Joe Jackson - Rain Feature

Joe Jackson
Rain Album preview
Released January 28, 2008

Rykodisc is proud to announce the release of the new Joe Jackson record on January 28, 2008. Entitled, Rain, it's the first Jackson record since the brilliant and critically acclaimed Volume 4 was released in 2003. While Volume 4 and the seven-month tour that followed featured the reunion of the original, iconic Joe Jackson Band, Rain, was made with three of those four members: Jackson (vocals and keyboards), Graham Maby (bass/vocals) and Dave Houghton (drums/vocals). The record was produced by Jackson, and recorded in his newly-adopted city of Berlin at Planet Roc studios.

The album precedes Jackson's highly anticipated European tour which kicks off at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin on Friday February 29th. Jackson will then play a one-off UK show at the London Shepherd's Bush Empire on Sunday March 2, followed by a full UK tour later in 2008.

The package will consist of two discs, the first being the stereo mixes of the album on CD, and a bonus DVD disc featuring over 40 minutes of live performances, behind-the-scenes footage and interviews.

Very much in keeping with the eclecticism of Jackson's wonderful three-decade spanning career, Rain is another genre-stretching effort from an artist who continues to extend the boundaries of his craft. Reflecting the title, the record is melancholic in places, but also boasts plenty of humor, swing, sophistication and barbed social commentary as well as some out and out rockers.

The common thread running through the record is its simplicity; where Jackson's distinctive piano and voice, Maby's intricate and melodic bass and Houghton's tough and tender drums are all you hear. A rich yet stark production by Jackson and mixed by Paul Kolderie and Sean Slade, Rain boasts a broad, grand sound, open yet tightly wound and focused at the same time, that emphasizes Jackson's sterling songcraft -- a unique amalgam of pop, rock, jazz and classical ideas and lyrics with deep, sympathetic glimpses into the human spirit written by a man who is keenly sensitive, sharp and complex.

CD Track Listing:

01. Invisible Man
02. Too Tough
03. Citizen Sane
04. Wasted Time
05. The Uptown Train
06. King Pleasure Time
07. Solo (So Low)
08. Rush Across The Road
09. Good Bad Boy
10. A Place In The Rain

About the four-year break between albums, Jackson says: "I wasn't in a hurry to make a new album. I promised myself that I wouldn't make a record until I had an album's worth of songs that were the best I could do. I think several of these songs are the best songs I've ever written, and I wanted to have 10 or 12 songs that I felt that way about before I put out another album. I used to be a bit of a workaholic, but I am now much more patient. The quantity has gone down, but the quality has gone up."

About the bonus DVD:

The bonus DVD was directed and produced by Julie Gardner, the recording engineer who recorded Joe's last two studio albums. With a running time of over 40 minutes, the DVD will feature recent live performance footage, behind-the-scenes footage and a rare television interview.

"We decided to let Julie Gardner, who we've worked with for years now," says Jackson, " to follow us around as we worked, playing a live show, rehearsing, and just talking about playing together and our long history together as band mates and just mates."

The DVD will consist of three live songs that Jackson performed at London's Islington Academy on 24th May 2007. The songs performed include "Invisible Man", "Wasted Time" and "Good Bad Boy", all of which appear on the forthcoming studio album. Other DVD features include a rare interview with Alan Bangs, long-time host of Rockpalast, a long-running German music television program on which Joe appeared twice early in his career.

The DVD also boasts informal chats with Dave Houghton (drums) and Graham Maby (bass), talking about their history with Joe and trading funny stories. Both musicians played on Jackson's first three studio albums - "Look Sharp" (1979), "I'm The Man" (1979) and "Beat Crazy" (1980).

The DVD also includes an informal walk around Berlin with Joe, pointing out some of his favorite things about the city, plus video footage of the band in the studio working on the new album, having their photos taken by "Rain" album photographer Jim Rakete, and goofing off during a bit of down time in the recording process.

Joe Jackson
Live at the London Shepherd's Bush Empire

Sunday March 2nd, 2008
Box Office: 0844 477 2000 (24 hours)
Book Online: www.ticketweb.co.uk
Street Address: Shepherds Bush Green, London, W12 8TT
Doors open from 7pm

Joe Jackson
Live at The Point, Cardiff

FTuesday Feb. 27th, 2008
The Point Mount Stuart Square
Cardiff, UK CF10 6EB
0 2920 230 130

http://www.thepointcardiffbay.com/gigdetail.php?id=486

Steppin' Out with Sara Schaefer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaXCbCgxP98

Joe Jackson performs 'Common People' with William Shatner and Ben Folds
on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eISBTBwWKeE