j a c k

More Than Meets the Eye, Jadis' successful debut, garnered them accolades from [neo-]prog lovers around the world, and would prove to be difficult to follow. Across the Water is similar to the debut, but leaves a good chunk of the sunny catchiness behind. The sunshine is somewhat replaced by more straight-forward rock and a few dashes of melancholy. I get the feeling the album was thrown together pretty quickly, and it suffers because of this. With the first album, the songs had been around for a while, and the band had time to feel them out in rehearsals and live shows. I don't think they had that luxury with this set. Apart from a few melodies here and there, and John Jowitt's basslines, not much grabs me. Only the gentle ballad "A Life Is All You Need" comes close to capturing the kind of magic I know this group is capable of. review by Jack Hesse — undated —

e r i c

Acoss the Water is a bit disappointing in that not only does it not break any new ground, but also that the band seems to be going for a bit more pop flavor in their writing. The guitar of Gary Chandler is still there, and Martin Orford lends some nice keyboard arrangements, but it just does not work for me as well as More Than Meets the Eye. The songs also are not as distinctive as the prior release to my ears. This is not a bad disc, and maybe I am expecting too much; if you enjoy neo-prog with some excellent lead guitar work, this is for you. review by Eric Porter — undated —