Lonely Planet Boy

Lonely Planet Boy Artist: Jobriath
Label: Sanctuary Records
Category: Music


Average customer rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1


UPC: 060768600928
EAN: 0060768600928
ASIN: B0002ZYDJC


Release Date: 2004-11-09

Lonely Planet Boy


Related Categories:

General General
Categories | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
General General
Categories | Rock | Styles | Music
Pop Rock Pop Rock
Categories | Pop | Styles | Music
Glam Glam
Categories | Classic Rock | Styles | Music

Tracks:

  1. Heartbeat - Jobriath
  2. Morning Star Ship - Jobriath, Steve Love, Andy Muson, , John Syomis
  3. Be Still - Jobriath, Steve Love, Andy Muson, , John Syomis
  4. Space Clown - Jobriath, Steve Love, Andy Muson, , John Syomis
  5. I'maman - Jobriath, Steve Love, Andy Muson, , John Syomis
  6. Street Corner Love - Jobriath
  7. I Love a Good Fight [#] - Jobriath
  8. What a Pretty - Jobriath
  9. Blow Away - Jobriath, Steve Love, Andy Muson, , John Syomis
  10. Ecubyan - Jobriath
  11. Inside - Jobriath, Steve Love, Andy Muson, , John Syomis
  12. Earthling - Jobriath, Steve Love, Andy Muson, , John Syomis
  13. Scumbag - Jobriath
  14. Movie Queen - Jobriath, Steve Love, Andy Muson, , John Syomis
  15. Dietrich/Fondyke (A Brief History of Movie Music) - Jobriath

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Customer Reviews:

2 out of 5 stars A disservice to Joby and the listening public.......2006-04-20

If Moz has such affection for Jobriath, and wants his music to be heard by a larger audience, why did he assemble a collection of the worst songs in Joby's repetoire and package it in a garish pink box? Now, I like pink boxes very much, I just don't expect to find glammed out cabaret music in them. Your humble corrorspondant owns the Jobriath LP, the one with the decaying naked statue of Joby on the front. It's neither spectacular, nor as awful as rock critics claim. My unconventional ears liked it. My gut instinct is that the music press, burned by his overblown publicity, savaged him as a result without giving the music a chance to impress them. The follow up, Creatures of the Street, has it's moments, notably "Ooh La La". Guess what? "Ooh La La" isn't here. Neither is the S&M ode "Take Me I'm Yours". In fact, there's little of Joby's *rock* music here at all. What you get is the aforementioned glam cabaret, which is strangly not all that bad, leaving a big part of the picture out. The mix on the previously unreleased "Good Fight" pales before bootleg copies, equally unforgivable. The liner notes are mostly authentic English gibberish. Hopefully, someday Jobriath's two albums will see proper release as their own entities, the only way to hear them as intended. Until then, skip the embarassment of your girlfriend asking you why there's another pink box in the house and dig up those vinyls. Good luck, it took me a decade of flea markets to find mine.

4 out of 5 stars good god.......2005-10-26

a very dramatic and theatrical glam rock album that is heavy on the bombastic piano lines and urgent vocal delivery. most people seem to slag this off as a David Bowie rip-off, and the influence cannot really be denied (most noteably on the songs "Space Clown" and "Earthling"), but the honky-tonk funk swagger of songs like "I Love A Good Fight" and "Street Corner Love" are irresistable with their catchy fun melody and their strong lyrical approach. and the sparkly big-heeled tone of "I'maman", which reveals a strong musical stew, brewing with a tight arena rock riff, piano, harpsichord, and a few good wah-wah effects thrown in. these selections on Lonely Planet Boy are culled from Jobriath's legendary out of print records and the whole package has been lovingly presented with the deluxe treatment and tons of great photos.

1 out of 5 stars Glam Knockoff Flop Gets a Second Round of 15 Minutes.......2005-09-17

Like the Shaggs, Jobriath was a flash in the pan more heard of rather than actually heard and more appreciated for his back story than his music. Unlike The Shaggs Jobriath operated more out of cynicism, or at least his record company did in that he was singed merely as an attempt to cash in on the David Bowie craze that was so big at the time whereas The Shaggs, as unlistenable as their music was (and remains today, despite claims to the contrary by the hipsters) represented an innocence and sincerity that Jobriath's more calculated music lacks.

