Round Midnight While we have finished Big World I think we need to revisit 1984 for this version on Round Midnight from the Thelonius Monk tribute album. Thanks for the heads up @Dillydipper, I did not know about this and there is no reference to it in Joe's listings/ The track starts with a somewhat ambient swirl, and then we have Joe I presume on the piano. This is one of my favourite melodies, and I used to play this on guitar, for fun, and also for some practice, to change my notes choices and fingering habits. The first versions I heard of this were the Miles Davis and Wes Montgomery versions, This is a nice arrangement. Joe Jackson - Round Midnight
I have this on vinyl only because it was in the Joe Jackson section of Sam the Record Man on Yonge. Otherwise I would never have known about it back in the 80s. Sam had employees who knew their music. I will play it tonight.
Nice catch, @Dillydipper on this track. For those who are curious, Hal Willner's compilations from the mid-late 80s are worth seeking out; Lost in the Stars is a tribute to Kurt Weill & Stay Awake is Disney music. The Thelonius Monk record, That's The Way I Feel Now is the first. Lost in the Stars is a tad dated, and Stay Awake is my favorite. (I think those are the only ones, but being wrong would make me happy.)
Left Of Center - Suzanne Vega with Joe Jackson Well here is a sideline I wasn't expecting. Apparently this is Joe with Suzanne Vega from the Pretty In Pink soundtrack. I assume Joe is playing the piano. I always thought this was a pretty cool song.
Will Power Studio album by Joe Jackson Released April 1987[1] Recorded 1987 Genre Classical, rock Length 42:06 Label A&M Producer Joe Jackson Will Power is the eighth album by Joe Jackson.[1] Released in 1987, it is his first experiment with classical music, continued in later albums including Night Music, Heaven and Hell, and Symphony No. 1. Musicians Ed Roynesdal - Kurzweil K250 synthesizer, electric piano Gary Burke - drums Pat Rebillot - piano Vinnie Zummo - guitar Anthony Jackson - bass guitar (on "Solitude") Neil Jason - bass guitar (on "Will Power") Tony Aiello - soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, clarinet (solo on "Symphony") Chris Hunter - alto saxophone, tenor saxophone Steve Slagle - soprano saxophone (on "Solitude") Michael Parloff, Laura Conwesser, Andrew Lolya - flute, piccolo Susan Trainer - piccolo (on "Solitude") Roger Rosenberg, Ray Beckstein, Charles Russo, Dave Tofani - clarinet, bass clarinet Henry Shuman - oboe John Campo - bassoon Paul Ingraham, Jerry Peel, Pohn Clark, Donal Corrado - French horns Michael Morreale, Mel Davis - trumpets Dave Taylor, Tom Malone - trombones Sue Evans, Dave Carey, David Freidman - percussion David Nadien (concertmaster), Charles Libove, Barry Finclair, John Pintavalle, Jan Mullen, Marti Sweet, Arnold Eidus, Richard Sortomme, Matthew Raimondi, Marin Alsop, Gerald Tarack, Regis Iandorio, Joseph Rabushka, Lew Eley, Jean Ingraham, Marilyn Wright, Masako Yanagita, Al Rogers, Louanne Montesi, Richard Henrickson, David Davis - violins Lamar Alsop, Ted Isreal, Maureen Gallagher, Carol Landon, Julian Barber, Harry Zaratzian, Sol Greitzer, Sue Pray, Jean Dane - violas Charles McCracken, Richard Locker, Warren Lash, Seymour Barab, Jacqueline Mullen, Fred Zlotkin, Jean Leblanc, Diane Barrere, Alla Goldberg - cellos Homer Mensch, John Miller, John Beal, Joe Tamosaitis - double bass Andrew Zurcher - vocals (on "Solitude") Production Joe Jackson - orchestration, arrangements, producer and mixing Paul Goodman, Michael Frondelli and Dennis Ferrante - recording engineer 1. "No Pasaran" 6:07 2. "Solitude" 9:37 3. "Will Power" 5:52 4. "Nocturne" 4:25 5. "Symphony in One Movement" 16:14 ---------------------------------------------------- This album certainly isn't bad, but I think it is his least successful outing in this field, from my limited listens thus far. There are definitely some really good sections, but as a whole album, it doesn't quite grab me, as the other classical style albums do. In some ways this album was also a momentum breaker for Joe. Although Big World didn't do half as well as it should have, it still had some exposure. In Australia is got a lot of play, and I gather some of it got a little exposure overseas, but of course this album was virtually ignored the world over, to the best of my knowledge. Kudos to Joe for again following his muse though, and I am sure whatever the minor downfalls of this album, it would almost certainly have helped Joe in many ways with future projects particularly the two classically based albums coming up later. I must admit to only having listened to this two or three times, so please step in and set me straight if I am missing something that clicks later on. Please let us know what you guys think of this album, anything that crosses your mind, and we'll hit the first track tomorrow. Cheers Mark
I don't know this album at all I think, though I saw it in stores plenty of times, never tempted. Curious as to what others think of it.
