Terence Jack
Never Get Back (Independent)

Impeccably crafted and expertly recorded as it is, Never Get Back isn’t for everyone. Those who live on pop’s outer edges will find tracks like the hook-studded “Errors” just a little too calculated for mainstream-radio airplay.

But as anyone who has ever sung along to Sam Roberts’s note-perfect “Brother Down” will testify, there’s nothing wrong with taking aim at the shiny, happy masses, something that Terence Jack does with winning results here. “Eastern Rise” is a mammoth electro-blues stomper just waiting to be placed in a Hollywood blockbuster, while “She Flies Down South” soars on a refreshing willingness to shoot for no less than the heavens.

Proving some folks are better at everything than most of us, the Sunday comedown “Lay It on the Line” finds Jack displaying his mastery of the lap steel, while the ghostly closer, “Never Get Back”, shows he does lush and dramatic just as effectively as bold and radio-ready. Someone has arrived more than ready for his close-up.