  return of the fabulous four Morning subway commutes are a necessary evil. I dont have a car, so Im a slave to the urlLink MBTA. Im grateful that it exists, but sometimes its just a royal pain. I dont like to be shoved that close together with total strangers, some of whom apparently have yet to discover this fascinating new invention known as deodorant. There are two things that can save my commute from being a completely miserable experience  a good book or a good CD in the Walkman. This morning I was blessed with the latter, and I almost didnt want the commute to end. As I mentioned yesterday, I picked up urlLink Volume 4, the brand new urlLink Joe Jackson CD. I listened to it a bit last night on my way home and my impressions were very positive. But I waited until this morning (due to the longer commute) to really dig into it.
A little background first: I first heard Joe Jackson in 1979. My initial exposure to his music came in a rather odd manner. I was ten years old and just starting to learn the drums, but I didnt have my own set just yet. Our family was really good friends with the Hilliards, whose dad worked with our dad. They lived in nearby Chelmsford and the oldest kid, Scott (who was probably around 20 at the time) played the drums and whenever we went over to visit, I would go to his room (in the basement of their split-level), put the headphones on, turn on some random rock radio station and play along. That was the first time I ever heard Is She Really Going Out With Him. In fact, to this day, that song still conjures up memories of banging away on Scotts gleaming five-piece drum set (before the adults yelled down the staircase for me to keep that racket down).
A few years later, during my 1985 Year of Discovery (when I first started buying albums by Elvis Costello, the Jam, Squeeze et al), I picked up Joes Look Sharp album and to this day I still consider it one of my all-time favorites. I suppose you could call it punk or new wave, but like Costello it was intelligent punk. Scrappy guitars and snarling vocals were paired with smart songwriting and killer hooks. Look Sharp had all that in spades. Joe made two more albums with guitarist Gary Sanford, drummer Dave Houghton and bassist Graham Maby (Im the Man and Beat Crazy) before moving off into such eclectic territory as big band, classical, jazz and more. When it dawned on Joe that 2003 would mark the 25th anniversary of his original four-piece band, he decided to reform the band with a new album and tour. Volume 4 (its the fourth album with this particular band configuration) is the resulting album and it was released yesterday. Life is good. Anything crappy that happens this week can be alleviated by a quick listen to this marvelous disc. Volume 4 pays tribute to his past (and even apes it) without being condescending or overtly nostalgic. Like Elvis Costellos recent return-to-roots album (When I Was Cruel), Joes latest shows his original new wave blueprint updated with the things hes learned along the way. In other words, he can still be a snot-faced hellraiser but isnt afraid to shake things up with some sophisticated musical interplay or inventive arrangements. The opener, Take it Like a Man is a brilliant, piano spiked number reminiscent of Look Sharp with a little Body & Soul (Joes 1984 album) thrown in for good measure.
Awkward Age shows how great Joe is with catchy hooks. The album has its fair share of ballads -- Chrome, Love at First Light and Blue Flame  and the latter would sound right at home on Joes 1982 Night & Day album. He knows exactly when to update his sound and when to stick to the basics. The only real low points  and this is really just nitpicking  are the rather forced Little Bit Stupid and Thugs Are Us (which has a nice ska beat, but lets face it: do we really need another song about suburban white kids who try to be black?).
Joe and his band may have lines on their faces, but as far as musical ability goes, they havent aged a bit. I know that Maby has worked extensively as a session musician over the years (most notably with urlLink They Might Be Giants ), but I havent heard a peep from the other two. Apparently their instruments havent been gathering dust for the past 20 years, because they sound as good as ever. The four musicians were recorded live in the studio in a very simple style that seems refreshing in this era of Pro Tools and mixing board touch-ups.
I dont know if its just a limited edition, but my version of Volume 4 comes with a bonus disc of six songs the band performed last fall at two small clubs in England. They tear through a half dozen nuggets from the early days. If youre planning to see Joe live on his current urlLink tour, this makes for a great preview of whats to come. Ill be there myself (at the Paradise in Boston on April 5). Ill be the one trying to get my vinyl copy of Look Sharp signed by the man himself. Wish me luck. 
