''Body and Soul'' is the seventh studio

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

by English singer-songwriter Joe Jackson, released on 14 March 1984 by

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

. Jackson's first fully digital project, it peaked at No. 14 in the UK, while in the US it reached No. 20. Described by one reviewer as a

sophisti-pop __NOTOC__ Sophisti-pop is a subgenre of pop music which developed out of the new wave movement in the UK during the mid 1980s. The term has been applied retrospectively to describe acts who blended elements of jazz, soul, and pop with lavish pr ...

album, the tracks are a mix of pop,

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

and

Latin music Latin music ( Portuguese and es, música latina) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America (including Spain and Portugal) and the Latino United States inspired by Latin Amer ...

, showcasing the hit single "

You Can't Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want) "You Can't Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want)" is a single from Joe Jackson's 1984 album '' Body and Soul''. In addition to the 7” single, it was also released as a 12” single, remixed by John "Jellybean" Benitez. Background ...

". Two other singles fared well, with "

Happy Ending A happy ending is an ending of the plot of a work of fiction in which almost everything turns out for the best for the main protagonists and their sidekicks, while the main villains/antagonists are dead/defeated. In storylines where the protago ...

" charting in five countries, and " Be My Number Two" enjoying moderate success in the UK. The album artwork emulated the smoky jazz style of '' Sonny Rollins, Vol. 2'' (1957). Musically, critics commended Jackson's introspective lyrics and dynamic arrangements, but one reviewer felt that Jackson and producer David Kershenbaum were not successful in their sonic goal of true-to-life minimalism. Jackson toured through August 1984 to promote the album, commenting afterward that he was exhausted from so much time on the road.

Background and production

Producer David Kershenbaum met with Jackson about the project, first discussing it in mid-1983. Kershenbaum had "discovered" Jackson in 1978, and helped him produce 1979's '' Look Sharp!'' and '' I'm the Man'' albums. At the time of their meeting, Jackson was working to finish the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...

of ''Mike's Murder'', and he told Kershenbaum he was weary of the artificiality of much modern music, recorded piecewise in dead acoustic isolation. He wished for a return to classic musicianship, with a well-rehearsed band playing together in the same space. Agreeing with him, Kershenbaum expressed a desire to move Jackson into the modern digital age, embracing the recent debut of the

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Oc ...

. The soundtrack to ''Mike's Murder'' was released in September 1983, but the associated film was delayed because of a dispute between the director and the studio. Despite this setback, in December 1983 the soundtrack's single "

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

" rose to No. 85 on the Hot 100, and the instrumental track "Breakdown" was nominated for a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

, the winner to be announced in late February 1984. While this was happening in late 1983, Jackson and Kershenbaum scouted potential locations for the ''Body and Soul'' recording sessions. Their aim was to find a reverberant performance space that was not "sterile" or lifeless. Jackson also began evaluating the album's material by performing the songs with his band in small clubs in New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. Grand Hall @ Masonic Lodge

Kershenbaum and Jackson found the appropriate acoustics in Manhattan's

Masonic Hall A Masonic Temple or Masonic Hall is, within Freemasonry, the room or edifice where a Masonic Lodge meets. Masonic Temple may also refer to an abstract spiritual goal and the conceptual ritualistic space of a meeting. Development and history In ...

, which was next door to Vanguard Studios, and used by Vanguard for classical recordings. The hall's reverberant acoustics were captured by a matched stereo pair of expensive Neumann M50 microphones. Kershenbaum and Jackson set the band up to play together, with each instrument close-miked for individual focus as needed. To update Vanguard's equipment for a fully

digital recording In digital recording, an audio or video signal is converted into a stream of discrete numbers representing the changes over time in air pressure for audio, or chroma and luminance values for video. This number stream is saved to a storag ...

path, Kershenbaum oversaw the assembly of a new control room in an existing office at Vanguard, with wiring to connect to the Masonic. The initial tracking of the voices and instruments was laid down on a recently developed 3M 32-channel digital recording system. Most of the basic tracks were captured with the full band performing simultaneously, but for some songs the piano or the horn section was recorded separately, to get a cleaner mix. All the vocal parts were recorded separately, with Jackson backed by himself,

Ellen Foley Ellen Foley (born 1951) is an American singer and actress who has appeared on Broadway and television, where she co-starred in the sitcom '' Night Court'' for one season. In music, she has released five solo albums but is best known for her colla ...

and Elaine Caswell; Caswell and Jackson sang as a duet on "

". The musicians were at the Masonic for three weeks, then Jackson, Kershenbaum and Rik Pekkonen mixed the songs for a week at

Atlantic Studios Atlantic Studios was the recording studio of Atlantic Records. Although this recording studio was located at 1841 Broadway (at the corner of 60th Street), in New York City, Atlantic Recording Studios was initially located at 234 West 56th Street fr ...

