You can’t imagine my surprise when I checked out Stereogum this morning. Instead of posting useless news about Peter, Bjorn & John, Grizzly Bear or any other of the countless flash-in-the-pan indie bands that people will forget about after they download the album from whatever the hell people are using instead of Oink these days… they not only posted about the new Joe Jackson album, but they also premiered a new track from said record!

As the article points out, Rain will be out on Rykodisc on 1/29, and it’s just Joe on vocals on piano/vocals, Graham Maby on the best bass guitar you’ll hear this side of John Entwistle, and “Desperate” Dave Houghton will man the skins again. That’s like a single guitarist away from being the original lineup of the Joe Jackson band, but… hey, we’ll take it.

The group has been road-testing the songs from Rain for the better part of three years now, so hardcore fans will already know that this one is a more than worthy follow-up to 2003’s fucking phenomenal Volume 4… but still, one can’t help but wonder how a Joe Jackson album so close to the original lineup minus Gary Sanford is gonna hold up for a full album’s running length. But hey, it’s not like Joe Jackson exactly has a track record of disappointing fans. Even when it takes years to understand what he’s getting at, the cat always makes damn fine records and puts on unbelievable live shows. I expect Rain to be nothing short of mind-blowing.

Here’s the track that Stereogum premiered today:
Joe Jackson - King Pleasure Time.mp3

And here’s a live version of a song slated for the upcoming album, recorded live in Melbourne, Florida on 04/13/05.
Joe Jackson - Citizen Sane.mp3