Joe Jackson Returns to BroadwaySF's Curran Theatre

Hope and Fury returns to the present, and the “JJ mainstream,” with nine strong new songs. After laying the groundwork for the album in Michael Tibes' Fuzz Songs Full of Contrast, Humour and Heart Factory studio in Berlin, Jackson returned to New York's Reservoir Studios with co-producer Patrick Dillett and assembled his on-and-off band since 2016 — “bassist for life” Graham Maby, guitarist Teddy Kumpel, and drummer Doug Yowell — augmented by the Latin percussion of Peruvian native Paulo Stagnaro. The result might strike a fan as a cross between 2019’s Fool, 1991’s Laughter and Lust, and 1982’s Night and Day.

Like those albums, Hope and Fury overflows with great tunes, clever and original lyrics, and funky grooves, with Jackson’s vocals and keyboard playing as strong as, if not stronger than, they’ve ever been. In keeping with the title (an ironic twist on Land of Hope and Glory), this is a more English Joe Jackson than we’ve seen for quite a while (the Max Champion influence, perhaps?), with some songs suggesting a love/hate relationship with his homeland.

Opening track Welcome to Burning-By-Sea describes a fictional seaside town inspired by Brighton and Jackson’s hometown Portsmouth but turns out to be a microcosm of the whole country, while End of the Pier ingeniously contrasts a slice of British working-class life in 1922 with a post-pandemic version in 2022.

For that matter, this is an album full of contrasts, but it’s mostly upbeat, with the trademark JJ humour much in evidence: from biting sarcasm in I’m Not Sorry and playful mockery in Fabulous People to pure silliness in Do Do Do. In The Face, an Everyman character finds himself lost in an angry and polarized political climate: “Not one of the Great Unwashed” but “One of the Great Overwhelmed.” Two other songs are in Jackson’s oft-cited “bittersweet” melodic mode: Made God Laugh expresses a kind of happy, grown-up fatalism about life in general, while After All This Time is a similar take on a long-term relationship. The album also follows a Joe Jackson tradition by ending with a slow ballad — this time one of his most beautiful, See You In September.

Joe Jackson is definitely not going away. Dividing his time between New York City and Portsmouth UK, Jackson describes himself as “bicoastal” both geographically and musically — and Hope and Fury as Bicoastal LatinJazzFunkRock.