Edito de Battling The BottleAfter performing the first two Carter USM shows in ten years at Glasgow Barrowlands and Brixton Academy (sold out) - and promoting EMI s new Anthology of Carter s best tracks 'You Fat Bastard' (15/10/07) Jim Bob returns to his solo work with a corking new E.P. The lead track is about an overweight and lonely drunk running the London Marathon. The Wheels On The Bus is Jim s blackly comic version of this old favourite. And Another Day In The Office is an acoustic version of one of his forthcoming album s many standout tracks. This release is followed a week later by Jim Bob s sixth solo album A Humpty Dumpty Thing (26th Nov 07) Recorded in London, Hampshire and Cornwall with a full band including a 12 voice teenage choir, the new album began life when Jim was asked to write a song for Mark Ravenhill s hit pantomime Dick Whittington & His Cat last year. Jim wrote six songs. Two ended up in the Barbican s Christmas show. The others were adapted to form the beginnings of this new Jim Bob LP. Songs feature a man whose only friends are his Ikea office furniture, a love song from a soldier sent overseas and a blog written by God. Initial limited copies of the album will come with the twelve thousand word Jim Bob mini novel Word Count . Set in the not too distant future when all art is commissioned by the State, the story follows a man with writer s block chosen to write an 80 thousand word novel or face a jail term. A HUMPTY DUMPTY THING Cherry Red Records 26.11.2007 To coincide with the album s release there ll be a short tour of solo acoustic gigs, which Jim is calling Jim Bob s Office Christmas Parties . Come along, photo copy your arse and call your boss a nob face. Jim Bob s Office Christmas Parties tour dates so far BATH Tuesday 27th November Porter Cellar Bar TRURO Wednesday 28th November The Cuckoo Bar EDINBURGH Friday 30th November Cabaret Voltaire PRESTON Saturday 1st December The Adelphi YORK Sunday 2nd December Certificate 18 SOUTHEND Wednesday 5th December Riga Music Bar WOLVERHAMPTON Thursday 6th December Little Civic CAMBRIDGE Friday 7th December Man On The Moon London dates will follow in the new year. Carter USM play Glasgow Barrowlands on Oct 20th and Brixton Academy (Sold Out) on Nov 2nd. JIM BOB s baby bio Jim Bob had 14 top 40 singles and 4 top 10 albums (including a number one), sold over a million records and played 800 gigs all over the world as lead singer with Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine. Since Carter Jim has released five solo albums and continues to perform live as a successful solo artist. His Goodnight Jim Bob On The Road With Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine autobiography was published by Cherry Red Books in 2004 to critical acclaim. He has written songs for the 2006 Barbican production of Mark Ravenhill s Dick Whittington & His Cat, directed by Edward Hall and starring Roger Lloyd Pack. And has reformed Carter for two sold out gigs at the Brixton Academy and Glasgow Barrowlands in October and November 2007. Jim has just finished recording his next album A Humpty Dumpty Thing for November 2007 release on Cherry Red Records. Limited edition copies will come with a Jim Bob mini novel Word Count . Recent Press & Praise (for his last album 'School') MOJO: Jim Bob School 4/5 For his sixth album since calling time on pre-britpop hitmakers Carter USM, Jim Bob has concocted an excellent and very funny concept album about a comprehensive fighting relegation from the school league tables. Its pithy melodramas are propelled by recorders, glockenspiels and acoustic guitars, to introuduce characters like Mrs MacMurphy, the irascible home economics teacher, and Kevin, the special needs kid who sure plays a mean xylophone. Witty, wise and pointedly observed, you don't need an A-level in rock history to appreciate its quality. Uncut: Jim Bob - School *** Jim Bob's fifth post-Carter record is a kind of companion piece to The Kinks' Schoolboys In Disgrace (1975), treating education a wry horror show. His old band's gimmicky choruses are long gone, but his social conscience touchingly remains. To a school orchestra accompaniment (recorders included), he sympathises with the inhabitants of a "failing" school: truants, bullied gay pupils, a spat-on caretaker. It's a corrective to adult hypocrisy that truthfully catalogues casual disobedience and after-school violence, while remaining musically pretty. An ambitious oddity which focuses on the formative years that pop normally ignores. Channel Four: Jim Bob School 7/10 Ah, Bob. It appears you've been sent back to school and been disrupting Mrs Carter's music lessons by getting the children's recorders and tambourines on your... unsuitable recordings. This won't do, you hear Yes, you show a fine grasp of the popular song structure, and Mrs MacMurphy sang along to your tribute to her. However, you're a disruptive influence and need to cencentr... are you chewing Q: Jim Bob School 3/5 His solo album about School life proves that he remains a cunning linguist. Download: Back To School, Hanging Around. The Argus: Jim Bob, Komedia, Brighton His latest album School is a concept record: A witty reminiscence on the subject of headmasters, caretakers, foul-mouthed food technology teachers and school orchestras. Jim Bob,has lost none of his sweet charisma, youthful looks or spontaneous humour, despite now being distinctly 40-something. 6 Music website: Jim Bob School Immortal Poetry, wonderful. Tom Robinson Radio Play for School : included a BBC Radio 2 session (Mark Radcliffe Show), BBC 6music airplay included four session tracks for Tom Robinson Show, session for Dave Gorman show, interviews and tracks also aired for Andrew Collins and Steve Lamacq shows. Jim was also guest on Roundtable. Tracks also played on Virgin (Steve Harris), Radio One (Lamacq Live) and XFM (John Kennedy). Lire la suite