Joe Jackson: Night And Day II

After establishing himself as a master of snarling English pub-rock to rival fellow angry young men Graham Parker and Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson developed a case of stylistic wanderlust from which he has yet to recover. After releasing a prescient swing collection (Jumpin' Jive), Jackson moved to New York and found inspiration for 1982's Night And Day, a tribute to the pleasures and pains of his adopted home. The Al Hirschfeld-esque caricature on the cover immediately announced Jackson's intention to create a work of classic pop for the synth era; even if the album didn't quite establish him as a Cole Porter for new-wave kids, it did produce "Steppin' Out," "Breaking Us In Two," and a handful of equally memorable songs. After nearly two decades that found Jackson releasing everything from pop to modern classical music to an adaptation of Paradise Lost, it's little wonder that he's revisiting a past triumph with Night And Day II. Too accomplished to dismiss but not involving enough to recommend, most of II glides by with the consistency of warm syrup. "Dear Mom," a Steely Dan-esque tale of a teenage runaway, proves a highlight, and guest vocalists break the monotony, but a couple of feints toward the riff from "Steppin' Out" serve as a reminder of Jackson's largely abandoned gift for hooks, a gift exercised with frustrating stinginess on this warmed-over sequel.