There was a post on Twitter the other day when someone was seeking opinions as to which was the better of two Joe Jackson albums, namely his 1979 debut Look Sharp! or 1982's Night and Day.
The picture above gives a clue as to where my vote went and I subsequently dusted it down for it's first airing in a long time.
Joe Jackson was probably one of those artists who was tagged as New Wave when he really wasn't . Indeed you can hear some tinkling of the ivories here and there on Look Sharp! However by 1982 he had already recorded his Joe Jackson's Jumping Jive album and his music was moving in a completely different direction to what I was listening to at the time.
When he started out there were comparisons with Elvis Costello and Graham Parker both in terms of his songs and his song writing.
I was going to say that I've featured the two big hits from the album but Fools in Love didn't chart and Is She Really Going Out With Him? only reached number 13 second time round after not charting first time.
Despite him hating the album cover it was ranked at 22 in Rolling Stone's 100 greatest album covers of all time.
Joe Jackson - Is She Really Going Out With Him?
Joe Jackson - Fools in Love
Great albums both. I'm also very fond of 1986's 'Big World.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to be awkward and suggest that I'm The Man is Joe's key work
ReplyDelete(Look Sharp! and Night and Day share equal second place)
It’s better than Night and Day
DeleteI love any opportunity to shout out to the world that I LOVE Jackson's Beat Crazy album. I have always given Jackson credit for following his own path. I think his greatest achievement is 1986's Big World.
ReplyDeleteEvery album by Joe Jackson that has been mentioned on this post and in the comments is brilliant. Big World is his best, beating Look Sharp by an eyelash.
ReplyDelete