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EVAN AND JARON "We've Never Heard Of You Either" (Island, 1998) P - Danny Kortchmar
Speaking about good albums! Evan And Jaron is a freekin awesome debut album. They sure have a cool title on their album as well! It's produced by my old hero Danny "I did the Brent Bourgeois debut album" Kortchmar and the sound is a solid midwestern sound with somegreat tunes like the opener "There You Are Again", "Nothing & Everything" (a little poppier) and "Like The Rain". Oh La La. What a freekin album! You must buy this album! Like The Devlins on their way to William Brothers and The Breits. Excellent harmony vocals, excellent songs and a pure perfect midwestern softer acoustic sound. A must. Nothing else. I'm in love. Pär
And There's Blood In The Water various artists (Debutante)
A bizarre idea, this: an attempt to represent American alternative-ish music on a 17-track CD. It's as if a Californian Nick Hornby type somehow blagged himself the chance to put out his own randomly-compiled compilation tape. More bizarre is the decision to release it in the UK, where American alternative music is regarded by your average Brit gig-goer with much the same attitude as one takes towards motorbike couriers, Steven Seagal movies and Manchester United. What's more, the subtitle to And There's Blood In The Wateris the rather overblown "The Sound Of Contemporary America". Blimey.
Well, does it do the job? Well, yes and no. You could argue that And There's Blood In The Wateris actually fairly representative of American alternative music, but that's not to say it's a very good album. Refreshingly, it does largely steer clear of the dated, listless grunge that still clogs up American alternative radio: there are fine album tracks on here from Sparklehorse, Dandy Warhols, Everclear, 16 Horsepower, Wilco and Ben Folds Five, all of whom should be familiar to anyone with a CD player, a pair of fully functional ears and a modicum of taste. Then there's Evan & Jaron, the title of whose album, We've Never Heard Of You Either, would merit a mention even if the music was rubbish, which it isn't. Sadly, though, mixed in with this excellence is some real crap: the gruesome stadium folk of The Dave Matthews Band (besides, isn't he South African?), the technically flawless but inspirationally bereft Blues Traveler (with a four-year-old track: contemporary?), insipid busker types Hootie and the Blowfish (also from 1994), and one of the most unintentionally hilarious records of recent years, Tracy Bonham's Mother Mother. A but of a mixed bag, then. But if you set your sights so broad, as the (anonymous) compiler of these set obviously has, you're going to end up with a bit of a mess. The sound of contemporary America? Uh... Kinda.
However, the most frustrating thing about And There's Blood In The Wateris that it's such a horrendously missed opportunity. Just off the top of my head, this writer could have put together an equally representative and far more listenable compilation tape along the same lines as these featuring a few of the bands mentioned above, plus Counting Crows, The Jayhawks, Grandaddy, the Beastie Boys, Lambchop, Elliott Smith, Beck, Weezer, G Love & Special Sauce, Morphine, Lullaby For The Working Class, Kristin Hersh, Eels, Grant Lee Buffalo, Josh Rouse, Sonic Youth, Mark Eitzel, and something from the last Smashing Pumpkins record. But there you go.
Evan and Jaron
We've Never Heard of You Either
IN STORE: April 21, 1998
314-524-499 2
314-524-499 4
They have sold over 25,000 copies of their independent releases.
They play to thousands of fans at over 250 shows per year.
They played at the 1996 Olympics in their native Atlanta.
And yet, you've never heard of Evan and Jaron.
Well, their Island Records debut, We've Never Heard of You Either, will soon change all that.
Evan and Jaron have spent years honing their unique songwriting skills and on-stage chemistry, relentlessly touring the Eastern U.S. The brothers' songs showcase well-crafted, folk-tinged pop hooks centered around heart-felt lyrics and catchy melodies, reinforced with soaring vocal harmonies. Their songs tell stories from a twentysomething perspective, embracing universal themes that everyone who has ever loved, lost and dreamed can relate to: relationships (first single "And Then She Says"), friendship ("There You Are Again"), loss ("Is It All That Great Without Me") and pop culture icons ("Andy Warhol," "Could've Been James Dean").
We've Never Heard of You Either was produced by noted hit-maker Danny Kortchmar (Don Henley, Billy Joel, Rod Stewart) and is sure to strike a responsive chord with all music fans.
Maybe you've heard of them
By Michael Epstein
"On"swer Me This
A few strong songs and an all around effort really make We've Never Heard of You Either, a great experience in music listening.
From hearing the first single on 99X, "And Then She Says," one might expect to hear a really cool album. For the most part, it is a fairly good album. Evan and Jaron, twins from right here in Atlanta, have put together a fairly good compilation of songs, where most of them aren't the same thing over and over again. The twins also employ a variety of techniques and instruments, and their voices are also complement the music almost perfectly. All together, these factors make for a very folksy, kind of relaxing sound. But don't let that turn you off. It's just plain, good music.
The songs vary in how good or likable they are. The shining star is track 2, otherwise known as "And Then She Says." This ballad goes the whole nine yards with excellent lyrics, great guitars, and smooth voices. It just seems to be a song destined for greatness. Track 3, "South of Tennessee" also has an excellent pure rock sound to it, and worth a definite listening to. "Couldn't Care Less About," Track 7 is also worth checking out. The rest of the album is also pretty good, with song offering its own contribution.
All in all, this is a pretty solid CD from a couple of hometown guys who really seem to know what good music is all about. At least if you don't buy the whole CD, don't deny yourself the single of "And Then She Says." If you do, you'll really be missing out on a good thing.
CD Review
Brothers in Alms
by Brian Phelps
Early in my college career, my best friend and I used to tow our guitars to downtown Santa Barbara, put a baseball cap on the sidewalk and fake our way through every pop song we knew. Our haphazard harmonizing was like driving without a map- sometimes we got it right and shared an affirming nod; sometimes we were way off (usually it was me) and we'd laugh through the rest of the lyrics. We never collected more than $30 a weekend, but it was enough to add something to our collection of CDs.
We learned a lot from the people who lived on the streets there, like which police officers were kind and which corners offered the best pickings. About ourselves, we learned that we appreciated the opportunity to go home to our beds when darkness came. About our music, we learned that sometimes less is more and we even improved out harmonies.
Evan and Jaron's brilliantly titled debut, We've Never Heard of You Either, is a happy blend of sparse strumming and Simon and Garfunkel-esque harmonies that seem to have grown out of the same environment. "I'm stopping in/ For a hot cup of coffee/ with an old bum who says/ he could have been James Dean/ Now the chief of police/ has asked him to leave/ I say no, no, no/ This man's with me."
Most of the instruments take a back seat to Evan and Jaron's harmonies and one gets the impression that the songs developed over time as the brothers experimented with their voices in the back of the station wagon. And though the music is a bit predictable at times, Jaron's organ- and piano-playing adds a touch of sophistication where it is needed. The brothers keep the "whoa-whoas" and "baby-babys" to a minimum (except on "Like the Rain," four mindless minutes which makes me think of White Lion), and in general, produce a mature sound.
As a child, I got a free ticket from my dentist to see Donnie and Marie (good brushing) and I think that was the last family act that interested me. As far as being siblings, Evan and Jaron are not in good musical company (Nelson, The Partridge Family, The Smothers Brothers, Dweezil Zappa and Moon Unit, and most recently the cereal box boys wonder Hanson), but don't hold it against them. We've Never Heard of You Either is a more complex effort. If you saw them playing on the street, you might have given them a dollar.
© 1997 evannjaronfan@hotmail.com
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