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• Jim Wurster CD review: Hallelujah
Local singer-songwriter Wurster mines the same field as he did on his previous, more-rocking effort, Wake Up!, which was recorded with his sometime band, The Atomic Cowboys. Lucky for Wurster, that field -- the many foibles of the Bush administration and the ongoing shame of the Iraq War -- is a mother lode for acerbic liberals.
On his new CD, Wurster loses the Cowboys and offers 11 songs of mostly acoustic music that, informed by folk and alt-country, makes excellent use of his Dylan-esque vocals. The opener, "Blind Man," with its chorus of "Blind man, what do you see/Living in the land of the free," lets listeners know from the opening salvos exactly where Wurster is aiming his guns. The disc's first five tracks address the war, the greed of corporate America and the sad state of our country's middle class. One of these songs, "Gilded Again," pays homage to historical left-wing labor heroes such as Eugene Debs and The Molly Maguires.
The next three songs cover the tried-and-true alt-country subject of boozing to forget lost love -- here done most effectively on "Have Mercy on Me" -- before swinging back to the album's main focus with "Ridin' With Jesus," "Armageddon" and "Hallelujah." With this final trio, the subject shifts slightly from the administration to the religious crazies who put it in power. But when Wurster wraps up the album by singing, "The sun's gonna close its eyes, hallelujah/No more light, just darkness in the sky, hallelujah," he does so in almost-hopeful terms, suggesting that conformity and close-mindedness are not impossible to overcome.
For people who agree with Wurster's pointed point of view, this album represents some of the best political songwriting to come out of South Florida since a few hanging chads put the cowboy president in office. For the roughly 30 percent who still approve of the man, this CD can't be recommended. But, hey, those folks are probably too busy listening to Newsboys or something. Dan Sweeney / City Link Magazine |
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• Jim Wurster CD review: Goodbye Paradise
What if Lou Reed found a trunkful of undiscovered Buddy Holly songs? What if John Prine fronted Poco back in the Tim Schmit days? What if David Lynch filmed and episode of Twin Peaks in a motel's poolside tiki hut off Federal Highway? They all might sound like Jim Wurster's Goodbye Paradise. Wurster wraps his world-weary vocals around unabashedly romantic lyrics; even sound titles sound like Hallmark sentiments: ""Never Let Me Go," "Fallin' Again," "Something So Good." But Wurster's sly delivery lends a hint of irony, the old weasel-in-the-woodpile kind of subversion the puts the tang in the Sweetart. Paradise begins with the Black Janet front man's Holly homage, "Never Let Me Go," blending the hiccup and cry of Texas hillbilly with a twinge of over-it-all ennui on top of some blistering rock and roll. "Falling Again" is a gentle folker that rings with bright acoustic guitar (damned if this doesn't sound like the beginning of about a dozen Poco tunes!) behind Wurster's mellow-whisky voice. Standouts such as the snarky "The Wind Cries Kathryn" and "Goodbye Paradise" and aided by Bob Wlos's plaintive pedal-steel guitar and John Tillman's rhythmic six string. Mary Karlzen also guests, dueting on the countryish "Over You," and, adding to the family feel, Roster Head's Michael Kennedy provides guitar on the title track. ) (Janet's drummer Frank Binger is also here, being Wlos's L7 Studios is in Deerfield.) Rootsy and intelligent if not lyrically profound, Paradise gets the feel and attitude right. Makes you want to stop in at a dark bar in the middle of the day, have a shot and a beer, and play Roger Miller songs on the jukebox. - Bob Weinberg / Miami New Times |
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• Jim Wurster CD review: Goodbye Paradise
Suppose Buddy Holly had survived that plane crash and now, in middle age, was still singing his hiccupy, syncopated rock songs in a much lower voice with a strong taste for steel-guitar accompaniment. That's what the music on Jim Wurster's "Goodbye Paradise" (Black Janet Music) is like, and I can't think of anyone else who has quite the same sound today. Both in melody ands lyrics, his tunes are simple and uncomplicated. As a result they are accessible. Yet, they have the same haunting quality as Holly's work did. There's something about the terseness that indicates he's hiding as much as he is revealing. Wurster's combo provides sterling rhythm-guitar work to keep these songs bouncing. - Steven Rosen / Denver Post |
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• Jim Wurster CD review: W
Jim Wurster's Music is embedded with character and a singular vocal and guitar style that serve as extensions of the man, calling to mind a New Wave Dylan.
