''Night and Day II'' is the 15th studio album by Joe Jackson, released in 2000. It was a revisit of the style of his 1982 album, '' Night and Day'', featuring songs about the New York City lifestyle, seen through different characters. While the original ''Night and Day'' took a satirical look at the downfalls of city life through songs such as "TV Age", "Cancer" and "Real Men", ''Night and Day II'' focuses primarily on the dark side of inner city living (the song, "Happyland", for instance, is about the 1990 arson fire at Happy Land Social Club in the Bronx that killed 87 people) as seen though the eyes of a cynical New Yorker, as Jackson lived in New York at the time. The cover artwork is a dark nighttime shot taken from within a New York City cab, with the World Trade Center in the foreground, taken a year prior to

9/11 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

. The music is built with contributions from

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 ...

(bass), and Sue Hadjopoulos (percussion). Also featured are the

string String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

quartet In music, a quartet or quartette (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers; or a musical composition for four voices and instruments. Classical String quartet In classical music, one of the most common combinations o ...

Ethel Ethel (also '' æthel'') is an Old English word meaning "noble", today often used as a feminine given name. Etymology and historic usage The word means ''æthel'' "noble". It is frequently attested as the first element in Anglo-Saxon names, b ...

, and three guest vocalists: Iranian diva

Sussan Deyhim Sussan Deyhim (born December 14, 1958) is an Iranian American composer, vocalist, performance artist and activist. She is internationally known for her invention of a unique sonic/vocal language. LA Times quotes her as "One of Iran's most potent ...

, drag performer Dale De Vere and

Marianne Faithfull Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull (born 29 December 1946) is an English singer and actress. She achieved popularity in the 1960s with the release of her hit single " As Tears Go By" and became one of the lead female artists during the British I ...

, who sings vocals on "Love Got Lost".

Track listing

All songs written, arranged and produced by Joe Jackson.

Personnel

; Musicians * Joe Jackson – piano,

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, synth basses *

Mary Rowell Mary Rowell is an American violinist based in New York City. In 1998 Rowell co-founded the string quartet ETHEL. She retired from the group in 2011 but continues to be very active in the downtown New York music community, where she is known as an ...

, Todd Reynolds –

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 regular ...

Ralph Farris Ralph Farris (born Ralph Howard Farris, Jr., 1970) is an American violist, violinist, composer, arranger, producer and conductor, best known as a founding member and artistic director of the ensemble ETHEL. Farris is an electric string player wit ...

–

viola The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of ...

Dorothy Lawson Dorothy Lawson is a Canadian cellist and composer based in New York City. She is best known as a co-founder and artistic director of the string quartet ETHEL. On the founding of ETHEL she says, "we... realized that we were in the middle of a reall ...

–

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

– bass guitar on "Glamour and Pain", "Love Got Lost" and "Just Because..." * Sue Hadjopoulos –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

on "Prelude", "Hell of a Town", "Stranger Than You" and "Happyland" * Gary Burke – drum kit on "Love Got Lost" *

, Dale De Vere,

, Alexandra Montano – vocals ; Production * Joe Jackson –

arrangement 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 orches ...

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

sequencing In genetics and biochemistry, sequencing means to determine the primary structure (sometimes incorrectly called the primary sequence) of an unbranched biopolymer. Sequencing results in a symbolic linear depiction known as a sequence which succ ...

* Dan Gellert – associate producer,

recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...

* Charlie Post, Ross Petersen – assistant recording engineer *

Ted Jensen Ted Jensen (born September 19, 1954) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered many recordings, including the Eagles' ''Hotel California'', Green Day's '' American Idiot'' and Norah Jones' ''Come Away with Me''. Biography Ted ...

–

mastering engineer A mastering engineer is a person skilled in the practice of taking audio (typically musical content) that has been previously mixed in either the analog or digital domain as mono, stereo, or multichannel formats and preparing it for use in distr ...

* Nitin Vadukul, Alex Vandoros – photography

Charts

References

External links

Night and Day II
album information a
''The Joe Jackson Archive''
{{Authority control 2000 albums Joe Jackson (musician) albums Sequel albums