Joe Jackson Joe Jackson
A brilliant debut album filled with super-catchy popsongs with a drive and energy borrowed from punk. This album is a trip down memory lane for me. Is She Really Going Out With Him? and Fools in Love are instant classics with sharp, witty, sometimes cynical yet funny lyrics. Other, less well-known songs as Throw It Away and One More Time are easily as good as the aforementioned hits.
The Jam A compilation of album tracks and a few B-sides, this album wasn't destined to appeal to the masses like a best of or greatest hits. And I don't think this really works, as it's the singles that make the Jam such a great band, and the lack of known tunes on this album doesn't make you want to pull it out of the the rack and listen to it. All this doesn't say there aren't any good songs on this album though... there's just a spark missing.
Jamiroquai Even though I tend to find Jamiroquai slightly repulsive and his music too slick, this album is sometimes irresistible and utterly dancable. Especially the singles Virtual Insanity, Cosmic Girl and Alright are yum. The country-ditty Drifting Along proves that Jay Kay should not move away from his 70's soul fusion like in the title track of this album.
Jesus Jones Jesus Jones had a few beautiful singles (Right Here, Right Now, International Bright Young Thing), so when I saw this album in the sales bin of Bilbo for a mere 2.5 Euros, I didn't hesitate. For such a small amount you can experiment and buy CD's you don't know, but this experiment didn't turn out well. None of the songs have the catchiness of the aforementioned singles, and it feels as if the band thought that every little hole had to be filled with sounds and more sounds. There are still glimpses of how it should have been, mainly in the 'human parts' of the album (being Mike Edwards' beautiful voice and excellent backing vocals, for instance on Yellow Brown), but an excess of computerized noise ruins any potential quality on this album completely.
Joy Division What is there to say about this? The quintessential Joy Division song, at least when you also think in terms of success. Very powerful and emotional.
If I had more money, and less other music to listen to, I'd get myself the whole Joy Division discography. But life isn't that simple... This album is a bit odd as first and only Joy Division album in my collection, Unknown Pleasures and Closer are more essential... but this double album with B-sides, radio sessions, outtakes and live recordings is interesting too. The live versions of Transmission and Isolation are chilling. Other remarkable moments are a live session recorded 2 weeks before the death of Ian Curtis, and the song Ceremony, later adopted by New Order.
Back to homepage; Back to general music page; Go to I; Go to K