With this Sunday’s demise of the British tabloid The News of the World, it got me to thinking about Joe Jackson‘s “ode” to that form of journalism, “Sunday Papers.”
This tune is from Jackson’s Look Sharp, one of my favorite albums and a strong contender from 1979. But thinking about my time here at The Hall, I can’t think of many, if any, mentions of Joe Jackson or his music. I mean, this is a guy who initially appeared to be part of that holy trinity of English angry young singer-songwriters (alongside Elvis Costello and Graham Parker) and whose choice of footwear influenced a subset of the hip and happening. He writes some pretty clever lyrics, plays keyboards and a mean harmonica, was an early adopter of the music video form, and has worked with Francis Ford Coppola.
I’m trying to ascertain RTH’s disinclination to embrace The Man. Could it be his hairline? That he has worn an earring? That he plays the piano rather than a guitar. That he has embraced multiple musical styles that don’t always sync with the tastes of the time? That he cooperated on a cover of a Pulp song with William Shatner?
That string of albums, including Look Sharp, I’m the Man, Beat Crazy, and Night and Day, are some of my favorites. Why aren’t they yours?
There’s a kind of perfectionist vibe about the guy that puts me off. My Kentonite tendencies take a back seat to no Townsman, but Jackson’s level of uptightness — and therefore non-rocking-ness — are frequently a deal-breaker for me.
Mind you, when he stops trying to rock, and makes a record that plays to his uptight, jazzbo arrangement strengths — like “Night and Day” — it sometimes works for me. Unless it’s too impenetrable or Broadway, which many of his later albums are.
Bottom line:
His early stuff rubs the me the wrong way, in the same way that a “rockin'” Steely Dan album would. His later material is mostly boring to me in concept. Where’s the soul?
I like Look Sharp and I’m The Man pretty well. Graham Maby plays the bass role of Bruce Thomas with worse tone and perhaps less style, but his parts are still interesting in many of those tunes. Still now that Bakshi has mentioned the jazzy elements, I can imagine him having done an album of Steely Dan covers with no problem.
I’ve always looked at Joe Jackson as the duck-billed platypus of 1979. He’s a guy who makes a great album touching on the emerging new wave, but he’s not “of” the new wave. I think his heart was always elsewhere and that shows in his music.
I am a fan, seem him several times and have all of his albums up to his mid-90’s output, when I thought things started getting spotty. I think part of my issue with him can be summed up with the song title, “Kinda Kute (A Pop Song).” Why does he have to qualify it as a pop song? He gives off this vibe that his main means of expression, fame and income, and what connects him to his fans, is beneath him. He’s really a composer with jazz and classical chops who can write a snappy pop tune and he wants you to know this. But you know what, he’s not the only rocker with chops in other styles – look, here’s Elliot Smith playing Rachmaninoff:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qH2SmPth0A
For a very talented guy, there is a bit of self-defensive insecurity that comes through in a lot of his lyrics, his posturing and his stylistic shifts. For me, he hit a stride with the albums Night & Day, Body & Soul, Big World and the double-live album that proves without a doubt the MVP status of Graham Maby. I think most rockers think they are badass and they know it. Joe Jackson isn’t sure he’s badass, but he wants you to know he is.
I enjoy Jackson’s albums through Body and Soul. He’s made a few mistakes – for instance, his hit “Steppin’ Out” would have been much better without a drum machine or synth bass. However, I find his work to be at least listenable and at times thrilling. I particularly like the fact that he covered some great 1940s jazz-blues tunes with a full horn band in 1981’s Jumpin’ Jive. That took nerve, and it’s kind of a shame he never repeated that experiment.
His first two albums are pretty perfect, IMO … and he was the first new-waver who really rocked. His production was a bit “clean” I’ll admit. But as a 17-year old “punk” he was of great service. Don’t listen to him now (like I do Costello) but heard an oldie of his the other day and it really brought me back.
I think the first two albums are swell, and nothing he ever did really bugs me, at least music wise. Every interview I’ve ever read he comes across as a major dick, though. He comes across as thinking that everyone else in the world is stupid, and he’s the only one that isn’t. Which is fine by me, I just don’t read his interviews anymore. He really set you apart when I was in High School. I bet I could count on one hand how many of us listened to that first album, but now it’s been revised as a “classic,” like all the Ramones albums.
