Joe Jackson "Big World" - direct to two tracks

Not at my house!


PlusMinus, yeah it was at the Greek. I don't remember the opening act. Who was it? I remember when Joe started and he was singing the line about the California sun as the sun was going down which was cool. I had the tee shirt for ages until it finally disintegrated to the point of being to embarassing to wear even at home in the garden.

 

I was saying that there was no opening act. That's why it was so great... showtime rolled around and Joe just came out and started the show without delay!

 

No wonder I couldn't remember one. Well at least some of my brain cells are still fireing!

 

The 3-sided album structure of Big World makes tremendous musical sense. It isn't just that a three-part structure is classical. It's the fast - slow - fast three-part structure that is so common in classical music, but was rare to non-existent in pop music albums due to the tyranny of the double-sided LP. One of the great things about the CD was the ability to do different forms on an album without it seeming so weird.

- Joe

 

I believe that the "Live in Tokyo" video is now out on DVD. I agree it is very high quality sound and picture with enjoyable performances.

 

It was on both LD and released on DVD. It's not so hard to find.

 

I agree that three sided albums can be more powerful with less filler. Johnny Winter's Second Winter comes to mind. And they later fit so nicely on CDs.

Same for 55 min. LPs that were not pressed on three sides like some of those older Todd Rundgren albums. They were made for the CD format.

Anyway, the Laser Disc video of the "Big World Sessions" is all I have ever owned of the program. Very nice sound once you jack up the bass a bit.

 

Question About Japan for US Joe Jackson 'Big World'

I have 2 copies of this CD, both Made in Japan. One has CD 6021 on the disc, which has a gold colored globe design silk screened on it. The other disc shows CD-5139 with CD-6021 in parenthesis. I don't have a program to check them... any idea if they're different and how?

Thanks!

 

I'm listening to Joe Jackson's 'Big World' for the first time tonight...

I must say, I'm impressed! I wasn't sure what to expect, from reviews I read at the time it came out, but it's quite good.

I'm really looking forward to 'side 4'....

 

Most of the reviews were written by the descendants of this gentleman (at 1:25 in), so take things with a grain of salt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkz83VFEk1A

 

Bump!

 

It's my favorite Joe Jackson album.

 

I can see why! I have several others, and like them, but I kept stopping what I was doing to pay attention to the music last night on this one...

 

I was in the audience during the recording. Was a great experience! Some really good songs.

 

big fan of that release. since the shows were done live, they did several dates as warmups in small venues mostly with little advertising. i was lucky enough to get tickets for his show at s.o.b. in nyc. we were maybe 15 feet from the stage. the fire marshalls showed up as it was packed beyond capacity but not before he did the whole set. more on that here:

http://www.jj-archive.net/concerts/bwt.html

http://www.jj-archive.net/setlists/setl_bwt.html#1985-12-17

i also saw him at radio city music hall a few months later as part of the tour.

http://www.jj-archive.net/setlists/setl_bwt.html#1986-07-18

 

Great album, in fact, let me spin it right now.

 

Great album. There's a DVD "Live in Tokyo" from the tour which followed the album. Graham Maby is conspicuously missing on the live DVD. The fellow who played bass guitar on the Big World album does fine with the Big World material, but struggles mightily with Maby's parts on other stuff. Gary Burke is wonderful on drums.

There's a two-sided 8" LaserDisc called "The Big World Sessions" which is sensational!!! It has six songs from the three-night recording session, two of which are takes which were not used on the album.

 

One of Joe's better albums. "Shanghai Sky" is one of my favourite Joe Jackson songs, I love "Home Town" (this version, not the version he performs live these days), "Fifty Dollar Love Affair", "Forty Years", "We Can't Live Together" and "Man In The Street" as well.

 

One of his best. Listened to it recently. Also a truly high fidelity recording. The LP sounds phenomenal. I think it's the only 3 sided LP in my collection!

 

My first exposure to Big World was from that "Live in Tokyo" VHS. Your observation of the bass player is spot on. Unfortunately, that video tape kind of tainted this album for me. Gary Burke was great and really the highlight of the band. But the overall performance just came off lacking for me. As a result. Big World has always been a 2nd tier album for me.

The session VHS is cool. But by the time I got that, the damage was done.

 

Oh I had no idea this was ever issued. I was at the Jan 24th session, the night they culled the least from. It was a fun experience, to be forbidden to clap after the songs for a few seconds so the take would not have crowd noises on anything...

 

In Grant's 1986 poll, a song from this album was included. I'd never heard it before, but I liked it enough to look for more songs on youtube. I think I'm going to buy it.

 

wasn't it OOP for a while?

 

It's been technically OOP for a long time, as with much of Jackson's back catalog. Probably fairly easy to track down though.

 

I absolutely LOVE this album. I didn't get it immediately upon release, as I wasn't impressed with the single, "Home Town" when I first heard it. But a few years later, literally two nights before I would go off to spend a year studying in Europe, I ran across the cassette and thought it might be an appropriate soundtrack for my upcoming experience. And was it ever!

The album blew me away almost immediately with tits quality and the intensity of the performances. The lyrics perfectly encapsulated my state of mind at the time. Not long after, of course, I ended up getting JJ's entire back catalog, and he remains an "instant buy" for me whenever he puts out new material. But this album, along with Night and Day, remains a pinnacle for me.