Jaguar Love - Take Me To The Sea

Whitney's shrill squealing does the otherwise fine instrumentation on this debut album from Jaguar Love absolutely no favours

Album Review by Chris Cusack | 11 Aug 2008
Album title: Take Me To The Sea
Artist: Jaguar Love
Label: Matador
Release date: 18 Aug

Why the hell anyone ever told Johnny Whitney it was a good idea for him to sing is a mystery. The former front-man with Blood Brothers genuinely sounds like Alvin (of The Chipmunks fame) and he does the otherwise fine instrumentation on this debut album from Jaguar Love absolutely no favours. Shrill squealing aside, he's not even in tune for at least 50% of opening track Highway Of Gold. It's really very grim indeed. Cody Votolato, also formerly of Blood Brothers, does a reasonable job of propelling things along with his signature 12-string guitar work and makes Jaguar Pirates a likely candidate for radio play, with the assembled ingredients at their most potent. Yet there's just no getting away from the strangled yelping of Whitney. Even now, somewhere off in the distance, dogs are howling and babies crying as his words slice through ears like a shattered passenger window in a side-on collision. [Chris Cusack]

http://www.myspace.com/jaguarloveband