In fact, "Angelique" is a wildly progressive Dylan-like tune before it lands smack-dab in the middle of an Appalachian square-dancing number called "Yellow Roses." The band stays in the background pretty much except for standout cameos. "if Not Forever is a solo acoustic number that gets an added poignant sting from the steel guitar of Bob Wlos. Pete Cambell shines on guitar throughout the Neil Young cover "Cowgirl in the Sand" and a nod to '60s surf-rock arises in "Little Bit Kind." But, Wurster seems more at home when pared down to his most naked as in Grey Sky Day" with lines like "ache in my side, hole in my shoes / gun at my head with a bullet meant for you. - Bing Futch / JAM Magazine |
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• Jim Wurster & the Atomic Cowboys CD review: Dangerous Men
The four smiling middle-aged white guys looking out from the cover of the new Jim Wurster and the Atomic Cowboys CD don't look particularly dangerous. But anyone who remembers Wurster from his days leading the longtime South Florida alternative group, Black Janet, or the self-titled effort that proceeded the new Dangerous Men, knows that the songwriter's deep-country baritone can be gloomy enough to rouse even Vincent Price from his big sleep. And when Wurster admits that he "shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die" on a faithful cover of Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison," you're tempted to believe him. Wurster and the Cowboys - Drummer Frank Binger, bassist Gary Proses and guitarist / mandolinist / pedal steel wiz Bob Wlos - a bit more playful and relaxed than they were on their debut CD. Dangerous Men has none of the leftover Black Janet elements of it's predecessor, and instead presents the group as a fully developed roots-rock outfit. Wlos, especially is his usual mesmerizing self, coaxing leads from his pedal steel and mandolin as smoothly as a hand passing through water. In addition to a well-chosen and well-executed update of John Prine's "Paradise," Dangerous Men showcases Wurster's ongoing growth as a songwriter, particularly the down-home and up-tempo "Appalachian Dream" and the Western-swingin' "Love Ya So." - Jake Cline /
CITY LINK MAGAZINE
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• Jim Wurster and the Atomic Cowboys CD review: Lantana Sunrise
Wurster’s no Roger McGuinn, but he could be his cousin, as this latest batch of Byrds-inspired country-and-western from the burbs of South Florida attests. Thanks to a lady (“My Babe,” “Love Over Me”), the singer’s in a good mood more often than not (a reverent cover of “Everybody’s out of out of Talkin’ ”), but that’s OK: Who needs cheating songs when you have pedal-steel great Bob Wlos and new guitarist John Tillman to do your crying for you? - City Link Magazine |
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• The Atomic Cowboys CD review: WAKE UP!
