Also the
title of
Joe Jackson's
1982 album. His most commercially successful, contained the hits
Steppin' Out (#6 in the US and UK charts--his highest charting single in the US) and
Breaking Us In Two (#18 US, #59 UK) as well as:
The album is designed to have the feel of
24 hours in
New York City. It was written after Joe got
divorced and moved from
England to New York. The album's title is of course inspired by the above
Cole Porter song, with the first side representing "
Day" and the second "
Night" (
remember when albums had sides?) and the music itself was a
radical departure from Joe's first two albums, (
Look Sharp! and
I'm The Man), with Joe eschewing his
New Wave pop-
punk stylings for a mellower blend of
jazz,
salsa, and
pop, with no
guitars except for
Graham Maby's bass guitar. This music was actually far closer to Joe's interests and influences than his earlier work.
I think this is an essential album. It's beautifully recorded, and is a significant part of '80s pop--the absence of guitar makes it fit in well with the keyboard-driven pop music that was becoming popular at the time, even though it was of a different genre than that music. As well as being incredibly successful it's one of Joe's best--good enough that he released a sequel in Fall of 2000.
This album was also released as an Ultradisc by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab.
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