Just how good were/was/is/are....

[Deutsch Wolf]

A new thread.

Let's see the opinions on various musicians, bands, films, actors, etc etc.

Whoever does one gets to nominate someone else (who has contributed) to start the next one once it's run its course. Or people can volunteer. No jumping in though, wait your bloody turn. And don't pick someone stupidly obscure that no-one has ever heard of. I dunno, we'll see how it runs. Hey, we've got 1,200+ songs on a Spotify playlist, we're pretty good at this

You might learn something, you might have an argument. Who can say!

I'll start. Bonus marks if you do a proper OP, like all the best people.

1. Joe Jackson

David Ian "Joe" Jackson (born 11 August 1954) is an English musician and singer-songwriter. Having spent years studying music and playing clubs, Jackson scored a hit with his first release, "Is She Really Going Out with Him?", in 1979. This was followed by a number of new wave singles before he moved to more jazz-inflected pop music and had a Top 10 hit in 1982 with "Steppin' Out". He is associated with the 1980s Second British Invasion of the US. He has also composed classical music. He has recorded 19 studio albums and received 5 Grammy Award nominations.

In 1978, a record producer heard Jackson's demo tape and signed him to A&M Records. The next year the newly formed Joe Jackson Band released their debut album Look Sharp! A mix of rock, melodic jazz, and new wave, it mined a vein similar to that of contemporaries Elvis Costello and Graham Parker. The album enjoyed wide critical success: in 2013 Rolling Stone magazine named Look Sharp! number 98 in a list of the 100 best debut albums of all time. Some commercial success also followed, as the debut single "Is She Really Going Out with Him?" reached the top 40 in 5 countries, and no. 9 in Canada.

The Joe Jackson Band released I'm the Man in 1979. The album followed a similar musical pattern, and received good, though not as strong, reviews. It did produce the single "It's Different for Girls", which became Jackson's highest charting UK single, peaking at no. 5. Beat Crazy followed in 1980. Jackson also collaborated with Lincoln Thompson in reggae crossover.

In 1981, Jackson produced an album for the British power pop group the Keys. The Keys Album was the group's only LP. The Joe Jackson Band toured extensively until it broke up. Jackson subsequently recorded an album of old-style swing and blues tunes, Jumpin' Jive, with songs by Cab Calloway, Lester Young, Glenn Miller, and Louis Jordan. The album, and associated single release, was credited to the band "Joe Jackson's Jumpin' Jive".

Jackson's 1982 album Night and Day was his only studio album to reach either the UK or US Top 10, peaking at No. 3 (UK) and at No. 4 (US). Two singles released from the album, "Steppin' Out" and "Breaking Us in Two", were US top 20 hits. The tracks "Real Men" and "A Slow Song" referred obliquely to New York City's early 1980s gay culture. "Real Men" also became a top 10 hit in Australia.

By 1984, New York had become Jackson's home base, and he recorded Body and Soul there, an album he later said was "from the point of view of a relative newcomer". Heavily influenced by pop and jazz standards and salsa, it had the US No. 15 hit single "You Can't Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want)".

In 1985 Jackson played piano on Joan Armatrading's album Secret Secrets, and in 1986 he collaborated with Suzanne Vega on the single "Left of Center" from Pretty in Pink's soundtrack. Jackson's next album was Big World, with all-new songs recorded live in front of an audience instructed to remain silent while music was playing. Released in 1986, it was a three-sided double record; the fourth side consisted of a single centering groove and a label stating "there is no music on this side". The instrumental album Will Power (1987), with heavy classical and jazz influences, set the stage for things to come later, but before he left pop behind, he put out two more albums, Blaze of Glory (which he performed in its entirety during the subsequent tour) and Laughter & Lust. In 1995, Jackson contributed his version of "Statue of Liberty" on a tribute album for the English band XTC called A Testimonial Dinner: The Songs of XTC.

 

[Paul]

Ahh one of your better ideas

 

[sycophantia]

I really liked his early hits, good quality pop music imo. Bearing in mind at the time I was a rabid rock fan and hardly gave anything else house room.
Lost track of him after 'Stepping Out' is it worth me checking his later stuff out?

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

He does classical stuff now. I'm sure it's very good, he's very talented and all that, but classical isn't really my bag.

Paul, I always have good ideas. People just don't understand all of them

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Anyway, Steppin' Out is one of the great 80s tracks. Seminal enough to be sampled by Gabriela Cilmi.

Is She Really Going Out With Him is an astoundingly bitter yet fantastic track.

I'd never say he was a great singer but he was a fantastic artist, albeit for a relatively brief spell.

 

[Papper]

Vaguely remember this stuff when I was a kid and it was all a bit bland when you'd got the two-tone stuff and people like Gary Numan. It still sounds a bit bland and fluffy now but nonetheless in context a massive upgrade on people like BA Robertson. Sadly music is entering another bland and fluffy phase with people like Capaldi and Bastille. Sorry to be cynical.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Bastille who debuted in 2012/13?

I don't think they're "entering" anything.

Lewis Capaldi is indeed rubbish but this isn't the time or place to discuss him.

 

[Deleted Cyber]

He does classical stuff now. I'm sure it's very good, he's very talented and all that, but classical isn't really my bag.

Paul, I always have good ideas. People just don't understand all of them

Fuck! You won’t be tuning in to my weekly classical music radio show then!