I’ve also seen him live and thought it was one of the best shows I’d seen. It started with a solo musician (not him, but I can’t recall which – maybe conga) and as each new musician joined the group, he/she had his/her moment. He seems to have a respect for his individual musicians.
I like that he has attempted interesting things, even if they haven’t always been successful. And as a piano player, I would say his playing is pretty impressive. But perhaps he is a “Jack(son) of all trades, master of none.”
Here’s the Shatner/Pulp/Jackson song, “Common People.” My jaw dropped when I first found it – it’s so ridiculous. Jackson enters at around the 1:25 mark:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRWsuyQ6Y0Q
Joe Jackson was the first “real” concert I went to, his first U.S. tour, at The Berklee Performance Center in Boston. My recollection of the show was that it was great: the band was super-tight (which, at the time, didn’t strike me as “fussy”), the sound was crystal clear…..and Joe was way taller than I expected him to be. They rocked, as far as 15 year old me was concerned. He spent as much time standing at the mic as he did behind the piano, and was fairly animated throughout, and guitar player Gary Sanford was especially entertaining, with his over-wound mechanical chicken stage moves (which I now recognize as being, at least, partially copped from Wilko Johnson – his guitar playing also owes a debt to that Brit rhythm/lead school of playing, of which I’m a huge fan).
I have the first three albums, and love the first two, but after that I just lost interest, mainly because, for me, he stopped rocking. He may have jazzbo chops, but I don’t think he has the vocal instrument to match his piano and composing skills (something which also bugs me about EC when he goes into that mode, perhaps even more so, as Elvis can be more of a vocal blow hard). So, I guess I just liked the original band’s sound more than his later, jazzier, offerings…..probably because I’m a bigger rock & roll fan than I am a jazz-pop-show tunes fan. Simple as that.
Mr. Royale also ran into JJ in Soho (NY) and said that he was much taller than expected…and polite.
As a budding “punk” when his first two albums came out, I kind of liked the social commentary of his lyrics and the sound of his voice. But to the girls, if they did not want to listen to my punk tapes in my Buick Skylark, Elvis Costello of the trinity was the only acceptable alternative. Graham Parker never made it into the Buick…
I always considered Joe, Elvis, and Graham my punk singer/songwriter trinity also. When I became aware of all three, I didn’t favor one over the other. Look Sharp was and still is excellent. As GREAT as EC and GP’s first records. I’m the Man was good, but seemed like the same album just not as fresh.
EC and GP’s creative arc from 1st to 4th albums just plain left Joe in the dust as far as I’m concerned. My Aim is True, to This Year’s Model, to Armed Forces, to Get Happy or Howling Wind, to Heat Treatment, to Stick to Me (meh), to Sparks are incomparable runs of GREATness.
Joe went a different creative direction that didn’t appeal to me as much. He is quite obviously the bronze medal winner in that bunch.
Still, Look Sharp is outstanding.
Joe was an “automatic buy” of mine for years. I always found something worthwhile. His 2003 album Volume 4 is pretty strong. Love this song called Chrome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P12qGnsa6iw
Joe has some good stuff but too much condescension toward the Police-style new wave of Look Sharp . Night and Day and Body and Soul seemed to play more to his strengths but not to my interests as a listener.
Catching up after a busy day… HVB, this is like a Ricky Henderson lead-off home run to my eyes. More below…
I like Joe a whole lot. The first 3 albums are outstanding! (For some reason, his later stuff is not as dear to me.) I think that Beat Crazy gets a lot less notice than it deserves. The songs are certainly less straightforward pop/punk than the first 2 albums, but they have a great noisy edge.
