It's on my favorite JJ compilation, "Steppin' Out: The Very Best Of." (Not to be confused with an earlier single-disc collection, with literally the EXACT same title except for spelling Steppin' as Stepping.) Double-CD that goes all the way up to N&DII, with a few other semi-rarities, like "The Harder They Come" and "Memphis" (from the Mike's Murder soundtrack). Joe Jackson - Steppin' Out - The Very Best Of Joe Jackson Oddly it does NOT contain "Mad At You."
How it's done: find it on YT, click the fat bent Share arrow button, it produces a link url > copy that. Go to the forum post, click the film button on the right of the emoticons button, it will ask for the url > paste the one you copied ... and
Someone Up There This is a great song also. We start with a pumped up bass that powers along as the spine of the song and we get a great melody and a structure that really works well. I don't have a whole lot to say about this, but I think it is a great song.
I'm quite set out by all the good comments about Beat Crazy. It's a screaming and well-written gem, and the cover is art. BTW, The "Stepping Out" compilation is good. And DR12. A&M 397 052-2.
"Someone Up There" is also a side 2 favorite with its rhythmic intro & Houghton's gentle strokes, actually the drums shine throughout. This is a lyrical standout for me. Cleaver sardonic & cynical characterization & delivery. I have always liked the vocal outro.
The bass. The bass. I would also say that "Mad At You" (with that charming video), has major cathartic capabilities when you're feeling a bit...frustrated. There are some clunkers on that album for me, and the sound quality in general is a bit thin to my ears, but "Someone Up There", "Mad At You", "Evil Eye", "Biology" and "Pretty Boys" are all top notch.
Definitely one of the album's catchiest tunes--it was stuck in my head for much of the day after seeing the thread this morning! It also seems to be a particularly effective in building tension through the verses so that the chorus creates a joyous release.
What a strange video, don't suppose I've seen that before. I guess I've completely forgotten this album other than the title track and a couple others. Fun song. Great to listen to this stuff after so long.
Battleground Musically this track is excellent. I like the deadpan vocal delivery also .... I suppose Jackson was trying to make a point here, and I am not going to say that he did or didn't make the point, but I can't stick the n word ... I have a mouth like a sailor after a dozen shots of brandy, and that isn't a word I use, nor like to hear, so this song just doesn't work for me.
I like Battleground. Not because of the lyrics per se. It's just such an unusual song. I like to play this for music neophytes and watch their reaction.
"Why is Beat Crazy the only JJ album consistently out of print?" [hears JJ repeat the N-word 42 times in "Battleground"] "Oh THAT'S why...." [backs slowly away] This is almost surely one Jackson wishes he had back. Whatever point he was attempting to make, I can't imagine him being anything but horrified by these lyrics now. (For reference, wasn't this the same year that Elvis Costello got drunk and referred to Ray Charles by the N-word? It basically killed his career momentum at the time and he's spent decades apologizing. I know JJ isn't directing the word AT someone, but these lyrics still weren't OK even in 1980.) Ugh. I'm sorry. This is extremely off-putting. I'm thankful this track slipped under my radar all these years.
I never heard about the Costello thing ... that's disappointing. Yea, I really wrestled with the song, it just cuts against the grain for me
Not to derail the thread, but here's a good summation of the event: That Time Elvis Costello Incited a Brawl With Racist Remarks Two things I realized which might bring a bit more clarity to Joe's song (although it still makes me uncomfortable): --Costello's song "Oliver's Army" which was (and is) a stone-cold classic.... contains the phrase "white n---" to refer to Irish Catholics. Costello is taking those who use the term to task, as part of the song's broader anti-imperialist stance. So I find his use of the word THERE to be entirely justifiable. (Much as I don't mind JJ's line of "Don't call me a f---t not unless you are a friend" in "Real Men." Again, context.) And now I'm wondering if Jackson might have been referencing the earlier Costello track with his lyrics. --The Costello incident was a year before "Battleground." In the wake of the controversy, he was picketed by Rock Against Racism, despite playing many benefit shows for them PRIOR to the incident. Again, JJ's lyrics about "Rock Against Racism" in his song, plus the above term, might be referencing the Costello scandal? If so, it makes the song's intent a bit better.... although I still think JJ didn't really pull it off as the execution is so clumsy.....
I think for me even context doesn't change the fact that I find the word disagreeable and uncomfortable. It is like there is just too much bad associated with the word. In Oliver's Army, it is a fleeting reference that yes the context works for it.... Battleground is just too much and gratuitous in way ... it will always be one to skip for me, in spite of liking the music and vocal delivery. Obviously I listened to it all through for the thread, several times in fact .... but I just find it hard to reconcile with the lyrics here. If I'm listening to Ice T, Original Gangster, it is less awkward, but still a little uncomfortable for me, to be honest.
"Battleground" was not a favorite, but I don't dislike it. Hearing the n-word today doesn't faze kids, but it certainly did when I heard it as a kid. This is a gutsy lyrical call, similar to "Rock & Roll N!**er" on Patti Smith Band's on Easter from 2 years earlier. Lyrically, I think it's about cultural appropriation & the attempts of white liberals claiming to understand what it is like to be black in England. JJ dedicates the song to UK-Jamaican dub poet, Linton Kwesi Johnson whose recording career began at about the same time as JJ's. LKJ toasts about social & race issues, and I think the song is best heard as a tribute to LKJ.
Looking over the track listing for the album, you have to admit that "Battleground" is the one (and only, for me) "weak link" in the "Beat Crazy" chain. It's the shortest song on the album, so it's over before you know it. I think it's just about different groups fighting in England, which was going on a lot around that time. However you look at it, it's a misstep for sure lyrically, but context is important with these things and there's no need to get upset by something that is heard differently today then it was 39 years ago. I imagine some people would flip if they heard this song now... Me, I just let the song play through...
One thing about “Battleground”... if you’d prefer it doesn’t exist and drop it from your Beat Crazy playlist, side 2 of the album still clocks in at about 21 minutes without it (around the same length as the first side). It’s tidier for it not to be there!
I agree almost completely with Mark W. here--I enjoy the music and delivery of "Battleground," but just don't want to be hearing that word. I feel the same way about the slur in "Don't Want to Be Like That" (which no one has mentioned, to my knowledge). "Real Men" uses a variation of the same slur, but the context there makes it a somewhat different story. I find it interesting that people think Joe wishes he could take this back--I kind of doubt that. Even as recently as in Fast Forward he touched on some very sensitive territory, and has never expressed the slightest hesitation about possibly offending people. He was asked recently if he had any mixed feelings or regrets about such things, and pretty much said "absolutely not." I personally wish he wouldn't be so eager to cross certain lines, but he clearly sees being willing to cross such lines as part of his (musical) identity, and I can understand and even admire it to a certain degree (and yet...I can't deny that it sometimes bugs me).
I agree. I don't think he has any regrets about any aspect of his career, he is simply creating in the present with perhaps and eye on the future. I think he plays old songs because he can still make them current which is why the arrangements alter; he can still do what he wants and not entirely kowtow to the paying masses. In speaking to someone who was in contact with him in a business way, he seemed to have little interest in his past career.
Biology We start this song with a great little bassline and beat, with some guitar punctuations. Initially we have Joe delivery a bit of a dead pan vocal and the build to the first chorus is very good. I like this song well enough, but I am not really sold on the lyrics here, and one of the things I have generally liked about Jackson is his interesting use of lyrics. Unfortunately for me two tracks in a row on here just fail to satisfy me lyrically and the album ends up having a big second half drop out.... which is extremely rare in a Jackson album for me. These two songs are the reason this album doesn't sit up with the others in my estimation. Of course I am sure many like this song, but it doesn't work for me.
