Jungle [Bonus Tracks]

by Dwight Twilley

Overview

After carving out a moderately successful career as a jangling power pop craftsman, Dwight Twilley jumped headfirst into modern technology on 1984's Jungle. He backgrounds the guitars, trades a thumping live drum sound for a tinny robotic one, switches from analog reverb to digital effects, and adds globs of synths everywhere -- in the process managing to sound up-to-date circa 1984, but losing much of the magic along the way. The hit single "Girls," which features Tom Petty taking over the vocals in the chorus, comes closest to peak Twilley, but even that song sounds muted and plotted out rather than felt. It's a shame that Twilley took the plunge into new recording techniques because the songs themselves aren't bad at all. For example, the chorus of lead track "Little Bit of Love" is super hooky and the vocals sound impressively impassioned, and "To Get to You" has a nice lilting melody and lyrics that really get to the confusion that intense love can bring. Sadly, the former is ruined by clunky sequencer patterns and corny, fake-sounding piano, while the latter is sunk by cornball electronic drums sounds, uninspired guitar work, and an extra, very unnecessary, layer of studio gloss. (The less said about the embarrassing title track the better...) One can't help but feel like if Twilley had stripped the songs down and played them in the studio with his usual crew of musicians, the result would have been more exciting than this wet blanket of an album. Proof of that comes with the one song that keeps the technology at a minimum: "You Can Change It" is the most exciting track by far, "Girls" included. Despite its many flaws, Jungle is still worth checking out for Twilley fanatics and completists, though, because even borderline bad Twilley is better than no Twilley at all. [Iconoclassic's 2024 reissue of the album comes with new liner notes, remastered sound, and six bonus tracks. "Forget About It Baby" is a previously unreleased outtake, while the other five are a mix of demos and outtakes of songs from the album, some of them never released before.] ~ Tim Sendra

Product Details

Release Date:	06/07/2024
Label:	Iconoclassic
UPC:	0602458789034
Rank:	15111

Tracks

1. Little Bit of Love
2. Girls
3. Why You Wanna Break My Heart
4. You Can Change It
5. Cry Baby
6. Don't You Love Her
7. Long Lonely Nights
8. Jungle
9. To Get to You
10. Max Dog
11. Forget About It Baby [Outtake]
12. You Can Change It [Outtake]
13. Don't You Love Her [Outtake]
14. Long Lonely Nights [Demo]
15. To Get to You [Demo]
16. Jungle [Demo]

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Dwight Twilley   Primary Artist,Piano,Guitar,Vocals,Keyboards,Percussion,Vocals (Background)
Steve Goldstein   Keyboards
Craig Krampf   Drums
Roger Linn   Guitar
Craig Hull   Guitar
Richie Zito   Guitar
Mike Campbell   Guitar
Michael Boddicker   Keyboards
Alan Pasqua   Keyboards
Tom Petty   Vocals
Howard "Buzz" Feiten   Guitar
Susan Cowsill   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Michael Baird   Drums
Jimmy May   Guitar
Sandy Stein   Guitar
Bill Pitcock   Bass,Guitar
George Michalski   Keyboards
Barry Trop   Keyboards
Jim May   Guitar
John Leslie Hug   Guitar
Steve Forman   Percussion
Kenny Lee Lewis   Bass

Technical Credits

Dwight Twilley   Composer
Pat Robinson   Composer
Johnny Burnette   Composer
Rocky Burnette   Composer
Mark Smith   Engineer,Producer
Richard Podolor   Producer
Noah Shark   Producer
Bill Cooper   Engineer