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Joe Plays all on his Todd, epost.co.uk, May '05
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Added by Jens
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Friday, 27 May 2005
By Keith Clark, epost.co.uk, May 2005
Joe Jackson had originally planned to take the year off, but after a
one-off concert in New York he couldn't refuse the chance to tour with
Todd Rundgren, he tells Keith Clark
Two legendary music figures, Joe Jackson and Todd Rundgren, are coming
to Bristol for a show with an American string quartet called Ethel. It
sounds like one of the most unusual (and must see) gigs of the year,
and it came about through very unusual circumstances.
Some years ago Joe Orton wrote a screenplay called Up Against It which
was intended to be The Beatles' third film, but it was never made.
In 1989 Joe Papp decided to do an off- Broadway production of the play
and asked Todd Rundgren to compose all the music and lyrics. Joe
Jackson explained: 'Todd was commissioned to write songs for a
production of it but it was a flop, partly because the story makes no
sense whatsoever. But the songs were brilliant.'
Last year Todd Rundgren organised a mini-concert performance of the
music from Up Against It at Papp's legendary Joe's Pub in New York, and
invited Joe Jackson to join the cast. 'I was asked to play two of the
parts out of a cast of nine and it was great. It was really challenging
because the parts were very hard to sing. 'I don't think Todd believed
I could do it and he was really impressed when I managed to pull it
off.' Then somebody suggested they did a show together, so they decided
to do it solo, without their usual musicians, at the Delacorte Theater
in Central Park, New York. Each did his own set. They included classic
hits from across their illustrious careers, and then performed together
for a final set with Ethel. Until he was invited to join the cast of
the musical performance, Jackson had never met Rundgren, but the pair
found that they had a lot of mutual respect for each other's talents.
Both have been described as difficult to work with, which Jackson says
is a misconception. 'I think we have quite a lot in common in many
ways. I think some people say that he is difficult for the same reason
that they say I am - because we are both more than capable of taking
control of practically every aspect of what we do. I think some people
are taken aback by that. Actually, I think it makes us easier to work
with. 'He does come across like a man who knows exactly what he wants.
Whether or not he always feels like that I don't know, but the guy has
so much bloody talent it is ridiculous. I mean, if you can write and
sing and play and produce to the level he can, why wouldn't you?
Everybody else just has to get out of the way.'
The tour is part of what has been a very busy period for Joe Jackson.
He has been touring extensively, including a highly enjoyable gig in
Bristol, and has released a couple of albums. 'In the last year I have
done lots of one-off projects, mostly collaborations and things that I
wasn't really expecting. I thought I was taking a year off and I ended
up being quite busy. 'It was Todd who wanted to tour after we did the
show in Central Park. It was the most successful show of that season
and we were besieged by agents and promoters who wanted us to do a tour
but Todd was the one who wanted to do it. I think Todd really seems to
want to work. 'I was saying no for a long time because I am trying to
get off the road. Anyway, I was working on a film score project which I
would have finished, at least in theory, right before the tour started.
It's a long story but I quit the project because it turned out to be a
nightmare. I just wasn't the right person for it so I quit, and I still
haven't finished it.'
His last tour had lasted seven or eight months and it was, he says, the
longest one he had done for years. He told me that while he liked
touring he didn't want to do it every year, so he wasn't expecting to
go back on the road again quite so soon. 'No, I just want to take some
time off to think and do some writing but at the same time I shouldn't
complain if people want to pick up the phone and call me, want me.' One
of the projects he didn't turn down was a chance to work on the record
that William Shatner was making, produced by Ben Folds and featuring a
number of famous names. Jackson joined Captain Kirk on a version of
Pulp's Common People. ' I couldn't say no to William Shatner,' he says
with a laugh. 'That was just a riot. There was no way I was going to
turn that down.' He has also been busy in the studio on his own
records, including an unusual project that saw his original band back
together for the first time in more than three decades.
They did a highly successful tour and recorded an album called Volume 4
(it being the fourth episode in the band's history), which also
received exceptional reviews. 'Volume 4 was the album that was never
meant to happen but it turned out to be great. I'm really proud of it,
and in that band, and in the fact that we were able to reform and do
the best album we've ever done. 'We did a live album as well and again
that wasn't planned. We were getting to the end of the tour and people
kept saying we should record a couple of the shows. 'But it was a
one-off it won't happen again. That was part of what made it special.'
I wondered whether, after a while on the road, the reasons why The Joe
Jackson band had originally split up resurfaced. Joe said that hadn't
been the case, and anyway there hadn't really been a bust-up in the
first place. 'The reason we split up was really quite boring. I ought
to make something up like we all had drug overdoses but on different
drugs, or we had artistic differences or something. 'Really it was
because the drummer wanted to get off the road for personal reasons. He
was such a big part of the band that it just didn't feel right so I
made the decision to split the band. 'Besides, I was starting to get
itchy to do something a bit different as well.'
Back in 1979 and the very early years of the 1980s, The Joe Jackson
Band were a big success although this phase of his career was actually
quite short-lived. Joe said: 'We were only together in the band for
maybe three years but at the time it seemed like a great odyssey
because we had such success, and unexpected success, really. 'We were
doing so many things for the first time and we worked like crazy, we
never stopped, and it seemed like a long time at the time. Now I can't
believe it was three years at the most. It was very intense.' Jackson,
a graduate from the Royal College of Music and former member of the
National Youth Orchestra, had always been at odds with the punk world
around him. Songs like It's Different For Girls and Is She Really Going
Out With Him? had a jazzy flavour, complex compositions and articulate
lyrics.
This became even more apparent when he moved to New York in 1982 and
began writing some of his best songs, including some real modern day
classics, such as Steppin' Out and Be My Number Two, which ranged
across the genres from sophisticated pop and jazz to Latino and even
classical compositions. Jackson has always strived for some new way of
expressing his musical talent, which is why it took everybody by
surprise when news leaked out that he was reforming the original Joe
Jackson Band. Joe said: 'I think I have moved forward far enough now
that I can allow myself to look back. 'I think every artist, even the
most radical artist you can think of in history, at some point makes
some kind of reference to something that they did in the past. 'I was
quite conscious when we did that reunion of an element of nostalgia and
I thought: 'yes, let's have that, because it is only going to be a
one-off' but at the same time 'let's make sure it's a great album and
that we are not a bunch of fat old gits with no ideas.' If I thought we
were going to embarrass ourselves I wouldn't have done it.'
The new tour, which opens in Joe's home town of Portsmouth, will be the
first time that he has ever toured with a completely solo set. 'I have
always done a couple of songs solo in a tour and for 20 years people
have been saying to me that it's their favourite part of the show and
asking me to do a whole set solo. I've been saying no all that time.
And now I'm finally doing it because I don't have to carry the whole
show, I don't have to play two hours solo, which is very difficult ? it
is hard enough playing for an hour solo, and it is much harder than
people realise to perform solo. 'We are just doing a few songs together
at the end but along the tour we are going to be trying out a few
things. In a way that's the most fun part of it. 'Ethel are great. They
are just amazing players and they are very open-minded and open to
improvising and things like that. It is really cool. It is an unusual
show but it works.'
Thanks to Peter Noble
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