Will Power (album)

Last updated

Will Power
JoeJacksonWillPower.jpg
Studio album by
Joe Jackson
ReleasedApril 1987 [1]
RecordedFebruary 1986–January 1987
Studio RCA, New York City
Genre Classical, rock
Length42:06
Label A&M [2]
Producer Joe Jackson
Joe Jackson chronology
Big World
(1986)		Will Power
(1987)		 Live 1980/86
(1988)

Will Power is the eighth album by Joe Jackson. [1] Released in 1987, it is his first experiment with classical music, continued in later albums including Night Music , Heaven and Hell , and Symphony No. 1 .

Contents

The album peaked at #131 on the Billboard 200 album chart. [3]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [4]
Robert Christgau C+ [5]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [2]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide Star full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [6]
Record Mirror Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [7]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [8]
Sounds Star full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [9]

Reviews for Will Power were very mixed. Terry Staunton, writing for New Musical Express , described Will Power as an "accomplished project" which "highlight[s] [the] extremely talented Jackson as a composer and arranger". He questioned the album's commercial potential but added that it would "perhaps lead to a flood of film score commissions". [10] Jane Wilkes of Record Mirror noted Jackson's diversity and said of the album, "You can call it pretentious, call it dramatic, but it's really rather relaxing at the end of the day." [7] Neil Spencer of Sounds was negative in his review, calling it "nothing more than washed-out, dog-tired and depressing classical music of the lowest order" that "doesn't brutalise your brain with cantankerous clarinets; all it does is send you to sleep". [9]

In the US, The New York Times called the album "a major step forward by an English composer and performer who has never remained in one place for long." [11] While praising Jackson's compositional skill (including his "flair for lovely melodic passages and unpredictable, often shimmering arrangements" involving "stunning cascades of sound reminiscent of contemporary composer John Adams"), the Los Angeles Times also wrote that "the lengthy, meandering 'Symphony in One Movement' is as colorless and pretentious as the title suggests." [12] Chris Woodstra of AllMusic retrospectively dismissed Will Power as "a good exercise in self-indulgence but little of anything else"; [13] while Trouser Press described the album as "redolent with unrestrained pomposity... (a) trivial self-indulgence", commenting that "while Jackson may be impressed by his ability to convince an orchestra to play his melodramatically panoramic music, it’s unlikely anyone else will find this exercise especially rewarding." [14]

Track listing

All songs written, orchestrated and produced by Joe Jackson. [1]

No.TitleLength
1."No Pasaran"6:07
2."Solitude"9:37
3."Will Power"5:52
4."Nocturne"4:25
5."Symphony in One Movement"16:14

Personnel

Rhythm section

Orchestra

Horns and Woodwinds
Strings

Production

Charts

Chart performance for Will Power
Chart (1987)Peak
position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report) [16] 67
Canada Top Albums/CDs ( RPM ) [17] 78
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [18] 25
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [19] 58
Italian Albums ( Musica e dischi ) [20] 20
US Billboard 200 [21] 131

References

  1. 1 2 3 Strong, Martin C. (2000). The Great Rock Discography (5th ed.). Edinburgh: Mojo Books. pp. 485–486. ISBN   1-84195-017-3.
  2. 1 2 Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 4. MUZE. p. 532.
  3. ↑ "Joe Jackson". Billboard.
  4. ↑ AllMusic review
  5. ↑ "Robert Christgau: CG: joe jackson". www.robertchristgau.com.
  6. ↑ MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1999. p. 583.
  7. 1 2 Wilkes, Jane (25 April 1987). "Albums". Record Mirror . p. 14. ISSN   0144-5804.
  8. ↑ The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. pp. 350–351.
  9. 1 2 Spencer, Neil (18 April 1987). "Performance: Albums". Sounds . p. 29. ISSN   0144-5774.
  10. ↑ Staunton, Terry (25 April 1987). "33". New Musical Express . p. 30.
  11. ↑ Holden, Stephen (22 April 1987). "THE POP LIFE; ORCHESTRAL EXPRESSIONS IN JOE JACKSON ALBUM (Published 1987)" – via NYTimes.com.
  12. ↑ "* * * * Great Balls of Fire, * * * Good Vibrations, * * Maybe Baby, * Running on Empty : JOE GETS SERIOUS". Los Angeles Times. 19 April 1987.
  13. ↑ "Joe Jackson - Will Power". AllMusic. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  14. ↑ "Joe Jackson". Trouser Press. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  15. ↑ Thompson, Clifford (7 October 2020). Contemporary World Musicians. Routledge. ISBN   9781135939618 – via Google Books.
  16. ↑ 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.
  17. ↑ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 0813". RPM . Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  18. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Joe Jackson – Will Power" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  19. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Joe Jackson – Will Power" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  20. ↑ "Classifiche". Musica e dischi (in Italian). Retrieved 15 July 2022.Select "Album" in the "Tipo" field, type "Will Power" in the "Titolo" field and press "cerca".
  21. ↑ "Joe Jackson Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
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