, and the completed master tapes were delivered by

Bernie Grundman Bernie Grundman is an American audio engineer. He is most known for his mastering work and his studio, Bernie Grundman Mastering, which he opened in 1984 in Hollywood. The studio, which includes engineers Chris Bellman, Patricia Sullivan, and Mi ...

on 7 February 1984. Kershenbaum said that he and Jackson had intended to finish the project faster, but getting the digital gear together took extra time, and a total of five weeks for the album was "a step in the right direction" after earlier excesses.

Artwork

In a nod to its jazz standards influence, the front and rear cover art imitated that of the 1957 saxophone album '' Sonny Rollins, Vol. 2'', and the album's title was lifted from

Coleman Hawkins Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969), nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Yanow, Scot"Coleman Hawkins: Artist Biography" AllMusic. Retrieved December 27, 2013. One of the first p ...

' 1939 saxophone recording of " Body and Soul". Photographer Charles Reilly snapped the monochrome cover portrait of Jackson, he also framed a colourful two-shot of Jackson arm-in-arm with Caswell for the single release "Happy Ending", and he captured more monochrome images of Jackson used for the releases of "

" and " Be My Number Two".

Tour

Jackson embarked on a world tour to support the album. Starting in April 1984, he and his band spent five weeks travelling through Ireland, England, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and France. Vocalist Elaine Caswell accompanied Jackson for this European leg, but the tour continued without her in the US, starting in mid-May and running for six weeks. Canadian journalist Ethlie Ann Vare caught the show at the

Greek Theatre Ancient Greek theatre was a theatrical culture that flourished in ancient Greece from 700 BC. The city-state of Athens, which became a significant cultural, political, and religious place during this period, was its centre, where the theatre was ...

in Los Angeles, reporting that Jackson was "in an impish mood" on stage, refusing to play his older hits to satisfy repeated requests from some of the 6,000 attendees, and instead delivering an impromptu rendition of the pop classic " As Time Goes By" while the band watched. Vare praised Jackson's interpretations of songs from his last three albums, including "Memphis" from ''Mike's Murder'' which spotlighted drummer Gary Burke, and several songs from '' Night and Day'' (1982). One of the few older songs was "

Is She Really Going Out with Him? "Is She Really Going Out with Him?" is a song written and performed by British musician Joe Jackson. It was released in October 1978 as his debut single and was later included on Jackson's debut album, '' Look Sharp!'' The track was one of the ...

" – Jackson's debut single – delivered surprisingly on accordion, piccolo and violin. The final encore was " Jumpin' Jive" from 1981. The band rested briefly for a week, then the schedule resumed in July–August with concerts in Belgium, Italy, Australia and Japan. At the end of this, Jackson took a lengthy break. The tour had been, he later wrote, "the hardest I ever did; it came too soon after the last one, and by the end of it I was so burned out I swore I'd never tour again".

Musical style

The album contains original pop songs written by Jackson, half of which were composed and arranged with a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

flair. Latin elements heard on the album include

salsa Salsa most often refers to: * Salsa (Mexican cuisine), a variety of sauces used as condiments * Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music * Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music Salsa or SALSA may also refer to: ...

, cha-cha-chá,

bolero Bolero is a genre of song which originated in eastern Cuba in the late 19th century as part of the trova tradition. Unrelated to the older Spanish dance of the same name, bolero is characterized by sophisticated lyrics dealing with love. It has ...

, and instrumental

canción ''Canción'' ("song") is a popular genre of Latin American music, particularly in Cuba, where many of the compositions originate.Orovio, Helio 2004. ''Cuban music from A to Z''. p42 Its roots lie in Spanish popular song forms, including tiranas, ...

