ZINC (GREEN ALBUM)

Having played for the prog bands UK and Jethro Tull, Eddie Jobson decided after to start a solo career, and "Zinc" is his first album. Absolutely progressive, the tracks are often loaded and dynamic. Jobson even provides the lead vocals, which are really not bad. He plays some excellent electric violin parts, as always. The main strength are his keyboards arrangements: I've rarely seen a musician mastering so well the keyboards!! The keyboards sounds are EXTREMELY varied, very modern for the year and absolutely futuristic. Jobson is able to create many spacy, mellow & very dreamy atmospheres, with a sci-fi approach: the pleasant textures generate an indescribable trance state which you will not want to lose; Jobson's technique partly resides in inserting a gentle & melodic sequencer through some floating ambience. He plays an OUTSTANDING piano solo a la Patrick Moraz: do not miss it! The rock dimension is very present, almost hard rock, as reveals the sharp electric guitars and acoustic ones (Gary Green, of Gentle Giant, is a guest musician on couples of tracks). The drums and the bass do an excellent job. Eddie Jobson still proves here that he is one of the best keyboardist of the prog scene.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Before I bought this album I wanted to kill my curiosity: "How would it like if Mr. Jobson composed his own music through his own album?". This happened after I was amazed with his contribution in UK especially through live concerts "Night After Night" and "Concert Classic Vol. 4". My expectation of his solo album was very high because I truly admired him being in studio album of UK as well as concert album. What I found at first spin was a great disappointment. Not because of his musicianship or performance. Yes, I admit that he is a virtuoso in electric violin as well as keyboard. I admired him as I did the same with Jean Luc Ponty, Didier Lockwood, or Jerry Goodman on violin part of his talent. But, making his own music is a different ballgame, I would say. Listening to this album at first time was a bit flabbergasted for me personally - not to mention I was a bit upset. It's probably my fault on putting high expectation about him. If he did a great job in UK while he had to share his play with Holdsworth on guitar and Wetton, or Bruford, it would be really great if he did it all alone.

The major flaw of this album is on composition and harmonies. I don't see the flow of music in this album is cohesive as the arrangement sounds like being "forced" sounding like this. If I might compare the style, this album is pretty similar with Tony Banks' "The Fugitive" with pop touches. Zinc is not that pop as The Fugitive but from the vocal department it's pretty clear that it's like a pop rock arrangement. Yes, for those of you who like his style with UK, his keyboard work sounds like that - but it's not as fashionable like Time To Kill in UK. I do not consider his involvement with Jethro Tull something that's really remarkable - because as the Tull album "A" was supposed to be an Ian Anderson's solo album. So you can imagine the extent of contribution Mr. Jobson was in the "A" album.

Is it a bad album? Nope! Not at all . I still can enjoy this album, especially during the time (recently) when I heard that this album would be added in this site - I played it many times in its entirety. But, I still found something is missing. I thought the inclusion of Gary Green (Gentle Giant) on guitar would help a lot - it's not that obvious. So, I should categorize this album as collectors / fans only. If you are a truly fan of Jobson, definitely you will enjoy it. But, I would not recommend this album to prog newbie. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

Eddie Jobson - Zinc. This album, to me, is difficult to assess. The musicianship is quite high (as you would expect from E.J. - no, not Elton John...) - but fails to actually jump out and 'grab' these ears. I would have to put it down to the overall production - it's quite 'plastic' and very 80's. This album reminds me strongly of Genesis' self-titled album from the same year. Surprising is the guest appearance of former GENTLE GIANT guitarist Gary Green, but his contribution is minimal and doesn't add much to the music unfortunately. The compositions themselves are fine (especially the instrumental pieces and the longer cuts) but there are some very 'pop' moments on the LP which bring down the score somewhat. From Eddie's work with Curved Air (the absolutely fantastic 'Air Cut'), 3 high quality U.K. albums, his collaboration with Tull (the fantastic album 'A', which cops a lot of negative raps) and he also added a lot more good than bad to Roxy Music's mid-70's albums. He did some sessions for the legendary Frank Zappa as well ; you would expect this album to be oozing with splendour, but it seems to be a 'product of the times' kind of album. 2 & 1/2 stars rounded up (out of respect).

Jobson's own UK

In many ways Eddie Jobson's first solo album can be seen as a continuation of the band UK. For their first album, UK had four members, before their second album they lost half of the original band. Now 'UK' is again cut in half with only Jobson left. Musically there are some similarities with UK but this is perhaps a bit more electronic and adapted for the 80's. But there are also acoustic and electric guitars, piano and real drums so this is far from an all electronic affair. Pieces like Prelude and Nostalgia are rather classical and not at all electronic. The eclectic mix of that electronic style with many other styles not normally considered compatible makes this interesting and enjoyable.

Jobson's vocals might not be very distinctive but he does a decent job. There are some parts reminding me of the sound of Yes' Drama. Jobson's vocals are somewhat similar to those of Trevor Horn and also the keyboard sounds are sometimes similar to those of Drama.

Zinc is an eclectic work and there are many interesting styles and sounds to be found here.

What a disappointment!

This is the same Eddie Jobson who played amazingly with Curved Air, with Frank Zappa, with UK, with Roxy Music, with Jethro Tull... The key word apparently is "with".

On this, his first solo album, his main problem is composing. Nearly every song has a great intro. Some have great solos. But as soon as the verse sections begin, the music lapses into 1980's synth-pop. Think Gary Numan trying to be upbeat. And those vocals. Jobson almost has a good singing voice. But not quite. Everything come out just a bit on the shrill side.

It is good to hear Gary Green from Gentle Giant, and the two tracks he appears on are the best of the lot. But that's not saying much.

EDDIE JOBSON's reputation is such that he deserves the dignity of consideration for those rare "solo" releases. This loose band effort appeared a couple of years before the new age album "Theme of Secrets", and it couldn't be more different. Unfortunately, their common ground resides in mutual mediocrity.

While a sequel "Pink" was rumoured, it's just as well that the ZINC project ended where it started. This is a dated synth pop album with prog aspects reminiscent of what YES and STEP AHEAD were doing at the time but not as inspired. For the most part the keyboard work sounds like what JOBSON might have played right after plugging in a new toy with nobody listening. His violin isn't dusted off all that much either, but occasionally salvages a track, as in "Listen to Reason". When his biggest asset is his somewhat thin vocals that curiously suit the music, you know there's a problem. Luckily, "Green Face" is an ebullient rocker that deserved better than to be interred by its fellows. This demonstrates that, even within the artificial environment of so many contemporary releases, a strong composition and arrangement prevails. That's where Jobson's strengths seldom lie.

I admit I'm probably in the minority but I don't think Jobson ever did better keyboard wise than on "Metamorphosis" by CURVED AIR when he was 17, so maybe I have been punishing him unfairly ever since. Still I'm not alone in giving this one the green thumbs down.