 

[Pablowolf]

I find Joe's music a bit touchy feely. 'It's Different For Girls' is a fine example.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Fuck! You won’t be tuning in to my weekly classical music radio show then!

I appreciate the artistry and the craft. It's just not for me. It's me, not you.

 

[nimrod]

i've got a best of JJ under the creative title Stepping Out but not listened to it for a long time and can probably only name the 3 main songs he did.. or were there more.

always been plenty of decent music around if you look for it and these days in comparison to my youth you have multiple ways to listen to stuff from any era pretty much at your fingertips.

so papper, if you're only getting as far as bastille(!), you're either being incredibly lazy or you just don't want it enough.

 

[Jabbawolf]

Always liked Joe Jackson - “Pretty women out walking with gorillas in my street” is a great line - if you like sentimental numbers, Be My Number Two was class - he is a right ugly bugger though.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

He kind of fits within New Wave and somewhere else. I don't know where that somewhere else is.

I thought he was an interesting first case

 

[Jabbawolf]

He kind of fits within New Wave and somewhere else. I don't know where that somewhere else is.

I thought he was an interesting first case

More than a hint of jazz.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

A mixed bag of reaction then - mostly positive but some doubts.

Let's go with number two:

2. Fleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. They have sold more than 120 million records worldwide, making them one of the world's best-selling bands. In 1998, select members of Fleetwood Mac were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music.

Fleetwood Mac was founded by guitarist Peter Green, drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Jeremy Spencer. Bassist John McVie completed the lineup for their self-titled debut album. Danny Kirwan joined as a third guitarist in 1968. Keyboardist Christine Perfect, who contributed as a session musician from the second album, married McVie and joined in 1970. At this time it was primarily a British blues band, scoring a UK number one with "Albatross", and also had other hits such as the singles "Oh Well" and "Man of the World". All three guitarists left in succession during the early 1970s, to be replaced by guitarists Bob Welch and Bob Weston and vocalist Dave Walker. By 1974, all three had either departed or been dismissed, leaving the band without a male lead vocalist or guitarist.

In late 1974, while Fleetwood was scouting studios in Los Angeles, he was introduced to folk-rock duo Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. Fleetwood Mac soon asked Buckingham to be their new lead guitarist, and Buckingham agreed on condition that Nicks would also join the band. The addition of Buckingham and Nicks gave the band a more pop rock sound, and their 1975 self-titled album, Fleetwood Mac, reached No. 1 in the United States. Rumours (1977), Fleetwood Mac's second album after the arrival of Buckingham and Nicks, produced four U.S. Top 10 singles and remained at number one on the American albums chart for 31 weeks. It also reached the top spot in various countries around the world and won a Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1978. Rumours has sold over 40 million copies worldwide, making it the eighth-highest-selling album in history. The band went through personal turmoil while recording the album, as both the romantic partnerships in the band (one being John and Christine McVie, and the other being Buckingham and Nicks) separated while continuing to make music together.

The band's personnel remained stable through three more studio albums, but by the late 1980s began to disintegrate. After Buckingham and Nicks each left the band, they were replaced by a number of other guitarists and vocalists. A 1993 one-off performance for the first inauguration of Bill Clinton featured the lineup of Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, Nicks, and Buckingham back together for the first time in six years. A full reunion occurred four years later, and the group released their fourth U.S. No. 1 album, The Dance (1997), a live compilation of their work. Christine McVie left the band in 1998, but continued to work with the band in a session capacity. Meanwhile, the group remained together as a four-piece, releasing their most recent studio album, Say You Will, in 2003. Christine McVie rejoined the band full-time in 2014. In 2018, Buckingham was fired from the band and was replaced by Mike Campbell, formerly of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Neil Finn of Split Enz and Crowded House.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Disclaimer: I've never bought a Fleetwood Mac album. Nor am I ever likely to now as people don't buy albums, and they're ancient. But I've always found them quite an intriguing band. Not prog, as prog is fucking shit. Not rock, as they're not heavy enough for that. Not pop, as they're not frivolous enough for that. But I like them.

 

[Boozad]

Always liked a load of Fleetwood Mac stuff, think it just came from my dad playing them a load when I was younger. He had a video of them playing a gig (fuck knows where or when, it was early 80s) and I just loved watching Buckingham play Go Your Own Way, mesmerising stuff.

 

[Tredman]

Actually bought a Fleetwood Mac LP the other day off eBay. Was about 15 minutes after moaning about the wife working long hours as people keep buying shit while stuck at home.

 

[sycophantia]

I fucking love Fleetwood Mac, that goes for both main incarnations, Peter Green was a genius and Danny Kirwan an absolute beast of a guitar player, Black Magic Woman, Green Manalishi and Oh Well could easily feature on my all time favourite top ten even though all these tracks were recorded before I really started listening to music seriously. It was a real shame the Drugs had such a negative effect on the band and they fell apart.
When Nicks and Buckingham joined it changed the whole vibe of the band, going from Blues/Blues Rock to......well I don't know what it became but I liked it. Again 'Rhiannon' is an all time favourite and I watch performances of it regularly on youtube. Rumours is quite simply one of the best albums of all time, a combination of musicianship (Buckingham is criminally under rated as a guitarist) song writing and the angst within the band combined to give us a true masterpiece.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I've listened to some Danny Kirwan stuff and the man is fucking ridiculous. Like Johnny Marr levels of ridiculous.

Shame he couldn't keep it together.