This makes for a great party record that doesn't require a party to enjoy. P.D.P. hits the street on March 1.
Joe Jackson Rain
At least in the beginning, Jackson's music career took the same path as Elvis Costello's: an angry young new-waver turned serious pop meister. Joe eventually lost me (and many others) when his music got too orchestral and heavy for his own good. Lately, he's been going back to his original sound with his original band and while Volume 4 was a more obvious return to his youthful form, Rain's absence of a guitarist makes Jackson lean more on his piano. Since that's one of greatest strengths, it's a welcome wrinkle.
Anyone who has come of age with pop music in the nineties instead of the eighties are likely to call Rain a Ben Folds Five tribute, especially when they hear the opening "Invisible Man" or "King Pleasure Time." Of course, it's Folds who owes much of his aggressive piano-pop style to Jackson, not vice versa. Jackson's songwriting even today reveals a subtle depth that few could quite match, though. There's a certain Burt Bacharach-esque way in his chord progressions within tunes like "Wasted Time" that you don't hear much of anymore. The breezy piano bar jazz of Night And Day is back, as in numbers like "The Uptown Train."
Maybe it's time to start paying attention to Joe Jackson again.
Herbie Hancock River: The Joni Letters
It's a little embarrassing to be covering jazz as much as I do and not bother to listen to the first jazz record to win an Album Of The Year Grammy in 43 years until after the fact. In spite of all the praise I've seen heaped on this record the last few months, I've resisted giving it a whirl. I'm naturally suspicious of records by excellent instrumentalists who bring in a parade of big-name guest vocalists and 2005's Possibilities did little to change that suspicion. In this case, I was wrong.
Article comments
1 - Mark Saleski
i never lost track of Joe Jackson. some of his most amazing material (Laughter and Lust and Blaze of Glory) came out when, sadly, nobody was listening.
i like the new one, but my ears miss the guitar (yeah, i would think like that)
2 - Pico
Yeah, I did say "Joe eventually lost me (and many others)" but fortunately, you're not like many others. His nineties output didn't connect with me but I didn't give them a lot of spins. Maybe they just need time to sink in. On the other hand, I liked Rain right away.
3 - Glen Boyd
Jackson's always been a superb songwriter. It just got kind of hard to follow him during that stretch where he wasdoing one "vanity project" (I know how Saleski loves that phrase) after another. "Blaze Of Glory" was definitely a great one, but for me "Night And Day" remains his finest moment -- and "Steppin Out" is about as perfectly constructed a dance-pop tune as it gets.
He's playing here In Seattle and I'm still on the fence about getting tickets. Maybe this new one will help me make up my mind.
-Glen
4 - Pico
Glen, here's a YouTube on the first cut from Rain, "Invisible Man," performed live. Sounds just like the studio version.
clicky clicky
5 - SFC SKI
You could at least mention that Joe Jackson has kept Graham Mabe as his bass player throughout his career, and Mabe's basslines have provided the overt or subtle hook that makes Jacson's songs so much more than simple backdrops for his fantastic lyrics.
6 - Glen Boyd
Graham Maby is definitely overlooked as a bass player...
-Glen