Joe Jackson "Big World" - direct to two tracks

it was my only pick from that list.

 

Wow--you just mentioned all of my favorites as well! Those four tracks on side two really hit some emotional buttons for me. "Forty Years" used to bring tears to my eyes every time I heard it, and "Shanghai Sky" may just rank as his single most beautiful performance (IMHO). Interestingly, the cassette version that I heard first had a shifted running order for the LP side 2 songs. "Shanghai Sky" and "Fifty Dollar Love Affair" came right after the title track, and "We can't Live Together" and "Forty Years" came near the end, just before "Home Town" and "Man in the Street." I actually still strongly prefer that running order, as on the CD I found having my favorite songs all lumped together in the middle to be a far less dramatic presentation. "Shanghai Sky" segues beautifully from the title track, and having such a sublime moment come so soon into the set creates the sense early on that the experience will be something special; the other two songs are so emotional that they seem climactic, and definitely belong toward the end of the album (though it still needs to end finally with "Hometown" and "Man on the Street"). One of these days I hope to copy my CD and burn a new one with the cassette's running order.

 

Awesome album - one of the big soundtracks of my life from that year. I bought the CD new when it came out and still have it.

 

Shoot--now it's too late to re-edit!

 

I remember my first ever concert was Joe Jackson at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, MI on the "Night & Day" tour. The band was excellent, and it was a great show.

A few years later, my brother was a student at Northern Michigan University. On a cold night, Marshall Crenshaw was playing some small time room up there (I almost remember it being a bar in a Holiday Inn, but that could be revisionist history), Graham Maby was playing bass for Marshall. Post show, my brother was talking to the band, and got me Maby's autograph on a bar napkin. Maby signed it "Graham Maby. Who?" I TOTALLY knew exactly who he was!

 

It's back in the stores again, just like Blaze Of Glory. They were OOP for years, but apparently A&M has started pressing copies again. Unfortunately, albums like Laughter & Lust, Live 1980/86, Tucker, Night Music and Heaven And Hell remain unavailable.

 

Another fan of Big World. For years I'd take it along (the cassette!) anytime
I traveled by air. It boggled my mind that those performances were live.

 

i didn't attend the shows used for the release but i seem to recall he asked for no applause after the songs until they were totally finished. maybe brucefan remembers for sure.

 

uncle b, Marshall Crenshaw did a show at the Magic Bag in the summer of 2009, and Graham Maby played bass...great performance!.....

Nice to see another Michigander on here, too!

 

That may even be better than what was originally meant.

Love Big World, bought it in '86 when it came out.

Great performance and very nice capture with this simple and straightforward digital recording.

The three sided vinyl pressing sounds wonderful.

 

It's a real treasure and I'm always surprised to see the lp's in the bins for $5-10 in minty shape.

 

That is cool! Didn't know He was still performing with Marshall Crenshaw...

 

"Big World" may just be the last truly great album by Joe Jackson.
Though I'm still a big fan, none of his releases since then has captured his greatness.
With that said, as a live performer, he is quite possibly the BEST artist I have ever seen. Still makes his material sound fresh and new!
Plus he voice sounds better now than it did 30 years ago!
(And the guy smokes to boot!)
If you've never seen Joe live, make sure you do so!
You won't regret it!

 

Still recording with him, too. Graham has shown up here and there in the credits of Crenshaw's albums in the 2000s.

 

As a huge Jackson fan I think he's bested Big World routinely since its release. As interesting as the live recording is, I often wonder how much better the material on "Big World" would have been with proper studio treatment.

"Big World" is a great album, true. But among Joe Jackson's typically excellent work it's middle-of-the-pack.

 

Agree.

Blaze of Glory, Laughter and Lust, and Night Music are all better albums in my opinion. The only album I really hated was Symphony #1. He became a bit unbearable when he "retired" from pop music, only to go back to it the following year when he realized he couldn't make a living as a serious composer. Heaven and Hell was okay. But he was so arrogant around that time. Then he swallowed his pride and came crawling back with Night & Day II, which had it's moments (however calculated). I think he broke the bond with a lot of his audience by doing that. I know I haven't viewed him the same since. I hated Symphony #1 but wish he had the convictions to follow the path he'd so arrogantly set for himself, however intolerable he became. Night and Day II felt a bit formula after his, "I'm done with lowly pop music," stance. He broke my trust in him as an artist when he bad mouthed pop music and his participation in that field as beneath him. Then he put the original band back together. A bit too much looking back. I keep up with his career, but I don't trust his art anymore.

 

I found a near mint vinyl copy last year. The CD I already own, purchased new back in the day. A fine album for sure. Would have been cool to be at the recordings.

According to amazon.com the CD is still available, as an import. I also though it was OOP.

http://www.amazon.com/Big-World-Joe...1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1290523425&sr=1-1-spell

 

Yes, they were very strict about clapping. Was hard to do because of the great performance.

 

I discovered JJ through Big World. I'd never seen (and still haven't) a 3-sided LP before. A friend gave it as a gift to my brother in 1988 I think. The vinyl has something, a little je ne sais quoi, that the CD lacks. It's a really great album.

 

johnny winter's 'second winter' release from 1969 was also 3 sided. i can't think of others right now.

 

Fantastic album! One of his most overlooked. Really cool guitar playing by Vinnie Zummo on this record, in particular the lead on "We Can't Live Together".

 

Utopia's self-titled album from 1982 was 3-sided.

 

A great and underrated album. Three sides!

You ought to see the video that came out documenting the sessions. It's one for the ages. "Can you say it in English?" hahaha ....

 

I think the 3 sides were mostly because Jackson was thinking CD when he made the album.

Same thing happened with the Sting album a few years later. The one with the white sleeve ("Nothing Like The Sun" ?)