Graham Maby’s bass work just kills. It’s like a lead melodic instrument in many cases. “Geraldine and John”, “Baby Stick Around”, “Biology”, …
I agree with funoka, Volume 4 is strong. The original J.J. Band, it’s really their 4th album. My favorite song on it is “Fairy Dust” which drives a seamless but frenetic breakneck 5/4.
http://youtu.be/r2S4sZoqMkc
Prior to leaving for my day out of the house I made sure Look Sharp was on my iPod. Listening to it in the car I really hoped it would hit me like it hadn’t hit me since high school days. I hoped my wife would appreciate my “stooping” to the level of playing an old high school favorite of hers that I’m too high brow to dig as much as I probably should. I hoped my boys would love it. Instead…no one complained, but it simply played through and while I intellectually enjoyed the album as much as I ever do, nothing but “Is She Really Going Out With Him” made me feel anything. The other songs, as catchy and nervy as they are, hit me more like the Police playing as “tough guys.” That one single, “Is She Really Going Out With Him” breathes; it’s musical in a way that sounds more like what music was meant to pour out of Jackson’s being, as cosmic as that sounds. It’s like a fun version of a great Tom Petty song. I like that song a lot. The rest of it is all good, but it’s like a collection of one-hit wonder songs from the new wave era, like an album’s worth of “Turning Japanese”-quality songs. It’s all fine, but it doesn’t sink in for me.
I used to have a cassette tape recorded off the radio in high school of one of those King Biscuit concerts from the time of his second album. That was, in my memory at least, much better, much more exciting. I should see if I can download all the 1979-era radio concerts I recorded on long-lost tapes: Joe Jackson, The Police, Tom Petty, even George Thorogood sparkled in that format.
As I’ve mentioned before, what really killed Joe Jackson for me, and I can’t separate it from my fair-balanced attempts at revisiting his music today, was when he put out that George Gershwin-type album and pooh-poohed his first two albums as a sham way of getting a record deal. Call it the Sincerity Fallacy, but that really sealed the deal on my teenage suspicions that he wasn’t really “one of us,” or one of my role models. Passion is no ordinary word.
Excellent characterization!
REALLY good points! Thinking about his insecure tough-guy pose some more and imagining him continuing to churn out catchy rock-pop albums rather than turn to more “artistic” stuff that he cared about and you know who I envision? An English Billy Joel. So, in a sense, perhaps the man had good sense to abandon his initial path!
Ouch! But JJ’s lyrics are frequently so much better.
I don’t know about this “insecure tough-guy pose.” I would agree that JJ’s lyrics, esp. for the first few albums, suggest a lot of anger and insecurity. But later song topics seem to go beyond teenage whinging and refer to larger societal issues, esp. on Night and Day.
Wow, you could say he was ahead of Fugazi in dealing with all this masculinity/sexuality stuff, piano or no piano!
Last time I listened to Look Sharp a year or so ago, that whole pushy, pissy new-wave attitude towards women/relationships really bugged me, in ways even Costello’s doesn’t. At my age, I’m kinda glad I can’t relate to that sort of thing anymore.
OK, here’s the key point for me about Joe Jackson:
1) His campaign against anti-smoking laws has made him dead to me. Anything he ever says again goes in one ear and out the other. He’s put himself on my permanent rock asshole list, which is a shame because of what I’m about to say.
2) “It’s Different For Girls” is one of the three or four greatest songs in the history of music. I could go on for days about why, about its simple musical beauty and sly melody, the arrangement, etc… but the thing that made it my own anthem for many years is that it’s one of the only songs you’ll ever hear that takes a cliche and turns it around by suggesting the fact that those on the other side of it can be hurt even more because they’re dealing with both the hurtful behavior *and* the expectation that they won’t be hurt by it.
3) Throughout his career he tried to say something important about humanity and human relationships, and like, for example, Juliana Hatfield, it was occasionally awkward and overdone (though never as embarrassing as her), but when it hit it really hit. Songs like “Real Men” and “Don’t Wanna Be Like That” and “One To One” are classics of the type.
4) As mentioned above, BEAT CRAZY is a wonderful and underrated album.
This is an excellent topic to have raised and I have read everyone’s comments with great interest, surprised at how many I agreed on both sides of the fence.
