Jules (Shear) and the Polar Bears? Not quite....
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(15th in a series)
So Jules Shear issued a new album last September. I knew, but only because another Shear freak e-mailed to let me know. I haven't seen one ad, one review - nothing. This songs on this CD, More, were originally intended for a reunion CD of Jules and the Polar Bears, Jules' second group that released two LPs back in the 1970s. The reunion ran into some snags, so he ended up recording the songs solo and releasing them here.
The last three CDs from Jules have been pretty low-key affairs - quiet, sometimes somber, while the Polar Bears were more of a rock band, producing lyric-heavy sometimes-discordant adaptations of Shear's songs and, I must admit, of the four groups he's been a part of (Funky Kings, Reckless Sleepers, and Raisins In the Sun being the others), the Bears are last on my personal list of favorites. So, does this CD sound like that long-ago group? In spots only. The closest approximation being the song I attached to the top of this post. The CD certainly rocks harder than anything he's done since 2000's Allow Me. The best of these, Tables and Chairs, can be found in Comments but the rest of the rockers, sadly, don't seem to work very well. About half of the songs of the 10 on this CD reflect the more subdued and pleasant side of Jules Mark (hey, I didn't even know his middle name - which matches my first - until this release) Shear, and those are the ones that remain on the iPod.
His love for dogs is again apparent from the CD cover, featuring his new Beagle pal. This brings me to my pet theory - you can't trust a man who doesn't love dogs.
Comments (5)
Here's the best rocker of the bunch:
And another lovely, the closing track on the CD:
Gotta hear this.........................tonight
Cool. Love the PB's personally. Don't forget their (rather lackluster) third album, Bad For Business. The label wouldn't even release it at the time. Thanks for the music, I hadn't heard a word about this one either. Here's a link to a promo only acoustic disc called "Unplug This" from 1991 you might like (http://nevergetoutoftheboat.blogspot.com/2007/03/jules-shear.html). Hey... how did you score the extra MOG players? I thought there was only one per post. Nice trick.
All new to me, theres a tone in his voice thats interesting, reminds a little of Tom Petty
Sounds kinda nice. although i could only listen to "We said Goodbye". The other songs won't play. Thanks.