Joe Jackson – Night And Day (1982)

This is another album I had on vinyl, bought at time of release, and later replaced on CD. I think this was bought in a 'CDs without cases for £1' sale in Our Price, since the insert is home made.

It's a marked shift in the Joe Jackson sound, made in New York City, with a much greater jazz influence than earlier albums.

So what of the songs? Have they stood the test of time? Largely yes, with some sounding stronger than others. Opener Another World sets the scene without really blowing the listener away, a well constructed, performed and produced song to start, then It's straight into (the songs segue into one another) Chinatown, full of minor keys and eastern sound, again, a decent enough song, but not a JJ classic. But on TV Age, there's a shift to a more modern sound, with a very Talking Heads sound, sounding really nice and flowing into the more orthodox song, with an infectious piano refrain in Target, and you can feel the transition from the eastern sound of earlier in the album to a more bustling New York sound, before Jackson's biggest worldwide hit, an almost definitive sound of NYC in the fantastic Steppin' Out. This still sounds wonderful, over forty years on, and is a superb climax to the first half of the album.

The second half has a completely different feel, definitely four separate songs rather than a themed group, starting and ending with two fantastic love songs, bookending a couple of pieces of social comment. Breaking Us In Two is just a great, well constructed song of flawed love and starts the second half at a gentle pace. Cancer is a Jackson commentary on the perils of modern life, which doesn't really hit the mark to my ears, while Real Men, examining gender roles of the 1980s is slower and feels a lot more coherent. But these two feel weak being positioned between the two ballads, and Slow Song is a joyous love song, of simple construction, so well executed and a fitting climax to the album.

Unsurprisingly, this was Jackson's most successful album. Not everything hits the target, but when it does it's a fine listen, certainly with at least three of Jackson's finest songs.

Link to album tracks

4* - a change in direction shows a far more mature songwriting and performance in a great album