Night and Day Joe Jackson Artist

1982 will forever be known as the year that the punks got class -- or at least when {|Joe Jackson|} and {|Elvis Costello|}, rivals for the title of Britain's reigning Angry Young Man -- decided that they were not just rockers, but really songwriters ... Read more

1982 will forever be known as the year that the punks got class -- or at least when {|Joe Jackson|} and {|Elvis Costello|}, rivals for the title of Britain's reigning Angry Young Man -- decided that they were not just rockers, but really songwriters in the {|Tin Pan Alley|} tradition. ({|Graham Parker|}, fellow angry Brit, sat this battle out, choosing to work with {|Aerosmith|} producer {|Jack Douglas|} instead.) Both had been genre-hopping prior to 1982, but {|Jackson|}'s {|Night and Day|} and {|Costello|}'s {|Imperial Bedroom|} announced to the world that both were serious songwriters, standing far apart from the clamoring punkers and silly new wavers. In retrospect, the ambitions of these two 27-year-olds (both born in August 1954, just two weeks apart) seem a little grandiose, and if {|Imperial Bedroom|} didn't live up to its masterpiece marketing campaign (stalling at number 30 on the charts without generating a hit), it has garnered a stronger reputation than {|Night and Day|}, which was a much more popular album, climbing all the way to number four on the U.S. charts, thanks to the Top Ten single {|Steppin' Out.|} {|Night and Day|} had greater success because it's sleek and bright, entirely more accessible than the dense, occasionally unwieldy darkness of {|Imperial Bedroom|}. Plus, {|Jackson|} plays up the comparisons to classic {|pop|} songwriting by lifting his album title from {|Cole Porter|}, dividing the record into a night and day side, and then topping it off with a neat line drawing of him at his piano in a New York apartment on the cover. All of these classy trappings are apparent on the surface, which is the problem with the record: it's all stylized, with the feel eclipsing the writing, which is kind of ironic considering that {|Jackson|} so clearly strives to be a sophisticated cosmopolitan songwriter here. He gets the cosmopolitan, big-city feel down pat; although the record never delivers on the night and day split, with the latter side feeling every bit as nocturnal as the former, his blend of percolating {|Latin|} rhythms, jazzy horns and pianos, stylish synths, and splashy {|pop|} melodies uncannily feel like a bustling, glitzy evening in the big city. On that front, {|Night and Day|} is a success, since it creates a mood and sustains it very well. Where it lets down is the substance of the songs. At a mere nine tracks, it's a brief album even by 1982 standards, and it seems even shorter because about half the numbers are more about sound than song. {|A Slow Song|} gets by on its form, not what it says, while {|Target|} and {|Cancer|} are swinging {|Latin|}-flavored jams that disappear into the air. {|Chinatown|} is a novelty pastiche that's slightly off-key, but nowhere near as irritating as {|T.V. Age,|} where {|Jackson|} mimics {|David Byrne|}'s hyper-manic vocal mannerisms. These all fit the concept of the LP and they're engaging on record, but they're slight, especially given {|Jackson|}'s overarching ambition -- and their flimsiness is brought into sharp relief by the remaining four songs, which are among {|Jackson|}'s very best. There is, of course, the breakthrough hit {|Steppin' Out,|} which pulsates anticipatory excitement, but the aching {|Breaking Us in Two|} is just as good, as is the haunting {|Real Men|} and the album opener, {|Another World,|} a vibrant, multi-colored song that perfectly sets up the sonic and lyrical themes of the album. If all of {|Night and Day|} played at this level, it would be the self-styled masterpiece {|Joe Jackson|} intended it to be. Instead, it is a very good record that delivers some nice, stylish pleasures; but its shortcomings reveal precisely how difficult it is to follow in the tradition of {|Porter|} and {|Gershwin|}. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine Less