429 Records
2008
Giving Up The Ghost
About This Album
Some time before Jackie Greene released Giving Up the Ghost, he declared that he wanted a Top Ten hit. "I want a big song," he told an interviewer, adding "You're not a musician because you want to starve." There's no reason Greene shouldn't have that Top Ten, instead of wallowing in indie-land. His talents are manifold -- as a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist he's prodigiously gifted -- and he's even got the kind of heartthrob looks that serve to push units by artists with half of his abilities. But thus far that mainstream success has eluded him, and there's even been something of a backlash against him among the rockist cognoscenti, a rarity for an artist who has yet to truly break out. Giving Up the Ghost illustrates both why some are skeptical and why others can't seem to lavish enough praise on him. Giving Up the Ghost follows three albums for the small Dig label and one for the larger Verve Forecast, and like those others, it's got riches to spare. Greene's writing has become more complex, both emotionally and structurally, without becoming verbose. He's meticulous and broad in his scope, drawing from numerous streams without being derivative: he has been compared to many of the greats (yes, even Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen), but those comparisons are neither fair nor necessary -- Greene can stand on his own.
Track List (try tracks 2,3,4,7 and 12)

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