Word: joes
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Joe Jackson has been having his anxiety attacks engraved in wax over a decade; Blaze of Glory, his latest release, is the eleventh in a long line of Jackson neuroses, and it shows--for better and for worse...
...Joe Jackson...
...good news is that Joe Jackson has, by this time, developed into a nearly flawless songwriter. His 1979 debut album Look Sharp had few bad cuts, and since then Jackson has consistently experimented with standard pop forms and non-pop genres--among them big-band swing, cool jazz, salsa and orchestral music. Eleven albums later he presents us with pop music that almost guarantees an eclectic, hookladen album--which Jackson does deliver...
...news is that a facile Joe seems to preclude an emotional, sincere Joe. Maybe the alienated, angry young man routine is wearing thin for him; maybe these particular tunes don't rouse him to an emotional commitment. Whatever the reason, when Jackson stepped into the studio to record Blaze of Glory, he left his soul at home. The resulting LP is strangely disappointing; it offers twelve eminently listenable tunes by a masterful songwriter who, unfortunately, seems to have set himself on cruise control and shortchanged his own work...
...overall impression, then, is of luminous high points interspersed with perplexing gaffes. The spots where Jackson falters are not, however, indications of poor musicianship or songwriting; rather, they seem to be errors of judgment, or lapses in commitment to his ideas. Even mediocre Joe Jackson is better then most of the pop music out there, however, and the transcendent moments on Blaze of Glory--which far outnumber the lulls--make the album a worthwhile listen...