Like many others here, I loved and still own the first two records. But I rarely listen to them, certainly less than the early EC and GParker records. The striving towards jazzy respectability left me cold as a kid and even colder now; and unless the cover of Body and Soul contains a sense of irony that is lost on me, he had not (and has not) the cred to ape Sonny Rollins, and in general his jazz stylings strike me as an ominous foreshadowing of solo Sting.
I lost interest by Night and Day, though I would respectfully disagree with tonyola and wouldn’t change a thing about “Steppin’ Out.” Normally I would agree 100% on the drum machine and synths but it all works there and it is a great song that stays great AND remains capable of transporting this listener back to the time of its popularity.
I haven’t listened to the lp in a long, long time but can’t imagine it holding much interest. I was never a big fan of “Breaking Us in Two,” and “Real Men,” as much as the sentiments expressed are to be commended, seems to me about as interesting to listen to as Sting’s “Russians.” The rest I don’t much remember.
What strikes me is how many of the very spot-on criticisms of Jackson–the snotty attitude, the sense that is musical heart was always elsewhere, etc.–might also be leveled at Costello. But whereas with one it seems fair and justified with the other it feels like quibbling. Tough call.
My feelings towards him were not improved when a few years ago I got hold of an early 80s Rockpalast performance (from 1980 I think) and really looked forward to watching it: I found myself mainly annoyed with him, his airs, his petulance, the ersatz feel of the whole angry rocker thing. Left a bad taste. The 1983 is considerably worse.
Mod’s line about an English Billy Joel is too, too close for comfort.
Poor man’s Costello.
E. Pluribus
Yes, and the pushy vocal stylings seem very dated too. Vocal mugging. JJ’s limitations as a vocalist are similar to Graham Parker’s. You can hector listeners for a while, but when you try to grow do something different you may find out that your voice has a limited range of expression.
Coming in late on this one but I agree with a lot of what’s been said.
I thought the first albums was great although I never listen to it.
I liked 2-3 songs on the second album.
I’m far too much of a snob to want to hear his versions of old jazz standards.
And then we come to that abysmal Steppin Out. That’s a song in search of a Broadway musical.
I think he was just trying to find an entryway into a musical career and was clever enough to fake his way in as a new wave act before revealing himself as a much more traditional songwriter. I don’t begrudge him the bait and switch and I have no doubt he’s talented, but I also don’t want to listen to anything by him after his faux-new wave period.
I don’t feel we should hold it against Joe Jackson that he was bandwagon jumping. So was Joe Strummer. If you decide to avoid everyone whose career is partly the result of opportunism, you’re not going to have a lot to listen to.
Jackson’s 3rd and 4th albums were Beat Crazy and Jumpin’ Jive, so it seems to me that he was signaling very early on that he was not committed to any one musical style.
I’m not holding it against him at all. I just hope he doesn’t hold it against me that I have no interest in his true musical calling.
Thank you to pudman and misterioso for balanced feedback. I really am interested in what everyone says but I have to admit last night I was feeling a little stung by some of the comments. Uh oh, taking it too personally. I guess that’s what happens when you want people to like what you like, and admire the aspects you admire. That said, I do agree with some of the negative feedback.
A lot of people have been commenting on JJ’s bad behavior and that it forever tinged the way they thought of his music. I haven’t seen or heard his anti-smoking campaign or the comments about eliciting record deals. I guess you could call it blissfully unaware.
It seems that here in The Hall, the musician is often as important as the music, and that some sorts of bad behavior are accepted as “cool” as they fall in line with the artist being an interesting character or bad-ass or whatever. “It’s Different For Musicians.” Perhaps we need a post on acceptable Rock Behavior and what immediately sends the musician down into the bargain bin? Which artists are you willing to give the Jackson Pass (?) to even though his/her behavior doesn’t warrant it?
I’m guilty of this conflating of art/artist, too: My interest in some visual artists, esp. Picasso, has been forever shaded by the knowledge of his relationships with others.
“Different For Girls” reminds me of this clip from Whit Stillman’s “Barcelona.” Esp. around the 45 second mark:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=japE8DzdhZ0
What a great movie. Hail Whit Stillman. Here’s hoping his allegedly forthcoming film doesn’t mar his otherwise strong (if short) filmography http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/29/new-whit-stillman-movie-picked-up-by-sony-pictures-classics/
I love that movie too. Still waiting for someone to start a band called The Cool Trade Fair Girls.
