Sleepless jacksoul Vik. Recordings, 2000 Tracks 1: Sleepless Intro 2: I Know What You Want 3: Can't Stop 4: Let Me call You Baby 5: I Miss You 6: Somedays 7: Never Say Goodbye 8: She's Gone 9: Never Give Your Love Away 10: Baby I Adore You 11: I Remember 12: Don't Tell Me 13: Sleepless Buy it online Reviewed by Aaron Blanton	Comparisons are often unfair but sometimes they are unavoidable. In the case of jacksoul's second album Sleepless the comparisons are glaringly obvious. While Sleepless does contain some listenable music, it borrows a deal on the sound -- and some of the image -- of Seal, but without coming close to the depth and originality that the British artist brings to his music. From the spartan, high contrast, duotoned cover to the moody atmospheric love songs on the 13 song disc, this album almost screams "Canada's Seal." This bit of marketing is a real shame because Sleepless is a pleasant listen -- full of everything from R&B to soul- and acid jazz-influenced songs that make it acceptable background music. The first single "Can't Stop," seems to be a nice bit of top 40 fodder and sounds as though it might have real potential. However, too many things get in the way of making this a truly memorable album. Producer John "Rabbi" Levine of the Philosopher Kings tries to manufacture a rich sensual atmosphere on Sleepless but somehow it all comes off sounding a tad over programmed: too many synthesized drums and the addition of occasionally inappropriate instrumentation such as the placement of a completely corny harp sound at the beginning and end of "I Miss You." The heart of jacksoul is vocalist and songwriter Haydain Neale. In fact you might say Haydain Neale is jacksoul since only his picture appears on the album cover and throughout the liner notes. While Neale has a pleasant, serviceable voice that is used rather well on Sleepless, it lacks range and -- pardon the pun -- real soul. For someone who wishes to be in the same company as Marvin Gaye and Barry White, soul is a definite must. Sleepless also contains a rather flat cover of Hall and Oates' "She's Gone" (Abandoned Luncheonette, 1973). Where the original was imbued with the passion and angst over the break up of a relationship, jacksoul's version lies dull and uninspired with little techno twists here and there making the song sound awkward and lacking in enthusiasm. It's interesting to note that this a cover of the "radio" length version of "She's Gone" and not the longer "album" version. Adding the extra verse of the full length original would not have greatly increased the song's time and would have perhaps been a more fitting homage. Sleepless is by no means a dreadful album. It is filled with approachable tunes meant to convey feelings of love and sadness and hope and all those things that pop tunes are designed to convey. In the end, though, Sleepless often comes off sounding a little hollow: as though it were manufactured to please its audience. | May 2000 Aaron Blanton is a songwriter who in 1965 moved from Kentucky to Scotland in order to pursue his lifelong dream of being the first person to distill Scottish Bourbon. His first album Tartan Nails still sits unrecorded in his mother's home in Louisville in the bench in front of the piano on which he learned to play Scotland the Brave.	The first single "Can't Stop," seems to be a nice bit of top 40 fodder and sounds as though it might have real potential. However, too many things get in the way of making this a truly memorable album. Producer John "Rabbi" Levine of the Philosopher Kings tries to manufacture a rich sensual atmosphere on Sleepless but somehow it all comes off sounding a tad over programmed.