ZOOM FROM GLOOM
LASCIATE OGNI SPERANZA!
That first one has a bunch of great songs on it. But his next album Creatures Of The Street is much better, funkier, less ‘galactic’ and bringing it back to earth or the streets in this case, and one of my favorite albums.
As I heard it, Jobriath was dropped from the label during his second U.S tour, which was unfortunate because, he was finally building an audience by this time. Electra should have done at least one more album to see
if they could have at least made back what they lost in promotion,etc. But what could have been, was not to be.
As I heard it, Jobriath was dropped from the label during his second U.S tour, which was unfortunate because, he was finally building an audience by this time. Electra should have done at least one more album to see
if they could have at least made back what they lost in promotion,etc. But what could have been, was not to be.
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I was listening to the Jobriath album this morning. This is an original 1973 German release on the Elektra Butterfly label that I have found in a second-hand record store. As everyone can see, it is a gatefold album. The gatefold inside has on both sides all the lyrics in readable size and fonts, for a change. A great plus of the gatefold album in general, I would say. Unfortunately, not much else information is given, besides some names without any further description.
This was Jobriath's first album, and not many more should follow. I don't want to speculate on the reasons why he did not succeed in the music business, but after listening to the album, I am inclined to say that it was probably not just the artificial hype created by his record label and the subsequent unaccomplishable expectations that brought his equally artificial downfall.
To say the least, it is a fine glam-rock album which was released one year after David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust. Lots of lyrical and musical references make that very clear with images taken from the word field of space, i.e. galaxies and the universe, to name but a few, as it was undoubtably fashionable back then. On the A-Side the song "Space Clown" rises above the other songs, and probably this space clown was supposed to be David Bowie? I can't say. Just like Morrissey's Sam, I was born too late to understand the hype surrounding David Bowie and the other glam rockers.
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Throughout, Jobriath's voice is energetic and has an urgent quality to it, which I like. What I do not like about most glam rock music is its bouffant orchestrated theatricality. In its core, it is simply generic and thus conservative rock'n'roll delivered in glittery clothes and with an opera attitude. Probably for the 70s this must have felt like a revolution, and David Bowie was the messiah, who had landed on earth to rescue you from the boring mundanity of your everyday life (which, of course and as usual, is always just a reflection of your own inner state of mind, not the other way round). But I respect that. And probably, this was more exciting than the 80s, when the Rocky Horror Picture Show had already turned into a cult for the bored bourgeoisie. I remember a time when all the gays in my family and all the most boring tedious hetero folks at school alike, would spend their Saturday nights dressed up as transvestites in cinemas or theaters together, frolicking around with rice in their hand that had to be thrown into each others faces during the wedding scene, but only then!, oh what gayety, what joy, then all the toilet paper and slices of bread, and to top it all, the fun to be had with the WATER PISTOLS!!!
Already back then, I knew that this was all just utter shit, and later these memories would epitomize the 80s for me, which were my most formative and sensitive years. Yes, pity me later, please.
When I listen to glam rock (only exception is Roxy Music) nowadays, it all comes back in its ugly and mercilessly tedious but nevertheless over-egged hideousness.
To cut it short, Jobriath the album, for me, is ensnared too much in its times, which are the glam rock times of the 60s, 70s and 80s, which are over, and I hope for ever and for good.
Alright, now that I got this off my chest, let me say that "Earthlings" is a fine song, as well as of course "Mourning Starship", which is by far the best song of the album. Maybe "Rock of Ages" is supposed to be a swan song for the vanishing glam rock times, but what do I care.
The way Jobriath sings the line "an elegant man" in the song I'maman is memorable too. And lyrically, I must say that the song "Inside" was able to touch a chord in me. They should've just let him sing and play the piano and forget about all the Bowie glam stuff.