By BRIAN GIFFIN
FOREVER framed by the tragedy of his passing, Professional Misconduct by The Screaming Jets will always be more than just the band’s 10th album. It will stand as the final legacy of Paul Woseen.
With a hand in nine of Professional Misconduct’s 10 tracks, no further evidence is required that, while Dave Gleeson gave the band its face and its voice, it was Woseen at the creative heart who provided the soul.
Part swaggering rock, part thoughtful ballads, ending with a blaze of riffs, this is an album that is quintessentially the Jets. The songs are workaday tales of love, loss and everyday pleasures and frustrations, easily relatable yarns that have long formed the core of The Screaming Jets material, a lesson learned long ago from their pub rock compatriots of whom they were among the last
Soaring guitars and grooves power opening pair “Nothing to Lose” and “Come Down”, “No Reason” is stripped back and reflective and “Second Chance” is the album’s soulful, balladic shuffle. Gleeson’s pensive country campfire song “Lying With Her” marks the halfway point where the album’s energy is reversed and each track builds toward the scorching tension release of “Speed Quack”. It’s an interesting dynamic, another trick in the Jets’ box that always made them stand out. Their main trick was the mature blend of tough rock and thoughtful reflection that Paul Woseen’s songwriting always delivered, a craft all of us will now miss.
Punchy, poignant, powerful and, with only 10 songs in 40 minutes, succinct, Professional Misconduct is everything The Screaming Jets have ever been. If they decide to pull the plug after this one, they’ve left us with a sterling tribute to their fallen comrade and another fine entry to their catalogue.
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