Joe Jackson – Night And Day   (Deluxe Edition CD Set)

 

Sound: B+     Original Album: A-     Extra Music: B+

 

 

In the wake of the original Punk movement, New Wave offered several alternatives, including a new kind of thinking-man’s Rock music.  Of those dressed in suits for the occasion came Joe Jackson, with songs like “Is She Really Going Out With Him?”, “Mad At You”, “It’s Different For Girls”, and “I’m The Man”.  By 1982, after building a reputation as one of the most talented and diverse among a group that included Elvis Costello, he released the remarkable Night & Day.

 

The original vinyl release had one side devoted to “Night”, the other “Day” and went on to become what is still is most commercially successful album in the singer/songwriter/musicians career.  It is also one of many critically acclaimed works.  The hits include “Steppin’ Out”, “Breaking Us In Two”, and the controversial singles release “Real Men”.  All three of those had memorable and interesting music videos shot for them, but there are nine songs here on the original album in all.

 

Though the hits mostly come from the more upbeat “Day” side, they are by no means any less weighty than those on preceding them.  The songs even have their ends tied into each other, directly or just on a more abstracted level.  That is all that is offered on Disc One of this new double CD set of the album from Universal Music’s Chronicles series.  The Chronicles label was actually begun by Polygram, the company they merged with a few years ago, but it was so good, that they decided to continue it.

 

Disc Two offers some amazing demos of tracks from the album (six in all), the vocal tracks Jackson contributed to the soundtrack of Mike’s Murder in 1982, but the film did not get released until 1984.  The troubled project eventually dropped Jackson’s work, but his score is interesting and the film went on to become a sort of cult film for critics.  Five songs are offered.  Finally, there are five tracks from Joe Jackson Live 1980/86, though one is from another session due to sound quality issues.  It should be noted that that song, an a capella version of “Is She Really Going Out With Him?” is NOT the same cut offered on the DVD of Jackson’s video hits, which is rather incomplete anyhow.  This is all designed for maximum impact and for people to get to know the work of the artist better.  The choices here pay off.

 

The sound quality is also really good all around for the CD format, transferred in 96kHz/24-bits form the analog masters, as was the case for the Millennium Collection CD on Jackson.  You can hear as much as you are going to be able to hear in CD’s 16-but/44.1kHz limits.  The only other time a special edition CD was ever issued of the album was a basic 24K Gold version from Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs, with their “Original Master Recording” moniker.  That edition has been long out of print, being one of their oldest in that series.  Though neither of these CDs are Gold, there is not doubt that Disc One could go a few rounds with that collector’s item in terms of performance.  You can especially hear it in his vocals and piano so key to this album, but Jazz, Blues, and even Latino rhythms are prominent on great songs like “Cancer”.  It will make for an interesting comparison to DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD versions of the album down the line.

 

The digi-pak foldout comes in a translucent slide cover, containing the two CDs and a very informative booklet, nicely illustrated with pictures and offering the lyrics to the original album and information on all tracks.  This is a thorough, well-rounded presentation typical of this great series of album reissues Universal Music seems committed to continuing.

 

Of course, the title is also a reference to Cole Porter, but three are other great writing influences.  The material is extremely well written, Jackson’s vocals are exceptional, while the musicianship and many backing singers are top rate.  The greatest highlight remains Jackson, expressing so much about life and people in great ways that get to the point, yet remain eloquent.  There is anger, happiness, and attitude in even the quietest of moments.  Night & Day is a true classic, more powerful than ever before.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo