Home  |  Hi-Fi Audio Reviews  Audiophile Shows Partner Mags  News       

 

 

Enjoy the Music.com Review Magazine

Bill Jones
Two Year Winter

Review By Steven Stone
Click here to e-mail reviewer

Bill Jones Two Year Winter

CD Number: Compass Records 7 4366 2 

 

  Bill is short for Belinda. I can't help but wonder how someone with such a decidedly feminine musical demeanor ended up being called Bill, but Bill it is. Although relatively unknown in the United States, Ms. Jones has won the BBC's Horizon Award for Best New talent in 2001, and already has two previous albums under her belt. I think it's about time we North Americans got up to speed.

The opening cut on Two Year Winter, "From My Window" by Eamon Freil and Dave Duggan brings you face to face with Bill Jones' most notable asset, her voice. Her vocals have a simple purity and disarming intimacy that could bring traffic to a dead stop during rush hour at Piccadilly Circle. Her harmonic purity coupled with an almost total absence of vocal artifice (she does very occasionally add a smidgen of vibrato at the end of a line) makes it seem as if she isn't really doing anything. Willie Nelson has a similar vocal trait. Their phrasing makes it sound so uncomplicated and effortless that you think to yourself "That's easy. Even I could do it." Try and you soon discover delivering a song as simply and directly as possible is harder than tarting it up.

To compliment her disarming voice, Bill Jones also plays piano and accordion. The title cut "Two Year Winter," written by Ann Hills, features Ms. Jones' masterful piano. As with her vocals, she eschews flash in favor of delicate runs and precision power chords. Joined by David Wood on guitar, Stewart Hardy on violin, Sarah Wright on flute, Miranda Sykes on double bass, Shanti Paul Jayasiha on cello, and Keith Angel on percussion, Jones also adds an occasional flute, diddle, or whistle. What is a diddle you ask? Sing the word diddle and you've just diddled. Now go diddle yourself.

In addition to a full 12 cut CD, Two Year Winter includes a bonus CD entitled Bits and Pieces EP with four additional selections. Two Year Winter certainly doesn't need any additional padding, so the second CD serves as a spectacular dessert to a most filling musical meal. Recorded with the same personnel, and in the same recording studios, the Bits and Pieces EP has a very similar sonic signature to the main 43:14 minute disc. Since Bits and Pieces is only 14:34, I can't help but wonder why its material wasn't just included on Two Year Winter. But it's good to have some mysteries, right?

Much of Bill Jones' material is either from traditional Gaelic sources, or written by Anne Hill, who is able to write songs that mate contemporary lyrics with a strong traditional feeling. Here in the United States the "Americana" musical movement has heralded a welcome return to traditional musical forms and sounds. In Great Britain a similar re-visitation to older influences (Britainica?) from artists such as Kate Rusby and Bill Jones has also rejuvenated their airways. What was old is once more new, and Bill Jones' Two Year Winter can penetrate musically jaded sensibilities like the first cold north wind of autumn cuts through a lightweight fall coat. This is great stuff.

 

Enjoyment:

Sound Quality:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     
 

Quick Links


Premium Audio Review Magazine
High-End Audiophile Equipment Reviews

 

Equipment Review Archives
Turntables, Cartridges, Etc
Digital Source
Do It Yourself (DIY)
Preamplifiers
Amplifiers
Cables, Wires, Etc
Loudspeakers/ Monitors
Headphones, IEMs, Tweaks, Etc
Superior Audio Gear Reviews

 

 


Show Reports
HIGH END Munich 2024
AXPONA 2024 Show Report
Montreal Audiofest 2024 Report

Southwest Audio Fest 2024
Florida Intl. Audio Expo 2024
Capital Audiofest 2023 Report
Toronto Audiofest 2023 Report
UK Audio Show 2023 Report
Pacific Audio Fest 2023 Report
T.H.E. Show 2023 Report
Australian Hi-Fi Show 2023 Report
...More Show Reports

 

Videos
Our Featured Videos

 


Industry & Music News

High-Performance Audio & Music News

 

Partner Print Magazines
audioXpress
Australian Hi-Fi Magazine
hi-fi+ Magazine
Sound Practices
VALVE Magazine

 

For The Press & Industry
About Us
Press Releases
Official Site Graphics

 

 

 

     

Home   |   Hi-Fi Audio Reviews   |   News   |   Press Releases   |   About Us   |   Contact Us

 

All contents copyright©  1995 - 2024  Enjoy the Music.com®
May not be copied or reproduced without permission.  All rights reserved.