The Adventures of Valentine Vox the Ventriloquist in Bloomington, MN

Valentine Vox
mines much of the same territory that
Chris Jagger's
debut LP did. A mix of uptempo rockers, such as the ridiculously tongue-in-cheek
"Private Dick,"
and country-influenced ballads ("River of Love") form the bulk of the album. With barrelhouse piano added by
John Mealing
, the music highlights the younger
Jagger's
ability to write raucous bar-room sing-alongs. And his singing voice is perfectly suited to the material. Though the album is not strong enough to go multi-platinum by any stretch of the imagination, it is a puzzle as to why
Chris Jagger
and
weren't able to break into the mainstream of rock. ~ Steve Kurutz