Joe Jackson

wehitandrun · Post by **wehitandrun** » Tue Jun 22, 2004 1:51 pm

This morning, I was awoken at a wee hour in the morning by a song called "Breaking Us In Two" that was on VH1 Classic's Tuesday Two Play. I was hearing it in my dream, and when I woke up to it... it was really strange.

I was wondering if there were any Joe Jackson fans on the board, who could enlighten me on bits of his history, music, and accomplishments.

martinfoyle · Post by **martinfoyle** » Tue Jun 22, 2004 5:37 pm

JJ musical career has paralleled EC's in many ways. Both peaked commercially in the late 70's, early 80's. Both do pretty much what they want, both have resigned themselves to being large cult acts. Like EC, all off JJ's work is good, some better than others.
This compilation has a good selection from across his career
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... 73-9194512

One big difference between them is that Joe played a gig in Dublin last year.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Tue Jun 22, 2004 6:40 pm

I liked Joe's early stuff for the same reason that I liked Graham Parker - it seemed to come from the same musical universe as EC, just not as good. I really hated the phoniness of him donning a zoot suit and doing this Joe's Jumping Jive thing. It must have come after Almost Blue, cos it smacked of desperation ('OK, so Elvis has gone country, how do I top that one?). And his huge hit 'Stepping Out' just sent me to sleep, so I gave up on him. Recently the kind SLL introduced me to a splendid recent track called Awkward Age, which kicked ass and was very well written and made me realise he's probably made lots of good music that I've missed over the years, but give me EC any day. Last I heard of him was on Radio 4 saying he'd moved back to England from NY defending his right to smoke in public places (so no more Dublin gigs for Joe!).

King Hoarse · Post by **King Hoarse** » Tue Jun 22, 2004 6:42 pm

If you don't have any of his stuff, I'd recommend the Joe Jackson Band's latest studio effort "Volume 4," especially if you can find it with the live greatest hits bonus disc, which will be pretty easy.

Question: My copy of his fine and very costelloean early album "Look Sharp" is a double 10". (OK, that's not a question. Here goes:) Was that originally, or at all, released on LP?

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Tue Jun 22, 2004 6:58 pm

I have the same release (with a badge on the front too!). I thought it was pretty cool. yes, that was a limited number then out came the regular 12", or maybe they were simultaneous. A friend of mine had it on 12". My 20" were more impressive than his 12".

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Wed Jun 23, 2004 12:05 am

At the time, the consensus among hipsters -- at least the ones that I knew -- and a lot of critics was that J. Jackson was sort of a paler shade of EC and GP, too for that matter...at the time, it was fairly easy to make the case that Parker was as good or better than Elvis. In any case, while I was never really a card-carrying hipster (I think the sweater vests pretty much disqualified from that group), I basically agreed with the majority -- with the exception that I really enjoyed some of his singles.

For most of Jackson wasn't in the same league at all and many dismissed him outright. I owned "Looked Sharp" and enjoyed a few of the cuts very much, particularly "Is She Really Going Out with Him" but it was something of a guilty pleasure for me. As was "Jumpin' Jive", which I enjoyed immensely almost despite myself, and which nevertheless turned out to be a sort of harbinger of the interest in older musical forms (i.e., the lounge revival, etc.) that continued through the early nineties. Of course, since most of Jackson's versions of the songs were pretty close to the Louis Jordan/Cab Calloway originals, I think the credit goes more to the originators than to Jackson and his band.

Overall, I've always been of too minds about JJ. For me, he went back into the "negative" column after I rented a fairly recent (early 90's, I think) concert video of his and found the whole thing shockingly lifeless.

One interesting sidenote, I remember reading a brief interview where the comparisons with Elvis and Graham Parker where mentioned. This was the height of EC in his "cruel" phase, and JJ said that, while he was happy to be compared with Parker, he didn't want to be uttered in the same breath as that rude fellow Costello.

