Album Notes

The long awaited debut album from this UK acoustic duo who are establishing a following for their distinctive blend of acoustic guitars and vocal harmonies. The album contains a mix of self-penned material and carefully selected songs from some of their favourite writers and performers.

'Best Friends' recreates the sound of jiva in your front room. All produced with a refreshingly honest 'less is more' philosophy with no additional musicians or instruments... just the two guitars, two voices and the twelve songs - 'Best Friends' indeed.

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Review by Terry Ferdinand of Bishop FM:

jiva's debut CD 'Best Friends' is a beautifully balanced compilation of songs from their own pen and from carefully selected friends, and crafted into an audio dream capturing the wonderful sound of their Taylor guitars and the voice of jiva by sound engineer Ron Angus. The sound has been likened to having jiva in your own front room, and I for one can’t argue with that.

“It wouldn’t be jiva without an Allan Taylor song" is their live performance battle cry and of course his song 'Back Home To You' does feature on 'Best Friends' as does 'An Acquaintance Of Mine' from Anthony John Clarke - and my personal favourite 'Love At The Five & Dime' by Nanci Griffith. 'Best Friends' is a well chosen title:

1 They are best friends with each other
2 They sing best friend songs
3. It is for their best friends who love and enjoy their music

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Review by Dave Kidman

The jiva sound is immediately recognisable: uniformly pleasant, even-toned and even-textured, with gentle and mellifluous twin-guitar accompaniment (instruments chiming in contented counterpoint) underscoring a soothing vocal line supported by equally gentle harmonies... jiva’s songs are eminently companionable creations, replete with pleasing choruses and writing that espouses both wistful reminiscence and sensible, positive life-philosophy... engineer Ron Angus has unerringly succeeded in faithfully capturing jiva’s musical personality for posterity, so if you’ve enjoyed jiva in concert (where their music can certainly cast a special kind of spell), you need not hesitate in buying this disc.