Disco de Joe Jackson: “Greatest Hits”

This disc is a great way to "get into" Joe, by getting a copy of all the hits without having to weed through some of the garbage on all the old discs. With all of the different musical directions Joe has taken, use this disc to find the couple songs that you like best and then you can buy the old discs and get into the entire albums.

For a Joe fan who wants to get a disc with a bunch of songs he already likes, I would more highly recommend the LIVE disc, which has the old songs with some re-makes.

As a big fan of Joe Jackson's first half-dozen albums, I may not be the most impartial judge of a skimpy package like this. I'm used to hearing Joe arrange his songs into a mood-setting whole, either in concert or on his original albums. Early songs on "Look Sharp!" and "I'm the Man" were three-minute slices of punk-pop perfection and as such are well-suited to compilations, but the albums he created during the middle of his career were carefully constructed and orchestrated and really deserve to be heard in their entirety, particularly "Night and Day," "Jumpin' Jive," and "Big World." If you can, buy those albums, but if you must have a "Greatest Hits" volume, spring for the 2-CD "Steppin' Out." As brilliant as Jackson's individual songs can be, I just don't think you'll be satisfied with this limited hodgepodge.

I purchased this CD for all the radio hits from Joe Jackson. I was surprised at the excellant tunes on this CD that were not radio hits. The live numbers are really good performances. If you like Joe Jackson and do not have any of his CD's, then this one is a must purchase.

Joe Jackson did not achieve chart bursting success with all his songs but oh my, he should have...his songs are not only catchy but clever...

Now, I am, of course, a "fan"....and many things I love by him are what I suppose would be termed B sides...but this is an excellent overview of some of his best. This is also good for the budget conscious who may not be able to afford all his CDs.

My personal faves are "Steppin' Out", "Right and Wrong", "Breaking Us In Two", and "Different for Girls".

Pick it up people!

November 23, 2006

In 1979, Joe Jackson, a British pianist, arranger and songwriter hit the top forty with a song called Is He Really Going Out With Him. I remember it well because as a 27 year old guard service salesman in Midtown Manhattan I clearly recall the daughter of the owner barging into our section and imploring us to listen to this catchy material. Well I did not marry the boss's daughter and Joe Jackson in 2008 is still making great music as a revered and special recording artist, his tenure as a musician light years longer then my short acquaintance with sales. I wonder if Joe were to be fast forwarded from his beginning compositions such as Breaking Us In Two and Stepping Out, would he be on commercial radio or relegated to Adult Alternative on Sirius. Sort of like Steve Poltz who is an outstanding acoustic performer and songwriter, Joe was always like a Steely Dan songwriter at least musically. You can discover many elements in Joe's music, mostly jazz rock, calypso and even swing. My wife and I saw him somewhere in the early eighties at Radio City. That was such an interesting and massively unique performance that Joe gave us. His lyrics are almost like subliminal advertising, they stick with you forever. The line I remember is "We could stay at home and stare into each other's eyes". It sounds initially as being simplistic but then it becomes metaphorical and starts reminding you of your heavy relationships. Then there is the one about "In a yellow taxi". Young folks who have obviously never heard of Joe Jackson and his quirky punk, jazzy fare should actually purchase this CD and discover a pro vs an aspirant. Jay Adler, Music Critic