Faded away.
Given the eclectic nature of There Stands the Glass, I feel a strong affinity for the stylistic restlessness that's characterized Joe Jackson's career. Constant genre jumping has limited Jackson's commercial appeal, just as it reduces the audience for this site.
Jackson has excelled at Louis Jordan jump, cocktail jazz, classical composition and pop music. The latter category featured one of the two contemporary personal anthems of my high school experience. (Here's the other one. Oh, what painful memories!)
The fifty-something's Rain was released earlier this week. Initial sales figures indicate that it will fair better than the largely forgotten out-of-print Laughter & Lust. Yet the 1991 album has aged quite well.
"The Old Songs" reflects sentiments familiar to anyone reading these words. Jackson laments the way so many music fans become mired in the past. "I like those songs," he sighs wearily. "But I'd like something new."
Me too, Joe.
---
Even though many of his fans have already acquired leaked MP3s of its contents, it feels like my 2008 won't really be underway until I'm holding the official version of Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III. Here's an update.
---
Kansas City Click: The Last Call Girls should feel right at home at Davey's tonight.
Randy Brecker continues his work with UMKC's jazz kids on Saturday.
The Fisk Jubilee Singers visit Park College on Sunday.
3 comments:
Long may you genre jump restlessly. Nothing musically human is foreign to you. Bravo.
As he neared the end of that early pop incarnation I saw Joe Jackson perform in Dublin. It was obvious that the bulk of the crowd were there for those two earlier anthems even though he had already moved on somewhat musically.
He performed one of those songs with a range of alternative instruments in a whole new arrangement - I considered that a fantastic treat but it didn't go down well with the crowd who simply wanted to hear exactly what they had heard on the radio a few years earlier.
The tension between artist and audience was palpable then and later when he performed a brand new song and a large group of people prematurely clapped as if it finished, but it still had a minute or so to go. He was quite upset and I couldn't blame him. I was embarassed, and I completely agree with him. Nostalgia is okay so long as it's not used to hold back the new.
Great story, Irish.
And you already know how I feel about you, Mr. Poncho.
Post a Comment