Beat Crazy

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Beat Crazy
Beat Crazy (Joe Jackson Band album - cover art).jpg
Studio album by
The Joe Jackson Band
Released10 October 1980 [1]
Recorded1980
Studio Basing Street, London
Genre New wave, punk rock, ska
Length45:40
Label A&M
Producer Joe Jackson
The Joe Jackson Band chronology
I'm the Man
(1979)		Beat Crazy
(1980)		 Joe Jackson's Jumpin' Jive
(1981)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [2]
Robert Christgau B [3]

Beat Crazy is the third album by Joe Jackson, released in October 1980 and credited to the Joe Jackson Band. [4] It was a relative disappointment commercially, peaking outside the Top 40 in both the UK and the United States, with its singles failing to chart. [5] One reason for the reduced sales in the U.S. may have been that the group did not tour to support it there. [5] Nevertheless, the Joe Jackson Band was successful and toured extensively. [5] This would be the last studio album released by the Joe Jackson Band's original line-up until 2003's Volume 4 . [6]

Contents

Background

Beat Crazy was intended to be a stylistic departure from Jackson's first two albums. However, as he recalled, the band lacked a clear direction during the recording. Jackson later stated that he felt the record "didn't really work". [7] He explained,

The stereotypical difficult third album, in which we tried to change the formula a bit without quite knowing how. It's darker than the first two and the reggae influence is more pronounced. There's some good stuff on it (I especially like the title track and 'Biology') but it’s not quite the triumphant swan song of this band. [8]

Musically, the album saw the band take in reggae and ska influence as seen on songs such as "In Every Dream Home", "Mad at You", and "Pretty Boys". [2]

Critical reception

Upon its release, Andy Gill of the NME was negative in his review, calling Beat Crazy a "pretty lame apology for an album, and absolutely nowhere as regards thinking dance music". He concluded, "It masquerades as a series of meaningful meta-musical musings on rock 'n' roll and youth culture in general, which comes down to little more than a couple of hip references/dedications, and the sort of vague, purposeless social-realist songwriting we've come to expect from Jackson." [9]

Track listing

All songs written, arranged and produced by Joe Jackson.

No.TitleLength
1."Beat Crazy" (lead vocal by Graham Maby)4:15
2."One to One"3:22
3."In Every Dream Home (A Nightmare)"4:31
4."The Evil Eye"3:45
5."Mad at You"6:03
6."Crime Don't Pay"4:24
7."Someone Up There"3:47
8."Battleground"2:33
9."Biology"4:31
10."Pretty Boys"3:41
11."Fit"4:45

Personnel

Musicians
Production

Charts

Chart (1980)Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report) [10] 82
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [11] 32
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) [12] 47
UK Albums (OCC) [13] 42
US Billboard 200 [14] 41

References

  1. ↑ "Joe's Beat" (PDF). Record Mirror . 4 October 1980. p. 3. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  2. 1 2 "Beat Crazy". AllMusic . Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  3. ↑ "CG: Joe Jackson Band". Robert Christgau. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  4. ↑ Strong, Martin C. (2000). The Great Rock Discography (5th ed.). Edinburgh: Mojo Books. pp. 485–486. ISBN   1-84195-017-3.
  5. 1 2 3 "Biography by William Ruhlmann". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 4 May 2009.
  6. ↑ Luerssen, John D. (24 June 2002). "Joe Jackson Reunites "Sharp" Band". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
  7. ↑ "Interview: Joe Jackson reflects on 'Fast Forward,' his earliest work and the dangers of nostalgia". The Republic | azcentral.com. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  8. ↑ Jackson, Joe. "Beat Crazy". joejackson.com.
  9. ↑ Gill, Andy (11 October 1980). "Albums: The art of mediocrity". New Musical Express . p. 38. ISSN   0028-6362.
  10. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 151. ISBN   0-646-11917-6.
  11. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Joe Jackson – Beat Crazy" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  12. ↑ "Charts.nz – Joe Jackson – Beat Crazy". Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  13. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  14. ↑ "Joe Jackson Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
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