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Written
by William Elgin, posted by blog admin
Jackson
Howard’s upward trajectory towards mainstream stardom gets a little clearer
with his sophomore album Just for the Mystery. It is a thirteen track outing
devoted primarily to Howard’s original compositions while showing he isn’t
averse to throwing in a cover on his albums. He also has no clear opposition to
sharing the spotlight with other talented musicians and performers; their
combined talents invariably elevate already fine material to an entirely new
level. Like any great musician and live performer, Howard is wise to gather a
talented crew of band mates and production staff to help realize the creative
vision behind Just for the Mystery. His songwriting is the thing that sells
this collection and the St. Louis based writer combines his genuine
poetic/literary skills with a stylish presentation accentuating all the best
qualities about his work. There are good reasons why Howard has proven so
popular as a live act and Just for the Mystery provides listeners with thirteen
of them.
The
title song “Just for the Mystery” begins the release on a memorable note. The
first performance presents listeners with a long check list of things Howard
does exceptionally well as both a performer and writer, but also as the guiding
artistic conscience behind the release. He’s obviously chosen well when it
comes to collaborators as the drumming and other players complement his voice
and lyrics extraordinarily well. He marries direct writing with memorable
poetic flourishes, but there’s never any sense he’s straining for effect. It
all comes out quite naturally. The affecting “A Place in this World” continues
that trend with another evocative mix of great lyrics, artful turns on guitar,
and drumming that plays to the song rather than attempting to dominate it in
some ham fisted fashion. “The Battle of Evermore” is one of the album’s most
unexpected moments. Howard bravely attempts covering this relatively obscure
Led Zeppelin song from the iconic band’s fourth studio album and recruits
vocalist Rachel Horter for the female part in the song. Howard dispenses with
the folk music trappings, retains the fantasy lyrics, and throws some gritty
bluesy influences over this track, forever transforming it.
The
track “Surround You” undergoes a steady transformation from its opening onward,
but Howard shows tremendous patience developing the tune. It begins life as
another acoustic slanted tune cut from the same cloth as many of the other
songs, but electric guitar work makes its presence known relatively quickly
and, in the second half, percussion enters and the tempo picks up some before
the song concludes on a higher note than it began. One of his most convincing
vocals comes with the song “Dizzy”. The template still holds here – Howard opens
the track in a nearly hushed acoustic mode, but he picks up the rousing
qualities of the song earlier and brings a fuller band arrangement to bear than
what we’ve heard on earlier songs. The album’s finale is its second cover
track. Howard casts his eyes and ears back to the early 1990’s for a version of
EMF’s “Unbelievable” that dispenses with any hints of electronica in favor of a
stricter rock presentation. Jackson Howard serves up a variety of musical poses
on Just For the Mystery and they all ring with a genuine musicality that never
sounds like someone straining for effect.
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