| What are we doing?
April 12th, 2003 Being _extremely_ happy. Coming Monday is my birthday, you see. That in itself does not make me happy, for who wants to get old? But my parents gave me a great gift. And I'm really very happy with it, so I wanted to share that with you.  It is 'Volume 4' by the Joe Jackson Band. My mother asked me if I could explain to her what it is that I find so great about this. Well, ma, here's the explanation. 'Beat Crazy' by the Joe Jackson Band was the first long play-record that I ever owned (I won it in a raffle of the Bim Bakenesser-group, where I, at the time, was a cub scout, I do believe) and it changed my life. Ever since then, all attempts I have made at making music have been defined by that record. See, for instance, my version of 'One to one', one of the songs on it.
Joe Jackson, willy-nilly singer (he started singing on the advice of his doctor, to combat his asthma), confronted me, with that band on that record, with a lyricism, straight-forwardness and British free spirit that I have never since heard better, not even from himself, although 'Look sharp' and 'I'm the man' definitely contained pearls as well, and 'Night and day' was a masterpiece on an entirely different level. And so now there's 'Volume 4'. And even if this is the least of the four, it is a joyous occasion to hear this band, which as far as I'm concerned represents _the_ essence of rock 'n' roll after the Beatles (do fuck off with yer Stones, with all due respect to the Stones), once more. I'm home again, with Maby, Houghton, Sanford and Jackson. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. |
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