Joe Jackson – Night And Day

I found this record in used but in very minty shape at Rasputin’s on Haight Street in SF back around 2018. I think I paid $5 for it and only picked it up because it was a US pressing as I have an original Canadian version and was just curious if there might be any difference. Well was there ever but not what I expected!

I’ve had this album ever since it was released in 1982 and have always loved it but was always a bit annoyed by the continuous mix on side 1 because it screwed up my mix-tapes since there was no silent gaps between the songs. Even the CD is like this so I gave up ever thinking the album would ever exist with “silent gaps” in between tracks. So when I returned home from my trip I gave the record a good cleaning, put it in the turntable and sat back to enjoy the album again. So when the first track “Another World” fades at the end my mind is already prepared for the overlap mix with “Chinatown” only to be stunned and met with SILENCE between the tracks! And then silence again in between the next song and so on! And then finally “Steppin’ Out” begins without the fade out of “Target” that was the bane of some of my 80’s mix-tapes! Lol! Mind blown! This was a dream come true that I never even knew existed! My LP jacket has no gold promo stamp anywhere on it either so I just figured this was a regular US pressing since they are completely identical in every way except for the inscribed dead wax. Now that I know this I do check the dead wax but have yet to find another one! Btw, audio quality wise there is no difference between the US and Canadian pressings. They both sound phenomenal!

Definitely a prized possession for me!

Shane Buettner is live with Steven Westman on The Audiophile Roundtable right now: https://www.youtube.com/live/uXo3YnLpVk0?si=IEjG0BFt9Am2pczm

This is an incredible pressing and I’m so glad I splurged on it! Totally met my expectations and then some.

Have to disagree with others who have said the OG is a better listen. I found the OG to have a fair amount of sibilance in the vocals, especially during A Slow Song. KG really did a wonderful job on this and other JJ titles on Intervention. I have the OG US, Japanese pressing and the MFSL. While I like the MFSL, this reissue just sounds great. YMMV of course. But I think anyone who loves the record and buys this from IR will be happy. It was recently repressed on 150g vinyl

My copy is flat, centered, and "the cold depths of deep empty space" level quiet. This pressing > US og's? Perhaps, "different" is more accurate? Og's were very well mastered / pressed and like others have mentioned sound of the era (tone). KG cut this Intervention reissue hot, instrumentation detail is striking, and Jackson's vocals span a massive soundstage...it is perhaps more clinical.

I play this pressing and not the og, but I love them both.

Musical Fidelity M5si / Pro-Ject X1B + Sumiko Wellfleet / Dali Oberon 7's

This is fine, but I would say the US first pressing lp has more life and is more tonally satisfying

Mine seems to be a variant of this but I don't see the anything stamped in runout.. my A runout is: SPO 43̶ 906A A̶ Re-1 RCA 3̶ 1 IAMRD ̶A̶1̶ A3D

When this reissue came out, I was mostly on a new vinyl buying moratorium. Nevertheless, I still considered buying it, but eventually decided that I was so happy with the original U.S. pressing that spending $30-$35 (I forget exactly when new vinyl prices started to creep up) on it wasn't worth it.

Come several years later, it's completely out of print with all of the sealed stock sold out. There was a clear demand for this title that was starting to drive the price up that wasn't there with most of the other Intervention Joe Jackson reissues, some of which are either still in print or at least in stock in large quantites at notable vinyl vendors. (The exception being "I'm The Man," which is selling for a good bit more than "Night and Day.") Between the price starting to creep up, it being a personal favorite album where an upgrade could be justified, re-reading the reviews, being more confident that the album could sound better on my system, and finding a good deal (always try to get a feel for which sellers grade more strictly!), I bit.

It was 100% the right move. The original U.S. A&M pressing sounds great, but this version is noticeably better in every way. Everything, especially the soundstage, just sounds bigger and clearer. Joe Jackson's spoken word band interplay, in particular, is significantly clearer in the mix than I it being on other versions I'd listen to. Proof positive of the advancements in cutting vinyl, because the conventional wisdom for a long time was to get the original and skip the reissues, whether older (Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, which came out shortly after the original) or newer (Speaker's Corner). But this Intervention Records pressing cannot be questioned. If this is a personal favorite of yours like it is mine, jump on it now before the price shoots up more to "I'm The Man" levels.

Very magical sounding record. Theres a certain glamour this recording has that’s brought out by Kevin Gray, as he always does. Highly recommended not only for the great mastering but the great presentation and the great pressing quality. Intervention really showed why they’re a top tier reissue label.

I looked for this for ages, and found one, gave it a listen and I gotta say, it is a bit weird hearing side one with cold beginnings and endings, definitely a different experience. The majority of these unmixed versions got released elsewhere, either on 12" or on single b-sides, but all are here. Generally if you have the gold promo stamp on the back you have this, but of course it is all in the deadwax. without the DJ matrix: no dice. No promo only on the LP itself, this record is easy to misidentify.