I remember having little interest in an all-instrumental album at the time of its release. I think I finally picked it up in the late '90s, after listening to "Loisaida" and thinking "Wouldn't it be great to hear a whole album like this?" But Will Power was certainly not that! It isn't bad by any stretch, and the opening track is pretty interesting and stylistically unique to Joe, but I don't recall the different styles of music hanging together all that well as an album; moreover, none of the tracks felt particularly urgent (in the sense of needing to have been written), seeming instead more like bits and pieces he may have had hanging around in various stages of development and decided to finally get them finished and released. I get the impression that he was pretty proud of it, though.
It is a pretty cool song. Unfortunately Suzanne doesn't have the pipes and the production is straight outta the 80s. Exactly the sound Big World was pushing against.
Yea, I tend to think of it more of an instrumental, than classical or semi-classical. Although there are recurring themes, they aren't structured in a way that I am used to hearing classical music structured. My initial impressions were somewhat more of a soundtrack feel. With the tracks coming across more as incidental music than constructed classical pieces. I don't dislike it, but I feel his later efforts were much more successful. I do like the Not Here Not Now references, I think they work well.
By the way, I neglected to post on the cover of "Round Midnight" yesterday, but I loved it! Mark W's description pretty much matches my own response.
I've only heard bits and pieces of Will Power so will reserve comment, other than to say I have heard Symphony No. 1 which isn't nearly as pretentious and self-indulgent as I expected. "Round Midnight" has been done so many times by so many jazz greats, I credit Joe for having the balls to even go there.
From the inner sleeve: "Symphony In One Movement" is a rewritten version of the orchestral score commissioned by The Daei Corporation for the film "Shijin No Ie" ("House Of The Poet"), which was shown at the Expo '85 Science Exposition in Tsukuba, Japan.
Nice catch, Mark. I was getting ready to mention this in case you skipped it. I just got to know this one myself, recently. Very good!
Wow - another catch: Vinyl Album: Jun Togawa, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra - Shijin No Ie (The House Of The Poet) (1985) popsike.com - JOE JACKSON Japan only Soundtrack LP HOUSE OF THE POET - auction details I’m searching for the House of the Poet film at the moment, but the great informational find in this case for me is that a Joe song exists which is sung by Jun Togawa!
Will Power was an album I just sorta lapped up because, for me circa 1987, Joe could do no wrong. I was really getting into classical music at the time in university because of a friend in music department. So, my ears were getting into a lot different classical sounds. I really do like it. Night Music is my favorite of that ilk, but I'd put Will Power not too too far behind it. "No Pasaran" & "Nocturne" are wonderful.
Okay... My Joe journey went like this: knew some singles from the radio and liked them. Got the "Live 1980/86" compilation when I was maybe... I dunno, 8? From the back cover, it looked like the best way to get all of the songs I liked in one place. Pretty obviously, it blew me away. On some days, it's second only to Live At Leeds as my favorite live album of all time. But I didn't know what to get next. ...you can probably guess that Will Power ended up in my hands. I just picked at random from the shelf, plus it was the cheapest one on the rack. I figured it was a good move since it didn't share any songs with the live album, right? It didn't do it for me, but more like... it didn't do it for an eight-year-old who thought the wrong tape was in the right shell. Took it back, the store assured me that I was, in fact, listening to Joe Jackson. They let me swap it for something else, though (I don't recall what I got instead, but I'm guessing it was either Big World or Beat Crazy). Now with older and wiser ears, this is the ONE Joe album I didn't go back to (no reason, just worked out that way). I think I'd appreciate it now, or at least be less caught off-guard. I'mma make it a point to find a cheap wax copy soon and give WP another spin. I bet it'd be right up my alley now.
When Will Power came out I thought "An all-instrumental album? Hey, it they're as good as Acropolis Now that he just played on the Big World tour, that sounds great!" In other words, I was hoping for something more like a Dixie Dregs album. But of course there is no Acropolis Now or more rock-oriented instrumentals here. I've always liked the opener No Pasaran (aside from the first time I heard it where it startled me out of my skin) but have not been a fan of the rest of the album. I re-listened to it a few weeks ago in preparation for this discussion and liked it more than I remembered. I think it works better if you listen to it more like a New Age album than a classical album. Still, I think this one is for completists only.
No Pasaran This is an atmospheric piece. We have very small pieces spread wide to fill in the gaps gently. This ends up obviously being a builder, and we feel the piece slowly grow in intensity, and then there is the orchestra hit that shows up intermittently, and if you have turned the volume up for more detail it is probably going to make you jump. This is a real tension builder, and it does work very well, but the tension building opening probably goes on slightly too long for me. I understand what he is trying to do, but I think that the change needed to come a little earlier, even if when that change comes it is a wonderful release point. The orchestra hit sound is a little, just a little annoying to me also .... When the tension finally breaks, we have a wonderful piece of orchestral drama, that really does work in an excellent manor. We then move into a short reprise of the opening bass line. A good track, but for me, the tension building section just goes on a little too long. I would have liked it to end a little earlier and explore that orchestral arrangement a little more thoroughly.
