Send "Leon Jackson " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Virginmedia |
 The auguries are not good for this debut album from Scottish imp Jackson, who surprised the nation last year when he snatched victory in The X Factor final from scarily bright-eyed Welsh rival Rhydian Roberts. The first single from the album, Don't Call This Love, last week not only failed to top the chart but was pipped to the No 2 slot by Geraldine McQueen/Peter Kay's The Winner's Song, an acerbic spoof of exactly his strain of TV reality-show fodder.The X Factor overlord Simon Cowell spirited Jackson away for a year to record this debut, as he did with Leona Lewis, but the result is distinctly tepid. Jackson has churned out an album of vaguely jazz- and swing-inclined show songs and ballads presumably aimed at those who find Michael Bublé too leftfield and dissonant, with the saccharine Stargazing and a horribly limp cover of Misty Blue the worst of a very, very bad bunch. A place in the bargain bins alongside Shayne Ward, David Sneddon and Steve Brookstein awaits....full text |
| Entertainment |
| It was a bit of a risky endeavour, keeping Leon Jackson locked away for ten months after his X Factor victory last December. Although the same tactic was employed with the previous year's winner, Leona Lewis, there was a distinct lack of similar hype surrounding Jackson's win. And let's face it - being called 'The Next Michael Buble' doesn't quite have the same ring to it as 'The Next Whitney Houston'. Nonetheless, it's taken almost a year for the wee Scottish Rat Pack-loving mite to release his debut album, and perhaps it's done him good; the unremarkable, sometimes-anaemic-voiced singer is now an unremarkable, robust-voiced one. OK, perhaps that's a far-too-damning exposition of an album that's not at all terrible. Indeed, fans of Buble's smooth, laconic swing-pop numbers will probably love this young pretender to his throne, as there are oodles of tunes to click your fingers to, and even more for the ladies to swish their '50s-style skirts at imaginary cocktail parties. There's crooning a-plenty, best heard on the uptempo numbers (Creative, Right Now, the debatably-sinister Fingerprints ("Baby all I wanna do is leave my fingerprints on you"). There's also a number of cheesetastic ballads with impressive, if predictable, instrumentation - A Song for You and his stylish cover of You Don't Know Me, the best of the bunch....full text |
| Adriandenning |
| 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....full text |
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