Contra-Mantra

Description

Product Description We had independently released two albums, and at that time there was no one beating down our doors to sign us. In 1986 Jeff Woodhouse and Jim Valentine moved from our hometown of Olympia, Washington to L.A. In hopes that they would find musical success there. Drummer Jeff Wade went Metal, and I went to work as a Computer programmer, making a lame attempt with continuing the band with a few local musicians. By 1988 I had totally removed myself from playing music in public. For the next 10 years I dabbled in recording songs and melodies that would just pop into my head. As time progressed, I heard that Jim Valentine and Geoff Woodhouse had also retired from the active music scene as well, and were happily pursuing other interests. In 1999 I moved to Dallas Texas, I had not thought of, nor had I heard Jaugernaut music in over 10 years. One day I received an unexpected Email from someone in Belgium, asking me if I was the Jim Johnston from the 1980s Band Jaugernaut. Suprised and amused, I responded that I was. What followed was a long series of events which led to the re-release in 2003 of our second Jaugernaut Album on CD. As it had turned out, over the years both Jaugernaut records had somehow found their way to Europe, and had quietly gained a reputation among European collectors of progressive AOR/POMP music as excellent independently released records. On EBay, both Jaugernaut albums, which had become very rare, were being sold used for as much as $150.00! I had no legal rights to the first Jaugernaut album, as it was recorded and released before I joined the band. So I could not re-release it on CD (though that has recently been rectified!). I was however, able to release the second album with little fanfare. That CD has been well received, mostly in Europe interestingly enough, where the band has never played. As sales of the CD rose steadily, I began to talk to Jeff Wade and Jim Valentine about the possibility of doing a third album. There was some passive interest, but in the end, no amount of coaxing could convince my fellow ex-members to join me for a reunion album. Consequently, the album before you is a reunion album of sorts... There is Me, Myself and I. What I had hoped would be released as a Jaugernaut CD has now been appropriately re-titled "Jaugernaut (a.d)", and has been written and produced on my own, with help from a few highly skilled friends. Over the last three years I have spent many waking hours slowly recording and assembling an album that I believe is worthy of the band that once was. Originally, this "Contra Mantra" album was going to be over 90 minutes long, but it has recently been edited back into a more reasonable 55 minutes. I have been careful in attempting to capture the progressive element of Jaugernaut music, while holding fast to the melodic sense that made Jaugernaut such a unique band. You will find on this album, very strong influences of the pre-disco era of progressive rock bands that dominated the FM airwaves of the 70's, along with a few suprises that will occasionally "bend the mold". I should advise you that there are no radio friendly "three minute little ditties" on this album (something to sandwich in between beer and car commercials), for music of this kind was meant to take its time, to bear its listeners to far away places, and occasionally, to surprise. Here stands Jaugernauts third album; I offer no apologies for its existence. This music is not for everyone. But if you enjoy the Progressive Rock sound of the 70's FM radio movement, I am confident that as you listen you will find yourself on very familiar ground. Review Analysis. Given the history of JAUGERNAUT, the main stylistic foundation for the compositions on this release is hardly surprising: hard rock with strong leanings towards AOR and heavily spiced with progressive leanings. The first formation of this outfit has been compared to Styx; these tendencies aren't overly dominating this time around but certain similarities in style can be found without much effort. Personally I'd add some Kansas in the name-dropping department, and perhaps a pinch of Rush too, with some modern sounding elements thrown in as surprise elements. The opening number, Anthem, may well be the most progressive creation on this production, following an atmospheric intro containing church bells and carnival sounding organ followed by percussion and some contemporary sounding electronic beats. We are treated to an epic pomp rock composition containing multiple breaks, mellow atmospheric segments mixed with majestic sounding parts constructed by guitars and organ, intense emotional lead vocals and harmonic layered ones, and what sounds pretty much like vintage 70s keyboards in flamboyant action. All the bells and whistles you'd want in this style of music and a pretty fascinating composition to boot. The Damage Is Done and Better Living thru Anarchy follow next, both of them less adventurous creations with more of a clear cut AOR approach, the first of these with some Rush-tinged guitar work and the second with an elaborate chorus as the main attractions, and they are both well made, planned and executed: 70s hard rock with nice keyboard touches. The Hard Way is the second, and last, epic composition on this album and although not the most progressive by any means, it's probably the most experimental creation here. The opening 5 minutes explore a partially ambient electronic landscape with the sound of rain falling as a constant feature, upon which several brief melodic segments are added, tribal electronic beats first, a synth bass and percussion based theme next and a 2 minute long acoustic guitar exploration as the last one. Just over two minutes of energetic pomp rock follow and then we're thrown into another ambient sounding segment, gradually evolving from an almost new age sounding contemplative atmosphere to a more folk tinged mellow creation as vocals, rhythms and a string instrument banjo or mandolin gets added to this part of the song. Just about 5 minutes into this part the melody dissolves, and the pomp rock part of this creation gets back in, yet again aired for just over two minutes; this time ending along with the overall composition. Next track Vanity is quite similar in nature, albeit much shorter in total, and for this song the atmospheric