Review – Timothy “Joe Jerry”
independent EP CD
The number of times I read the title
of this EP as “Joe Perry”
and the Aerosmith
diatribe I was going to launch into leads me to ask, ‘Who is Joe Jerry and what
would lead this mildly acclaimed Adelaide five-piece to write a song about and
name their third EP after him?” These questions and probably dozens more will
not be answered by said EP or their website, so it’s best to listen to the
record and see who’s what and where with Timothy.
“Joe
Jerry” seems to
have come out backwards, with the tracks they would want played on radio,
namely Oh Well, Golden Eagle and Painfully Nervous being
placed after all the not-so-serious and ‘this is our fun side’ songs. From a
programmer’s perspective, an artist would want their stronger songs up front
and if the listener gets through them they can either continue with or turn off
the fun songs. Oh Well, Golden Eagle (the band’s personal single,
being available on the MP3 websites) and Painfully Nervous are songs as
good as any ‘indie’ or alternative act today, as shown by the band’s
appearances on both MMM’s
Homegrown and JJJ’s Aus Music Show.
Listening
to the back-catalogue was going to take 20+ minutes each track to download so
to appreciate where Joe Jerry came from, who he is and why he doesn’t like
sushi or leaving his shoes at the door will have to wait for another day. The
biggest adventure into what makes this band tick is revealed in the CD-ROM
video of the taping of the triangle track and the making of the losing speech
at indoor cricket. “Joe Jerry” is proof that a band can live beyond its
music, as well as on it!