Jan Akkerman
Close Beauty

Jan Ackerman is a bit of a legend with royal honours and everything on his very dense CV. He was founding member of the legendary progressive rock group Focus and has done plenty of solo albums in a career that stretches back over half a century. The Dutchman’s new album is called Close Beuty and it has a nice cover art and contains a dozen tracks that contain everything from Fromage to Spiritual Privacy. And that probably promises a lot considering that he is considered a hero by Brian May of Queen and BB King wishes he could play the things Ackerman, so what how about this album then?

It is instrumental music that traverses the genres with rock, jazz and many other things, parts sounds like things from video games and there are some melancholic moments and many other things. All through the album we are hearing the fingering skills of Ackerman when he plays with his guitar, the production is also great with impressive soundscapes and adventurous spirit. The variation through the album is pretty good but that doesn’t stop it from appearing a little bit predictable at times. And the album is probably going to appear a little bit long to some of you who listens to it.

Close Beauty is a good album, pretty excellent in some moments, like Fromage which is infectious and great – probably the tastiest track on the album. I also think that Retrospection and Reunion does very well to highlight the best qualities of this album. I do however think that the Close Beauty is a little bit predictable, Ackerman doesn’t really surprise me anywhere along the line and that has a somewhat detrimental effect on my impression of this album. That does not mean that I don’t like the album, it is actually really good with good songs and adventurous soundscapes.

I think that it is an album worth checking out if you enjoy the instrumental kind of music; Ackerman presses the right buttons for you who enjoys that kind of music. He probably presses the right buttons for most music fans and I think that you should check this album out, as there is a decent chance that you will like it. That all leads to the conclusion that Close Beauty is worth checking out and that it is unlikely that you will dislike it, Ackerman does well with this new album but it should have been a little more outside the box and a little less predictable to receive a better rating.

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