A few years later JJ got some bad press over his own over his treatment of audiences, but I can't remember the details of that. I'm sure some of the peanut gallery here knows.

laughingcrow · Post by **laughingcrow** » Wed Jun 23, 2004 3:09 am

I agree with Otis first comments....JJ was/is OK, not a patch on EC or GP....buy a 'best of' and leave it at that!

selfmademug · Post by **selfmademug** » Wed Jun 23, 2004 3:27 am

LOOK SHARP was more or less in permanent residence on my turntable for my first semester of college, and though it hasn't held up as well as some things I played a bit less, it was such a high at the time, and I'll always have a huge affection for it. More than, say, for the rather garish Fiorucci poster on my dorm room wall....

Gillibeanz · Post by **Gillibeanz** » Wed Jun 23, 2004 4:21 am

I also own a few Joe Jackson albums. Hes a bit hit and miss , but when hes good hes awesome!

Post by **spooky girlfriend** » Wed Jun 23, 2004 7:35 am

Hey - missed this thread yesterday in the hurried rush of things without DrS in town.

We're both big Joe Jackson fans, especially the Dr. Been listening to him since the early '80s. We were lucky enough to meet up with Taz last August and see him at the Roxy in Atlanta - a venue that only holds about 1200 people. It was really cool. I have some pics if you want to see them. He was back with his old band and they were fabulous as they performed stuff from their new cd, Volume 4. Good stuff.

If you're a bit of a softy, which I am, he has a song called "Be My Number Two." It's about a guy who is trying love again after the relationship he thought was going to last forever, doesn't. DrS played it for me a long time ago after his first marriage was over. I love it a lot.

crash8_durham · Post by **crash8_durham** » Wed Jun 23, 2004 7:58 am

If you do not own Look Sharp you should. But stear clear of Sugar Ray's remake of Is She Really Going Out With Him.

wehitandrun · Post by **wehitandrun** » Wed Jun 23, 2004 12:57 pm

I love the song "Take It Like A Man". It is so brilliant.

El Vez · Post by **El Vez** » Wed Jun 23, 2004 1:40 pm

crash8_durham wrote:If you do not own Look Sharp you should. But stear clear of Sugar Ray's remake of Is She Really Going Out With Him.

Steer clear of Sugar Ray in general.

taz · Post by **taz** » Wed Jun 23, 2004 2:00 pm

I would like to thank you all for making me have the 'is she really going out with him' song in my head for, I shit you not, 8 1/2 hours now...

Poppet · Post by **Poppet** » Wed Jun 23, 2004 3:28 pm

OW!

i find that internet radio is useful for banishing tunes from the head.

Jackson Monk · Post by **Jackson Monk** » Wed Jun 23, 2004 5:04 pm

I once had white winklepickers like Joe's on the cover of Look Sharp...and yes...I did lokk a dick!

I also own and enjoy 'I'm the Man', 'Night and Day' and 'Laughter and Lust'

martinfoyle · Post by **martinfoyle** » Wed Jun 23, 2004 5:35 pm

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... ce&s=music

This is my favourite album by Joe in recent years, though if you prefer him rocking, stay clear. Still, you may be surprised, and, since copies are going for around $3, it wont cost you much.

crash8_durham · Post by **crash8_durham** » Wed Jun 23, 2004 8:17 pm

Look over there, WHERE, there's a lady that I used to know

ice nine · Post by **ice nine** » Thu Jun 24, 2004 11:38 pm

I am a Joe Jackson fan. Even before I saw Elvis in concert I saw Joe in concert. A excellent album by Joe is Big World. If you can find it, I recommend it.

Martin- Night Music is a fine album/cd, but Joe could not decide whether he wanted to write a pseudo-classical album or a pop album. I especially like 'The Man Who Wrote Danny Boy'

martinfoyle · Post by **martinfoyle** » Fri Jun 25, 2004 4:16 am

A excellent album by Joe is Big World. If you can find it, I recommend it

Plenty of copies here
http://www9.gemm.com/c/search.pl?sid=36 ... and=SEARCH

so lacklustre · Post by **so lacklustre** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 1:47 pm

JJ has a new album out soon and is touring.

