Album Reviews |

Leon Jackson



Right Now 3 ( 2008 )
Don't Call This Love / Creative / Stargazing / All In Good Time / Right Now / You Don't Know Me / Ordinary Days / A Song For You / Fingerprints / Could Do Better / Misty Blue / Caledonia

Peter Kay in a wig has beaten Leon Jackson in both sales and credibility. How must that feel to the man with the uneviable task of following Leona Lewis as X-Factor winner? Demanding the same sort of time to record his debut album as Leona ( previous X-factor winners had about 2 weeks to bash out covers albums, now they get ten months, post Leona ) doesn't disguise the fact Leon Jackson lacks a distinctive singing voice. He described this album himself as 'soulful with jazz elements'. Can't really pick up any jazz elements myself, only nods towards the rat pack. Lush orchestration and Piano chords dominate the sound of the album which varies from ballads to mid-tempo ballads and back again, with only the occasional upbeat number to break up the tedious lack of momentum. Three tracks in with 'Stargazing' reveals Jackson's main problem, his vocals simply lack power. 'Stargazing' sounds like the sort of track Gary Barlow might write, lush strings accompany ponderous bass and drums whilst Leon's voice is slapped in the center of the mix with the clear fact that the strings and musical accompianment have been mixed down, rather than his voice being mixed up.

A couple of songs here nod towards Ricky Martin and we don't need that, do we? THe title track is one of them, a lively number thankfully with parping brass parts but the feeling remains that his voice simply doesn't own this. We're not stupid, the general public, and we can tell all the studio magic on his voice. I do enjoy the movie-score type strings on the title track but would have preferred almost anybody else to have sung it, even the odious Ricky Martin himself. I haven't got much else to say, except that now X-Factor winning albums must try and steer clear of cover versions, I find myself longing for a cover version on 'Right Now', because the material is just so bland, that a brief burst of Leon attempting to sing something like 'Moondance' by Van Morrison would have enriched the album no end. Simon Cowell claims to know a lot about music and i'm sure he is tuned-in to a certain demographic of the general public, but album releases like this either indicate he's deaf, stupid or simply believes we'll accept any old slop from his acts.

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