Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
People search for the fabled land of Freedom, without ever realising they are standing in the exact centre of it from the moment they first gain consciousness and delight in the appearance of each brand new day that unfolds as the sun streaks across the sky; it is only in our apparent need to keep ourselves in boxes, constantly labelling ourselves with the latest fashion stigma, naming ourselves this, that, and sometimes the other, that traps us, that erodes our freedom to be.
Freedom is what you want it to be, by all means place yourself in a box and tick if it feels appropriate, but freedom comes with the knowledge that you can be anything, you can create anything, that the words and actions are of those who rightly see the responsibility of their words and adhere to them in the most poetic way.
It is a freedom that the sublime Jude Adams immerses herself into with panache and steely determination, with a voice of the carefree strength of character, of the performance of the grit influenced upbeat soul, and it is in this unburdened independence that openness, the unrestricted voice comes through.
Freedom is not given, you have to force it to be by your own demand and in an album that explores the identity of that sovereign act, Jude Adams doesn’t just allow the listener to glimpse at this tantalising realm, she implores they walk through it themselves whilst she holds the door open for them to cross.
Through tracks such as Is That What It Means, Can You Hear Me, the superb Get In The Ring, Rock On Ruby, and the slamming finale of Things I Forgot To Remember, Ms. Adams shows that she understands the wide ranging arc that runs in the sunlight of perpetual freedom, that it is a constant battle against the forces of labelling, against the tyranny of insistence of conformity. It is a battle always worth fighting, it is a war that when won means your expression is without inhibition.
A new album, the same perseverance of spirit, such is the candour and inventiveness of Jude Adams, that the music is its own fabulous reward. Ian D. Hall