Blind Dates and Broken Hearts
Falling in and out of love with The Jack Stafford Foundation

For a lot of us, going to see a band is a lot like going out on a date. We dress up (or at least make an effort to appear nonchalant), we plan our evening--if not our entire week--around it, and ultimately, we go with the hope that there is that special spark between us and they can perform well.  Like any date, things can easily go wrong: someone can drink way too much, or talk endlessly about their ex. You could get that feeling you're dealing with someone who doesn't really want to be there.  In many cases, we just wind up with some very decent and talented folks, but nonetheless people who really aren't our "type."  Of course, we keep going out again and again in the hopes of that magical moment where we have an amazing time and cant wait to tell our friends all about it.

A few weeks ago, I spent an evening at the Winston International in Amsterdam with The Jack Stafford Foundation, and yes, as the kids say,  I went "all the way."

In this case, Jack Stafford "scoring" meant that I parted with some of my money in exchange for a copy of  his album Exes.  Oh, I tried to play coy, I managed to talk the price down a few euros so I wouldn't appear too easy, but  I knew within 10 minutes of seeing him and his band that I was going to give it up. He was clever, using the word "claustrophobia" quite well in a chorus (it's a cumbersome word, and easy to use incorrectly).  He exhibited an endearing sense of  self-deprecicating humor, and yet he was also fearless, going the extra mile to actually act out particular song lyrics and deliver emotive spoken-word passages. Mr. Stafford is not one of those frontmen who is too self-conscious to be entertaining, and after listening to his album several times, it's apparent he has every reason to appear confident.

Exes is a 14-track CD, and is essentially a concept album, dealing with a relationship, or perhaps several, that are no longer what they once were. That’s right, Jack spends an hour or so offering detailed glimpses regarding the people he’s  loved, or tried to, and he’s still charming. That’s how good he is. He could either be exorcising demons, or simply a very talented writer, perhaps both.  To put it in a referential frame, it comes across  as if a writer with the talent and influences of Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker or Blur’s Damon Albarn wrote his own Pretty Hate Machine.

Much like Cocker and Albarn have in the past, Stafford is currently  providing me with The Song That Will Be Played Over and Over for the next month or two. Just as "Common People" was The Song  for me in  the spring of 1995, or  "Tender" for the winter of 1999, Jack Stafford’s "Toyboy" is the song which will come to represent winter 2005 for me.  It’s a catchy-as-hell, upbeat yet bittersweet  song  about being the booty call of an ex who has a new boyfriend. When Stafford proclaims "You think you’re cheating on him/when you’re cheating with me/but you’re just cheating yourself/out of ever being happy" and then goes on to deliver a spoken word piece, it’s a double-edged knife of genuine concern and closure which will cut to the heart of anyone who has ever been in love longer than their allotted  time. It’s an aural/updated equivalent to the end of Casablanca, although I’ve never heard Humphrey Bogart say "vibrator." Humorous and heartfelt, this song kills me and I’m sure there have been, and will be, plenty more music fans slain  by this 4 minute chunk of pop beauty.

Stafford goes through many emotions throughout the album, covering regret, jealousy, resigned acceptance,  and also addresses  his own shortcomings in the process, particularly in "The Hard Way", another highlight of the album.   It’s an album about "getting over it," but also understanding that perhaps one never totally does.  He closes the album with the line "We aren’t what we are, we are what we were", and while his subject matter for the album is  ex-girlfriends , it can also be turned around to come to the logical conclusion that Jack Stafford partly defines himself as…someone else's ex. 

Fine. Jack Stafford may very well be "damaged goods," but his songwriting is top-notch, his album is great, and he and the Foundation put on an impressive show.  Now, after having such a great first experience, all I can say is I can’t wait to hear from him again.

by Tommy Salmon

Go to www.jackstafford.co.uk (the video for Toyboy is hilarious)
or www.therocordcompany.net and check out The Jack Stafford Foundation