Search - Jake Thackray :: Very Best of

Chic & clever folk poetry - it demands to be discovered

Marc Coleman | Frankfurt am Main, Hessen Deutschland | 09/21/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Sometimes you just need to discover a hidden corner of music that your were never aware of before. This is one such example. If you are world weary and need your life explained or if you just have musical curiousity, musical taste and a partiality for well crafted and clever lyrics and good guitar playing then this is for you. The music is accessible to anyone who appreciates the individual performer as distinct from groups.Just as some world class rugby players refused professional status on principal Thackray (also a rugby player) refused stardom because of his belief in artistic integrity. This is why his amazing blend of chic French musical style (he lived in France and influences included Georges Brassens and Jacques Brel), extremely clever and "relevant" storytelling lyrics and his rough Yorkshire accent hasn't yet received the attention it deserves. The first track about a solid Yorkshire blacksmith falling in love with the local spinster toffee maker - despite its provincial peasant theme is sung with the sensitivity, style, poetry and panache of a French romantic ballad. Track 2 changes tack to sing about a lodger who sleeps in turn with the three daughters of his landlady and then with her. Track 5 is about falling in love, getting married and the compromises involved. Play this loud at your wedding anniversary, or if you're not married yet play it in the limo en route to your honeymoon flight just after your wedding. The last track is a song that Thackray composed to be played at his own funeral. It will definitely be played at mine, if I feel worthy enough of such fabulous and heart warming lyrics. These last two songs are Sinatra-esque in their scale, depth and ability to move. They are sung with down to earth grittiness that manages to be extremely sassy and stylish at the same time.Thackray's style foreshadows some of the brit-pop music of the early 1990s and I wouldn't be one bit surprised if Oasis, Divine Comedy, Mick Hucknall and others were fans of Thackray as well as beneficiaries of his hidden legacy. In particular if you like Divine Comedy you will see a strong resemblance between the music of Niel Hannon's lyrical and singing style and that of Thackray.Someone once said that it is bad to be appreciated when your're alive. Hopefully Thackray, who sadly died last Christmas, will now become listened to by the widest possible audience of discerning music lovers."

You're either hip or not...

Marc Coleman | 11/28/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Laugh out loud lyrics, yet so highbrow. Yet so very lewd and crude. Yet so touching. You know, he has a lovely voice and is an excellent guitarist as well. Too bad you've never heard his music...I'm sad for you."