. The musicians obtained

Latin percussion {{for, the company, Latin Percussion Latin percussion is a family of percussion, membranophone, lamellophone and idiophone instruments used in Latin music. Instruments Afro-Cuban and Puerto Rican styles Folkloric and Santeria * Trap drums * Abakua ...

sounds the same way they did live on stage, with Gary Burke emulating

timbales Timbales () or pailas are shallow single-headed drums with metal casing. They are shallower than single-headed tom-toms and usually tuned much higher, especially for their size.Orovio, Helio 1981. ''Diccionario de la música cubana: biográfico ...

on his normal

drum kit A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

, augmented by Ed Roynesdal on güiro and Tony Aiello on

claves Claves (; ) are a percussion instrument consisting of a pair of short, wooden sticks about 20–25 centimeters (8–10 inches) long and about 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) in diameter. Although traditionally made of wood (typically rosewood, ebony o ...

. Jazz elements are also found on the album, including instrumental solos such as Michael Morreale's haunting flugelhorn solo on "Not Here, Not Now", and Vinnie Zummo's

bebop Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early-to-mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrumen ...

-style jazz guitar in "

", which followed a funk bass solo by

Graham Maby Graham Maby (born 1 September 1952), is an English bass guitar player. He has recorded and toured with Joe Jackson since his first album, appearing on most of Jackson's albums and tours. He has continued to record and tour with Jackson even w ...

. Soaring above Jackson's piano, Aiello played alto saxophone and Morreale played trumpet on the smoky jazz theme to "Loisaida", an instrumental tune evoking the nightlife of New York's Lower East Side. ''

Stereo Review ''Sound & Vision'' is an American magazine, purchased by AVTech Media Ltd. (UK) in March 2018, covering home theater, audio, video and multimedia consumer products. Before 2000, it had been published for most of its history as ''Stereo Review''. ...

'' described "Loisaida" as "a mournful theme for sax and trumpet, which plumb the deepest lamplit sorrows while Jackson's piano chords flicker above like a starry night." Other styles on the album include post-disco on "You Can't Get What You Want", "Go For It" Motown-flavoured production, and the 1960s pop sound of "

", modernised for the 1980s with Elaine Caswell singing the lyric "It's '84 now." The first song on the album, "The Verdict", was inspired by the 1982 film ''

The Verdict ''The Verdict'' is a 1982 American legal drama film directed by Sidney Lumet and written by David Mamet, adapted from Barry Reed's 1980 novel of the same name. It stars Paul Newman, Charlotte Rampling, Jack Warden, James Mason, Milo O'Shea, an ...

'', featuring Paul Newman as an alcoholic attorney making good. Three tracks on the album showed Jackson's affinity for film music: "The Verdict", the atmospheric instrumental "Loisaida", and the closing cut "Heart of Ice" – the latter starting as an instrumental, building slowly in intensity, and joined by harmony voices in the final affirmation of acceptance and hope. Writer Iain Munn wrote that ''Body and Soul'' was representative of a string of

albums that followed

the Style Council The Style Council were a British band formed in late 1982 by Paul Weller, the former singer, songwriter and guitarist with the punk rock/ new wave/ mod revival band the Jam, and keyboardist Mick Talbot, previously a member of Dexys Midnight Ru ...

's first release in 1983: '' Introducing The Style Council''. Munn said that Jackson joined artists such as

Simply Red Simply Red are a British soul and pop band formed in Manchester in 1985. The lead vocalist of the band is singer and songwriter Mick Hucknall, who, by the time the band initially disbanded in 2010, was the only original member left. Since th ...

Sade Sade may refer to: People * Marquis de Sade (1740–1814), French aristocrat, writer, and libertine * Sade (singer) (born 1959, Helen Folasade Adu), British Nigerian musician and lead singer of the eponymous band * Sade Baderinwa (born 1969), WAB ...

and

Everything but the Girl Everything but the Girl (occasionally referred to as EBTG) are an English musical duo formed in Kingston upon Hull in 1982, consisting of lead singer and occasional guitarist Tracey Thorn and guitarist, keyboardist, producer and singer Ben Wat ...

in releasing "jazz-soul"–flavoured pop songs in the wake of the Style Council's influential hit single " Long Hot Summer".