segments are at the start and end of the tune, and we're treated to some nice layered vocals in the pomp rock segment of the song as an additional feature. A Different World comes next, with brief atmospheric parts like a red thread leading back to the previous compositions, in this case inserted into a more typical hard rock piece. The quirky guitar patterns, keyboard layers and what sounds pretty similar to a harpsichord are additional elements included that should keep most progressive rock fans interested. The grand finale on this production is the ballad All I See Is Gray, a highly 70s-tinged affair starting out with a mellow, acoustic guitar, theme, upon which elements are gradually inserted to produce a majestic, pompous affair which really makes one think of the music produced in what for many has become the golden age of music. This is a fitting end to an album incorporating modern elements with classic pomp rock of yesteryear, finishing off with a composition with vintage qualities to style, atmosphere and structure. --ProgressorContra-Mantra is the first release from the band in nineteen years. It took two years to finish it, and while the name of the band is the same, this is more of a solo project by Jim Johnston, who in early 2000 s accidentally found the small, but strong following the band enjoys in Europe. This resulted in Johnston slowly, but surely being sucked into the world of Jaugernaut - a world that he didn t know existed. So he set himself to record another, third in line, Jaugernaut album, this time around basically playing, writing and producing everything himself.This unique story actually does reflect on the album and it does so in a positive way.It almost seems to be a trademark for bands signed to Prog Rock Records to release very well-produced records, and Contra-Mantra in definitely not an exception. Especially taken into consideration that this is a self-financed release, this album offers a rich sound that at times does get a bit rough, be it on purpose or not, it does fit the music well, especially in those more straight forward tracks in the style of Yes, Toto and Kansas.Heavily inspired by prog from 70 s and early 80 s, this album might not be offering much of the new, but then again, if done properly these kinds of flashback albums can be very interesting listening, especially if the creators dare to update the sound and add some new aspects to the music. And Jaugernaut do exactly this by adding some aspects of electronic ambient music and some tribal inspired rhythms. The passages are good, but it is the interaction of these parts with the rest of the music that sometimes fails to flow naturally. Johnston knows what he is doing in all the roles he has taken on this album, and with the help of Jim Brammer on some guitar work this album feels like an entity throughout most of all seven songs. Sometimes the focus shifts, but never enough for the listener to lose interest.The album might not be a revolutionary piece of music, but nevertheless it is as a solid old-fashioned prog record, which draws lines to the past and at the same time applies the present to it. And therefore the good news is that Contra-Mantra II is in the works. --Metal RevolutionFor those of you keeping track, this is actually the third release from the band Jaugernaut, but the first two were on vinyl back in the early eighties. It s a long story but this West Coast band was just starting to get noticed when they broke up. It wasn t until the late nineties that original member Jim Johnston recognized there was still interest in the band and decided to get things going again. Updating the band s musical style to fit the new millennium he released Contra-Mantra in 2005 which is just now getting widespread release through ProgRock Records. Johnson (vocals, guitars, bass, drums, keyboards) enlisted the support of Tyler Johnson (keyboards, programming), Jim Brammer (lead guitar) and Marty Prue (lead guitar) to bring his music to fruition. What we have on Contra-Mantra is the first of a two-part concept about the origins of evil. Contra-Mantra features seven tracks running a total of about 55-minutes that musically is in the classic pomp-rock style with much that will appeal to fans of not only that genre, but classic hard-edged progressive rock as well. Most of the songs are on the longish side and each goes through some rather interesting twists and turns. Take for example the opening track Anthem (12:33) which starts with some haunting atmospherics and fairground organ, before going up-tempo scratching for a few seconds, only to launch into classic crescendo laden AOR rock. At 3:18 into the song it changes yet again into a slow haunting acoustic guitar section with keyboard atmospherics where the vocals come into play. At the 10-minute mark the track shifts into high-gear and goes up-tempo to close out the composition. Many of the tracks are linked with some interesting loops and electronic programming providing some nice transitions. A few of the tracks like The Damage is Done (4:59) sound like they re lifted right out of the eighties only sonically updated to deliver a better punch. The musicianship on Contra-Mantra is top-notch and the tunes are brimming with wonderful hard-edged melodies and anthemic harmonies but this is by no means a prog-metal styled release, there is far too much musical variety for that to be the case. In fact the music is much like a collage with many of the tracks being made up of small musical sections that form a beginning or an end section, so that one seven-minute track actually sounds like two or three shorter tracks, but distinctly different if you know what I mean. Given that this is a concept CD you d expect there to be recurring themes and in fact there are a few. Take for example the acoustic refrain in The Hard Way (14:51) of the opening tracks main theme. If you enjoy the music of the bands such as Styx, Journey, Magnum, Angel and others in that style Jaugernaut will certainly be welcome in your CD collection. I have to say I was surprisingly pleased at the sounds I heard and I wouldn t hesitate to recommend Contra-Mantra to fans of prog that is influenced by the eighties arena pomp rock style. This is a thoroughly enjoyable listen with tremendous musical variety; I look forward to hearing more from Jaugernaut in the future. --Jerry Lucky