LUKE JACKSON – Tall Tales And Rumours (First Take Records FTCD002)

Tall Tales And RumoursI never fail to be impressed by Luke Jackson. He is still only in his early twenties, has a voice that many more experienced singers would kill for and writes songs of such wisdom and perception. Tall Tales And Rumours is his fourth studio album and he’s only just started.

The album opens with the extraordinary ‘The Man That Never Was’ with just Luke’s soulful gospel-tinged voice. The song was inspired by Glen Campbell’s struggle with Alzheimer’s Disease; he was beginning to forget everything except his music. “No man is empty, not all is lost / You may find him in a melody” is the final couplet and you almost want to stop there and think about it. Luke doesn’t want that, however, and he segues straight into ‘Treat Me Mean, Keep Me Keen’, a complete contrast as he tells of a culture clash with his American girlfriend that is finally resolved through music.

About now you start wondering how much of this is real and how much is imagination. ‘Finding Home’ is clearly about life on the road so perhaps the rocker ‘Anything But Fate’ is its imaginative counterpoint. So where did ‘Leather & Chrome’ come from? It’s about a man fulfilling his father’s dream by building a motorbike and riding it to California to rest his head on Venice Beach. I’m pretty sure Luke hasn’t done that. ‘Aunt Sally’ lies somewhere between reality and imagination – she is a real character but Luke speculates on her fate and attacks the system that “sold her down a river on a raft of broken dreams”.

Luke continues to employ Andy Sharps on bass and Connor Downs’ on percussion and the three of them make a mighty sound when they need to. In contrast, Luke can sound fragile and vulnerable as he does on the tragic ‘That’s All Folks’. Amy Wadge appears as guest vocalist on ‘Finding Home’ but she is the only addition to the gang of three that made This Family Tree.

The final track is the part blues, part rock ‘On The Road’ as Luke seems to accept that this will be his life for the foreseeable future and he can live with that. So can we.

Dai Jeffries

Artist’s website: www.lukepauljackson.com

‘Lucy And Her Camera’ – live:


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