The Way It Is: 25 Years of Solo Adventures

Edgar Jones made a name for himself with the garage rock band the Stairs, whose 1992 album Mexican RnB earned classic status over the passing years. After the group split in 1994, Jones embarked on a solo career that saw him trading under a number of different names and playing a dizzying number of styles, with the throughline being a commanding voice thats able (and willing) to slip from a blues-hound growl to a sweet balladeers croon on a moments notice. The Way It Is: 25 Years of Solo Adventures gathers up tracks from albums released under his own name and with his groups the Isrites, the Big Kids, the Joneses, and the Edgar Jones Free Peace Thing. Mixed nonchronologically, the songs spread across the three discs find Jones undertaking modern blues-rock with the Big Kids, flamboyant jam rock with the Free Peace Thing, mixing Las-style melodies with tough-as-nails garage rock under the Isrites banner, and doing weird stuff like underwater ska (Mellow Down Pussycat) and rambling jump blues (We Should Get Together) as the Jones. On records under his own name, he works the fringes of pop music, straying from warped electro-blues (Talk About It) and sun-kissed psych-pop (Revolving All Around, You) to thundering Northern soul with fuzz guitars (Thinkin Bout the Time) and epic Brill Building ballads (Whats a Boy to Do?). One of his finest, weirdest albums -- 2005s Soothing Music for Stray Cats -- is heavily represented here, with several cuts dipping deep into various old-time blues and jazz styles quite credibly. Most of 2017s The Song of Day and Night, his most straightforward album, is here too, with several songs like Wait! and Best Thing coming across like the best retro-pop of the day. Its a dizzying ride with very few bumps and lots of marvelous scenery. Jones is a devilishly skillful tour guide, and one could dip into this collection at any point and be knocked out by the breezy, almost effortless way he spins the past into recycled gold. The Way It Is is a near-perfect summation of the career (so far) of a truly underrated, always surprising gem of an artist. ~ Tim Sendra