Night Music is the 12th studio album by Joe Jackson, released in 1994 on Virgin Records. The album did not chart. Soon after the album's release, Jackson moved to the Sony Classical label.
Background After the release of his 1991 album Laughter & Lust, Jackson suffered from writer's block for two years. Although his record company, Virgin Records, were expecting him to continue writing contemporary pop material, Jackson decided he had to "go forward and do something fresh" musically, resulting in 1994's Night Music. He was also disappointed with the limited commercial success of Laughter & Lust in the United States.
In a 1997 interview with Billboard, Jackson called Night Music a "breakthrough" in his career after "retir[ing] from the pop mainstream". He described it as "sort of the introverted side of my more mature style". He told Cash Box in 1994, "[The whole album] is sort of a piece. I mean, you really do need to hear the whole thing, and you need to hear the whole thing a few times. And that is, to me, its strength. I'm trying to do something that's beautiful and genuine... that has some soul. I'm in a period of transition in my career where I'm trying to get people to think of me as a composer rather than a pop star."
"Ever After" was released as a promotional single in the Netherlands and Spain. Jackson attributed the record company's picking of the track down to it being "the closest thing to a sort of regular pop song on the record". Jackson has described "Flying" as about "being yourself and becoming free of one's expectations".
Track listing All songs written and arranged by Joe Jackson.
Personnel Musicians Joe Jackson – vocals, acoustic piano, electric piano, organ, various synthesizers, samplers, computer sequencing, celesta, accordion, tom-toms, bells, vibraphone, cymbals, Salvation Army bass drum Ed Roynesdal – programming, sampling Jean Laurendeau – Ondes Martenot (1, 10) Graham Maby – bass guitar (8) Gary Burke – drums (3) Michael Morreale – trumpet (3) Dick Morgan – oboe (6, 10) Albert Regni – clarinet (7), bass clarinet (7) Tony Aiello – flute (8) Mary Rowell – viola (1, 5, 8, 9), violin (9) Mary Wootton – cello (9) Taylor Carpenter – special guest vocals (3) Máire Brennan – special guest vocals (5) Renée Fleming – special guest vocals (7)
Production Joe Jackson – arrangements, producer Ed Roynesdal – producer, engineer Carl Glanville – engineer Andy Grassi – engineer Ken Thomas – engineer Charles Harbutt – editing Ted Jensen – mastering at Sterling Sound (New York, NY) Tony Ungaro – production coordinator Len Peltier – art direction, design Chip Kidd – design Rex Sforza – design Robert Flynt – photography C. Winston Simone Management – management
Charts +Weekly chart performance for Night Music Chart (1995) Peakposition Australian Albums (ARIA) N.B. The High Point number in the NAT column represents the release's peak on the national chart. 180
Covers Alice Lee covered "Sea Of Secrets" on the 2004 album Different for Girls: Women Artists and Female-Fronted Bands Cover Joe Jackson.
References
External links Night Music album information at The Joe Jackson Archive