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Issue #88 Aug. '06
We all like to climb on our soapbox every now and then – lately my diatribe has been the loss of the art of the album. In this age of .mp3 format, not only do we take a giant step backwards to a time of inferior quality of music (let’s face it, when you chop off the high highs and the low lows, then take what’s left and compress it into a space almost half of the original, you lose music [the high highs and low lows] and you lose the dynamics, the warmth, the range, the soul if you may, of the music, of the art), but we also lose the full effect of the package – think of it as looking at the Mona Lisa with magnets holding it to a refrigerator door, instead of in a frame on a museum wall. That is what individual 99 cent downloads are robbing from us. I recently was lamenting this saddening loss when in my mailbox arrived “Everybody feels the same.” By Jamieson Tobey. And I was saved.

How many people nowadays take a CD and treat it as an album? As a piece of art, as a conceptual vision of the artist? Not many one song downloads offer you the opportunity to leave your present train of thought and escape into the minds (or mind altering) landscape of the artist presenting the work. How many times have people read the liner notes while listening to an .mp3? Or, take the lyrics and decipher, connect, puzzle, contemplate, and try to understand what the artist is trying to get across? How can anyone use one song (or even a few various singles) to connect to the whole, the passion, the vision? Granted, some songs are just that, songs. But, when an artist can take 10 or so songs and create an album, well then, that canvas is much more intriguing within the spectrum of the art form.

What sets Jamieson Tobey apart from most is the liner notes that state: “All instruments were played by Jamieson Tobey, including the following: drumset, acoustic and electric guitars, electric bass, ukulele, glockenspiel, keyboards, organs, Roland TD-8, melodica, hammer chimes, harmonica, bird calls, marimba, melotron, three wine glasses and two empty bottles played with chopsticks, piano, shakers, maracas, sleigh bells, tambourines, and handclaps.” Add to that, the recording and producing, all done by Jamieson, and where the hell do I begin to gush about what is spilling off this canvas? The glockenspiel? Wine glasses and bottles played with chopsticks! How can you not be intrigued?

Opening the album in a highly spiritual vein, Jamieson stretches the boundaries of the aural equations of love with a sound so pure in essence that it can only uplift us. Using sound layering and production techniques that instantly bring to mind some of the greatest conceptual music artists of the past 4 decades, Everybody feels the same, takes on the whole artistic Album worthiness bestowed upon it. Throughout we find ourselves aligning this work with that of present visionaries such as Mark Oliver Everett, also know as E, the main force behind Eels (Everybody feels the same, The black will turn to blue, faith). As well as past greats like Pink Floyd (Smoke, Where the waves begin, A perfect rose, walls), overlooked masters Jeff Lynn/ELO (Everybody…, faith, Golden wing), revered ambient artists, Phillip Glass (Cars crash), and ultimately the greatest songwriting conceptual artists of all time, The Beatles, drawing heavily from George Harrison’s cannon as well as McCartney (and Wings), and Lennon. The title track, Everybody feels the same, could be a lost White Album track, The black will turn to blue deserves to be on Abbey Road, and walls, even owing as much as it does to Syd Barrett, could also nestle into Magical Mystery Tour quite nicely.

This album is love, spirituality, intensity, insanity, madness, joy, belief, and the purity of a musical landscape painted in broad, vast, encompassing strokes. It spills forth from one man’s mind and his ability to take the materials present to him and bend, shape, strum, pluck, pound, pick, caress, finagle, twist, turn, and tweak to create a piece of art. Art that is so intriguing, so rewarding, so amazingly complicated, yet instantly accessible to anyone willing to sit and absorb the haunting beauty of a mind at work in the medium of sound. To break that down into individual pieces would be like taking that picture of the Mona Lisa off the fridge, cutting it into pieces, present each piece solo and asking people to enjoy it as art. Absurd!

Everybody feels the same is a museum piece. An extraordinary excursion from deep within the fragile space of a human being which reaches further into the soul of those who allow it to enter. While many songs point in obvious directions, the artist breathes more into the area of listener interpretation than most, which in turn gives the album a uniqueness to each individual. Thus, creating a multifaceted work not meant for mass consumption.

