Review Summary: Passionate, powerful, and punctual. Whispering Jack transformed a struggling John Farnham and reinvigorated his career, becoming one of the greatest Pop masterpieces of the 1980's.
The early 1980's were a tough time for Australian Pop artist John Farnham. Despite being mildly popular in the early 70's as a young teen-idol singer, John's career began to sideline as he aged, and his music never matured past the things that made him famous when he was younger. After leaving the Little River Band as lead singer in 1985, John felt it was time to record a new studio album. From its creation, to its production, to its lyricism;
Whispering Jack became a redemption for John Farnham, who achieved massive acclaim and success unparalleled by even his early career. For the realm's of 1980's Pop music,
Whispering Jack shamelessly embraces the most commercially viable ideas of Pop; but combines beautiful imagery in lyricism and John's stellar vocals, to create one of the greatest Pop masterpieces of the 1980's.
Whispering Jack is largely a Synthpop and Electronica record, with producer Ross Fraser applying an overdose in synthesizer power in tracks like
Pressure Down and
One Step Away as John crescendos his vocals to match the grandiose and manic energy of the album itself. Despite this heavy reliance on Synthesizers, they are done in so many different ways and form so many different sounds that each track has its own identity.
Pressure Down has a heavy base sound with a faster tone along with a heavily altered saxophone sound made to sound more digitally made.
One Step Away has a much slower pace, as many synth sounds are small beats that jump in and out.
Lyrically, John had finally elevated and matured his lyrics to new heights. It was clear that he had embraced the reality of his situation and looked toward attracting an older audience. Take this excerpt from
Reasons:
Some people are dreamers, they live for the future
As if it would work out, just as they dreamed it
Would work out - somehow
Others get caught in, yesterday's papers
Too busy reading, to get on with living
But I - live for now
The lyrics can also be introspective, as John sings of his own battle with dwindling fame and fortune. With Whispering Jack, John gives his heart and soul to us with his breathtaking vocals and lyrical eloquence.
One would get this distinct feeling that this album's maturity might make it a little boring for the average Pop listener, they would be completely wrong. Most of the songs on this album are heavily upbeat and some even delve into Pop Rock territory. A big example of such would be
Going, Going Gone; a simple tune with heavy percussion and small guitar cameos spread throughout the track, creating a beautiful and mesmerizing three and a half minutes. Hell,
Going, Going Gone is very simple lyrically, as the major ballad is the main focus of the tune itself.
Despite radios almost refusing to play
You're The Voice on their stations, word of mouth increased its popularity and the song has now become his staple tune. A major ballad combining claps, piano ballads, and a continuous synth drone noise;
You're The Voice is a powerful and charismatic song that defines every thing that John Farnham struggled through in the making of this album, from dwindling funds, tempered popularity, and mortgaging his house;
You're The Voice takes that depression and twists it into a motivation towards hope. From its clap beginning to its random, digitally edited bagpipes interlude,
You're The Voice is one of the best Pop songs of the 20th Century.
Whispering Jack wasn't an "evolution" of John Farnham, it was a rebirth. It was almost as if the John before this album and the John after it were two entirely different people. That is what makes this album so significant, because it defined the next two decades of Farnham's career. That alone, is a testament to
Whispering Jack's staying power and influence.
Whispering Jack is both beautiful and wild, hot and cold, energetic and introspective. It is one of Farnham's best works and one of the best Pop albums of all time.
