Big World

Joe Jackson | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: A&M Records
• ASIN: B0001FA626
• Also Available in: Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #163,776 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Joe Jackson / Big World Label: A&M Records Year: 1986 Track Title 1. Wild West 2. Right And Wrong 3. (It's A) Big World 4. Precious Time 5. Tonight And Forever 6. Shanghai Sky 7. Fifty Dollar Love Affair 8. We Can't Live Together 9. Forty Years 10. Survival 11. Soul Kiss 12. The Jet Set 13. Tango Atlantico 14. Home Town 15. Man In The Street

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Arguably the greatest album of the 80s, August 15, 2005

By 

DRD - See all my reviews

This review is from: Big World (Audio CD)

Not that anyone asked, but this is my "desert island" record. I think many music fans sometimes entertain themselves by trying to figure out which of their CDs they'd keep if someone put a gun to their heads and made them choose just one. This is it for me. It's not only a great record, but it also pulls off the rare feat of being stylistically diverse without being unfocused. It truly is an "aural travelogue." Joe employs seemingly every musical style he's ever performed or been even remotely interested in. All are done well and with flair, and serve what seems to be the point of the album: to take the listener on a journey through Europe and Asia --whether eating food from a Chinese street vendor in the title track or pondering the clouds of a "Shanghai Sky," or taking a back alley tour through Amsterdam in "Fifty Dollar Love Affair" and lamenting the lessons not learned from WWII in "Forty Years." His post punk roots are revisited on "Survival" and "Jet Set," which mentions more international locales and mocks the American tourists who want their exotica packaged like a Disney attraction. "Tango Atlantico" lurches along drunkenly and features some of the most bizarrely inspired lyrics on the record, referencing a lady dancing with a general while flashing victory signs and smoking cigars. There's the shoulda-been-a-hit "Hometown," including a great melody (that manages to be upbeat and melancholy at the same time) and probably the most nakedly sentimental lyrics of Joe's life. You get the piano-based swing of "Soul Kiss," the pure pop of "Tonight and Forever" and "Precious Time." There's piano ballads, guitar rock, power pop, a musical homage to "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly"(on the outstanding opening track "Wild West"), accordions, mandolin and on and on. And I could go on and on, but I digress. In all, fifteen tracks of unadulterated creative bliss, sure to keep you company for years to come when stranded on a deserted isle. This baby's out of print (again), but doggone it, get it any way you can. This IS the same guy who hit the charts with "Steppin' Out," but there's a lot more to the man than that. Easy for me to say, but I believe no one's musical education is complete without hearing this album. How's that for an overreaching statement? And I stand by it.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Joe's Best Album is Out of Print!!, February 10, 2005

By 

D. Hawkins (Denver, CO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Big World (Audio CD)

This bad boy has been out of print since the early 90's, and that's a crying shame. Thankfully, I was able to find a used CD in the early 90's and have kept it close to my heart since then. This album and a half shows the brilliance of Joe in all his incarnations. Catchy finger-snapping Joe is represented by "Fifty Dollar Love Affair" and the still-apt lyrics of "Right and Wrong." Joe's brilliant piano playing is showcased on "Shanghai Sky" and "Forty Years." And just to show he can do it all, there's the pop perfection of "Hometown," which is a song that every person with a soul can relate to. Take out a loan at the bank, beg in the streets, but do what you have to do to get a copy of this masterpiece!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This album has everything!, September 29, 2005

By 

The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit "Wannabe Ren... (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Big World (Audio CD)

I'm not a huge Joe Jackson fan, in that I don't own anything by him except this album and Night & Day. But what I have heard I love. And this album is stunning. First off, I love the atmosphere of the whole thing. Recording this live, but with no audience reaction, was a great move. There's an intimacy on this album that is lacking on many albums from the same period. But a great sound is nothing without great songs, and this album has them in spades. I must say that while I like the "poppy" side of Jackson, I LOVE the introspective and deep part. That is well represented in cuts like "We Can't Live Together," (great backup vocal harmonies on this one) "Forty Years" and "Home Town." Listening to "Home Town" makes ME long for my childhood home, even though some of the things Jackson mentions in the song have nothing to do with my childhood. It's just that powerful a song.

On the more uptempo side, there are other all-time great pop songs like "Wild West," "(It's A) Big World," "The Jet Set" and "Tango Atlantico."

Most artists struggle to put together a consistently excellent album that stretches 15 tracks and more than an hour. Jackson excels, and I am never bored listening to this disc. The only song at all I'm not really thrilled with is "Soul Kiss," but it is by no means a detraction from this great set.

As others have mentioned, this album is currently out of print. So by all means, do whatever you have to in order to secure this album. It is absolutely worth it. This is easily one of the best albums of the 1980s, and it is criminally overlooked.