November Album of the Month
One word to describe this album and also the musical force behind it – authentic. In a rock scene where it’s sometimes hard to get a true sense of artists as people from the wall of samey social media posts (often not even posted by the artists) – and also in a scene where its often the managers, labels and promoters calling the shots on what artists do – with Jack J we have the real deal: A self-empowered, self-directed musician who makes his calls on what he does and organises everything himself; a guy who maintains an intimate sense of connection with his fans, and – musically – who makes the music he wants to make and on his terms.
Through a decade of GMS, I’ve found Jack has always been happy to engage, was often the first to put his hand up for the online festivals we did during Covid – and his interviews were always warm, sincere and true. His persona has always been the mirror image of his music. Whether full-band albums, stripped-back recordings for lockdown (somehow done with band members living in different continents) or session tracks and covers shared for the radio show, Jack’s outlook on life and music is directly channelled into the soul of the music he makes. And after a run of great studio releases – ‘Battles’ and ‘Who Feeds The Lockdown’both previous Albums of the Month with us – we now have a wonderful live album to get our chops round for the winter months.
And hands up, this review comes a few weeks after the album release – thanks to anhospital op and weeks of recouperation throwing my autumn diary out the window. But in truth, the measure of a great album isn’t release-week chart positions, it’s time – an album’s ability to endure. This album is an engaging, effervescing live release that can help get you through the dark winter evenings – and it’s a good Christmas present contender for people new to Jack’s music (Jack, like Santa, is partial to a pair of red trousers).
Whilst a prolific writer of original material for studio albums, I have always regarded Jack J to be be most at home on the live circuit. Virtually all my memorable encounters with him have been backstage at shows: The high-spirited sense of release during our interview at a sun-drenched LoveRocks – the first festival after Covid restrictions lifted; meeting him at a Scarlet Rebels gig in Camden a few weeks after the band had been crowned Band of the Year in 2019; the now infamous pool-room interview we did in Scotland; and possibly my fondest memory of all was Islington 2020 for the Earache NWORNR album launch party – a remarkable project from the label that has done the most to deliver commercial success stories for a fledging scene. Digby from Earache asked me to compere the band introductions that night. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing (radio people are often most comfortable not being visible) and I remember chaotic impromptu interviews with Jack, Tomorrow Is Lost and The Dust Coda back-stage. We agreed I’d introduce Jack J as “the flag-carrier for modern rock”, having just announced the same for the Dust Coda and I kept forgetting if Jack was the modern rocks flag-carrier from Bradford, Burnley or Blackburn. I got the town wrong, but Jack was one of three flag-carriers for modern rock on what proved to be the last gig before Boris ushered in a national lockdown a week later. Happy memories and, as I come out of a nostalgic rabbit hole, the point of this ramble is Jack is in his essence a live act – a person all about the magic of a live music environment – his creative DNA is hard-wired into the heart of the UK’s club scene. Beyond promoting his own gigs, he gets out as a fan to support other grassroots shows. So, this live album release is significant beyond being just another album or slab of vinyl in a pretty colour. This album, more than anything before, captures the essence of who Jack J is and what he is about.
Recorded on tour earlier this year, the ‘Battle Scars Live’ set features songs from his ‘Battles’ studio album, a release that presented Jack at is most vulnerable, music that charted this journey through challenging times – and the cathartic, healing tonic that music can bring.
Some stand-out tracks from a cohesive and consistently impressive album – ‘Don’t Let The F…F… (matrons?) Get You Down’ launches the album brilliantly. A great balance between the band members, with Jack in fine voice. As with other tracks on this live album, the music has a greater weight and visceral quality compared to the more polished studio recording – as, overall, the songs have more space to breath and the natural interchanges between band members is impressive.
By the time we get to ‘Days Are Gone’ I’ve come to the conclusion that I prefer Jack’s voice live.
There’s a nice percussive opening and gradual build to ‘Road To Hell’ – a great song that really gains an extra dimension live. A fab guitar solo too and this song makes me think Jack should be playing more in the USA, they’d really get him over the pond come festival season. This is also a song that could quite easily stand proud at an arena or stadium show, rocking out as the sun sets – but I think that somehow runs against the grain for a guy that is proudly doing his bit to support grassroots venues – the heartbeat of the music scene.
‘Love Is The Law’ I also liked as a live version, it has a bit more grit about it. Mr Wilson on drums anchors the sound well and the band’s three-minute extended outro conveys themagic live albums bring – with a bit of improv breathing more life and character into the song.
‘I Will Follow You’ is a very personal song for Jack, and for many of us that have dealt with emotional sorrow and loss, especially since the challenging days of the pandemic. This was probably a hard song for Jack to perform live but it adds something special to this live set.
A word too on the album cover. For those of us that still attach a value to buying physical music, I think album covers are really important. This one captures the special electric energy and movement you only get from a live show. The red trousers from the studio album have become a bluesy blue. Marvellous.
The first two times I saw Jack J live was when he was with RHR – a kind of ZZ Top meets Men in Black combo – a retro supergroup with beards, hats and long coats. I think Jack’s last few albums are a measure on how far he has evolved since as a solo artist – musically, creatively and in terms of originality.
So that’s the new Jack J live album. For me, I think the timing of this album is also important. We’re all on the eve of the AI music age. Many artists talk about AI as a tool whereas, in truth, it is so much more than that. From interviews I’ve done this year, talk seems to be on short-term features of AI with little attention on the long-term consequences for music tomorrow. Add to that, I haven’t spoken to a band, management team or label yet that have looked beyond the inward ‘industry view’ on AI and grasped how the consumer mindset may sweep in fundamental new trends and behaviours – important, because it’s always the consumer (and their relationship with tech) that drives the trends – not the bands. Returning to Jack J, my take is in the age of digitised, automated creation and sharing of music, the charting of bands that may not exist and the importance placed on going viral over a critical appreciation of the worth of the music – against this sea of artificial creation, there is nothing stronger than the directness, rawness, and truth of a live album to remind us all where the truth in rock n roll really is. The magic of an intimate gig, the in-the-moment performance of an artist committed to their organic art – these are not things that can be replaced, simulated, copied or bettered.
I’ve been listening to the 1984 Queen track ‘Machines (or back to humans)’ recently: A song that embodies the battle between machine-generated and human-played music – a song that’s become somewhat prophetic for the music world today. The record shops have (largely) gone, the algorithms are giving us the playlist songs we think we’re discovering, we have auto-tune and pitch-correct ever-present at big shows and, who knows, with AI we may not even need people in the equation for much longer. But Jack J reminds us what we have to stand up for, support and attach value to – original music, created with passion and played live with an un-emulatable swagger and conviction. As we have to stand to supportsmall venues against closure and advocate grassroots bands the gatekeepers should be backing, maybe what we need is for every rising band to release a live album to capture the live magic we need to treasure. Jack’s album captures wonderfully what makes the heartbeat of grassroots music so special, but we also have to get off our phones a bit more and not allow inertia to confine it to the history books. The choice is ours; machines – or back to humans.
To order the album, back catalogue and for all Jack J Hutchinson news, visit
https://jackjhutchinsonmusic.com
Listen Again to a selection of my Jack J interviews:
Battles – album and tour Interview 2025:
