Joe Jackson - Afterlife

Has anyone picked up this Joe Jackson CD Afterlife yet? I'm no fan of live recordings, except for a few artists...and JJ is one of those, probably because he reinvents the songs in many of his performances. Sound quality isn't a big issue for me on this one--I'm more concerned with the performances.

What interests me is that there is an import version of Afterlife with a bonus disc. The idea behind the original first disc is that it features the original Quartet that toured last year, featuring songs with either new arrangements of existing songs, or Quartet songs that have not yet been recorded live. 13 tracks total, recorded during gigs in California. The import has a bonus disc with an additional tracks, but the synopsis on Amazon doesn't give a clue as to what they were sourced from (was it a complete gig, or different gigs from the tour...?).

Here's the track listing of the import version; the US version consists only of Disc 1.

Disc: 1
1. Steppin' Out
2. One More Time
3. Take It Like a Man
4. Awkward Age
5. Look Sharp!
6. Down to London
7. Beat Crazy
8. Fools in Love
9. Love at First Light
10. Fairy Dust
11. Sunday Papers
12. Don't Wanna Be Like That
13. Got the Time

Disc: 2
1. Introduction
2. Look Sharp
3. Take It Like a Man
4. Awkward Age
5. Fools in Love/For Your Love
6. Obvious
7. Friday
8. Is She Really Going Out With Him?
9. Love at First Light
10. Be My Number Two
11. Girl
12. Steppin' Out
13. Thugz 'R' Us
14. Don't Wanna Be Like That
15. Got the Time
16. Beat Crazy
17. It's Different for Girls
18. I'm the Man

 

Rudy, the bonus disc is from 5/30 Amsterdam Show: setlist below.

My understanding is the bonus disc contains the entire show except Fairy Dust and Dirty Martini.


-30 May 2003 - Amsterdam, Heineken Music Hall

Look Sharp!
Take It Like A Man
Awkward Age
Fools In Love
Fairy Dust
Obvious Song
Friday
Is She Really Going Out With Him?
Love At First Light
Be My Number Two (solo)
Girl (Beatles cover) (solo)
Steppin' Out (solo)
Dirty Martini
Thugz 'R' Us
Sunday Papers
Don't Wanna Be Like That
Got The Time
encore:
Beat Crazy
It's Different For Girls
I'm The Man

 

What? How many live albums has Jackson released in the past few years? 3???

Kwad

 

2000 - Summer In The City
2002 - Live In Tokyo DVD (reissue of 1986 VHS)
2002 - Two Rainy Nights (web only)
2004 - Joe Jackson Live (retail version of Two Rainy Nights)
2004 - Afterlife

Afterlife's a good live album -- well worth getting. Between that and the bonus live disc in Volume 4, I think I've got all the JJBand reunion live stuff I need, though that bonus disc looks like it may be fun if you don't already have Afterlife. The only track on there I'm really intrigued by is Obvious Song -- I'd like to hear the JJBand version of that.

Ryan

 

Afterlife is a nice set - it flows very well, and the Vol. 4 tracks have that added kick that comes from good live performances. Since it's just the quartet, you don't get quite the reinvention of material that you find on Live 80/86, for instance, but it's sure no "same as the studio except sped up with echo" live album either.

- Joe