The Great Vacation is Johan's most adventurous album to date,' says Excelsior Recording, which is also releasing this sixth band album. As a sour reviewer, you could argue that this does not require much. The albums of the guitar band from Hoorn are characterized, besides a constant quality, by few surprises. Just good, traditional guitar songs with the necessary melancholy and a high
Beatles content.
So too on The Great Vacation, released six years after Pull Up. Strong opener Cincinnati is initially reminiscent of dEUS and could be labeled adventurous for that reason alone. Furthermore, the adventure lies mainly in the fact that frontman Jacco de Greeuw shares all song credits for the first time in John's 28-year existence, with the Fatal Flowers master guitarist Robin Berlin, among others. His sharp playing gives a song like Fly On The Wall that extra something. With The Great Vacation we can go on for at least another six years," concluded the Volkskrant, which gave it the usual four stars for an Excelsior release. (RME)more
