JEAN BEAUVOIR – Drums Along The Mohawk / Jacknifed [Remastered + Bonus Limited 2-CD] (2018)

Housed in a vintage 2-CD jewel case (remember those?) a small French label has reissued / remastered the first two solo albums by JEAN BEAUVOIR ; “Drums Along The Mohawk + Jacknifed“, both with a bunch of bonus tracks each.
Beauvoir would rock hard later with his bands Voodoo X and Crown Of Thorns, but these, his first albums appeared in 1986-88 are pretty much a product of its era, mixing Lite AOR, rock&pop and much more eclectic into the mix.

After being part of metallic punksters Plasmatics, Beauvoir wrote and play session for many artists / bands (among them Kiss for their Asylum album), and he scored a hit with the song “Feel The Heat”, the main theme for Silvester Stallone’s blocksbuster ‘Cobra’.

Then he got the chance for a solo LP. Titled “Drums Along The Mohawk”, Jean Beauvoir does all vocals and play all instruments, with some guests like Foreigner’s Mick Jones dropping a guitar solo.
Among my favorites is of course “Feel The Heat” with that ’86 magic, ‘This Is Our House’ and the excellent ”Same Song Plays On And On” which is well known also for being recorded later by From The Fire on their terrific self-titled album.
And then you have the bonus tracks including a hard to find B-side ‘Crazy’, and the awesome (for my ’80s ears) “Feel the Heat (Extended Version)”.

By 1988, Jean released his second solo effort “Jacknifed”, much in the vein of debut in terms of sound: second half of the ’80s production-wise, and again playing all instruments himself.
Here Beauvoir seems to have been heavily impressed by Prince, as many the material here brings to mind the Minneapolis genius work such as “Standing On My Own Two Feet”,”Gamblin’ Man” or “If Love Could Only”, all featuring that characteristic ‘chicken scratch’ rhythm guitars.

If you want Lite AOR tunes like on the first album, check the excellent “Find My Way Home” and the melodic “Searching For A Light”.
As occurs with Disc I, there’s a bunch of bonus tracks, mostly impossible to find 12” vinyl mixes, including the remix of “Jimmy” by talented Chris Lord-Alge, much better than the original album version.

All in all very enjoyable ’80s stuff from a talented musician who has transited all rock musical styles over his career.
Both “Drums Along The Mohawk / Jacknifed” have been pretty hard to find, now you got ’em together, remastered and with lots of bonus.
A complete remastered reissue as it should be done.
Highly Recommended

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DISC I : Drums Along The Mohawk
01 – Feel The Heat
02 – Never Went Down
03 – Missing The Young Days
04 – Rockin In The Street
05 – Sorry I Missed Your Wedding Day
06 – Drive You Home
07 – Same Song Plays On And On
08 – This Is Our House
09 – If I Was Me
10 – Nina
BONUS TRACKS:
11 – Crazy
12 – Standing in the Line of Fire
13 – Missing the Young Days (Single Version)
14 – Feel the Heat (Extended Version)
15 – Missing the Young Days (Extended Version)

Jean Beauvoir – all instruments
Mick Jones (Foreigner) – guitar solo on track 4
Tom Lafferty – guitar on track 8, guitar solo on track 2
Pierre Beauvoir – additional keys on track 1

DISC II : Jacknifed
01 – Jacknifed
02 – Standing On My Own Two Feet
03 – Gamblin’ Man
04 – Alone Again
05 – Searching For A Light
06 – Dyin’ At Your Door
07 – Spend Your Life With Me
08 – Find My Way Home
09 – If Love Could Only
10 – Jimmy
BONUS TRACKS:
11 – Alone Again (Single Version)
12 – Gamblin’ Man (African Thang Mix)
13 – Alone Again (Dub Mix)
14 – Jimmy (12” Mix)
15 – Alone Again (12” Mix)
16 – Gamblin’ Man (Go-Go Mix)
17 – Dangerously

Jean Beauvoir – all vocals, instruments

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