The 1970\u2019s couldn\u2019t have ended on a stronger note. Disco was coming to an acrimonious end and New Wave was starting to make an imprint on the American culture. Beer-soaked pub rock, however, would always be popular. And this is where Englishman Joe Jackson comes in. To be clear, Joe is white and is no relation to Michael Jackson and his brothers, who were all the rage at the time and whose father\u2019s name was Joe. It\u2019s interesting that he would decide to keep this as his stage name, despite the fact that he was born as David Ian Jackson. No matter, Joe Jackson it was and he still managed to make a name for himself not only in Britain and the US, but worldwide. He\u2019d even go on to win an impressive five Grammys and was also something of a critic\u2019s darling. Let Michael become a prisoner of his own superstar status, Joe would wisely limit his media exposure and focus solely on what was most important: the music.<\/p>\n
And what mad skills Mr. Joe Jackson had. He had the distinctive voice and could play nearly as many instruments as Prince. This guy was Talented with a capital T. No, he was never a glamour puss, but back then it didn\u2019t matter. Joe Jackson was always a dude you went to HEAR play live.<\/p>\n
Only when MTV became the gold standard a few years later would the game change completely. But by then, Joe was well established and had plenty of credibility in the music industry. He had his own signature style. A pinstripe suit and skinny tie was all you needed. Top it off with a Fedora and you\u2019re good to go, receding hairlines be damned. \u201cYou gotta look sharp<\/i>!\u201d would even be a line in the title track of his sterling debut album. <\/p>\n
Producer David Kershenbaum deserves a lot of credit in tapping into the flavor of the moment. Look Sharp is indeed a product of 1979, but it\u2019s also a timeless listen at the same time. From the opening strains of what sounds like an outtake by The Police in \u201cOne More Time,\u201d to the clever and cheeky hit single \u201cIs She Really Going Out With Him,\u201d the words \u201cfresh\u201d and \u201cnew\u201d instantly come to mind. The Police comparison is an apt one, though I doubt Sting could handle spewing sarcasm like Joe does in his delivery of those \u201cSunday Papers.\u201d What makes Look Sharp<\/i> work so well is the fact that Joe doesn\u2019t hold back or sugarcoat things in his lyrics. It\u2019s what gives this material its punk edge. My only quibble is that the music itself gets a little repetitive. Had only the redundant \u201cHappy Loving Couples\u201d been cut, we\u2019d have a perfect debut on our hands. It\u2019s telling that at the end of that seemingly endless song even Joe himself says, \u201cOkay, that\u2019s enough<\/i>.\u201d That\u2019s right fellas, best to quit while you\u2019re ahead. <\/p>\n
Joe Jackson is a singer\/songwriter in the same vein as Elton John and Billy Joel. The piano and guitar were the central elements in his sound. There was a ska influence that set him apart, however, as evidenced on the laidback number \u201cFools In Love.\u201d Jazz influences also helped in fleshing it all out, especially on subsequent albums. On Look Sharp<\/i>, it was all about immediacy and an infectious beat. Angular, jagged guitar would punctuate \u201c(Do The) Instant Mash,\u201d before completely laying down the gauntlet on the surprising punk numbers \u201cThrow It Away\u201d and \u201cGot The Time.\u201d Yeah, you\u2019ll be scratching your head too by album\u2019s end. It\u2019ll make you a fan and a believer that all things are possible, because in the world of Joe Jackson, they are. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":31979,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6542],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-43712","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-joe-jackson","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43712","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\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=43712"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=43712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}