Jenifer Jackson
So High
Bar/None
This is the third album from critic’s young darling Jenifer Jackson. While her songwriting is more competent with each new album, she still suffers from a severe case of niceness, playing country music rooted in classic pop and all too rarely stepping outside the annoying comfort of those confines. Fleetwood Mac was a great band, with or without Peter Green, but Jackson unfortunately leans more towards the Eagles or Leo Sayer for that matter, riding high on dull country pop clichés, making music for elevators, car rides and changing diapers. It’s a shame though, because there really is a lot of good stuff going on here. “Down So Low” is a beautiful piece of songwriting, “We Will Be Together” is fine campfire country and “Got To Have You” is a fun trip into sleazy Philly funk land. But the bland production of Pat Sansone does its best to cover up all traces of fierceness, bite and Jackson herself, instead drenching the songs in over the top “atmospherics” and some of the most dubious synthesizers this side of late 1970s soft rock. This all combines to stop the songs from shining through like they should.
Bar/None Records: http://www.bar-none.com/
