Jadis - More Questions Than Answers

Fair use of image for critical review. Courtesy Jadismusic/Amazon.com. Designed by Geoff Chandler (Garys brother)

 Jadis's new album, More Questions Than Answers, lives up to its name! Their first in eight years' time, the band are in classic form, since I was able to preview it on YouTube. It's just getting the album that has become elusive. I was planning on getting it on amazon.com with my usual $5 off from Bing (almost £4), but once I had the gift card, the site ran out of copies, even if that bi-weekly discount barely covered P&P or VAT. Frontman Gary Chandler told me in an e-mail that they're still under the radar four decades after he started the band and that he doesn't have a full-fledged setup for getting out product. I thought he had a deal with RSK, who distribute Jadis' former and IQs (founded by current member Martin Orford) label Giant Electric Pea. I did tell Chandler that his modus operandi is not unlike that of Fish with his label, which he'll close next year, but that's for another day. It's not like the old days of selling tapes or LPs out of the boot of your car or in the post since the internet has opened more doors in the past few decades, including Pandoras! On that note, no one has put mp3s up officially or unofficially (to Orfords relief) just yet. Not even a pirate CD, since I have none from Jadis at this time. A few third-party dealers put the CD on amazon, and a couple more have on Discogs. Even Barnes & Noble would have carried it on their site (you have to spell the first the words as one, probably to avoid confusion with other things, but that just makes it harder to look up. I had less trouble finding Robbie Williams LPs at my local B&N!). The band have had a deal with InsideOut in the past, which helped get a few of their albums in shops more easily, even when it was a true indie. The new one I wound up ordering direct or through BandCamp (a haven for artists who used to be with or could never get signed to the big boys, yet that site claim to just have a four track promo). It may have set me back a little, but it cut out the middle man. Not sure if it went out yet when I wrote this or it was sent out with no tracking number to cut costs. I don't even think Nad Sylvan gave me that when I ordered from him a few years ago. I got his autograph on two separate orders, while I got the bands on Medium Rare by surprise (the same thing happened with Sylvans boss Steve Hackett) without even trying.

Once fans get their copy, it'll be worth the wait. Now if only the bands solicitors could get others with the same name to change it (Magnum and Pallas too, but those "other bands" may not even realise the "real" ones exist just because of how generic the names are. Same with Fish, IQ and even the boys Rush (that's for another post similar to one on the sister blog).