Teenbeat XXVII - Body and Soul

You could say this is what goes round gets turned around as sometimes things go full circle with interests in this "Teenbeat" edition.

 Way back in 1984 having an interest in the British singer and songwriter Joe Jackson to the point of owning a few of his albums on tape I heard a few tracks from his then new album being played on Radio One.

I hunted down and got the chrome cassette of Body and Soul which was both very well sounding using BASF genuine chromedioxide tape for the highest sound quality when few of us had CD Players and they were extremely expensive.

That tape was much loved - too much loved - and got replaced in time by the Joe Jackson Collected triple compilation that took many of his songs and packaged them well.

Thing was I still had strong memories of this album which was in so many ways a reaction to over smooth polished studio productions and the lack of organic live playing that is evident in songs such as You Can't Get What You Want and Be My Number Two, both singles that have a jazz/blues feel to them.

Earlier this year fledgling reissue company Intervention Records remastered this album for Super Audio cd using the services of Kevin Grey who has work for Analogue Productions and Audio Fidelity.

Getting a copy easily here wasn't easy but has been well worth it as it has a very real in the room with the artist presence with a wide dynamic range.

It simply could never sound better and in this version can also be played on regular cd players too.