Liverpool lad, singer songwriter Jackie Lomax, by all accounts, should have been a lot more well know … both Paul McCartney and George Harrison have backed him or produced him (he was the first artist signed to Apple records) whilst Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Nicky Hopkins, Rick Danko and Levon Helm (the last two from the Band) have played session for him.
He is a local luminary and icon in Liverpool and is influential on that scene:
This album (his second), seems to be schizophrenically American with country, soul and funky elements (as is most of his work apparently), much like the (great) Ian Matthews Band and early 70s era Kinks. Musical references to the US abound, and Lomax , perhaps, addresses his "rootlessness" in the albums best track (and title track) … " Home is in my Head" … he lived in the US for a couple of years in the mid-60s and again in Woodstock in the early 70s. So, given all the "Americanisms", perhaps he should have written a track called "Home is where the Heart is"? I think the the American influence is not surprising – being a Liverpool bred lad I suspect he was (no doubt) exposed to all the discs the merchant seamen brought home from their travels around the world, just like 4 other likely Liverpool lads in the late 1950s …
Home Is In My Head
I have drunk Virginia Water
I have dug my own Gravesend
Set my foot ashore in Newport
Travelled far beyond my Land's End
And my home, home, home is in my head
I have dived into a Blackpool
With a Maidstone round my neck
I just drifted into Southsea
With no Hull beneath my decks
And my home, home, home is in my head
Well, I lost a wheel in Barrow
Tried to cross the No-one-Cambridge
When my Liverpool grew shallow
I had to dig more Wells in Tunbridge
And my home, home, home is in my head
Most of the tracks are split evenly between singer-songwriter "Americana" songs, and mid tempo southern funk songs. There is no "rock" per se.
The best tracks are
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"A Hundred Mountains" which has a nice "mountain" feel to it.
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"Home is in My Head" is a statement of identity and quite effective at that.
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"She Took Me Higher" – a funk groove.
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"Helluva Woman" – a soulful mid tempo stomp.
It's all very pleasant though not always distinctive but the themes do resonate … thematically "Primal Scream" were doing the same thing 30 years later, weren't they?
sound:
see attached – my vinyl is very scratchy though – I was almost gonna chuck it …
recently:
website:
I'll tape a couple of songs and then sell this .
(originally released: 21/05/2009)
