Jackie Leven åpner bluesskrinet

Two-page conversation in the Norwegian blues magazine on the occasion of Oh What a Blow That Phantom Dealt Me!, conducted while Leven was on a “flying visit” in Oslo to play a sold-out concert at John Dee (March 2007). The introduction sums up the legend: Doll by Doll in 1979 as the hottest live band in London's clubs, four acclaimed albums, then the knife attack with his throat slit open, heroin against the pain, the founding of the Core Trust, in which Leven is said to have cured himself, as one of the first patients, with acupuncture and healing treatment. The royal family became patron, and Princess Diana persuaded him on a visit to sing again. In Norway Leven has a very loyal audience; the author calls his music “hvit keltisk soul”.

Leven says (self-report) that his mother constantly listened to black American blues; while other children listened to Elvis, he grew up with Lightnin' Hopkins, favourite piece “Blues in the Bottle”. With the new album he deliberately opened this box and wanted an “unveiled” blues mood; he had always written from a blues heart. “Childish Blues” was meant to sound like Tom Waits and now sounds like Leon Redbone. A lot of modern blues is lazy and meaningless; one has to work the blues into the contexts of today's world. Andreassen praises the guitar playing and the role of Johnny Dowd, who gives the album “Tom Waits darkness”; Leven hints that English critics demanded more collaboration with Dowd. At the same time the Doll by Doll albums appear on CD for the first time. Verdict: very favourable, the author compares the album with Chris Rea's blues box set of the previous year.