Symphony No. 1

Joe Jackson's first album, Look Sharp!, was released on the 5th of January, 1979, when I was a mere slip of a lad of 21, not quite finished with my three year enlistment in the U.S. Army. A lot of the albums I had from that time have moved on, but I still have that copy of Look Sharp! Which in itself says something. I mean...I even let go of some of my Alice Cooper and David Bowie albums (and yes, I am ashamed to admit this now)...but I held onto that Joe Jackson disc. It meant something to me.

And while I didn't follow every JJ release after that, I always at least had an idea of what Joe was up to. So I knew that he had released a symphony at some point (Symphony No. 1, 19th of October 1999), but I didn't hear anything from it. Not that I wasn't interested, mind you. I just didn't get to it. 

But two weeks ago I saw a CD of Symphony No. 1 at Half-Price Books for $2.99. So...

And I've been listening to it every day since then. 

Mind you, the first listen didn't convince me that it was something I needed. I didn't feel that I'd misspent my $2.99 or anything like that, but it just didn't inhabit any of the open wounds in my soul, which is what the best music does. (Unless, of course, it opens up new wounds in your soul, because sometimes it be like that.) 

But I'm getting back to the way I used to listen to music in 1979 these days. See, back then money was really tight, so buying a new album was kind of a big fucking deal. It didn't happen every day, that's for sure. And so when I bought something, I played it over and over again. For weeks at the least. Until I had memorized every note, really. (Which is why to this day I have thousands of songs memorized...lyrics and music. Including all 86 minutes and 56 seconds of the original Jesus Christ Superstar.) So instead of just putting it into the stack of Stuff I Thought I Wanted So I Bought, Symphony No. 1 stayed in my cd player. And I slowly began to realize just how brilliant it was.

For one thing, I think you could listen to this and have no clue that Joe Jackson wrote this...which I mean as a high compliment. You know how some songwriters are just instantly recognizable...for one thing, because they tend to favor the same chord progressions or the same sounds? I don't think there's a bit of that going on in this music. And yet at the same time, it doesn't sound generic at all. Identity...Joe Jackson's...is indelibly a part of every note here. Do I contradict myself? Very well. But not really. It is a Joe Jackson that I've not heard before, but which I still recognize as Joe Jackson. It'd be like if you saw your lover of two decades in a marathon, and you had never seen her even think about running before. You'd be surprised, but you'd still recognize her. Yeah, like that.

Anyway. The music here is a lot closer to jazz and big band than to what you'd normally associate with symphony, but I'm glad to see that it was released on the Sony Classical label. Cause that's what it is, for sure. And it is 43 minutes and 37 seconds of pure beauty. It uses modern instruments--piano, keyboards, samples and computer sequencing, alto saxophone, trumpet, drums, trombone, electric and acoustic bass, percussion, flute, electric and acoustic violins, viola
and electric guitar...and the Wikipedia entry identifies it as "progressive rock"...but I say sucks to your ass-mar, Piggy. It's a symphony.

I have two hopes:

One, that Joe Jackson will release more symphonies.
Two, that some of you will be moved to at least give this a listen...or, preferably, purchase it. You can listen to it for free on YouTube, or stream it on Amazon Unlimited or Spotify. So come on...give us a grin.

Oh, btw...if it sweetens the pot for you, the electric guitar is played by Steve Vai. Mmm-hmm.