Joe Jackson
Body and Soul

Joe Jackson, great genius of pop rock, debuted in 1979 with "Look Sharp," an excellent album that mixed reggae with rock, pop with rock 'n roll, and punk with funky. It was followed by "I'm the Man," just 6 months after his first album, which was somewhat a continuation of the first work but decidedly better, at least sound-wise. "Beat Crazy" (1980) was even better, more original and ingenious than the first two works, now veering towards rock with reggae undertones, an angry and energetic album, truly an excellent work.

Then in 1982, with his move to New York, came that incredible masterpiece known as "Night and Day" (which is my favorite album in the entire history of pop-rock), an album that was also a great commercial and critical success (though not as much as it should have been considering the inestimable artistic value of that work).

In between "Night and Day" (1982) and "Body and Soul," the album I'll specifically talk about in this review (which came out in 1984), there's a slight misstep, the soundtrack of "Mike's Murder," which for me is the worst work of Joe Jackson's entire career. "Body and Soul" was released the following year and is a nice work, although it doesn't make you shout 'miracle' like "Night and Day."

"Body and Soul" is yet another demonstration of how Joe Jackson is the greatest chameleon in the history of pop music. This "Body and Soul" indeed seems to be written by a different person than the one who composed "Night and Day" (just two years earlier) or "Look Sharp" (five years earlier). It's surprising to hear the arrangements in this album where classical, pop, jazz, Latin rhythms, and music of the '50s and '60s blend perfectly, still bringing Joe Jackson's style to explore new shores and sonic spheres.

We are almost halfway through the '80s. The show business world is not made for the great English artist; he hates making videos to support his music and thus decides not to produce them anymore (at least for a while), and in fact, this album, recorded live in the studio, is not supported by music videos, yet it manages, like "Night and Day," to be a success.

It reaches 12th position in the UK sales chart and 22nd in the American one. It even reaches 2nd position in the Dutch sales chart and 21st in Germany.

But let's go back to the actual music.

The arrangements and production are the best aspects of this work, while the songs are not (as already mentioned) at the level of the preceding "Night and Day," but some tracks are decidedly excellent, like the opening "The Verdict," a dramatic and deep reflection on life, but also on relationships ("Were you fair to me? Was I good next to you?....It seemed you didn't hear when I gave you my soul...I'm following my heart, leading me in another direction...It's hard to make it when there's no one to give you a prize in the end...").

Also excellent is "Not Here Not Now," sad, slow, melancholic, dramatic, and heartbreaking like few other songs about impossible love (the lyrics say: "How can I change my mind if you keep lying to me...how can I find sweet words, so hard for me to express...I try to rebuild these broken dreams, but looks could kill again, and I am too young to die...Around us, smiling faces...You don't want a scene, not here, not now...and I also don't feel like crying...").

"You Can't Get What You Want" is a sudden burst of energy, a jazz-rock lash between head and neck, brilliant and very original ("There are times when you start feeling lonely, lost...then you realize it was just an obsession of yours...There are times when you think someone is the only one and the best...But don’t you understand? It could be you and me...I'll just tell you one thing...you can't get what you want, if you don't know what you want").

"Go for It" seems to come directly from the '50s. Frenzied rhythm, energy, and fun for another great track ("The clock ticks away the hours, and everyone declines eventually...If you think of Ray Charles, you immediately think of evening dark glasses, but if he can play the piano, so can you...just like you can tell black from white...go for it, go for it, go for it, go for it...").

The second part of the album is definitely less successful than the first. "Loisaida" and "Heart of Ice" are two nice tracks but slightly cold, they seem somewhat like exercises in style, although of textbook perfect execution (still, the lyrics of "Heart of Ice" are beautiful: "Take a knife, cut away this heart of ice. Hold it high and walk in the sunlight").

"Happy Ending" is an excellent track with a '60s rhythm, and "Be My Number Two" is a cute song with romantic and funny lyrics at the same time, yet certainly not up to the best pages of our beloved Joe Jackson (who will provide much better "live" versions of this song).

A transitional album but of high value nonetheless.