Joe Jackson- Classic or Dud?

Still don't care if anyone calls me an early 80's whore:

Sounds really good lately.

been jammin this "Steppin' Out" cover a lot these past few days

I should go back and check out *Beat Crazy* (which is probably kinda fun)

I did (it was reissued on American Beat last year), and it is. Still not convinced he did all that much good stuff after that album, though. And I'm pretty certain he's been useless for a couple decades now.

I think when his instincts are/were on (most notably for me on "Steppin' Out," which I think is just a perfect groove both lyrically and musically), he's great. But the second he tries to make any kind of a point he is fuckin' Andy Rooney with pop-jazz chops. Some of the lyrics on the Big World double were just so geez-dude-thanks-for-enlightening-me it was painful. Even "I'm the Man" - ooh trends are for suckers! Thanks Joe! Glad that new wave trend didn't do anything for you!

Yeah, and his "trying to put new wave behind him" routine was just plain bullshit from the gitgo, seeing how new wave is where he made his best music.

Joe Jackson does not get enough attention on ILM, which is odd, considering how much we all love Steely Dan.

Weirdly, people actually compared his first album to both Steely Dan and Steve Miller as well as Elvis Costello when it first came out. (Also, I swear I remember it being called "spiv-rock", though that may have been a phrase Joe himself came up with.) I mentioned all that stuff in my own review of Look Sharp, which by the way was the first record review I ever wrote, for Oakland Community College's newspaper (in Michigan) during the summer of '79, when I was taking a shorthand class there. Don't have a copy of the review anymore, though.

I got into Joe Jackson again because I noticed that my local favorite classic rock station is not just playing "album rock" anymore and they played a couple of Joe Jackson songs.

Ha ha:

Joe Jackson was initially marketed as a spiv rocker, a singer keyboardist and released his first album - Look Sharp! - in February 1979. Recorded live - Jackson claimed there are absolutely no overdubs - it received unanimously positive reviews.

http://cd.ciao.co.uk/Look_Sharp_Joe_Jackson_Rock__Review_65579

Breaking Us In Two

Please be nice to a drunk Bimble. Don't do this to me. I'm going to play Steppin Out next. I can't help it if Christopher Cross rocks, probably.

STEPPIN OUT IS GONNA SYNTHESIZER YOUR ARSE

some people are 80's synthesizer whores, and I understand, I really do. We can recover from this.

Reposted just because it's so good.

Different one, this time. Thanks.

Steppin' Out is one of my favorite songs.

Do not miss his story on The Moth. Great stuff.

During the Olympics, I was convinced that the real Joe Jackson was going to 'step out' of the pool after a race in his sharp suit. http://www.olympics.org.uk/BEIJING2008/AthleteProfile.aspx?id=5648

I heard Steppin' Out in a Trader Joe's a week ago and had an "oh yeah that song is awesome" moment. I mentioned it to a friend and gave her the link and was like "best song ever" and she was like "I hate all 80s music" and now I secretly resent her.

Hahahah

I find it kind of hilarious that Joe Jackson is now held up as this unappreciated genius -- and often by people who couldn't be bothered when he was around in the 80's. He's always seemed like a fairly tuneful example of what would have happened if Elvis Costello had shitcanned Steve Nieve and hired Bruce Hornsby instead -- and that's about it.

Oh, so you're gonna hate on Bruce Hornsby now? Pfft.

i've got night & day and uh, another one it think --and i guess my thing with joe jackson is that when he hits (e.g. steppin' out) it's pretty much the best thing ever, but 85% of it is really unremarkable to these ears.

xpost

Yeah, really man. I'm not DOWN for any Hornsby hatin', okay. I'm just NOT. I never owned a Hornsby album, but you better not diss him.

Yeah I actually agree with you Will. I would get bored after an album's worth of Joe Jackson.

Also, Naive Teen Idol, who are these people who think he's a "genius". I mean haha no offence but the dude was no genius.

Another point off: he's REALLY fucking freaky looking. Especially now.

http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2008/05/02/joe_jackson_narrowweb__300x371,0.jpg

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

He's in a close race with James Carville for who's going to turn into Gollum first.

Yeah, well, who cares about "freaky looking now". Last I knew Howard Devoto looked freaky and I wouldn't hold it against him.

ok just put on 'night side' just to be sure.

Is it goth?

... and another "another world" is sounding fuckin fantastic

i also ate a piece of leftover birthday cake made with really strong pot about an hour ago

Wait, what band or artist are you talking about that does "night side"?

Hahahah - "what happened? I'm confused."

jj's Day & Night is split into "Day Side" and "Night Side"

also, the picture of him in the gatefold is freaking me out!!

Hahah wow, yeah I figured out that somehow "Night Side" was one side of it. I bought that album cheap a couple years ago and was surprised how much I hated it aside from the singles.

I wish I could see the picture in the gatefold! I'm still absolutely KICKING myself for somehow losing the pictures I used to have of the inside gatefold of Kate Bush's Hounds Of Love. I specifically had xeroxed copies of them for years and now they're gone for some reason. God, I need that LP again.

he looks like a black albino person

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ue5DN3zOIMU/SKjvhxoVgxI/AAAAAAAAAIA/xPN2q4YBUow/s400/black+albino.jpg
http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2008/05/02/joe_jackson_narrowweb__300x371,0.jpg

fwiw i really rate "i'm the man" (album and song)

https://leylandkirby.bandcamp.com/album/we-so-tired-of-all-the-darkness-in-our-lives

"Steppin' Out" is a perfect song, what a towering achievement. those jazzy chords over that Kraftwerk synth baseline, so beautiful

cosign

when I worked at Burger King one of my coworkers swore that song was Billy Joel. wasted years not knowing who it was

Since it hasn't been mentioned in this thread, let me recommend 1991's Laughter and Lust as an excellent album that no one knows.

The Jackson song I hear most often in the wild these days: "You Can't Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want)."

Something about the arrangement of that song and its quick pace works well with Joe's basically unlikeable voice. Otherwise, he's my exemplar of talented songwriters you don't want to hear sing.

When I saw him play last year or so, he had along the original rhythm box he used on the song, which was pretty cool.

My fave is "Got The Time" - Joe Jackson as punk. Anthrax covered it, even!

And they sounded less punk than Joe Jackson!

I think all of his stuff is pretty good up through Laughter and Lust, I'm not sure I've actually heard anything later. But all of the '70s and '80s albums have good songs on them. And his jumpin'jive album isn't at all embarrassing. way better than the '90s revival stuff.

Look Sharp! and I'm the Man will always be my favorites, though. I heard them in real time as they came out, my dad liked those albums.

oh man

This rules.