🎵 AotW Joe Jackson - I'M THE MAN (SP-4794)

[LPJim]

Joe Jackson
I'M THE MAN
A&M SP-4794

Joe Jackson - vocals, piano, harmonica, melodica, composed all songs, arranged (with the band)
Gary Sanford - guitar
Dave Houghton - drums, vocals
Graham Maby - bass, vocals

SIDE ONE

On Your Radio 4:00
Geraldine and John 3:14
Kinda Kute 3:30
It's Different for Girls 3:42
I'm the Man 3:56

SIDE TWO

The Band Wore Blue Shirts 5:05
Don't Wanna Be Like That 3:41
Amateur Hour 4:03
Get That Girl 3:02
Friday 3:33

All selections published by Albion Music, administered in the U.S. & Canada by Almo Music Corp. (ASCAP)
Produced by David Kershenbaum (with help from Joe)

Recorded at TW Studios, Fulham, London
Engineer: Alan Winstanley
Mixed at Eden Studios, Chiswick, London
Engineer: Aldo Bocca; Assistant: Neill King

Mastered at A&M Studios, Hollywood, by Bernie Grundman
Sleeve concept by Joe Jackson
Art Direction by Michael Ross
Front cover photo by Bruce Rae; inner sleeve photos by Sheila Rock

Special thanks to John Telfer & Eileen Treacy
Frankie "The Bison" Enfield - road manager
Simon (Saz) Brinklow - live sound
John McCleod - Mr. Fix-It

Keef - lights
Percy Dalton must be knighted

Released Oct. 1979, peaked at # 22 in the Billboard Top 200 & charted for 25 weeks.
Reissued as SP/CD 3221

JB

 

[Rudy]

"It's Different For Girls" is far and away my favorite here.

 

[Mr Bill]

It was also issued in a 7" box of 5 singles as A&M SP18000

 

[Rudy]

I almost bought that, but playing through five singles was not my idea of fun. Fortunately I can still find it out there if I really want it.

 

[Mr Bill]

It looks good on the shelf next to the 2-10" Look Sharp! and 2-10" Regatta de Blanc (and, of course, the 10" Oingo Boingo Ep and my 10" White vinyl Dickies maxi-single (SP 12008)). I love those odd-sized records that became a minor rage in the 80s! That 5" Squeeze single no longer looks so odd what with CDs being 5"!!! But of course, I also love CD3s!

 

[Rudy]

CD3s were neat! A mistake, but neat--the problem was that many CD players were not set up to play them, especially slot loaders in cars. The adapters were problematic also; I got a couple of free ones with some import 3" singles where the tabs easily broke. Plus, if they had sold the CD3s for 99 cents or even $1.49, I think they could have saved the "single" market. Instead, they got greedy and wanted too much, and they never took off in popularity (other than by collectors). Would love to get ahold of a lot of those I missed; now they fetch a big sum!

BTW, I almost thought I had a line on the Klerk Kant 10" green die-cut version, but turns out it was the same one I have already (12" cover but not die cut, black vinyl, silver/maroon label). They sound the same since they were cut with the same stampers, but it's not quite what I wanted. IRS (and A&M for that matter) had a ton of cool releases like that.

Epic's NuDisc series were 10" releases, and there are still some indie releases today. Heck, I have a later record (MCA-era IRS, a band called Yen) that is actually pressed with blue and yellow vinyl, half and half, so each record is unique! Few realize that very early in the era of 33-1/3RPM records, 10" albums were quite popular. And the 10" 78RPM record was actually the standard size back then; 12" shellac was reserved mainly for classical works that needed the extra minute or so of running time. (Tell me about it...my grandmother had hundreds of 78s, most classical, and those big 'uns were a beech to move!!)

 

[Harry]

I have just one 10" disc. It's an A&M release of Suzanne Vega's "Luka".

Harry

 

[Rudy]

Most expensive 10" was Moondog and His Friends on Epic, from the early 50s. I paid $75 on eBay around 2003 or so, back when these usually sold for about $150 or so. (They are that rare. There is now a reissue out there, but I am betting it's a needle drop.) My mother owned one, but it was unfortunately a bit knackered, and I wanted a cleaner copy. This one plays nice.

Favorite 10" from that era is a Mexican RCA of Perez Prado, with eight of his early mambos on them. I was able to find these in the CD era (many on the Tumbao Cuban Classics label), so I'm not lacking the music. It has the original version of "Mambo No. 5" that Lou Bega made into a hit (which he based on sampling a later Perez Prado version).