Western sound with a lack of ballads
Idly playing a tennis racket in front of the mirror along to Kiss' 'Crazy, Crazy Nights', or Guns 'n' Roses 'Sweet Child O'Mine' may be enough for some people. However for a guy by the name of Chris Shiflett, this was not...nor was playing in a host of fantastically rockin' bands like No Use For A Name, Me First & The Gimme Gimmies or even Dave Grohl's rock-tastic crew Foo Fighters. Nope, sometimes you have to go out there and grab a slice of the pie for yourself, and that is just what he did by putting together Jackson - who later became Jackson United due to a letter from The-plastic-faced-children's-entertainer-and-fallen-superstar Jacko's over worked attorney suggesting that this was perhaps in their best interest to do so...
So is it any good, I hear you ask. Well, yes, as it happens. Jackson United bring to the musical party a punch of different styles and influences that mostly surround a guitar-pop vibe. First song 'Lion's Raw' could easily have been lifted from Bowling For Soup's least pop/punk offering 'Rock On Honourable Ones!!', and 'All The Way' sounds like classic Weezer a la 'The Sweater Song', with Chris Shiflett's voice sounding more like Rivers Cuomo than, er, Rivers Cuomo. Other songs like 'A Better Life', 'She's Giving In' and 'Unchanged', unsurprisingly sound like a slightly more melodic Foo Fighters.
For me the best song is 'Long Shadow', which starts with a chugging guitar riff, and great symbol crashes before the vocals kick in, and sound a lot like a cross between Iggy Pop and Brian Wilson when he sings lower. The song itself is a med-tempo affair, which not only sounds original but shows what great musicians these boys are.
We also have 'Pure' a song which almost threatens to sound like Janes Addiction's 'Jane Says' with an acoustic beat before the old 'Joanna' has its ivories tickled alongside a whining guitar, which gives a slightly psychedelic song which sounds interesting as opposed to just plain crap!
With 'Western Ballads', Jackson United have - with the help of producer Chad Blinman - come up with an album of, er, very few ballads as it happens, but 14 mid-tempo pop/rock songs that grow on you with each play. It's a summer soundtrack album that could very well give Jackson United a bundle of the success that they greatly deserve. Let's get together and do it again...