Edgar Jones - The Way It Is – 25 Years Of Solo Adventures
Every once in awhile you come across a musician who has been around for years, but has somehow slipped past you, and once you do find them you find yourself wanting to hear more and more. That was exactly what happened the first time I made my way through The Way It Is, 25 Years Of Solo Adventures, the 3 CD retrospective of Edgar Jones. Unbeknownst to me at the time, I was first introduced to Jones with Mexican R'n'B, the outstanding 1992 debut CD from The Stairs, a band that he was lead vocalist and bassist in. Following that release (now available as a 3 disc deluxe version with two and a half discs full of demos and rarities) and a couple EP’s and singles with the band, Jones went onto a stint playing with The La’s (over the years he has also played with the likes of Paul Weller, Johnny Marr and St Etienne among others) and shortly after fronted his band The Isrites. Over the years since he has also had solo releases along with releases from his other bands The Big Kids, The Joneses and The Edgar Jones Free Peace Thing. The Way It Is contains 70 songs (some extremely rare) and covers music from these other projects. Making your way through these three discs you never know what is coming next. It is a fascinating journey of styles that will keep you on our toes from track to track and keep a smile on your face as he delves into everything from garage rock, jazz, R&B, soul and blues to psychedelia, funk, ska and more and handling each one as deftly as the next. Hopefully this compilation will give Edgar the recognition he deserves and others like me will start searching down the full releases that the songs were taken from.
Every once in awhile you come across a musician who has been around for years, but has somehow slipped past you, and once you do find them you find yourself wanting to hear more and more. That was exactly what happened the first time I made my way through The Way It Is, 25 Years Of Solo Adventures, the 3 CD retrospective of Edgar Jones. Unbeknownst to me at the time, I was first introduced to Jones with Mexican R'n'B, the outstanding 1992 debut CD from The Stairs, a band that he was lead vocalist and bassist in. Following that release (now available as a 3 disc deluxe version with two and a half discs full of demos and rarities) and a couple EP’s and singles with the band, Jones went onto a stint playing with The La’s (over the years he has also played with the likes of Paul Weller, Johnny Marr and St Etienne among others) and shortly after fronted his band The Isrites. Over the years since he has also had solo releases along with releases from his other bands The Big Kids, The Joneses and The Edgar Jones Free Peace Thing. The Way It Is contains 70 songs (some extremely rare) and covers music from these other projects. Making your way through these three discs you never know what is coming next. It is a fascinating journey of styles that will keep you on our toes from track to track and keep a smile on your face as he delves into everything from garage rock, jazz, R&B, soul and blues to psychedelia, funk, ska and more and handling each one as deftly as the next. Hopefully this compilation will give Edgar the recognition he deserves and others like me will start searching down the full releases that the songs were taken from. 
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