THROUGH A WEIRDO'S EYE

Very obscure 90's group, apparently they had a short career during the decade, when they decided to give it a shot via the progressive path.Jester came from South Africa and consisted of Phillip Norman on flutes, whistle and recorder, Paul Adjriou on mandolin, guitar and lead vocals, Raphael Bebenek on bass and Simon Fernie on drums.They recorded their sole album ''Through a weirdo's eye'' at Downtown Studios in Johannesburg and released it independently the same year.

The name of the band and the front cover of the album seems like we could have dealt with another Marillion clone, but the aforementioned instrumentation leaves little to imagination.This is very British-styled Folk Rock in the vein of JETHRO TULL with no keyboards at all, which is heavily based on flutes and acoustic strings with a strong amount of rock party going on.In fact they do remind of British band RED JASPER, combining energetic tunes with a folky edge with some more dreamy and bucolic moves, although the present of drums and bass is constant.Originality was an unknown work for Jester, their music contained tons of semi-loose flute solos in the vein of JETHRO TULL, while even the vocal tones have a strong IAN ANDERSON vibe.They seem to have composed this album out of passion for this kind of music, but the similarity between all tracks and the total absence of some personal ideas make it a bit tiring.The flute work is however quite nice and the atmosphere is always joyful and positive, still it seems a bit more diversity wouldn't hurt the overall production.Good balance between the instruments and a decent singer will satisfy fans of JETHRO TULL-esque Folk Rock.

First and last album by Jester.Far from convincing, even further from original, this would be a good acquirement for fans of British-styled Folk Rock and lovers of flute solos.