The Jim of the Stereoworld is Jim Bob, former frontman with Carter USM - and something very strange seems to have happened to him. On most of this album, he sounds relaxed! He seems to be enjoying himself! Dammit - Jim actually sounds happy!
This may come as shocking news to those who remember him spitting out venomous punning couplets with Carter, a band who specialised in tackling bleak topics and making them palatable with the aid of thrilling music and black humour. Jim sometimes sounded as if it was only the joy of sarcasm that kept him from suicide. Here, he often sounds like a born-again romantic.
Not that everything is perfect for him, mind you. The opener here, 'Bonkers In The Nut', is about stress and how to cope with it, the music lurching awkwardly along as Jim and an answering chorus discuss strategies for saving one's sanity. 'Pear Shaped World' is the most Carter-esque song on the album, sombre keyboards framing a slow, glum examination of a planet with "...the pinnacle of cynical/So easily in reach".
But from then on, Jim strides boldly on into unexpected musical territory, and slowly but surely cheers up. 'Could U B The 1 I've Waited 4' is pure Seventies disco, a hearty party singalong that could profitably be covered by one of the interchangeable boy or girl bands currently clogging up the singles chart. 'The Happiest Man Alive' is a brilliant Madness-like pop tune about being surprised by happiness and not really trusting it.
There and elsewhere on this album, Jim's joie de vivre is real but fragile; he's painfully aware that it could all be over at any minute. The vulnerability extends to his voice, which is often unexpectedly warm and intimate. Yes, Jim really can sing when he needs to.
The finale, 'Touchy Feely', is quite amazing: a rousing anthem of wonder and delight at being alive and in love, somehow genuinely uplifting when it could have been embarrassing. It sounds as if Jim has found a cure for cynicism, and the change has done him a power of good.