The juxtaposition of cowboy and hippie imagery on the cover of the Atomic Cowboys' Wake Up! CD is indicative of the band's socially conscious mix of country and alternative rock. These guys aren't some fly-the-flag-or-yer-a-sissy hicks, nor are they sloganeering causeheads. They're Atomic Cowboys, damn it! It's no fluke that guitarist/vocalist Jim Wurster is often compared to Bob Dylan, though that oversimplifies the band's musical reach. Wake Up! opens with the John Lennon-inspired title track -- a bluesy, melodic call to arms for Americans to get off their duffs and speak out against, well, anything. The disc then heads into harder, more rockin' territory with "Get Him Out," a poppy, midtempo, post-punk ditty somewhere between the Buzzcocks and the Pixies. It's not until the third song, the laid-back "Silver Moon," that the Cowboys finally rustle up some country twang. The rest of the album adds more blues and roots rock to the mix, and Wurster's social criticism takes a more humanistic approach, such as in the wartime narrative "Justify." Like country great Johnny Cash, Wurster has a knack for telling a good tale. The sense of realism in his lyrics adds urgency. So when Wurster sings about the real consequences of war -- the widows and orphaned children it creates -- it's more powerful than a dozen songs of the "no war for oil" variety. The album closes with "Masters of Deception," a song Wurster did with his previous band, Black Janet. The Atomic Cowboys are no rookies, and the diverse sounds on Wake Up! are proof. - Jason Budjinski / New Times Broward-Palm Beach |
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• Black Janet CD review: In Many Colors
I've been wailing this baby on-and-off for a few weeks, and I continue to be amazed by how different it sounds -from track to track, as a whole, and from itself. Somehow my cognitive facilities are not adapted to adjusting for the variety; "Mirage" could not possibly be a song by the same band that plays "Masters of Deception." Sometimes Janet sounds like one of those cool, no-wave, underground- but-slick rock bands, sometimes they sound like old-school guitar rockers, other times they sound like something else altogether. I guess I'll get over it. Common and shared ingredients are a pervasive sense of drama -be it dark tragedy or dark comedy -often set in a gloomy motif (check the smoke-fogged deep blues of "Beware") and the devastating vocal interplay between Jim Wurster and Marsha Lewis throughout. Beyond that are plenty of hooking riffs and touches (e.g., the meaty guitar solos, also from "Beware") and an overall sound so textured you'll never unravel it all. As potent as anything out on the majors right now, and give the Black ones extra points for the groovy cover of the Vesper Sparrow nugget "Don't Give Your Love Away." - Greg Baker / Miami New Times |
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• Black Janet CD reviews: Love Thirsty
• "Best Independent Release" - 1993 Jammy Awards
• "A real standout in the field of rock and pop music players in Florida." - Sandra Schulman, Billboard
• "This is alternative music for adults, full of passion and soul." - Sun-Sentinel
• "A very ambitious and very successful album...cool and sophisticated romantic pop." - Jam Magazine
• "They take the listener on a train ride through a panoramic emotional landscape." - Kathrine Maori, XS Magazine
• "Black Janet's solid stride toward the big time." - Lee Zimmerman, South Florida Music News
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• Black Janet CD review: SHE
**** "A must hear" - 4 star rating. Imagine an American version of Peter Murphy singing lead with Patti Smith supplying backing vocals while a rock-solid band backs them up, and you might come close to describing the sound of Miami's longtime favorite Black Janet on this self-produced 6-song CD. The band, originated in 1990, has achieved a distinct measure of success despite a number of personnel changes. founder / songwriter / singer / guitarist Jim Wurster has kept his vision alive and the result has been numerous accolades from fans and press alike, including a Jammy for their last album, 1992's Love Thirsty. The bands current line-up includes Wurster, singer Amy Baxter, guitarist Rose Guilot, drummer Frank Binger, and bassist David Paul. With She, Black Janet once again stands to get a good deal of attention. The six-song EP features four tracks penned by Wurster and one song apiece from Baxter and Guilot. The material covers familiar Black Janet themes like emotional and sexual tension, but this disc displays a maturing of the band and a definite settling into their own. The Hauntingly beautiful "She," from which this release gets its title, starts off this release-and should be a big radio hit, that is, if everything was just and fair in the world of music. The lead guitar playing throughout is very tasteful and melodic in it's understated use, which is primarily to accent specific parts of each song. A dark, almost "gothic," quality permeates the entire CD, but isn't overbearing nor heavy-handed at all. Major label quality both in the packaging and the sound can be found here. If the rest of the band's repertoire is a s good as these six songs, expect them to get signed to a major label deal in the very near future! - JAM Magazine |
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