Release and reception

''Body and Soul'' was released in vinyl LP format on 14 March 1984. The

was delayed until October; it carried the

SPARS code The SPARS code is a three-position alphabetic classification system developed in the early 1980s by the Society of Professional Audio Recording Services (SPARS) for commercial compact disc releases to denote aspects of the sound recording and re ...

"DDD" signifying an album that had been recorded, mixed and mastered digitally, without an intermediate analogue conversion. On 25 May, the LP peaked in the US at No. 20 on the

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of ar ...

, whereas in the UK the album rose higher sooner, peaking at No. 14 on 7 April, staying on the chart for 14 weeks. Three singles from the album charted in the UK: First "

" hit No. 58 in April 1984, then " Be My Number Two" peaked at No. 70 in June, followed by "

" reaching No. 77 in September. In the US, "You Can't Get What You Want" hit higher at No. 15 in June, with "Happy Ending" trailing at No. 57 in August. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' Don Shewey reviewed the album in May 1984, giving it four out of five stars. Shewey said the album demonstrated a maturation of Jackson's musicality, comparing him to Paul Simon and Randy Newman who shared an interest in "bridging the gap between pop music and serious music". Shewey was unhappy with the Motown-derivative song "Go For It", which he likened to an Elvis Costello track from the album ''Get Happy!!'' (1980). Shewey praised Jackson's hit song, "

", as "a bracing, sophisticated tune that successfully incorporates pop lyricism, a tight funk band and jazz compositional structures". ''

'' published a positive review characterizing the album as "intelligent romantic ballads that legitimize naked emotions." The reviewer noted Jackson's "affecting vocals, flickering piano chords, ndhonest lyrics". The instrumental tracks were praised for their arrangements, observing that some

Latin jazz Latin jazz is a genre of jazz with Latin American rhythms. The two main categories are Afro-Cuban jazz, rhythmically based on Cuban popular dance music, with a rhythm section employing ostinato patterns or a clave, and Afro-Brazilian jazz, which ...

elements were carried forward from Jackson's 1982 album '' Night and Day''."Joe Jackson's ''Body and Soul''" (1984). ''

'', vol. 49, p. 63. In a negative review, audiophile magazine ''

The Absolute Sound ''The Absolute Sound'' (TAS) is an American audiophile magazine which reviews high-end audio equipment, along with recordings and comments on various music-related subjects. History ''The Absolute Sound'' was founded in 1973 by Harry Pearson ...

'' called the album a sonic "disappointment" despite Jackson's flair for "acute lyrics and classy, dynamic arrangements." The writer focussed on the "failure" of Kershenbaum and Jackson in their quest to use minimal microphone techniques to highlight the natural acoustic space. In retrospective reviews,

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

first assigned the album three stars out of five, publishing in the 2002 book ''All Music Guide to Rock''. Chris Woodstra called out the song " Be My Number Two" as "beautiful". After AllMusic moved online, Mike DeGagne re-appraised the album at 3.5 stars in a 2008 review, describing it as "Jackson at his smoothest", delivering an album dedicated to exploring aspects of jazz.

Track listing

All songs

written Writing is a medium of human communication which involves the representation of a language through a system of physically inscribed, mechanically transferred, or digitally represented symbols. Writing systems do not themselves constitute h ...

and

arranged In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchest ...

by Joe Jackson. Produced by Joe Jackson and David Kershenbaum.

Personnel

; Musicians * Joe Jackson – vocals, piano, saxophone *

– bass * Vinnie Zummo – guitar * Ed Roynesdal – keyboards,

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

, güiro * Tony Aiello –

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

s, flute,

* Michael Morreale – trumpet and flugelhorn * Gary Burke – drums *

– backing vocals * Elaine Caswell – backing vocals, duet on "Happy Ending" ; Production * Joe Jackson – arrangements, producer * David Kershenbaum – producer * Rik Pekkonen – recording engineer *

– mastering engineer * Dan Nash – mixing engineer * Charles Reilly – photography

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Sales and certifications

References

Bibliography

External links

*
Body and Soul
album information a
''The Joe Jackson Archive''
{{Authority control 1984 albums Joe Jackson (musician) albums A&M Records albums Albums produced by David Kershenbaum