I've noticed a few people mentioning Joe Jackson lately, so taking the hint and bowing to peer pressure, here's Joe. This album was part of Tracy's collection and became 'family' vinyl when we married. Classed initially as new wave, jazz pop, and one I've not heard before - sophisti-pop, Joe travelled an almost parallel path to Elvis Costello.
It took me a while to come to terms with 'Night and Day', maybe because I didn't come to it gradually. All I knew were his previous hits and the singles tracks from this album 'Steppin' Out' and 'Breaking Us In Two'.
Getting further into the album brings out Latin rhythms and swings, bongos and cowbells, alto sax and swirling organs. 'Target' is quite frenetic and 'Cancer' makes you realise just how much influence there was recording the album in Soho, New York City. 'Chinatown' bothers me. The first line of the first verse is 'Trying to find Chinatown'. The first line of the second verse is 'For some soul food'. Really - wrong part of town dude !!
The thing that doesn't come across to me is what seems to be overtly promoted as an album theme. The title is 'Night and Day'. The single disc gatefold cover opens to show a NYC skyline gradually going from dusk to dark and the front has a line drawing of a lone pianist. That gives the idea of a lounge player, smokey clubs and late-night stories.
The album labels are distinctive in calling side 1 'night side', using a black label and obviously side 2 'day side' being in white. I took photos of both sides.
That's counter-intuative to me. Shouldn't you start with day and progress to night? It doesn't matter though, because the songs don't make that distinction anyway. There's no thematic difference between the two sides, just a similar range of musical styles.
This is starting to sound a bit negative. It's not meant to be. The music is good, it's full of rhythm and initiative and has some moments of brilliance but the album, IMHO, just doesn't do what it says on the tin.
As an album I prefer his debut release 'Look Sharp!' It still has a bit of punk at the edges with some reggae influence to give a familiar beat. It also contains his first and arguably best single 'Is She Really Going Out With Him'. The re-release also had a little badge, I'm a sucker for a freebie !
I'm glad I went back to take another look at 'Night and Day' .. it's not going to be at the top of the rotation but it gets an honourable mention.
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