Night and Day II

Night and Day II
Studio album by Joe Jackson
Released 24 October 2000
Genre Rock
Label Sony Classical
Producer Joe Jackson
Joe Jackson chronology

Summer in the City: Live in New York
(2000)		 Night and Day II
(2000)		 Two Rainy Nights
(2002)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]

Night and Day II is a 2000 album by Joe Jackson. It was a revisit of the style of a prior album, Night and Day. The songs are about a New York City lifestyle, seen through different characters. The album featured a new set of songs in the spirit of his most popular previous recording.[2]

While the original Night and Day (1982) took a satirical look at the downfalls of city life through songs such as "TV Age", "Cancer" and "Real Men", Night and Day II is a commentary on the dark side of inner city living as seen though the eyes of a cynical New Yorker (Jackson lived in New York at the time). "Hell of a Town" and "Stranger Than You" sarcastically portray New York City life, as do lyrics from songs like "Just Because":

My hovel needs a barricade
My pants need an alarm
Need some non-alcoholic whiskey
and some Giuliani charm

making a commentary on Rudy Giuliani's mayoralty.

This reflection of the original Night and Day album can be seen in many forms: from the cover (the artwork from 1982's Night and Day features a white background while the photograph from 2000s Night and Day II is a dark nighttime shot taken from within a New York City cab, and shows the World Trade Center just a year before 9/11), to the perceived presentation order of each song's motif — Night and Day feels as if the listener is being taken on a journey, via the song motifs, from daytime to night while Night and Day II presents a sensation of moving from nighttime to day ("Glamour and Pain" to "Love Got Lost" demonstrates this fully as "Glamour and Pain" deals with a prostitute's lamentations while "Love Got Lost" is mostly placed during Marianne Faithfull's fictitious working day).

"Happyland" is about the 1990 arson fire at Happy Land Social Club in the Bronx that killed 87 people.

The final song of the album, "Stay," is possibly ironic, given that Jackson left New York to return to England in 2003.

The music is built with contributions from Graham Maby (bass), and Sue Hadjopoulos (percussion). Also featured are the string quartet Ethel, and three guest vocalists: Iranian diva Sussan Deyhim, drag performer Dale De Vere and Baroness "Sacher-Masoch" Marianne Faithfull, who sings vocals on "Love Got Lost".

Track listing

All songs written, arranged, produced and sung by Joe Jackson, unless otherwise noted.

  1. "Prelude" - 1:57
  2. "Hell of a Town" - 3:18
  3. "Stranger Than You" - 4:16
  4. "Why" (vocals by Sussan Deyhim) - 3:54
  5. "Glamour and Pain" (vocals by Dale De Vere) - 5:59
  6. "Dear Mom" - 4:12
  7. "Love Got Lost" (vocals by Marianne Faithfull, Joe Jackson and Alexandra Montano) - 6:59
  8. "Just Because..." - 4:45
  9. "Happyland" - 5:12
  10. "Stay" - 5:46

References

  1. ↑ Allmusic review
  2. ↑ "Biography by William Ruhlmann". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 4 May 2009.