Joe Jackson - Live in Tokyo (2002) Review

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(More customer reviews)Joe Jackson Live in Tokyo has always been one of the better concert videos on the market. Rather than relying on special effects, the focus is on the performer and the songs - the presentation of which is straightforward. Though the between-songs banter is unusually subdued (because the comments are being translated for the Japanese audience by an offstage interpreter), the concert is presented in its entirety, without gimmicky editing or other visual tricks.
The emphasis here is on songs from the "Big World" album, but several other Joe Jackson favorites are also here, among them "You can't get what you want (till you know what you want)", "On your radio", a beautifully re-arranged "Steppin' out", and "Sunday papers" (renamed "Monday papers").
The performances are excellent throughout. Though the tour started out with Vinnie Zummo on guitar, Tom Teeley steps in and does a marvelous job; if you weren't aware of the mid-tour personnel change, you wouldn't even notice (and probably won't anyway - I don't, and I was at one of the earlier shows).
Overall, the DVD is pretty good, but two areas are in significant need of improvement. (1) The picture quality could be much better; lots of blockiness is evident in the darker areas of the screen, and is often distracting. (2) The audio could also be better. The PCM tracks are a bit harsh-sounding, and listening fatigue is likely should you have the volume cranked up at first; some of the upper midrange frequencies should have been attenuated slightly for a slightly warmer mix. The Dolby 2.0 tracks have a better overall sound, but the mix lacks the definition of the PCM tracks.
It's too bad that A&M/Universal didn't get the VideoArts Japan folks (who originally produced the video in the first place) to handle the DVD transfer; the results would have been much better.
On the other hand, for just a little bit more than the price of a CD, you get just under two hours of a fine concert by an often-overlooked artist. From that perspective, this disc shouldn't be missed. But don't get rid of that VHS copy just yet.

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