Mr Joe Jackson presents …

Joe Jackson has produced a new album, his first since ‘Fool’ in 2019.

‘What A Racket!’ will be released in November. But it’s not what you might expect.

According to today’s announcement the new album revives the songs of ‘enigmatic early 20th-century English music hall artist Max Champion’:

‘What A Racket!' presents eleven of Max Champion’s songs for the first time in more than a century. According to producer Joe Jackson, ‘These were wonderful songs in their time, but they’re surprisingly modern, too. Sometimes it’s almost as if Max is speaking, from his London of the early 20th century, directly to us in the early 21st.’

A good example, we are told, is 'Health and Safety,' released today as a single. Sample lyric:

'Health and safety,
What's it all about?
Put that pint down,
Stub the gasper out.'

Click on the image above to hear a snippet. You can also read the full announcement here.

I’d love to see the album performed live, preferably in an old style music hall, if such things still exist.

Failing that, one of the larger working men’s clubs that journalist Pete Brown wrote about in his book Clubland, and which I wrote about here.

Then again, the London Palladium is a great venue for panto so it wouldn’t be a huge leap to recreate the look and feel of an Edwardian music hall on stage and in the auditorium.

Either way, the album sounds like fun. You can pre-order it here.

See also: Joe Jackson - Sing, You Sinners!