Thursday 07/02/08 Edgar Jones And The Joneses, The Grand Architects @ Zanzibar, Liverpool

Support tonight comes in the form of The Grand Architects, whose politicised country-tinged set is warmly received by an appreciative crowd. Theirs is a sound that betrays affection for diverse treasures, ranging from the folk/country of Bob Dylan & Woody Guthrie to, if you can picture it, The Bhundu Boys; and it’s a combination that’s inescapably infectious. 'Farewell Western Devils' is a polemical hoedown of sorts - all red Stratocasters (again, picture it…), walking basslines and upbeat bitter reproach: “farewell to the stranglehold on world economies / farewell western devils, fare thee well”. The set highlight is the yearning, soulful heartbreak of 'In Spite Of Me', which frames singer Nina Jones’s voice beautifully.

“We’re gonna have ourselves a real good time” goes the line of Edgar Jones and The Joneses first song. It’s less a bold claim than a manifesto for this Liverpool outfit; led by the venerated Edgar Jones (nee Summertyme), ex of The Stairs, The La’s (briefly), The Big Kids, and cohort of Johnny Marr, Paul Weller and St Etienne. And an opening suite of songs like 'We Should Get Together', 'Mellow Down Pussycat', 'Necessary Evil' and a Jones’d-up version of The Shirelles’ 'Dedicated To The One I Love' ensures - in fact demands - that from the off, musicians and audience are grooving in perfect symmetry to The Joneses swinging big band sound.

Taking things down a notch, there’s the jazz blues of '(Aint Gonna Be Your) Fool No More', 'Gonna Miss Me When You’re Gone' and 'You Better Watch Your Back': the latter allowing the band’s rhythm section to cut their chops with double bass, sax and guitar solos, whilst their leader drinks it all in, lost in a blissed-out haze. It’s in the third act, though, that The Joneses really hit their stride, channelling Motown, New Orleans R&B, Philly soul, Ska and ‘60s Garage to stunning effect on numbers like 'Do Doh Dontcha Doh', 'More Than You’ve Ever Had', 'You Want Me To Want You Back' and 'The Way It Is'. What’s more, it’s in these numbers that Edgar’s distinctive ‘Louis Armstrong’ drawl reveals itself as the unorthodox gem it is, lending the music a timeless character, equally at home in any decade since the 1940s. This is not to say that they are mere revivalists, peddling retro nostalgia in lieu of anything of real worth: the strength and sheer verve of songs like 'Mellow Down Pussycat', 'The Way It Is', 'Want Me To Want You Back' and More 'Than You Ever Had' (to name only a few) place Edgar Jones and The Joneses in an orbit which, in 2008, is entirely their own. Their magpie-like habit of stealing from all types of musical genre, coupled with a heroic refusal to limit themselves to any particular one, exposes them as genre-bashing postmodern musical troubadours.

Just don’t call them that to their faces, though…