If you've never heard Jobriath before I can pretty well assure you that you have heard and will hear worse. This is not to praise it as it is simply NOT for all tastes. The vocals are generally unpleasant, the musicianship competent but unexceptional, and the songs are full of over the top theatrics. If you have heard Jobriath's music before you probably fall into either the love it or hate category. If you are a Morrisey fan and wanting to hear music from an obscure act he cites as an influence start with the New York Dolls who were considerably more compelling and interesting.

3 out of 5 stars It's a Bowie rip-off, but it's still entertaining........2005-09-12

Jobriath so blatantly patterned himself after Bowie that it's a wonder he wasn't sued by Bowie's management, Mainman.

However, the CD itself is still entertaining, and it's cool that my home state of PA produced its own glam rock icon.

3 out of 5 stars In Defense of Jobriath.......2005-08-31

In light of some of the more vitriolic reviews, I thought I'd add a few words in defense of Jobriath. Detractors claim he's nothing more than a third (or fourth or fifth...) rate Bowie knock-off. Defenders occasionally go so far to say that it's actually the opposite: Bowie was a "pretender to the throne" and Jobriath was the, um, "real deal". Even though I'm certainly more disposed to the former view, I would say Jobriath qualifies as a solid SECOND-rate Bowie knock-off.

And while "second-rate knock-off" necessarily (and accurately) implies inferiority to the "original", that doesn't make the music terrible, because it isn't... though it is, at least for me, fundamentally flawed. Jobriath is a much more compelling writer and pianist than singer; as others have noted, his voice sometimes proves an insurmountable obstacle... it all-too-frequently embodies the least appealing qualities of David Bowie circa "Hunky Dory": harsh, thin and inflexible. The nasally sneer works well on the lascivious "Street Corner Love", but undermines the more lyrical, introspective material like "Inside" (which is ultimately redeemed by some expert piano work, presumably by Jobriath).

In spite of the histrionics, though, I actively enjoy 8 or 9 of the 15 tracks, the best of which (by some margin) is the previously unreleased "I Love a Good Fight", where Jobriath's whine is less pronounced, replaced by a more natural, full-bodied and powerful delivery. It qualifies as a great, lost glam-rock classic. Also of note is "Space Clown", where Jobriath affects the same phony Cockney accent that Bowie himself affects from time to time. And yes, as the song title would imply, the tune is stylistically derivative of Bowie, as well... though hardly more derivative than Bowie himself was of Lou Reed, Bob Dylan or, uh, Anthony Newley. When the tune is this catchy and poignant, its secondhand nature is beside the point. Jobriath avoids the vocal problem entirely with "Dietrich/Fondyke (A Brief History of Movie Music)" by letting session vocalists do the work on what sounds like a collaboration between Stephen Sondheim and Queen.

As others have rightly noted, Jobriath's memory (and his fans) would have been been better served by including the entirety of his two albums rather than let compiler Morrissey cherry-pick his favorites. But the faithful will want to have this collection if only for "I Love a Good Fight", the superior sound, and the packaging (the album replica-style format is annoying and cumbersome, but includes a helpful essay and lotsa pretty pictures). And the curious have a reasonably economical primer that will help them decide whether or not they want to invest in the pricey, out-of-print lps. Once I've made peace with Jobriath's vocals perhaps I'll do that, but until then "Lonely Planet Boy" will do nicely.

(Incidentally, soundclips for some of the tracks on this collection are provided on the very informative Jobriath Fan Collective site.)

Music Album:

  1. Here Comes the Trick/Live Out of the Pulpit ~ Pleasure Club
  2. The Last Fourfathers ~ The Prisoners
  3. Brothers in Arms ~ Dire Straits
  4. Brain Salad Surgery ~ Lake & Palmer Emerson
  5. The Sextet Hellblinki ~ Sextet Hellblinki
  6. They Go to the Woods ~ Herman Dune
  7. The Art of Clear Thinking ~ Propeller
  8. Topsiders ~ Aden
  9. Latest Thing ~ The Nixons
  10. I'm on a High ~ Millionaire

Music Album

Music Album

Music CD

Piano Jazz: McPartland/Gillespie ~ Marian McPartland, Dizzy Gillespie

Make It Right ~ Leslie Letven

Consider the Source ~ Ramsey Lewis Trio

Nocturnal Tourist ~ Andy Sheppard

Centenary Issue 1904-2004 ~ Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra

East Coasting ~ Charles Mingus

Chasky (Spiritual Treasures of the Andes) ~ Jorge Alfano

Deb ~ Souad Massi

Merci Patron- Paulette La Reine Des Paup ~ Charlots

Canyon Spirit ~ John Huling