Review: Vinyl Reissue of Joe Jackson's 'Body and Soul'

Joe Jackson started his career as a high-quality Elvis Costello clone, and like his fellow punk-adjacent, angry somewhat-young man, Jackson seemed to tire of rock and roll quickly to suffer a bit of an identity crisis. But while Costello was dithering with flaccid country covers that didn't suit his fiery style and ill-conceived gestures toward mainstream contemporary pop (complete with guest appearances by contemporary pop-superstar Darryl Hall), Jackson went in a much more interesting direction, rejecting any semblance of relevance to set off on the path that classical pop and jazz composers laid down fifty years earlier. Costello did experiment with this style a bit with compositions such as "Almost Blue" and "Shipbuilding", but he didn't commit to it the way Jackson did on his smash 1982 album, Night and Day, which yielded two elegant, adult pop hits: "Steppin' Out" (which went top-five in the U.S.) and "Breaking Us in Two".

Jackson committed to this successful new direction even deeper with his next album. Body and Soul announces its intentions with a monochrome cover and analytical liner notes that clearly reference the house style of Blue Note jazz albums. Jazz, soul, Latin, and adult pop continue to reign on Body and Soul, though the songwriting rarely wanders uncomfortably far from the established songwriting style of Jackson's previous albums. While Jackson is clearly doing his version of Porter or Gershwin throughout the disc, the songs always sound like Joe Jackson songs. Even when he does an unapologetic Motown homage called "Go For It", he uses slightly sour, unresolved horn figures and a somewhat irritating refrain that Berry Gordy probably would not have OK'ed.

That chorus keeps "Go For It" from being the great track it might have been. Other songs that don't quite work include "Cha Cha Loco", a retread of the straight-Latin feel of "Cancer" from Night and Day, but without the unforgettably witty lyric; the interminable smooth-jazz instrumental "Loisaida"; and "Happy Ending" a soul duet that mismatches Joe Jackson's refreshingly unprocessed snottiness with the studied belting of Elaine Caswell. However, the grand "The Verdict", the musically and emotionally tender "Be My Number Two", and the sprightly hit "You Can't Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want)" are Jackson classics, though his early punk-adjacent fans may not have been the listeners who made it a #13 hit on Adult Contemporary radio in 1984.  

The liner notes of Body and Soul make a big deal of Jackson's rejection of the new wave's slick, modern sounds, yet cop to the fact that he and co-producer David Kerschenbaum went the digital route in the days when that kind of tech was still really new. Nevertheless, Intervention Records' new audiophile edition of Body and Soul sounds better than a CD. Intervention compensates for the limitations of digital recording by taking every possible means to present the audio as nicely as possible. The original nine-track album is split over two LPs that spin at 45 RPM. The 180g vinyl is virgin and flat, and Kevin Gray mastered this reissue using the original digital files, adding no additional compression in the process. I wouldn't say this LP has all the warmth of an analogue recording, but it does sound great with full, yet not displeasingly booming, bass, and clear highs that never pierce or distort.