Jakszyk

Jakko Jakszyk had a life-changing moment when he saw King Crimson playing Watford Town Hall on the 15th July 1971. Hearing the band that night instilled in the 13-year-old Jakko a determination to become a professional musician, setting him off on the road to what has been by any definition a remarkable career. 2020 sees the release of Jakko Jakszyk’s latest solo album, “Secrets & Lies” featuring King Crimson bandmates, Robert Fripp, Gavin Harrison, Tony Levin, and Mel Collins.

Secrets & Lies is the eighth solo release by English musician Jakko M. Jakszyk, released on 23 October 2020 by InsideOut Music. It is his first since 2009's Waves Sweep the Sand and it showcases many of his influences. It features progressive rock pieces that originated from King Crimson writing sessions, intimate ballads, and excursions into world music. The record features contributions from fellow KC bandmates Robert Fripp, Gavin Harrison, Tony Levin and Mel Collins. There are also appearances by Al Murray, Simple Minds' John Giblin and Level 42's Mark King. Peter Hammill, with whom Jakszyk also co-wrote one of the songs on the album, also appears on vocals and guitar.

Reading the full name of this release - Jakszyk, Fripp And Collins With Levin And Harrison - A Scarcity Of Miracles - A King Crimson ProjeKct - leads to one central and almost unbelievable thought: this must be a new King Crimson album after all these years (the last album was released in 2003). But it is just like Robert Fripp, King Crimson’s mastermind and guitarist, wrote in the album’s liner notes: listening to A Scarcity Of Miracles is “like meeting a close member of the (King Crimson) family for the first time”. The music on this album is consistently mellow, sophisticated prog, similar, but smoother than the soft tunes from the Belew era, perhaps closer in tone to the Sylvian/Fripp albums.

It was early 2017 when Louise Patricia Crane wrote the song that would become the title track of her debut solo album, ''Deep Blue''. Having written and recorded with The Eden House the previous year, Louise relocated to Cambridge to begin working with musician and producer Stephen Carey at his Stanton Manor studio. With a shared vision to create something beautiful and unique in music, the two set about working together.

Jethro Tull's 11th studio album, Heavy Horses, is one of their prettier records, a veritable celebration of English folk music chock-full of gorgeous melodies, briskly played acoustic guitars and mandolins, and Ian Anderson's lilting flute backed by the group in top form. This record is a fairly close cousin to 1977's Songs from the Wood – and was ultimately the hinge-piece and first of an ecologically themed trilogy which concluded with 1979's Stormwatch – except that its songs are decidedly more passionate, delivered with a rough, robust energy that much of Tull's work since Thick as a Brick had been missing. In its lustiness it arguably surpasses even Aqualung. "No Lullaby" is the signature heavy riff song, a concert version of which opened Bursting Out: Jethro Tull Live recorded that same year. Anderson sings it – and everything else here – with tremendous intensity, as though these might be the last lines he ever gets to voice.

To celebrate their 50th anniversary, King Crimson are releasing 50 rare or unusual tracks from the archives. Starting on 13th January, the date the band was formed in the Fulham Palace Café in 1969, these tracks will be released one a week for the remaining 50 weeks of 2019. Each track will be introduced by a commentary from David Singleton, King Crimson manager and producer.

Deluxe box set containing 21 CDs, four Blu-rays and two DVDs - all audio. Three CDs feature Steven Wilson and Robert Fripp stereo mixes of In The Wake Of Poseidon (1970), Lizard (1970) & Islands (1971) + additional tracks. Six CDs feature the Islands line-ups early concerts from Germany (new to CD) and the UK (1971). Nine CDs feature live recordings (several new to CD and/or previously unreleased in any format) from the 1972 US tour, including a new stereo mix of Summit Studios and an expanded Earthbound…

Rock music royalty gather together to recreate one of the most important and influential albums in history, King Crimson’s 1969 masterpiece In The Court Of The Crimson King! Features performances by King Crimson members Mel Collins and Jakko M. Jakszyk as well as Todd Rundgren, Megadeth’s Chris Poland, Deep Purple’s Ian Paice, Rainbow’s Joe Lynn Turner, Dream Theater’s James LaBrie, Cactus’s Carmine Appice and more! From the first note of “21st Century Schizoid Man” to the epic conclusion of “The Court Of The Crimson King,” you’ll be transfixed by how each song is interpreted and celebrated by this incredible group of musicians!