Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Joe Jackson - Mike's Murder - Alternate Version (1983)

Here's another Joe Jackson album. This is a (hopefully) improved version of the obscure 1983 soundtrack to the movie "Mike's Murder." All the songs on the album were by Jackson, but it was promoted as a soundtrack album with Jackson's name only in very tiny print on the cover, and it was a movie that hardly anybody saw. On top of that, half the album was instrumental, including a song that went on for 11 minutes. So few treated it as his next album.

I've made some changes. For starters, I thought that 11 minute instrumental, "Zerrio," went on way too long. It expressed all its ideas in seven minutes, and then went on for another four pointless minutes, in my opinion. So I edited out the last four minutes.

The album was 35 minutes to begin with, and that edit shortened it still further. To compensate, I looked around for other stray studio tracks Jackson did around that time. I found two. Unfortunately both were instrumentals for a guy known (at the time) for his pop songs, not his instrumental prowess. I added them in, but I also changed the song order slightly, so one doesn't get a few instrumentals in a row.

01 Cosmopolitan (Joe Jackson)
02 'Round Midnight [Instrumental] (Joe Jackson)
03 1-2-3 Go [This Town's a Fairground] (Joe Jackson)
04 Laundromat Monday (Joe Jackson)
05 Zemio [Edit] [Instrumental] (Joe Jackson)
06 Memphis (Joe Jackson)
07 Moonlight (Joe Jackson)
08 Breakdown [Instrumental] (Joe Jackson)
09 Soul Makossa [Instrumental] [Live] (Joe Jackson)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15260385/JoeJacks_1983_MikesMurderAlernate_atse.zip.html

I used the official album cover, but with one key change. As I mentioned, the cover only mentioned Jackson's name in very small letters. Apparently, the record cover soon realized this was a problem, because some versions came with a sticker slapped on the front with Jackson's name in big letters. I used that text, except I made it a part of the cover instead of a haphazardly placed sticker. Also, I removed the original small text of his name, since that had been made redundant.

8 comments:

  1. Thank you for this!! Thank you, thank you. I had this on a cassette and it broke. I searched high and low for another tape or CD and could not find it. Now, I finally have it again. The movie stunk but, this is a great set of Joe Jackson songs. Especially Memphis. Somebody mentions Memphis and I immediately hear this song in my head. Where the hell is Memphis? Thanks.

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    1. I heartily agree. Memphis is one of my favorite Joe Jackson songs also. Unfortunately, it gets ignored since it was put on such an obscure album.

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  3. I love your site and all those wonderful rarities you make available, but as far as this album is concerned, see no offense, but I find your job quite pointless : was it really necessary to edit out those four minutes from "Zemeo" ? Nope. You could have add the two instrumental bonus tracks without shortening "Zemeo" that for my part I love to listen to full blow ! Moreover, "Mike's Murder" can be downloaded on the net in torrent or (illegally, with special apps) from legal online music streaming services like Deezer. More moreover (is it OK to say it that way ? English is not my native language : I'm a french guy...) the Mike's Murder tracks can be found on Joe Jackson's "Night & Day" Deluxe version (2 CD set), so, really... what's the point ? Sorry for complaining so much for so little : I've found so much delightful stuff on your site I can't end that comment without thanking you the way you deserve !

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    1. To each their own. Maybe some people will read your comments and want to check the rest of Zemeo and such. In this case, I felt less is more, but of course you're entitled to your own opinion.

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  4. link expired, alas. Memphis also one of my favorites. I'll look for Soul Makossa.

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