Up in the land of Newky Brown and whippet racing there exists �The Lindisfarne Factor�. As ambassadors of professional Geordieness, their Christmas season at Newcastle City Hall gets longer by the year and plans are for the 1980 edition to include a Guy Fawkes party. Every record release, every gig, every fart must be the subject of inept interview or clich� promo clip. The only northeast telly programme that Lindisfarne haven�t appeared on is Farming Outlook. Hip credibility they don�t have.

Being hoho heroes in a small pool, the band are so well and truly stuck with their regional identity that Phonogram have apparently given them the boot. Instead, they�ve plucked frontman Ray Jackson temporarily away from the Fab Five in an attempt to launch him as a soloist. Chris Rea meets Gerry Rafferty in Hall and Oates�s living room. As Rafferty is one of the few figures of the past years to grab a slice of the married and mortgaged brigade, somebody�s decided that Jacka would also probably fit in there somewhere. To seal the deal in comes Rafferty producer Hugh Murphy, a couple of Rafferty sidemen and even GR himself to contribute backing vocals. 

Jacka�s version of sweet soul mainly show up on the numbers he co-wrote with Charlie Harcourt, another NE veteran. For the most part smooth and classy, they show Jackson doing what he does best, getting to grips with a good song, like Daryl Hall without the idiosyncratic pleadings. In The Night itself could be a Chris Rea song, all taut and compelling but the credit reads �Bowkett�. Wonder who he is.

Toss in some sophisticated covers (and toss out Little Town Flirt. Please.) and In The Night shapes up as a conservative but album. (sic) But one that I suspect would be received with a lot more enthusiasm if Jacka had put it out under a different name.