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On this day, 5 October 1980, singer/songwriter Joe Jackson played Cardiff’s Top Rank on the opening date of his Beat Crazy tour.
Beat Crazy was Joe Jackson’s third studio album released on the 10th October . It was a relative disappointment commercially, peaking outside the Top 40 in both the UK and the United States, with its singles failing to chart.
Nevertheless, the Joe Jackson Band was successful and toured extensively. This would be the last studio album released by the Joe Jackson Band's original line-up until 2003's Volume 4.
Beat Crazy was intended to be a stylistic departure from Jackson's first two albums. However, as he recalled, the band lacked a clear direction during the recording. Jackson later stated that he felt the record "didn't really work". He explained,
“The stereotypical difficult third album, in which we tried to change the formula a bit without quite knowing how. It's darker than the first two and the reggae influence is more pronounced. There's some good stuff on it (I especially like the title track and 'Biology') but it’s not quite the triumphant swan song of this band.”
Line-up:
Joe Jackson (voc, p, organ)
Graham Maby (b, voc)
Gary Sanford (g, voc)
Dave Houghton (dr, voc)
Setlist
One To One
I'm The Man
Biology
Beat Crazy
Look Sharp!
Mad At You
Pretty Boys
On Your Radio
The Harder They Come (Jimmy Cliff cover)
Friday
Fit
Is She Really Going Out With Him?
Don't Wanna Be Like That
Got The Time
One More Time
It's Different For Girls