Maximum Metal Rating Legend

The title being a play on words ("never keep" your adventures to yourself) and the name of a mythical, fantasy place, TJBP pays homage to the joys of stories and storytelling with 10 songs of folk-inspired hard rock. This style of incorporating pre-classical melodies into metal always leaves me thinking of travelling minstrels prancing about through the woods with tales to tell, so it's hard to just feel the sense of rebellion and nastiness that you expect with guitar rock. I feel like I should sit cross-legged in a field, swaying back and forth with a bunch of naturalists drinking Camomile while this is playing.

TJPB is Wisconsin, USA, native Jim Best along with other talented locals and it's produced well for an indy musician mixing up some 70's electric guitar with acoustic playing. Each song is nicely crafted with my preference the Celtic flavors of "I Spotted A Leprechaun" and "The Shannon Mermaid". Other numbers like "Noah's Ark" are way to far on the kiddy show sound for me to take. Reminds me of the hipster folk that would come to our High School to do Arlo Guthrie numbers. The rest of the numbers are listenable, but, again probably too abstruse for the average rocker.

Fans of the progressive Jethro Tull and the more esoteric works from Rainbow and Rush may find this a reasonable listen. May also be for fans of Blackmore's Night and readers of later Sandman comics.

The Jim Best Project is:
Jim Best - vocals
Dawn Jones - vocals
Mike Weise - guitars
Tom malta - bass
Andy Lomax - drums