Sometimes some shows are too good to pass up to post on the blog. A live recording from an early Joe Jackson was upped on Dime last month and though I have many JJ live recordings with better sound quality, the historical significance intrigued me. This is the fourth ever gig by the Joe Jackson Band taped in their hometown of Portsmouth about a month after their the first ever show (also in Portsmouth). They had just completed recording sessions for the debut album, Look Sharp! which wasn't released until January 1979 and the debut single, Is She Really Going Out With Him? didn't release until October. This means the audience of the early shows wouldn't have had any prior knowledge of the material Joe Jackson and band performed until much later and Look Sharp! would go on to become one of the great debut albums of the 70's. Personally, Look Sharp! and the follow-up album, I'm The Man were records that changed my (music) life because at the time I was still mainly listening to the Beatles, Elton John, the Stones and other mainstream rock radio. It wasn't really punk, nor was it slick FM MOR mush, instead it was the beginning of "new wave" that could include piano and keyboards without sounding Prog or Electronic. It was cool with the thin ties, wrap around sunglasses, short hair, the skinny pants that helped to form the look and sound of new wave. This led to discovering similar sounding music such as Elvis Costello, Graham Parker, XTC, Squeeze, Talking Heads and many others.
I had the privilege of seeing the original Joe Jackson Band during their Volume 4/reunion tour in early 2003 and was very impressed how tight and great they sounded. I haven't been able to get into much of the other musical styles he has pursued during his long musical career, but I respect he can explore and move forward musically, but stay humble and still perform his older material. With this early concert in Portsmouth in 1978, the songs sound fresh, but don't sound too different than on the debut album. He has already shaped his sound and the quality of musicianship of the band members (Sanford, Maby and Houghton) are already evident. Though the sound quality isn't perfect, (this is an audience recording from the 70's) it is what it is and I feel fortunate this has seen the light of day, an important live recording from the Joe Jackson Band. A special thanks to Martin A. for sharing this gem with us fans, to the original taper Tony Fitzpatrick, and to Andreas for sound improvements.
Enjoy!
#13yearsoftrouble
Please respect the original poster and taper
Please do NOT sell or profit from the recording!
Do NOT convert to lossy formats
Please share!
Joe Jackson Band
Rotary Club
Portsmouth/UK
1978-09-17
Basic Mono Cassette Recorder (ITT?) > digital transfer / CD-R (unknown) > Audacity 2.3.1 (some volume levelling, track cut, export as .wav 16bit/44.1kHz) > Trader's Little Helper 2.7.0
01. One More Time
02. Pretty Girls
03. Is She Really Going Out With Him?
04. Look Sharp!
05. Sunday Papers
06. Don't Ask Me
07. Fools In Love
08. Life Is Just A Bowl Of Cherries (cover version)
09. Happy Loving Couples
10. Throw It Away
11. Baby Stick Around
12. Got The Time
13. Ain't That A Shame (Fats Domino cover)
Joe Jackson Band:
Joe Jackson - vocals, piano, harmonica
Graham Maby - bass
Dave Houghton - drums
Gary Sanford - guitar
JOE JACKSON BAND- 1978-09-17 Portsmouth, Rotary Club FLAC. rar
Yes, I agree, having a few live recordings of JJ already I almost passed this up but the historical context is too good to pass up. Thank you.
ReplyDeletemuch thanks
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