Joe Jackson - Night and Day
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CD Details
Artist: Joe JacksonEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1989-10-20
Music Label: A&M
Soundtracks:
- Another World
- Chinatown
- T.V. Age
- Target
- Steppin' Out
- Breaking Us in Two
- Cancer
- Real Men
- Slow Song
Music reviews of Night and Day
Music Review: This Is NOT A Target.This Is Another World!
Rating: 5 Stars
Upon hearing this album I am very shocked and rather annoyed to see that some of the reviews here,on BMG Music Service and even on [..] are all giving this music a hard time-all because of what it represented in Joe Jackson's catalog:an end to his New Wave/Punk era,officially. This may seem like a judgement call but the punk/alternative rock audience seems to be among the most narrow minded-that is next to jazz critics ironically;it just seems as if the music doesn't end up in the general same place it started from,it isn't worth playing anymore. Well either way this album,Joe's commercial breakthrough in many ways trying to build his song catalog as a modern day version of Irving Berlin or either Gershwin.While both of them were classical composers whose writing styles were heavily inflected with American ragtime and jazz,Joe Jackson is taking his own spin on that as a late 70's British new waver inflecting his music with jazz and even some classical. The Style Council with Paul Weller would make a killing with a similar idea a year later with their Introducing the Style Council but well what's important here is the way Joe put this album together. The songs seemed to be linked in a conceptual manner-it's not certain if they are or aren't and produced the songs with without breaks between them;you can still skip to each cut on the CD though.Generally speaking,the basic sound of the music is based in percussion and piano,with the wash of electronic synthesizers finding their way into the mix and ambition abounds."Another World" finds the clanking percussion introducing a jazzy pop/soul tune that is pretty far away from.....say Look Sharp! but is only setting the stage. The cover art for this album includes a shot of New York City and if there is any concept hear New York,rather different aspects of it HAS to be it."Chinatown" is the perfect example:it doesn't say anything important but it does describe the cases of mistaken identity and random actions one can often find in the city-not to mention the nearly avante garde groove of the music,which actually incorperates (as the best songwriters often do) they style and chord structure of Chinese music. "TV Age"........well it does come off as more then a little smug but an interesting homage to the Talking Heads/David Byrne style funk that was so popular among the New York music scene at the time so....a purely music part to the cocept really. Now with the salsa ditty "Target",I really have to wonder if they song has to do with Joe's feelings regarding the critics who he knew would doubtless give this album a hard time,while at the same time making it clear he's taking it one day at a time and "knows what he's doing". Of course if that doesn't do it in the next track does;"Steppin' Out" is the song that is usually representing this album on the radio and,fact is it is not a particularly commercial song:nothing here is.But even in that respect the unusual,stripped down production,quick tempo,the cryptic lyrics and the general darkness of the melody add a strong irony to the joyful song. On "Breaking Us In Two" we get another hit but this one is where this album begins to live up to it's intentions totally;where the melody seems to be a partial grafting of Badfingers "Day After Day" and Steely Dan's "Rikki Don't Lose That Number",it's really not. It is an example of how the greatest songwriters find influences from other music around them to create something unique.Another salsa,"Cancer" is...well about just that-a diversion from the NYC concept but still an important issue of the time when "everything" seemed to cause cancer.And considering the culture of the time I happen to wonder if there's some loose connection there to the AIDS epidemic that was then being thought of as...well cancer. "Real Men" is a definate classic,a place where the album truly lives up to Joe Jackson's intentions as a kind of 1980's Gershwin or Cole Porter;this classically inclined tune,one so hyper melodic it could almost be part of a Rogers & Hammerstein musical Jackson bluntly explores the feelings,concerns and observations on AND of many homosexual men of that timeframe.This is one of a scant few early "gay themed" pop songs that actually takes the point of view of gay men being more hyper macho then overtly effeminine in cultural terms which is something,being gay myself I can definately deal with emotionally."A Slow Song" has a similar musical idea-it's very jazzy with a lot of piano and instrumental parts but definately has the feeling of a standard. So did this album succeed in putting Joe Jackson into the vanguard of the classic American songwriters that influenced this music?I still don't think anybody knows;outside one of my gay friends who actually first "hipped" me to his album and it's apparent place in the urban gay community I knew very little of it's artistic merrits at that time. Did this succeed commercially?No question.I don't know if it made Joe Jackson a superstar but it sure put him on the map in terms of being a musical force to contend with.That as well as paving the way for many great albums from Joe Jackson as the decade progressed.
Description of Night and Day
Japanese only SHM-CD (Super High Material CD - playable on all CD players) pressing. Universal. 2008.Having already come close to beating Graham Parker, Elvis Costello, and Louis Jordan at their own games, Joe Jackson made a play for becoming the Cole Porter of his generation with this 1982 collection. Actually that's a bit of a cheap shot, especially considering what a refreshingly innovative album this was. Jackson truly hit his stride with a memorable set that combines new technology and classic songwriting. From the infectious "Chinatown" to the hits "Stepping Out" and "Breaking Us in Two," the album is a showcase for killer hooks wrapped up in shiny keyboards and Latin-tinged percussion. Small wonder that Jackson waited two decades to attempt a sequel. --Bill Forman
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