Is the album format a lost art? A dying breed? Maybe in the mainstream or the broadband .mp3 stream, but for now we can count on independent artists like Jamieson Tobey to rescue us when needed. I’m stepping off my soapbox for now and putting on

Everybody feels the same.
By Jamieson Tobey.


INDEPENDISC


Here are some more reviews:



"Everybody Feels the Same is an album that captivates you from the outset, and yet still manages to get better after repeated listens. Jamieson's lyrics are both insightful and revealing, and are well-served by the sonic textures and tasteful arrangements that characterize his distinct songwriting style. The sound is eclectic, yet accessible... and somehow manages to feel radio-friendly, without losing its indie sensibility."  -Ethan Goldman, MTV: Director of Development

"Jamieson Tobey was one of the 400,000 musicians that requested my friendship on MySpace last month, and one of the three that I actually added. Why? Because Everybody Feels The Same is a great record, plain and simple, one that is made even greater by the realization that Tobey, a drummer by profession, recorded it himself in his home. I have never heard a home production that sounds as fully realized as this. But at its core, this album succeeds not because of production, but because of great songs, like Love, Everybody Feels the Same and Walls.  Tobey has a unique percussive aspect to most of these tunes, and while they don't reinvent the wheel, they achieve his goal: heartfelt, intimate and beautifully arranged pop ballads."  -ON TAP

“sit back and soak up the gorgeous, luxuriously full music. The thick keyboard makes a soft cushion for his half-whispered baritone, while expert arrangements part clouds of sound to make room for a glittering glockenspiel or melodious melotron.
Highlights include the title track, in which Tobey comforts listeners by assuring them that “Everybody lives a lie, and everybody is having doubts … We are all just as mad as you.” The atmospheric “Where the Waves Begin” conjures the same sounds as Sgt. Pepper’s-era Beatles as Tobey asks, “Did you know that you are the ocean? / Did you know that I’m sinking in?” “A Perfect Rose” features an electronic Latin beat superimposed over a music-box melody and Tobey’s baby nephew cooing away happily. If enigmatic lyrics and lush music are your cup of tea, then pour yourself a steaming mug of Everybody Feels the Same."  -PERFORMING SONGWRITER    July/Aug 2006

"The packaging of this disc alone is attractive. It is simple, unique and intriguing. And then the music happens...wow. Everything on this record is nothing less than spectacular! It is a musical montage that is layered beyond belief and triumphant in all that it does. Your sound takes on some Pink Floyd and Radiohead while it gives the accessibility of Coldplay's vocals. It is unbelievable." "From the sweetness and bells of "Love" to the darker side of things in "Walls" you cover it all, every emotion, thought, and frame of mind. I could probably listen to this album 20 times and still find things I missed the first 19 times. It is experimental and poppy all at the same time. Incredible." "People need to hear it. Period." -Shut Eye Records and Agency

"many intelligent listeners will find plenty to love in this lush soundscape that combines flavors of Wilco, Radiohead and Coldplay with melodies that are ruminative, unresolved, and highly impressionistic... Ultimately it's a beautiful sounding record." -Intelligentpop 

"Jamieson Tobey's music really connects with the listener... His lyrics are amusing and heartfelt."
"Jamieson is a multi-talented musician who sang, played all the instruments, recorded, and produced his first full-length album, 'Everybody Feels The Same', by himself. ...His sound is hard for us to sum up in a couple of words; so we'll just say he's a much-cooler John Mayer."   -www.babbleandbeat.com


Mix magazine put my name in their march issue.  i had no idea.  kind of cool.  it's a listing of what some of the heavy weight producers and mixers have been up to.  down at at the bottom of the page, in the "northeast section" they list my name.  right between news about Dashboard Confessional and Duran Duran.  i'm flattered!  i didn't know they cared...
http://mixonline.com/mag/audio_track_sheet_18/index.html

you should also feel free to visit  www.myspace.com/jamiesontobey for more.

again, thanks for stopping in!
jamieson