jacks keep reinventing themselves as artists and pushing the a cappella envelope, we will keep listening, dancing and applauding!

Songlist: The Bone, Why I'm With You, This Man's Pride, Athena, The Fall, I Will Wait, Light of Stars, Conversations, Take It, I Am The Man, Broken Up, Cereal

Review: From one of the earliest practitioners of the modern a cappella sound the House Jacks have remained on the cutting edge of contemporary vocal harmony for many years. This latest release was recorded live in Europe where the group tours regularly and has built up a large and loyal following. There are 10 new original songs plus 4 covers and a new arrangement of audience favorite 'Bam' on this fine release and the group rocks as always. Founding member Deke Sharon is well known in a cappella circles for his published arrangements and vocal percussionist Wes Caroll is considered to be one of the best mouth drummers around.

Songlist: Bam , Believe, Summertime, The Only One I Want Around, This'll Do, Give It Up, The Leavin' Kind, They Won't Cry For You, Great Big USA, No Ride, Use Me, Since U Been Gone, Just Fine, Rock You, What A Wonderful World

Review: We first felt the true power and majesty of The House Jacks (our personal favorite group name in a cappella), in a packed South of Market nightclub in San Francisco in the middle 1990s, where several groups were performing in different parts of the club, but everyone was there to see the Jacks. I remember hearing the Zep standard 'Kashmir,' being amazed at the vocal percussion (new to me) the full sound and sheer energy of this pioneering, influential handful of guys, blowing us all away with only microphones. 'Good Things' is a 'best of' anthology of 19 songs, beautifully packaged, masterfully mixed and recorded, and containing only a songlist and 'Everything you hear came out of the following mouths:' followed by a list of the members of the Jacks, Roo Ahuja, Bert Bacco, Tristan Bishop, Wes Carroll, Andrew Chaikin, Kevin Fudge, Troy Horne, Garth Kravits, Rob Penn, Deke Sharon and Austin Willacy. Before each name is a little Zapf dingbat of various kinds of stars and dots that also follow each song name to let us know who is singing on which cut. There's only four covers here, the aforementioned 'Kashmir,' Lennon/McCartney's 'All You Need Is Love,' the Gershwins' 'Summertime' and the live Motown hit 'Ain't No Sunshine.' The other 15 are all written by various group members; 'The Way It Makes Me Feel' by Sharon, 'Completely' by Chaikin, 'What's for Real' by Kravits and Willacy, 'This Man's Pride' by Horne, 'After You' by Sharon & Kravits, etc. Other favorites are the live cuts 'Dive Into You,' 'Bam,' 'All of My Life' and the crazed, faux-everything theme song 'Jack It Up.' Great stuff from first cut to last, from one of our favorite groups of all time!

Songlist: The Way It Makes Me Feel, Completely, What's For Real, This Man's Pride, Good Things, Gone, From Sunday, Light of Stars, After You, Kashmir, Jack It Up, All You Need Is Love, Summertime, Ain't No Sunshine, Dive Into You, Bam, The Tide, All Of My Life, Palm Sunday

Review: As longtime fans of this talented, pioneering Bay Area a cappella group, on 'level' a quintet composed of vets Austin Willacy, Deke Sharon, Roopak Ahuja, Troy Horne, and Jake Moulton. When we first fell in love with the Jacks they were blowing us away reinventing covers of Led Zep's 'Kashmir,' the Gershwins' 'Summertime' and Lennon/McCartney's 'All You Need is Love.' In the last few albums they have been reinventing themselves, using the songwriting, composing and arranging talents of everyone in the group to give notice that the Jacks are still a cappella Big Dogs. 'Level' is 12 songs, all original material, with 'You Were Everything,' 'From the Boy in Me,' 'The Path You Walk' and 'Show Your Face' written and composed by Austin; 'The Boy is Gone' by Roopak; the lovely, surreal 'All Away' by Deke; 'Days of Desire' and the symphonic 'Believe' by Roopak and S. Chakrabarti; 'You're the One' by Deke, Austin and Roopak; ' one of the best a cappella blues songs we've heard, by Jake and Deke, 'So Bad (It Feels So Good);' 'Red Dress' by Roopak and Jake; and the final cut, the heart-tugging 'To The Only One' by Troy. Always known for grounbreaking vocal percussion, the Jacks have added electronic augmentation to create synthesizer effects and a rich, full sound that mimics almost any instrument. Listen to the faux synthesizer on 'Red Dress,' and 'Believe' featuring Savita Ahuja is a guest vocalist (which, as far as we can tell, has the first faux a cappella sitar we've heard) it's an unbelievably rich vocal tapestry with an infectious hook. Every cut on 'Level' reinvents what is possible in a cappella, and the album should take the Jacks to the level we think they deserve, one of the most creative performing and recording groups in a cappella!

Songlist: You Were Everything, Days of Desire, You're the One, From the Boy in Me, The Boy is Gone, The Path You Walk, So Bad (It Feels So Good), Red Dress, Believe, All Away, Show Your Face, To The Only One

Review: It sometimes happens that bands write their best songs early in their career. However, the House Jacks new CD - their first with wholly original material in several years - proves that those generalities don't apply here. Maturity can be a good thing! 'Unbroken' contains their best writing since, well, maybe ever, with compositions from every member (including Austin Willacy, who's back). The strength of their material shows that marriage and family can contribute in positive ways to artistic development, as in Deke Sharon's joyous nod to fatherhood, 'Adventure Day.' The vocal chops of the Jacks have always been in the upper of the upper echelon, but now their performances are translating to CD with new passion. Part of the credit is due to the production - it's BIG. So every nuance of those trademark harmonies shines through, and the vocal bass and drum tones are brilliant. Take, for example, the title track: it's powerful, evocative, and could match anything heard on modern rock radio. The House Jacks early promise was just a taste of things to come.

Songlist: More Love, Adventure Day, What's For Real, After You, Maybe That's The Reason, From Sunday, Stop And Think, Good Things, Middle Ground, Unbroken