I just watched “The Last Days of Disco” again last night and realized that if I had just seen that movie and considered the discussions about Lady and the Tramp and The Tortoise and the Hare, I could have done away with much of grad school.
I welcome a new Whit Stillman movie – finally! That Greta Gerwig was good in the one movie I’ve seen with her, Ben Stiller’s SERIOUS film from last year, directed by the Squid and the Whale guy – Greenberg, or something like that.
Mod, have you watched Baumbach’s Kicking and Screaming yet? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHjt162nbns
Good points, ladymiss, and definitely topics worth continuing to explore. I’m glad you posted this. We had an offline chat about Joe Jackson a month or two ago, and since that time I’d been revisiting his music and trying to piece together where it all went – wrong is not the right word – not-quite-right with me and the guy.
No, thanks for reminding me of my need to do so!
Those who accuse Jackson of being stiff, pissy, and overly style-conscious really should give Jumpin’ Jive a listen. OK, it’s all old songs that likely have been done better by the original artists. However, the horn-driven band plays with real enthusiasm, everything’s done fast and loose, and Joe sings these songs with both heart and humor. Don’t confuse Jive with cheesy-update exercises like Taco and “Puttin’ On the Ritz” – there’s not a synth in sight on Joe’s record. The whole thing comes off as a labor of love on Joe’s part and it’s a lot of fun to listen to.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqhjDAWJr4s&feature=related
Labor of love: I don’t doubt it. Taco may have loved what he was doing, too, but let’s not go there. But as for being not cheesy: there we part ways.
Given that he didn’t write new songs in this style, I don’t see how this is any better than the Blues Brothers.
Let me clarify. He hasn’t launched an anti-smoking campaign. If he had, I would be applauding him for that as much as I applaud him for “It’s Difefrent For Girls.” He has launched an *anti-anti*-smoking campaign, one in which he writes editorials that seem like they were penned by Marlboro and claim that there’s no such thing as a health risk from second hand smoke. Why he chose this issue to champion in behind me, but who can predict what some people will do?
As I see it, by the way, one of the things that made his first few albums work was that he seemd to me to have absolutely no interest whatsoever is being cool, at least in any accepted way.
What the hell kind of a world is this where Chris Eigeman has no career? I realize that in those Stillman movies (and in Baumbach’s Kicking and Screaming) he kind of just played variations on one character, but how many no talents have parlayed far less into long careers?
I made a mistake. I picked the one near-novelty tune off the album and everyone starts flaunting their preconceived notions. I shouldn’t have bothered. Now go be a good purist and listen to some scratchy Louis Jordan 78s.
Uh I bought the album when it was new. My notions are conceived, not preconceived.
But tonyola, the song you picked isn’t exactly unrepresentative of the record. BigSteve’s analogy of the Blues Brothers is spot on. (I wracked my brain to think of one as good and could not.) Affectionate, enthusiastic, faithful, professional: both are all those things. But pretty gimmicky, and not just because some of the Jordan songs themselves are gimmicky to begin with. This is like a Civil War reenactment: I just don’t see the point. See also, Brian Setzer Orchestra. It’s not a question of preconceived notions: like I knew thing one about Louis Jordan when the record came out? But, yeah, I guess if I did want to listen to Louis Jordan (and I don’t, generally), I’d go with the scratchy old recordings.
Don’t you know that it’s different for churls?
Noah Baumbach – another favorite.
I miss him too. We looked him up on IMDB – looks like some tv but that’s about it. I like him in “Mr. Jealousy” too.
I believe he’s branched out into directing recently, though I haven’t seen any of his work in that area.
Good track.
This is pretty interesting reading:
http://www.poemhunter.com/lyrics/joe-jackson/biography/
I didn’t know he had done a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Oh Well.” Here’s one version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgfszdcraxA
I think this one if from 1991 or so. There is a later one on YouTube that is from 2010 that is more salsafied.
Nice! C’mon Mod, you Don’t Wanna Be Like That.