Album Review: Jakko M. Jakszyk - Son of Glen (2025, InsideOut Music)
- Stuart Ball
- 5 minutes ago
- 6 min read
Written: 21st June 2025
Jakko M. Jakszyk has spent decades carving a singular path through the progressive and art rock world. Equally at home fronting King Crimson or crafting intimate, personal solo work, he has long demonstrated an ability to blend technical brilliance with emotional resonance. His talents as a guitarist, vocalist, composer and producer place him amongst the most complete British musicians of his generation. Underappreciated by the wider listening public but deeply respected by those in the know, his career is one of quiet achievement.
Son Of Glen is a personal album in every sense of the word. Written as a companion of sorts to his memoir Who’s The Boy With The Lovely Hair, it sees Jakko M. Jakszyk reflecting on family, identity, loss and the difficult process of making peace with the past: adoption, fractured relationships, childhood trauma and the search for connection are all touched upon.
Opening with beautiful short instrumental Ode To Ballina, the tone for the album is immediately set. Built around low whistles played by Jakszyk and the sublime cello of Caroline Lavelle, it captures both the sense of discovery and the emotional pull of tracing a heritage that had always been distant. Jakszyk’s birth mother was from Ballina in County Mayo and he comments it was written, “after I visited what felt like my spiritual homeland for the first time.” Gentle and reflective, it evokes the feeling of wandering through unknown streets that somehow feel familiar. As a beginning, it works perfectly, drawing the listener into a state of meditative intrigue.
Second track Somewhere Between Then and Now begins with gentle, acoustic guitar, sitting somewhere between – as does much of the album – progressive rock and folk. Unfolding over eight minutes that seem to pass in moments, it is a reflection on childhood places, long-forgotten heroes and the realisation that the world is rarely what we imagined it would be. This is the place where my childhood stood / All air-fix glue and balsa wood / But you can barely trace the outline of it now / A myth of England lost for good / Beneath the Sherlock Holmes and Robin Hoods / And we’ll be swimming in nostalgia till we drown. It also explores the loss of a friend who Jakszyk describes as, “A man who was extremely passionate about music and introduced me to things I’d never heard and doubtless never would have. Lost in music and tragically lost amidst unfulfilled dreams.” His ear for melody and arrangement is captivating and wonderfully serves the honesty within the lyrics. A little after the four minute mark, the song picks up tempo and dynamic but nothing is rushed. Throughout the album, songs are allowed to grow and when the electric guitars join, it feels natural and organic. The ending guitar solo feels like a release and is everything we have come to expect from this most gifted of players.
One of the most personal songs on the album How Did I Let You Get So Old? deals directly with Jakko’s uncomfortable relationship with his adoptive father. “He transformed from the strict disciplinarian of my childhood who instilled a fear in me that remained for decades, into a sweet old man when his wife (and my adoptive French mother) died. Only then did we even start to get to know each other.” There is a relaxed feel to a song that is lyrically and musically constructed with heartbreaking honesty once again. It is not bitter or angry, just full of what might have been. There’s a cupboard full of secrets / Where I kept a dream of you / Making plans in perfect English / For a child you hardly knew. Multi-instrumentalist Jakszyk impresses yet again on the keyboards - as does his son Django, who contributes much of the bass guitar on the album. There is a comfortable subtlety to his playing that wonderfully complements the mood of the track. Jakko’s vocals are smooth and inviting with a clarity and warmth that might well be the envy of many a singer.
This Kiss Never Lies was written for Jakko’s partner Louise Patricia Crane (who contributes some backing vocals to the album), his relationship with whom mirrors that of his father’s relationship with his mother, both women being from Ireland. Having already laid bare so much personal history, the focus shifts from family history to current feelings of love - an expression of hope amid the doubt and regret. Another song that takes its time to reach its musical and lyrical peak, it retains the chilled and restrained atmosphere of the first half of the album. Balancing seductive keyboards with steady basslines (this time from Jakko himself), he presents himself here not as a romantic hero, but as someone who knows he has failed, been rescued, and is trying to deserve another chance. The drowning imagery mirrors his personal history of loss and uncertainty, but the chorus brings certainty with the declaration that love, at least here, can be trusted. Another glorious guitar solo, this time full of longing, brings the song to a close with a sense of resolution - as if, after everything, he has finally found what he has been searching for. Honest and redemptive.
While the slow, reflective pacing of the first half perfectly serves the album’s personal themes, some listeners may find themselves wishing for a quicker shift in tempo or mood earlier on. However, this approach feels intentional, allowing the atmosphere and meaning to build naturally.
The second half of the album – or Side Two! – begins with a reprise of Ode To Ballina but this time played on electric guitar. It signals the start of a shift away from the overall tones and atmospheres we have encountered so far. I Told You So brings back the internal struggle that runs through much of Son of Glen but there is a change in musical style. Even though it is more upbeat, it still deals with the notion that knowing why something happened does not make its impact disappear and that unresolved tension drives the song forward, powered by the drums of Marillion’s Ian Mosley. This internal dialogue still rages on / From the ever fading optimist in me / To where all of hope is gone / Amidst the childhood lesson learned / And the damage that was done.
Penultimate track, the ninety-second instrumental (Get A) Proper Job, leads us into the part of the album that most brings Jakszyk’s progressive leanings to the fore, all highlighted by the drumming of Zoltan Csörsz (formerly of The Flower Kings and now part of Lifesigns). Knowing that Jakko’s adoptive father built him his first guitar but later told him to get a ‘proper job’ and kicked him out of the house at the age of sixteen gives the track a sharp, personal and quietly defiant feel.
The final and most significant song on the album, Son of Glen, brings together the central theme of Jakko’s search for his biological father. Glen Tripp remains a shadow throughout Jakko’s life and this song imagines a dialogue between them. Jakko comments, “I finally discovered who my father was after decades of fruitless searching. This was only 3 years ago. Turns out he was a US airman stationed in England in the 50s who went back to the States and that he died when I would have been 14. ‘Son Of Glen’ is a fantasy based around the idea that my father, a man I never knew, was somehow guiding me from afar. The video attempts to tell the tale and bring my father back to life.” Beginning with the squelch of a radio signal finding its way, a spoken message that focuses our attention once more as Jakszyk begins his own lament to the father he never knew. Hey Glen / You know, I’d love to pretend / That you’ve been watching over me / Since God knows when. Allowing the track all the time it needs, this ten minute epic is musically expansive but never indulgent. Everything serves the story up to and including a final spoken radio message. The music fades away at the end leaving the listener, along with Jakko, to wonder what might have been.
Son Of Glen is a thoughtfully composed and intimately reflective album that showcases Jakko’s considerable talents alongside some truly accomplished collaborators. The musicianship throughout is of a high calibre, with standout contributions from King Crimson’s Gavin Harrison on drums for several tracks, bringing his signature precision and subtle power, while Ian Mosley and Zoltan Csörsz add distinctive touches on others. Impeccably produced, the album will especially appeal to listeners who appreciate nuanced progressive rock and folk with a personal, introspective edge rather than immediate accessibility or mainstream hooks. It rewards patient, attentive listening and offers a rich, rewarding experience for fans of narrative-driven, atmospheric music. Thoughtful, evocative and accomplished.
Son of Glen is released on 27th June 2025.
JAKKO M. JAKSZYK ONLINE: