Joe Jackson’s Night And Day has all of the elements that make the 80’s such a wild time in music history. The album throws elements of jazz, new wave, salsa, classical, and pop into a blender with a laissez-faire panache. What comes out the other end is an album of absolute excess, filled with big hits (“Another World”, “Steppin’ Out”) and big misses (“Cancer”, “Real Men”). It reminds me as if Talking Heads met the New Radicals in a divey New York City jazz club, took 18 tabs of LSD, and decided to write an entire album on the spot.
It’s a wild ride and worth listening to at least once in your life just to hear how far pop music was willing to push the envelope in the 80’s.
Standout Songs: “Steppin’ Out”, “Another World”, “A Slow Song”
