For nearly 45 years, Jakko Jakszyk has been immersed in the progressive music scene cultivating his own underground following. Jakszyk became a much more known name when Robert Fripp recruited him for a new incarnation of King Crimson in 2013 which is how I became a fan of not just Jakko but of King Crimson. King Crimson’s music was never anything that I felt connected to but hearing this line-up with Jakko spoke to me. His emotive, clear yet powerful voice and his tasteful guitar playing drew me in and made me a fan.
When I become a fan of someone, my obsessive disorder kicks in and I need to know everything and hear everything. Because of this, I have made it a goal to backtrack and find everything I could by Jakko. With a diverse career that even saw him dipping into pop music a bit, it was Jakko’s album The Road to Ballina that grabbed me first, and then his stellar The Bruised Romantic Glee Club album was where the seed started to germinate. The Jakszyk/Fripp/Collins album A Scarcity of Miracles is where it was solidified Jakko’s place as one of my all-time favorite guitarist/singer/songwriters.
In 2020, amidst the Covid-19 pandemic when nearly all touring bands ground to a halt, most chose to make new music and Jakko Jakszyk is one of them who went this route. When I heard that Jakko was releasing a new album of music called Secrets & Lies, I was beside myself and waited as patiently as possible. A short, artistic film for the song “The Trouble with Angels” was released ahead of the album and it set the path towards the release.
“The Trouble with Angels” was a great introduction to the album and it just made me more excited for the release of the album. When I finally got my hands on it, I couldn’t wait to dive right into it. The album kicks off with “Before I Met You” which is a dark, heavy, almost angry-sounding song that caught me off guard but in a great way. I was expecting to be eased in but right away I was being rocked the fuck out with one of the most epic guitar solos I’ve heard. The groove set down by drummer Gavin Harrison and Secrets & Lies is hands down Jakko’s greatest work to date and it is an album that has moved me to the point that I have listened at least five times already.
“The Trouble with Angels” sounds like it picked up where the album A Scarcity of Miracles left off. This is a good thing. The atmospheric music foundation is lead by Jakko’s voice into a place that had me tearing up from the subtle yet powerful emotion of the lyrics. This vibe continues with “The Rotter’s Club Is Closing Down” which lyrically seems to be a nostalgic trip back to a place and a time that holds a special place for Jakko. Whether it’s fictitious or real, the song tugged at my heartstrings and had me remember good times and places from long ago.
Secrets & Lies also steers into the King Crimson influenced progressive tones on “Uncertain Times,” the tribal-inspired “Fools Mandate and “It Would All Make Sense,” and the stellar album closer “Separation.” These particular songs made me see just why Jakko was such a perfect choice for King Crimson. He plays and writes with a style that is all his own but at the same time boasts and Crimson influence that he wears proudly but doesn’t lean on.
I know I say this a lot but it’s an album such as Secrets & Lies that takes me on a journey. The lush production and soothing and at times trippy flow of the music is carried by Jakko’s voice to someplace special. I am not a technically good musician by any measure but when I hear music in my head, this is the music that I hear. It is a rollercoaster of emotions and no one song mirrors another. They are each their own entity yet when combined creates a listening experience.
Secrets & Lies is not background music. This is music that commands full attention and trust me when I say that it is very easy to give it all the attention it calls for. Secrets & Lies is one of the albums that I needed to hear in 2020 to remind me that I don’t have to feel trapped in the reality of the chaotic world right now. The world of Jakko Jakszyk is a mystical and magical place to be and it’s a place that I look forward to visiting many, many times in the future.
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