Sweet Somewhere Bound

Jackie Greene | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 24, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Verve Forecast
• ASIN: B00096S3NQ
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #95,322 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jackie Greene continues to evolve... and impress, October 12, 2005

By 

Jer (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sweet Somewhere Bound (Audio CD)

Jackie's country, gospel and blues influenced folk music continues to evolve here on "Sweet Somewhere Bound", and he produces his best album in his first attempt under his new label, Verve. Jackie's previous album, "Gone Wanderin'", showed promise and had good individual songs, but meshed together badly as an album and suffered from repetition in places.

This album suffers none of these issues. Jackie provides us with 13 tracks on "Sweet Somewhere Bound", all of them listenable and all of them exploring different emotional territory for both Jackie and his listeners.

Jackie is apt in making his listeners both laugh and smile; the album opens with the songs "About Cell Block No. 9" and "Honey, I've Been Thinking About You", both upbeat and cheerful songs that you'll be hard-pressed to dislike.

"Honey, I've Been Thinking About You" is a good benchmark for Jackie; if you're considering getting into his music, listen to this song off his Myspace site or from the samples here on Amazon, as I consider it one of his best and clearly one of the star tracks of the album. Jackie croons about simple love beyond the details of life, and even makes us laugh a bit with lines such as:

Now, I don't really care about your hot-blooded sister
I'm sure there's a man for to love her and miss her
I didn't mean nothing, I just happened to kiss her
But honey I was thinking about you

As talented as Jackie is at making us smile, he's equally gifted with bringing tears to our eyes. Tracks such as "Emily's In Heaven", that lament the loss of a loved one, and "Write A Letter Home", that exhibits the very definition of being lonesome only prove that Jackie's talent isn't prohibited to cheer alone:

Eleven different doctors and not one had a clue
They rushed her to emergency, but there was nothing they could do
They said she had a weak heart, she'd always been that way
I said she just gave too much of it away

Now Emily's in Heaven, and I'm awake in bed
Sometimes how I wish, the Good Lord took me instead
But I guess the good die young and life just isn't fair
But Emily's in Heaven she'll be waiting for me there

Some tracks are better than others, but all 13 tracks provide the listener with something new. There's no filler; if you skip the end of the album, you'll only miss out on some of the best songs on the album in "Write A Letter Home" and "Everything to Me". Jackie Greene doesn't try anything particularly unique or groundbreaking on "Sweet Somewhere Bound", as his greatest strength lies in the simplicity of his music. These aren't complicated songs. Instead, Jackie exhibits a variety of emotions as he does what he excels at; making great, listenable music that's simple to understand and invariably gets your foot tapping.

Jackie doesn't try for anything particularly new or different because he doesn't have to; riffs from his blues guitar or notes from his harmonica speak volumes more than many songs. Every song, every note, is packed with emotion and rarely fails to pull you into the stories he tells.

Jackie Greene has surfaced in Sacramento as one of the most entertaining and exciting artists in the area, and I'm personally looking forward to seeing him continue to evolve and emerge. I highly recommend him to any fan of folk, country, blues or heck, music in general. You'll love this guy.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars another great record, July 28, 2004

By 

music lover (Old Europe) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sweet Somewhere Bound (Audio CD)

What a treat to get 66 minutes of new music from this talented musician! More fine songwriting and musicianship on this new record, with a richer sound than his previous releases thanks to the addition of synthesizer on a few tracks. I still wish he'd decrease the amount of slow, sad numbers and increase the lively blues tunes he does so well, but I'm still glad to hear anything this guy does.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Put the feelin in it Jackie!, June 29, 2005

By 

R. Hosler - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sweet Somewhere Bound (Audio CD)

I took my girlfriend to see Jewel and was blown away when Jackie Greene opened for her. Jackie is an incredile musician but what made me an instant fan was the raw emotion he puts into his songs. It was just him his acoustic guitar and his harmonica, with the occasional piano.
I must say I was disapointed by this record because it is missing the raw emotion he projects when he plays on stage. Who ever is recording you Jackie tell them to allow you to open up in the studio. It should be noted I have ordered Jackie's other 2 records and I plan on seeing him live twice in July so I'm in no way put off my this record. I'm just dissapointed because I've seen and heard what he'd capabale of.
I'm 25 so I dcon't want to hear that only old people like Jackie.
Rock on.