Joe Jackson - Steppin' Out: The Very Best of Joe Jackson
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CD Details
Artist: Joe JacksonEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
Format: Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2001-05-22
Music Label: A&M Records
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
- Is She Really Going Out With Him
- Sunday Papers
- One More Time
- Got The Time
- Look Sharp!
- Fools In Love
- On Your Radio
- It's Different For Girls
- I'm The Man
- Friday
- Don't Wanna Be Like That
- The Harder They Come
- Enough Is Enough
- Beat Crazy
- One To One
- Biology
- Someone Up There
- Jumpin' Jive
- Real Men
- A Slow Song
- Another World
- Steppin' Out
- Breaking Us In Two
- Memphis
- You Can't Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want)
- Happy Ending
- Be My Number Two
- Right And Wrong
- Home Town
- Precious Time
- Down To London
- Me And You (Against The World)
- Rant And Rave
- Nineteen Forever
- Obvious Song
- Stranger Than Fiction
- The Man Who Wrote Danny Boy
- Stranger Than You
Music reviews of Steppin' Out: The Very Best of Joe Jackson
Music Review: Where you get what you want, when you know what you want
Rating: 5 Stars
Joe Jackson was one third of the angry young men triumvirate of the British New Wave, standing alongside of Graham Parker and Elvis Costello. But while he may have never received the critical accolades that have held Costello's career in the spotlight for so long, or the maintained the energy of Parker, Jackson has managed to build an incredible, varied body of work. This two disc set encompasses every phase of Jackson's restlessness. From the hyper-active skinny tie pop of the first two albums, to the New York influenced sophistication of "Night and Day" and "Body And Soul," to his erratic but always interesting later material, it is all covered in this set's 38 selections.
Jackson can also claim to have stroked some major old school influence. "Is She Really Going Out With Him" was one of the first of the genre to crack the American Top 40. His debut, "Look Sharp," remains a songwriter's tour-de-force, all energy and crunch with a stunning array of stylized hooks. The darker "I'm the Man" followed suit, with a more expansive lyrical view and one of his early (but terrific) ballads in "It's Different For Girls." The restlessness was already beginning to take hold, and the dub-frenzy of "Beat Crazy" found Jackson striking out in all sorts of directions. A reflection on his past ("Jumping Jive") marked time till he could sort out his next move (along with taking up residency in NYC).
The result was the sophisticated, swinging pop of "Night And Day," Jackson's most fully realized album. From the elegant dance single "Stepping Out" to the knowing ballad "Breaking Us In Two," this was where Jackson made the transition from his new wave past to pop craftsman of the first order. The follow-up, the more urbane "Body And Soul" bordered on pretension though, Jackson's ego was beginning to show. That album did yield one great single in "You Can't Get What You Want," but like the other ballad here ("Be My Number Two"), the album felt more like style than substance. "Big World" suffered from the same pretensions; Jackson wanted to record an entire album with a live audience, but then forbade them from making any noise in the process. It made for a couple interesting and spontaneous songs (best represented here by "Right And Wrong"), it also sounded stuffy and forced.
After that, there were a couple attempts to return to his roots ("Nineteen Forever") and a concept album or two. Of those, "The Man Who Wrote Danny Boy" (from "Night Music") stands out as one of the finest story songs Jackson has ever written. But it was obvious he was running out of ideas, as the telling title of the "Night And Day II" CD would show. That doesn't mean Jackson had gone flat, the songs on the second disc stand up fine on their own. (And the recent "Volume 4" CD is a strong return to form.)
"Steppin' Out: The Very Best Of Joe Jackson" offers a couple bonuses. Jackson took a swing at the reggae classic "The Harder They Fall" as a single/EP and a non album track, "Enough Is Not Enough," makes its CD bow. "Memphis," the great single from the movie soundtrack of "Mike's Murder" graces disc two. All in all, a very strong collection from an artist who's best work not just stepped out, but stands up to the tests of time.
Description of Steppin' Out: The Very Best of Joe Jackson
Audio CDThe two-CD Steppin' Out trawls the recorded career of an ambitious artist whose work has ranged from reggae-inflected new wave to classical crossover. Cosmopolitan even at his most punky, former Royal Academy of Music student Joe Jackson found his greatest success with Night and Day, a blend of pop and Latin flavors that produced highly memorable tracks such as this retrospective's title song, "Another World," and "Breaking Us in Two." That very sophistication, however, has often proven the downfall of some Jackson discs and ultimately blurred his musical identity beyond the focus that, say, Elvis Costello has maintained through many stylistic shifts. Even powerful early music--such as several cuts from 1980's dub-wise Beat Crazy--is marred by sledgehammer irony, while excerpts from later albums are anything from tastefully bland to downright irritating. --Rickey Wright
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