Meaningful Songs: Joe Jackson - Stepping Out

Joe Jackson - Steppin' Out

I can honestly say, this is a totally stone cold classic pop tune. So memorable and now seems to give me goosebumps.

As short as possible: I am pretty certain I knew this tune years ago. One of those 80's hits/1-hit wonders. Although I kind of think I may have confused it with either Steve Winwood or Bruce Hornsby and the Range.

And I hardly know his catalog, but from reading some and knowing a few of his other popular songs, this one is very much an isolated type of track; i.e. he doesn't really have any other tunes, or at least Hits like this ("Is She Really Going Out With Him" sounds NOTHING like this).

It almost sounds like a Billy Joel tune in some ways.

Anyway, it's really pleasant and inspiring. Epic in some ways, with its xylophone/bells and vocal melodies. Like someone whose ascending or transitioning..maybe to be more extroverted? maybe coming out of the closet? I dunno, but it sounds fantastic still. Like "Take on Me" or even some of those huge Toto hits, there's something special about it, even just the production sounds pristine. 

Jimmy Gnecco News: (The Heart re-release/Weathervane)

Interesting interview, 1st off the frequent praise of Mercy and stressing how still not enough people even heard it, which I would totally echo, in fact I probably haven't echoed enough even on this blog. Mercy is a 5-star record that Rick Rubin's name is on as the producer (for what that actually means), yet even with Rubin getting a Grammy Nomination for its mix I recall, it really never got talked about like it should have. Hip4k I don't think even reviewed it, nor did 89.3 or Radio K ever play anything off of it. But they still could of course. Will they? I probably have a better chance getting my own Technical Death Metal show on 89.3, than that happening.

But also in that interview, it's good to hear info about his current work. The Heart is being re-released and re-arranged, and initially coming out in Europe. The way he describes the difference in the songs, and adding strings, layers, electric guitar, has me pretty curious (even tho I'm a huge fanboy anyway, The Heart didn't end up as great as I hoped last year. Maybe revisiting it would help).

And then the info that I was just reading about this project Weathervane here on the Ours forum, and Weathervane made music for the soundtrack for the film Head Hunters. If I'm getting this all correctly.





Sample of a song/interview here with Paul and Jimmy.

This musician Paul Waaktaar-Savoy I guess is one of if not the main creative force behind a-ha.

I'm curious what this may lead to as that song is pretty good, albeit a little different than Ours and Jimmy's solo music.

Apparatjik - We Are Here (2010)

1. "Deadbeat" 2:52
2. "Datascroller" 2:58
3. "Snow Crystals" 4:32
4. "Supersonic Sound" 3:24
5. "Arrow and Bow" 4:20
6. "In a Quiet Corner" 3:35
7. "Josie" 3:30
8. "Antlers" 3:20
9. "Electric Eye" 6:02
10. "Look Kids" 4:52
11. "Quiz Show" 2:33
41:58

Here's just the review I put up on rateyourmusic. I hardly am clear on how I feel about this album, but given how little talk about it I've noticed on the boards, I'm kind of surprised.

Gone through it twice. Seems to fall into the category a lot of records I've been checking out of late. The best moments or tracks I really dig. The rest may grow on me, but for now sort of falls into the albums "sound" which in a nutshell is like if Mew were doing more heavily electronic or even industrial driven music, and also with somewhat of an 80's new wave flare. Given this has members of Coldplay and A-Ha, that is almost too predictable.

But while this doesn't seem to be as great as a Mew record (yet), the songwriting and experiments I am liking no matter.

It'll be interesting to know how I feel about this by the end of the year. But in the mean time, especially the Mew crowd, I'd highly endorse this (while not expecting Mew at the same time).

I really like the chorus/bridge on this track, although it sounds much worse from a youtube stream of course.