This was $2.40 rounding up. I seem to recall quite a few copies at various Half Priced Books s I guess it sold well. I did not know this until after I posted this but today is the 201st birthday of Adolphe Sax who, you guessed it , invented the saxophone. In turn, he is responsible for both some of the best and worst music known to man kind. Before I knew this fact, I got this to pander but mainly for the cover. I felt it was clever. The cover BTW is an homage to Sonny Rollins, Vol 2.
Joe Jackson was recently in Houston sometime around the last month or so. He is still pretty active, wrapping up a US tour and touring into 2016, mostly in Europe. He also released his first studio album in seven years, Fast Forward.
As the cover would then suggest, this is a jazz influenced pop album. Released in 1984 after setting up his home base in New York City, it would be his seventh studio album. It is heavy on Jackson’s horns. In all, it is a prime example of the sophisti-pop or adult contemporary-new wave of the 80’s that I hate. That is just me. The album sold well and was successful. It went to # 20 in the US and # 14 in the UK. I believe the only single for the record was “You Can’t Get What You Want (Til You Know What You Want)”. That charted in the US at #15. You know what, I stand corrected “Happy Ending” and “Be My Number Two” were also released as singles. Jackson would also take a lengthy break after touring behind this album, calling it “the hardest (tour) I ever did”.
After listening to this album, I kind of settled on “Loisaida”, a series of instrumental vignettes featuring piano and horns prominently. I realize you probably want to hear vocals, but tough. If you want to hear them, buy the album off of his webpage. The guy has to eat, too so get over it. Still not happy? Ok, I will cave and throw you a bone with “Go For It”.
Meh. I get what he was trying to do, and in all truth, this was probably ahead of the curve in the mid-eighties, but it is not the type of music I like. I prefer Jackson’s 70’s work.