1/2ALAN JACKSON”A Lot About Livin’ (And a...

1/2

ALAN JACKSON

“A Lot About Livin’ (And a Little ‘Bout Love)”

Arista

On his third album, Jackson continues to vacillate between being a writer who wants to tap his own experience and a singer who can’t resist a catchy phrase, even at the expense of the truth.

He might have resisted “I Don’t Need the Booze (To Get a Buzz On),” one of three songs on the album he didn’t help write. It’s a typical product of professional songwriters who come up with a snappy phrase and then work backward, instead of using such a thought as a starting point for exploration.

But Jackson is capable of more. The best of the lot is “(Who Says) You Can’t Have It All,” a classic of self-pity that screams for a George Jones version. Which brings up Jackson’s other shortcoming: His woody tenor floats across melodies like a twig on a creek--rarely submerging to explore a song’s murky depths. The masters know how to stretch this syllable, how to clip that one, how to squeeze the next to drive an emotion home.

Going for the emotion isn’t always the safest route. But in that tune, as well as in the witty “She’s Got the Rhythm (And I Got the Blues)” and a couple of others, Jackson suggests he has greatness lurking within. The only question is whether he has the gumption to dig in his heels and ride it to the bell.