aaamusic | On 22, Jun 2012

Belle and Sebastian’s guitarist Stevie Jackson release his first solo album after a long career with the Scottish indie legends and collaboration that range from The Vaselines to Russian Red.
Written and recorded between Glasgow and Vancouver, I Can’t Get No (Stevie Jackson) encloses six years of intellectual encounters with the sorts of Roy Moller and Gary Thom (The Company), Bill Wells, Alex Neilson (Trembling Bells) and Katrina Mitchell (The Pastels), while the Vancouver recordings feature the New Pornographers’ rhythm section, Kurt Dahle and John Collins.
The album opens with the brilliant piano-based Pure Of Heart and the uplifting Just, Just So To The Point, almost up-tempo tributes to Elliot Smith with a soul flavour. Eclectic and unpredictable, Stevie Jackson alternates a British essence with explorations to the other side of the pond, as with Dead Man’s Fall. Such exploration is probably encapsulated in the splendid Kurosawa, as Bob Dylan and Belle and Sebastian met for a couple of joints and gave birth to a beautiful bastard lovechild.
Echoes of Bowie drift through Man Of God and Where Do All The Good Girls Go?, while the tone goes back to bucolic for the final tunes, which will please the B&S fans of the first hour.
Celebrated with a one-off show at Oran Mor in June, the release promises to provide a new light on Stevie Jackson, who starts thinking the role of wingman may be too limiting for him.
★★★★★
Author: Lorenzo Coretti