http://joejackson.com/news.php?id=89&m=12&y=2007

February
27 Cardiff Point Cardiff, UK Link
29 Olympia Theatre Dublin, Ireland Link
March
2 Shepherds Bush Empire London, UK Link
4 La Cigale Paris, France Link
5 Ancienne Belgique Brussels, Belgium Link
7 Paradiso Amsterdam, Netherlands Link
8 Paradiso Amsterdam, Netherlands Link
10 Fabrik Hamburg, Germany Link phone: 01805 57 00 00 (CTS Eventim ticket hotline)
11 Schiller Theatre Berlin, Germany Link phone: 01805 57 00 00 (CTS Eventim ticket hotline)
13 Phonixhalle Mainz, Germany Link phone: 01805 57 00 00 (CTS Eventim ticket hotline)
14 Kaufleuten Zurich, Switzerland Link
16 Teatro Ventaglio Smeraldo Milan, Italy Link
17 Naima Club/Teatro Colosseo Forli/Turin, Italy
19 Audotorium Rome Rome, Italy Link
20 To Be Announced
22 Joe Zawinul's Birdland Vienna, Austria Link
25 Zappa Tel Aviv, Isarel
26 Hanger 11 Tel Aviv, Isarel
April
1 Music Hall Theatre Toronto, Canada
2 Metropolis Montreal, Canada
4 Keswick Theatre Glenside, PA
5 Calvin Theater Northampton, MA
7 Somerville Theatre Somerville, MA
9 Count Basie Theatre Red Bank, NJ
10 9:30 Club Washington, DC
12 Ulster Performing Arts Center Kingston, NY
15 Apollo Theatre New York, NY
16 Town Hall New York, NY
19 Carnegie Music Hall of Homestead Pittsburgh, PA
20 Michigan Theater Ann Arbor, MI
21 The Pabst Theater Milwaukee, WI
23 Vic Theatre Chicago, IL
24 Vic Theatre Chicago, IL
26 Variety Playhouse Atlanta, GA
28 Paramount Theatre Austin, TX
29 Palladium - seated Dallas, TX
May
1 E Town Boulder, CO
4 Moore Theatre Seattle, WA
5 Chan Center Vancouver, BC
6 Aladdin Theatre Portland, OR
10 Fox Theatre Redwood City, CA
11 Humphrey's San Diego, CA
13 Orpheum Theatre Los Angeles, CA

Post by **spooky girlfriend** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 9:09 pm

Saw that. I'm on the email list, and promptly told Doc.

We preordered the new cd, and opted to buy the signed version. We've seen him multiple times in person and he is painfully shy about signing in public (the last time we saw him with Todd Rundgren, he actually ran from the Ryman to the bus and tripped because he was running so hard from the fans outside). Doc is a longtime fan and is looking forward to the new cd.

Boy With A Problem · Post by **Boy With A Problem** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 5:09 am

Joe Jackson is merely a second rate Clive Gregson. Strictly for deadbeats.

krm · Post by **krm** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 8:53 am

Loved everything both JJ and Graham Parker did those years. Nowadays only the two first JJ albums are listenable. The GP records are just collecting dust. You canÂ´t even give them away at record fairs!!!!

johnfoyle · Post by **johnfoyle** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 12:40 pm

Mostly positive reviews include this -
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/479ef4a6-d133 ... ck_check=1

Financial Times
February 2 2008

Ludovic Hunter-Tilney

Joe Jackson

Rain

Rykodisc ****

Musical chameleons arouse a degree of public distrust. That's why Elvis Costello, patience snapping at the lukewarm reception to his tedious excursions into jazz and classical music, vowed last year never to play in England again. It's also why Costello's talented new wave peer Joe Jackson has faded from view since his early 1980s heyday. A classically trained pianist, Jackson moved away from the post-punk of his early days to experiment in such divergent genres as reggae and orchestral composition. The result has been an impressively eclectic discography but a dwindling fan club. From the charged opener "Invisible Man" (about Jackson's fall from the charts), Rain 's busy, expansive harmonies announce a return to his pop roots. The instrumentation is sparse - piano, bass and drums - but the songs dart about imaginatively, their bustling tunefulness uncompromised by the odd foray into jazz and classical. The occasional song loses focus but then a pearl such as "King Pleasure Time" comes along - the sort of sophisticated, spiky piano pop for which Costello was once famed - and forgiveness immediately ensues.

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I'm still waiting for my signed copy in the post and have resisted, fool that I am , listening to downloads etc.

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