jackie leven – keltische soulzanger maakt weer een meesterwerkje…

The Dutch online paper Moors Magazine reviews Lovers at the Gun Club (Cooking Vinyl, COOKCD464) under the headline "keltische soulzanger maakt weer een meesterwerkje" ("Celtic soul singer makes another little masterpiece"). Leven is a British, lyrical singer-songwriter who has been turning out masterpieces for years without the general public seeming to notice. He is a Celtic soul singer who sublimely combines folk with jazz, blues, rock and soul in his arrangements.

He does not have a strong feel for melody, so his songs sometimes resemble each other, but in his case that is no objection, because his CDs of recent years can be heard in a single long, gripping session: you get the feeling of receiving another small piece of the "big Leven story" each time. The same goes here: the arrangements are as exciting and surprising as ever, Leven swings in a driven manner and the band is as inspired as the master.

For those who do not know Leven, the CD opens somewhat curiously with Johnny Dowd taking the lead vocal on the title track; Dowd makes another prominent appearance later. Perhaps even more curious is the closer, David Childers's "Heart in My Soul", simply "borrowed" from his CD Hard Time County. Yet it all fits exactly: Leven makes clear once more that it is purely about the music, and if the title track works better sung by Dowd, then Dowd sings it. Leven himself is back on old-fashioned form, as if he has been in the flow for years, so that one great masterly musical story is emerging. Although the reviewer should by now know what to expect, each new record knocks him flat again. Verdict: "Magnifiek", "een absolute aanrader!"