Jacco Gardner - Cabinet of Curiosities

by Malcolm Carter

published: 11 / 3 / 2013

Label: Trouble in Mind
Format: CD

Enjoyable and excellently-performed, but copycat 60's baroque pop/psychedelia on highly touted debut album from Dutch muli-instrumentalist, Jacco Gardner

Review

One of the most eagerly anticipated albums of the year, after a couple of excellent singles, the debut by 24 year-old Dutch multi-instrumentalist Jacco Gardner actually falls just a little short of expectations. Gardner wrote, produced, recorded and mixed all the twelve songs on ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’. He also played all the instruments except drum duties that are handled by Jos van Tol. Gardner proves with this album, made in his own Shadow Shoppe Studio in Zwaag, that he is something of a studio wizard. Creating a dozen songs, lovingly recalling the soft-pysch/baroque pop of the mid to late sixties is nothing new. Even in 2013 there are many bands making this type of music, but Gardner obviously has a feel for this music and not only obviously has an interesting record collection but the ability to turn the sounds in his head into something real. There is not one concession to modern music here. If the album was touted to have been a long lost forgotten psychedelic classic from 1968, few would have argued. And there lies the problem. As good as ‘Cabinet pf Curiosities’ is, it is difficult to hear the obviously talented Jacco Gardner in here. Time and time again, while listening to the album, the names of Curt Boettcher and Emitt Rhodes come to mind. While Rhodes didn’t trade in the baroque pop that Gardner does so openly, his skill as a musician and in the studio gives the impression that Gardner is very much a latter-day Rhodes. Both have an ear for ornate balladry, both create melodies that linger long in the mind of the listener and we can only hope that it doesn’t take Gardner the years it took Rhodes to be recognised for his contribution to music. There are inspiring songs of pure beauty, ‘Help Me Out’ and ‘Summer’s Gone’ very nearly warrant the never-ending comparisons to ‘Odessey & Oracle’ (let’s not say The Zombies, lads, that Epic album may have been made by the same band as their earlier recordings but they are miles apart in sound) but really the comparisons bandied about are not only lazy but far off the mark. Nirvana? C’mon, what similarities does ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’ share with ‘Nevermind’? Oh they must mean the 60's ‘Simon Simopath’ lot; still nothing to match the beauty of ‘Tiny Goddess’ or the perfect chamber pop/rock of say ‘Girl in the Park’ here though. Billy Nicholls? So now any record that uses harpsichord or mellotron is going to be a match for the long-forgotten classic ‘Would You Believe’, is it? No, what Gardner has created, and created perfectly, is a snapshot of the late sixties where he has pieced together bits of his favourite albums of that time to produce an album that never really rises above interesting. If ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’ had been released in 1968 we would have all fallen in love with it instantly but there is already an abundance of original albums from that period covering exactly the same ground, so why would we chose this album over any other? We have heard it all before. Whoever your favourite psych artiste/band is you’ll find traces of them here. What you won’t find is any originality from Mr. Gardner. The strangest thing about this Netherlander is how he has taken the English version of psych, the Lewis Carroll/toytown variety dripping with childlike wonder as opposed to the edgier American version, as his inspiration for this album. This extends even to Gardner’s vocals. It is not only the musical sounds he creates that recall English psychedelia, but his very English vocals give an even more authentic feel to the album. But again, as good as these songs are there are still many undiscovered albums from Gardner’s chosen era for music that lie lost and lonely. Why not start there, with the real thing? As a taster for fey, English psychedelic music of the sixties ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’ is a fine album. If it leads the curious to original albums of baroque pop then it can only be a good thing but there is a feeling that Gardner, being the so obviously talented musician/producer he is on this showing is hiding behind these sounds. Where’s Jacco Gardner? Move us with something we haven’t heard many times before next time. please. ‘Cabinet Of Curiosities’ is a pleasant way of making the listener search out their long-forgotten 60s gems, but there is more to Jacco Gardner than outright pastiche; with all his talents in the studio a contemporary edge would have turned a good album into a great one.

Track Listing:-

1 Clear the Air
2 The One Eyed King
3 Puppets Dangling
4 Where Will You Go
5 Watching the Moon
6 Cabinet of Curiosities
7 The Riddle
8 Lullaby
9 Help Me Out
10 Summer's Game
11 Chameleon
12 The Ballad of Little Jane