May 2026
Ear Music 0221182EMU
Format: LP
Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment
The English songwriter and singer Joe Jackson’s nearly 50-year recording career has been full of surprises and delights. A little more than two years ago, he released Mr. Joe Jackson Presents Max Champion in What a Racket!, which recreated the glory days of the English music hall. Max Champion was Jackson’s creation, and he claimed the fictional Champion had written the songs on What a Racket! years ago in the early 1900s.
Jackson’s new album, Hope and Fury, isn’t built around a concept. Instead, it’s simply a collection of good songs. It does embrace many genres and is recorded with passion and precision, but that’s been true of Jackson’s albums all along.
“Welcome to Burning-By-Sea” is immediately recognizable as Joe Jackson, but it’s hard to categorize. Latin percussion mixes with raging guitars, and the shouted group chorus shows that Jackson picked up some tips from Max Champion. The song depicts fading English resort towns—including Portsmouth, where Jackson grew up. The lyrics also work as a metaphor for the current fracturing of Western culture.
“I’m Not Sorry” has a pronounced Latin-jazz feel, with help from Peruvian percussionist Paulo Stagnaro. Jackson unapologetically expresses opinions that might make people uncomfortable: “Hello cruel world / I’m not going away / So I might as well have my say.” His percussive piano is mirrored by drummer Doug Yowell’s hard snap on the snare drum.
The sparkling, bright piano on “Fabulous People” contains an echo of “Steppin’ Out,” Jackson’s big hit from 1982. The lyrics are layered with irony. The subject of the song sees a rainbow flag and asks, “Can I be one of the fabulous people? / Always fun and never scared? / I tried being myself, but no one cared.” Jackson knows, of course, that the fabulous people have often been scared and counsels that choices should be made from conviction rather than impulse or fashion.
“End of the Pier” is the longest track on Hope and Fury and uses Portsmouth, or someplace like it, to paint a picture of working-class England. The first verse and chorus recreate life in the 1920s, while the second section of the song jumps forward 100 years. Small glimmers of pleasure peek through the gloom. In the end Jackson seems to be ambivalent about the good and the bad aspects of the past fading away:
Then came the smoke, then came the flames
And no more jokes, no video games
Who’s left to cry? Who’s left to cheer
For the ends of the pier?
The tune contains hints of jazz, with a strong rhythmic foundation from Stagnaro and Yowell. Graham Maby’s melodic bass line propels the song, and Jackson’s elegant piano adds color during the choruses. Guitarist Teddy Kumpel nimbly weaves single-note lines around Jackson’s bittersweet vocal.
“Do Do Do” is bouncy ’60s pop, with a Farfisa-style organ giving the track just the right touch. The sophisticated pop of both “Made God Laugh” and “After All This Time” would have fit nicely on Body and Soul, Jackson’s great 1984 album, but they sound fresh and lively here. “The Face” leans in the direction of Steely Dan, a band that Jackson likes so much he’s covered a couple of their tunes over the years. Hope and Fury embraces many different styles and genres, but it hangs together well.
Joe Jackson will soon be 72, well into his career and life. A recurring theme on Hope and Fury is puzzlement and some irritation at a changing world. On his early recordings, his singing often had a slight edge that gave his occasionally cynical observations power. His voice is now more flexible and relaxed. As a result, he injects wit and tenderness into lines that might otherwise seem testy.
Jackson and his band recorded Hope and Fury in Berlin and New York. Patrick Dillett was the engineer for the New York sessions, mixed the album, and co-produced it with Jackson. The sound is clean and lively, with plenty of snap on the snare drum and lots of low-end force on the bass. Chris Gehringer mastered the album and cut the lacquer for the LP. Optimal Media in Germany pressed my copy of Hope and Fury, and it was flat, quiet, and centered. The cover is standard-weight cardboard.
At this point, Jackson doesn’t have anything to prove, and he also doesn’t need to worry about being current—whatever that means. On the album’s closing track, “See You in September,” he sings:
I’m just happy no one’s bugging me for sleeping
In the afternoon
I’m not falling off the world’s end
I’m just standing still
Jackson isn’t standing still musically, and he’s a confident-enough songwriter and performer to play to his strengths and rely on his craftsmanship and his sure sense of melody. On those terms, Hope and Fury is a welcome addition to Joe Jackson’s impressive discography.
. . . Joseph Taylor
josepht@soundstagenetwork.com
