Joe Jackson: Still Burning with Creativity (Part 1 of 2)

Released April 10, Hope and Fury is the 22^nd studio album from British-born singer, songwriter, pianist, composer and band leader Joe Jackson. First coming to fame as an outlier in the era of new wave, Jackson scored early hits like “Is She Really Going Out With Him?” and “It’s Different for Girls,” breaking through worldwide with “Real Men” and “Steppin’ Out” in 1982. Throughout his career, Jackson has never allowed himself to be defined or hemmed in by stylistic constraints; resolutely charting his own musical path, he has created a body of work that continues to impress. The wide-screen musical vision of Joe Jackson remains a core feature of all of his work, and is once again on brilliant display with his latest release.

Save for the fact that Hope and Fury is an all-new set of songs from Joe Jackson, it plays like a greatest hits album, or an expertly-crafted sampler that leans into all of his strengths. The seething and subtly sinister “Welcome to Burning-by-Sea” opens the record in grand fashion. An insistent bass line and Latin percussion anchor the song as Jackson’s lyrics paint a vivid picture of seaside England. “I’m Not Sorry,” “Fabulous People” and “After All This Time” all showcase the kind of musical textures that thrilled listeners on classic Jackson albums like 1982’s Grammy-nominated Night and Day.

The heartfelt balladry of “Made God Laugh” balances sentimentality and Jackson’s inerrant sense of melody and finely-tuned songcraft. The bouncy “Do Do Do” wouldn’t have been out of place on 1979’s I’m the Man or Beat Crazy (1980). “The Face” swings for the creative fences, effectively wedding a complex Latin beat to a rock melody. The atmospheric “End of the Pier” leans into a melodic jazz feel. And Jackson wears his heart on his sleeve for the sublimely orchestrated “See You in September,” a lovely song that could easily become a contemporary standard.

Ahead of Hope and Fury’s release – and on the eve of an ambitious tour that would take him and his band across North America and Europe – Jackson spoke with me about his deep catalog, the new album, the tour, and explained why he doesn’t like musical labels applied to his work.

Bill Kopp: The tagline on your website for Hope and Fury says, “File under Bicoastal LatinJazzFunkRock.” Can you unpack that for me?

Joe Jackson: That’s my little joke, really, because you [music journalists and critics] have been debating for years: Where do I fit in terms of genres? You know, I was already sick of it 30 years ago. The most important thing to critics is the last thing I ever think of, which is “What genre does it fit into?” It never even occurs to me. So I thought in this case I would just make up a genre.

The bicoastal part is a joke that I used to make about dividing my time between New York and my hometown in England, which is Portsmouth on the south coast. So instead of being bicoastal – you know, New York and L.A. – I’m bicoastal New York and Portsmouth.

I used to say that as a joke, but when I think about it’s musically true as well. Because if I have any roots in music at all, it’s British pop music of the ‘60s, which is what I heard when I was a kid. That’s the first influence, but the really important later influences are jazz and Latin music, which come from America, especially New York. And you can still hear a lot of that on this album.

I don’t read what people write about me very often; I think it’s a mistake to do that. But I have read people making lists of musical genres that I’m supposed to have done. In quotes: “Done.” And some of them, I think, “What are you talking about? Which was the blues album?” Anyway, “bicoastal LatinJazzFunkRock” is a bit of a joke, but it’s actually quite accurate, I think.

Beyond your work as a songwriter and composer, one of the things for which you’re admired is your championing of musical styles well outside of rock. Your 2012 album of Ellington songs, The Duke, is remarkable. And on a personal level, in large part I have you and your 1981 album Joe Jackson’s Jumpin’ Jive to thank for my discovery of Louis Jordan. Do you think of yourself in any sense as a musical anthropologist?

It never occurred to me, but I’ve always seen music as a huge ocean. I never saw any reason to be sort of confined to one corner of it. I’ve always been really curious about all kinds of music going right back to when I first got interested in music. I’m a huge Latin music fan, for instance; that’s a really big influence. And I’m a big jazz fan. What can I tell you? That’s just the way I am. And why not?

Your body of work encompasses so many different styles. Do you have a strong aversion to doing the same thing twice?

Well, if that means trying not to repeat myself and become boring or cliché, then yes. I do try to avoid cliches; that’s one of the few things that are conscious about whatever process it is by which I write songs. People are always asking me how I write; I try to explain it, and often it doesn’t seem to make sense. And that’s because it doesn’t completely make sense to me, either. But if I’m working on something and I start to think, “This is sounding like something I’ve heard before,” whether it’s mine or someone else’s, then alarm bells go off in my head. And then I look for some way to change it, or I scrap it altogether.

Your 2023 album What a Racket! is a conceptual work that celebrates music hall. That style of music is an important part of British cultural history, and many critics loved it. But was it suited mostly for British listeners who would “get it?”

Of course, it’s very English. The American equivalent is vaudeville, and it’s quite a close equivalent, actually. A lot of the British musical stars performed in America in vaudeville, and some of them were very successful, [going on to become] superstars in America. Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel both started out in the London music hall.

Obviously an English audience is more familiar with music hall, but a lot of them would tend to think that it’s some kind of corny old thing, and they’re not interested. But it’s possible that an American audience might find it interesting or exotic in a way that a British audience wouldn’t.

When we toured with this project, I really didn’t know what to expect from audiences anywhere. And I was actually amazed at how well it went down in the States; people really liked it. So you never know.

There’s much more from my conversation with Joe Jackson. Click here to continue…