Joe Jackson recently released
\nNight And Day 2<\/i>, a supposed sequel to his 1982 record of the
\nsame name (without the “2”, of course). Other than the fact that
\nit’s a pop record, which is something Jackson hasn’t done in nearly
\na decade, I don’t really quite see the connection between the two
\nalbums, but I thought it would be a good idea to introduce this
\nenigmatic artist to “The Daily Vault” by going back to the first
\nNight And Day<\/i> and seeing what it was all about.<\/p>\n
\nNight And Day<\/i> was Jackson’s fifth album in only three years,
\nand by then his musical career had already taken several left
\nturns, from the anrgy young Elvis-Costello-ish post-punk of
\nLook Sharp<\/i> and
\nI’m The Man<\/i> to the more soulful
\nBeat Crazy<\/i> to the swing-influenced
\nJumpin’ Jive<\/i>. But even those who thought they were prepared
\nfor anything must have still been shocked by
\nNight And Day<\/i>. Suddenly, the man had moved to California,
\nhad presumably come out of the closet (we’ll get to that later),
\nand was (at least for the most part) happy.<\/p>\n
Side one, the “Night” side, evokes the feeling of a bustling,
\ncrazy city. “Another World” leads off the album on a bright note
\nwith a funky salsa-influenced beat, some crazy piano playing that
\nBilly Joel would be proud of, and an infectious, sing-along chorus.
\nThis is the sort of song that would be just plain fun to play
\nyourself. “Chinatown,” the sad story of a lost tourist in search of
\na Chinese restaurant, recalls Steely Dan in its black humor and
\nincorporation of far-eastern musical sounds and chords.<\/p>\n
Jackson moves onto some social commentary with “TV Age” and
\n“Target,” the former a dark look at our growing addictions to the
\nboob tube, including a prophetic statement about HBO when it really
\nwas a new thing, and the latter an ode to that crazy, bustling city
\nwhich we’ve already begun to visualize merely by listening to the
\nalbum. “Target” also uses that same crazy, jazz-like piano we heard
\nin “Another World,” once again showcasing Jackson’s ability to
\ncombine several musical influences into a coherent song.<\/p>\n
And speaking of combining, Side one is brought to a close with
\nthe classic single “Steppin’ Out,” Jackson’s invitation to a
\ncompanion to join him in that city. Don’t deny it, you know the
\nwords; “In a yellow taxi turn to me and smile \/ we’ll be there in
\njust a while \/ if you follow me.” This is one of the few big hits
\nof the early ’80s that doesn’t sound even the smallest iota out of
\ndate. A subtle but steady thump keeps the song going, but one of
\nthe catchiest four-measure keyboard lines in the history of pop
\nmusic propels this song into overdrive repeatedly, and you never
\nget sick of it. I have heard that four-measure line used by many a
\nTV newscast or sportscast in cuts to commercials, and I applaud
\ntheir choice of a soundtrack every time.<\/p>\n
The “Day” side opens with the line “Don’t you feel like trying
\nsomething new?” which introduces the other instantly-recognizable
\nsingle “Breaking Us In Two.” I’ve often heard the accusation that
\nthis is the same song as “Steppin’ Out” just slowed down to half
\nthe speed. And while it’s true that the two hits share what is most
\nlikely the same synth patch, percussion kit, and of course
\nJackson’s unmistakable voice, that is all in all an unfair
\naccusation. “Breaking Us In Two” is a lilting, vaguely
\nLatin-american-esque, every-note-means-something ballad that holds
\nits own with most of the ’80s bubblegum it shared the charts with
\nat the time.<\/p>\n
In general, side two takes longer to grow on you, but is
\neventually even more complex and rewarding than the first side.
\n“(Everything Gives You) Cancer” comes next as Jackson ruminates on
\nthe overprotectiveness resulting from an epidemic. “Don’t work
\nhard, don’t play hard \/ you’ll head for the graveyard.” And of
\ncourse he exclaims “Don’t play that piano!” as he launches into a
\nkiller solo.<\/p>\n
We are treated with the two most difficult-to-get-into tracks at
\nthe album’s close. “Real Men” is one of the most blatantly honest
\ntunes of the rock era, acting both as an anti-homophobia statement,
\nand a cutting jab at society’s attitudes of what constitutes
\n“manliness.” This song was the third single from the album, and of
\ncourse was banned from many radio stations’ playlists because it
\nhad the word “faggot” in it, testimony to how little censors really
\nlisten to the context of rock lyrics. “You don’t want to sound
\ndumb,” Jackson sings, “You don’t want to offend \/ so don’t call me
\na faggot, not unless you are a friend.” From a personal standpoint,
\nI was ten years old when I first heard this song (fortunately, MTV
\nwas a little more daring), and it was largely responsible for the
\nexorcism of my own homophobia at a nice early age. Shouldn’t radio
\nstations be
\npromoting<\/i> this sort of thing?<\/p>\n
“A Slow Song” concludes the album and releases the tension of
\n“Real Men” quite nicely; it’s Joe Jackson’s torch song of sorts, a
\nsteamy, almost bluesy, slow jam \/ waltz that torturously builds up
\nand quiets down several times, and ends sweetly with a
\nmusic-box-like fade-out.<\/p>\n
\nNight And Day<\/i> has all one can possibly ask for in a pop
\nrecord – infectious beats, clever and sometimes controversial
\nlyrics, fantastic musicianship, and plenty of variety. Several
\nother of Jackson’s recordings, such as the angry-young-man debut
\nLook Sharp<\/i> (1979), the funk and jazz-influenced
\nBody And Soul<\/i> (1984), and the cosmopolitan
\nBig World<\/i> (1986) are worth listening to as well, but this
\nalbum is still Joe Jackson’s biggest must-own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":25774,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6542],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-36980","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-joe-jackson","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36980"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36980"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}