Jack are the best band in the world, even though you've never heard of them. Really.

Jack is the collective brainchild of guitarist Matthew Scott and singer Anthony Reynolds. Their early years saw a varied and shifting band lineup, but this shortly settled into something along these lines:

-- now Jack is simply Anthony and Matthew, although some of the others still make contributions from time to time.

Jack's debut album, Pioneer Soundtracks (June 1996) is astounding. Produced (at Anthony's request) by Peter Walsh, it succeeds in acheiving a lush, expensive sound on a shoestring budget. The upbeat singles, Wintercomessummer, Biography Of A First Son and White Jazz are only half the story: much of this album's majesty stems from the beautiful, contemplative music of I Didn't Mean It Marie or Filthy Names. Anthony's voice is warm, rounded and bassy; the songs always mean something, and sometimes, they can mean everything.

Anthony then worked for a while on a side project, the confusingly titled Jacques, producing How To Make Love Volume 1 (1997) in collaboration with Momus.

Label problems with TooPure began later, and although Jack's second album, The Jazz Age (1998) is perhaps inferior, it still has worthwhile moments. The key fault is with the production, which is glossy but dense; where the first album felt spacious, this lets in too little light. A couple of singles were released; the Lolita EP had two of the album's strongest moments: 3 o'clock in the Morning and Lolita Elle. Steamin' was also released as a single.

The Jazz Age didn't sell too well. Anthony released another Jacques album, To Stars (2000).

Jack's third album, on Belgian label Disques du Crepuscule ('Twilight Records') is called The End Of The Way It's Always Been, and was released in 2002; in Europe on the 19th of March, and in the UK on the 6th of May. They played a handful of live dates to see it in; the one in London was chaotic, but that's another story.

Jack have drawn comparisons with The Tindersticks, Nick Cave and Lou Reed, while Reynolds cites Charles Bukowski, Scott Walker and Serge Gainsbourg among his influences. Largely miserablist, then, it's clear, but also hedonistic, with an affirming love of booze, sex, drugs, good books and cigarettes, and a line in lyrics to knock you dead. They may never get the success they deserve, but in the meantime, they're an alluring, rewarding secret to dig out.

Jack's official website is at www.thebandjack.com, and is a far more reliable source for band information than this writeup can ever hope to be. Jack and Jacques recordings can be purchased online at OpalMusic.com (and all good music retailers.)