Some of you may remember Ben Jackson as one of the guitarists in everyone's favorite QUEENSRŸCHE rip-off CRIMSON GLORY. Apparently he hasn't sat still after the breakup of those silly-but-enjoyable masked men, because this is already the second album released under his own name.

In his own BEN JACKSON GROUP he handles the guitar and the lead vocals, and he does a pretty decent job. Musically it's nothing you haven't heard before. Typical 80's hair metal, roughly situated somewhere between CRIMSON GLORY and SKID ROW. Some of the songs veer dangerously close to cheese territory ("All Over You") but generally things stay on the good (i.e. 'heavy') side of the fence. If it's musical invention you're looking for this is not the record to check out. Mr. Jackson leaves no spandex cliche unused. This lack of musical adventure need not be a problem if it's done as good as this. He is a fine guitarist who has surrounded himself with some good musicians, and in its genre this is a way above-average release. An interesting album for people who long for the golden days of hair metal, before grunge came along and blew up their world. Hey, I'm not dissing it, since musically there's really nothing wrong with it. I just can't escape the feeling that I've heard practically every note on this album somewhere before. But then I'm an old fart who was never that crazy about hair metal anyway. A nice piece of well-played retro for hair metal nostalgists that could also serve as a history lesson for youngsters who never saw Headbangers Ball.

- Van Hoften

OFFICIAL SITE: myspace.com/benjacksongroup

MP3 SOUND SCRAP: Mean Machine

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