Track Listing

1. Beat Crazy
2. One to One
3. In Every Dream Home (A Nightmare)
4. Evil Eye
5. Mad at You
6. Crime Don't Pay
7. Someone Up There
8. Battleground
9. Biology
10. Pretty Boys
11. Fit

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #37560 in Music
• Released on: 2007-04-03
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .19 pounds

Customer Reviews

Beating a hasty retreat from rock and roll
Joe Jackson cut two prototype albums for the blossoming new wave movement, but he considered himself a musician and artist. After the success of "Look Sharp" and "I'm The Man," Jackson was getting restless and feeling hemmed in by the cliches of punk, and he made an effort to dynamite his limitations.

It is evident from the very first track that Jackson was out to veer as far left of expectations as possible. Opening with a scream against a beatnik bassline, "Beat Crazy" begins with bass player Graham Maby singing lead. Joe Jackson tried very hard to make this album a "band" effort, and as the liner notes put it, "make sense of rock and roll." He also declares the attempt a failure.

It is easy to see how Jackson used the "failure" of "Beat Crazy" to make the leap to the more sophisticated "Night And Day." In one of his best ballads, "One On One," he deftly cuts the antagonist and himself with great couplets like "You're beautiful when you get mad. Or is that a sexist observation?" It's a far cry from the glibness of "Is She Really Going Out With Him." The music also took on more color, with the jazzy intro to "Crime Don't Pay" taking on a similarity to "Glad" from Traffic's "John Barleycorn Must Die."

"Beat Crazy" suffers from that kind of intersection of desires and directions. The dub effects on "Mad At You" now just sound silly, and as a social statement, "Battleground" is even more embarrassing then it was in the 80's. Still, it is hard to fault Jackson and his mates for trying to shatter their old walls. Bear in mind that Jackson's next album was the Big Band "Jumpin' Jive," and that he'd jettison the band after "Beat Crazy." That helps to explain the wildness and musical tension that drives the eccentricities of "Beat Crazy."

Very good indeed.
One can only speculate as to why Beat Crazy somehow never achieved the popularity of Jackson's first two albums. I suppose it is, in some ways, less 'immediate,' but the songs are consistently good or great; it's certainly superior to I'm the Man.

What's perhaps most immediately apparent is that, in contrast to his earlier work and at odds with the hyper-kinetic cover art, this album has a very claustrophobic, doom-laden atmosphere about it. The likes of 'The Evil Eye' and 'In Every Dream Home (a Nightmare)' (Yes, that's 'NIGHTMARE,' not 'Heartache.' The Roxy Music cover would no doubt be interesting, but that's not what this is) are very creepy indeed, and 'Mad at You' is really one of the most nasty songs you'll ever hear. 'Someone Up There' is a very desperate lost love song, and probably the album's instant classic. The ominous dub number 'Battleground' is a searing little treatise on race relations. Even a lighter song like 'Biology' is lent something of an edge by the album's production values. I would say that the one real weak link is 'Pretty Boys'--I suppose in its defense one could note that its critique of prefabricated teen idols is as relevant now as it ever was, but let's face it: it was never exactly a weighty issue, and the music isn't very exciting.

I can't really say anything else negative about this CD, however: Beat Crazy is probably Jackson's second or third best album, a must for fans and casual listeners alike, and it's completely idiotic that it's so decidedly out-of-print. A lot of Jackson's mid-period albums are similarly unavailable, but they're generally pretty readily available. This one is in very high demand and very low supply. About the best you can hope for, until someone finally gets around to re-releasing it, it to go on ebay and try not to get gouged *too* viciously. But if you are, you can take comfort in the knowledge that it's probably worth it.

Why Is This Out Of Print?
For some reason (licensing problems probably) Joe Jackson's best titles are not being made anymore. Beat Crazy is another great recording. Every track is excellent. Joe's politics are deeply entwined in his songwriting. But he's really just saying let people be people and try to love one another. Not a bad message.

Get it if you can find it.

[DW]