Laughter & Lust is a 1991 album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 by Joe Jackson

Joe Jackson (musician)

Joe Jackson is an English musician and singer-songwriter now living in Berlin, whose five Grammy Award nominations span from 1979 to 2001...

. He had parted ways with A&M Records

A&M Records

A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...

 in 1990, who then released the compilation

Compilation album

A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...

 Steppin' Out: The Very Best of Joe Jackson

Stepping Out (Joe Jackson album)

Stepping Out: The Very Best of Joe Jackson is a compilation album from the English singer-songwriter, Joe Jackson. The songs, arranged in chronological order, are taken from nine of his first twelve albums, all of which were released on the A&M label. Stepping Out: The Very Best of Joe Jackson...

, which became a Top Ten hit in the UK. Jackson subsequently signed a recording contract

Recording contract

A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist , where the artist makes a record for the label to sell and promote...

 with Virgin Records

Virgin Records

Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...

.

On Laughter & Lust Jackson expressed some of his frustration with the music industry with "Hit Single", while "Obvious Song" and his percussion

Percussion instrument

A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...

 laden cover

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 of Fleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac are a British–American rock band formed in 1967 in London.The only original member present in the band is its eponymous drummer, Mick Fleetwood...

's "Oh Well

Oh Well (song)

"Oh Well" is a song recorded by Fleetwood Mac in 1969, and composed by vocalist and lead guitarist Peter Green. It first appeared as a Fleetwood Mac single in various countries in 1969, subsequently appearing on the Greatest Hits album in 1971...

" secured radio

Radio

Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...

 airplay. Music journalist

Music journalism

Music journalism is criticism and reportage about music. It began in the eighteenth century as comment on what is now thought of as 'classical music'. This aspect of music journalism, today often referred to as music criticism , comprises the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of...

, Martin C. Strong

Martin C. Strong

Martin C. Strong is a researcher and compiler of music discographies.His books include The Great Rock Discography, The Essential Rock Discography, The Great Metal Discography, The Great Psychedelic, The Great Alternative and Lights, Camera, Soundtracks...

 states "Laughter & Lust was Jackson's most direct, accessible material in years, a welcome diversion from his constant experimentation".

However, the release continued his gradual sales decline, failing to reach the U.S. Top 100, after which Jackson was not heard from on disc

Gramophone record

A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

 for three years.

Track listing

All song

Song

In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...

s by Jackson, except as noted

1. "Obvious Song" – 4:11
2. "Goin' Downtown" (Barfield, Jackson) – 3:05
3. "Stranger than Fiction" – 3:40
4. "Oh Well
   Oh Well (song)
   "Oh Well" is a song recorded by Fleetwood Mac in 1969, and composed by vocalist and lead guitarist Peter Green. It first appeared as a Fleetwood Mac single in various countries in 1969, subsequently appearing on the Greatest Hits album in 1971...
   
   " (Peter Green
   Peter Green (musician)
   Peter Green is a British blues-rock guitarist and the founder of the band Fleetwood Mac...
   
   ) – 2:29
5. "Jamie G." – 2:04
6. "Hit Single" – 3:37
7. "It's All Too Much" – 4:22
8. "When You're Not Around" – 4:01
9. "The Other Me" – 4:11
10. "Trying to Cry" – 6:35
11. "My House" – 4:26
12. "The Old Songs" –3:22
13. "Drowning" – 5:09

Personnel

• Joe Jackson – Keyboards
  Keyboard instrument
  A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
  
  , vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  
• Joy Askew – Keyboards, vocals
• Sue Hadjopoulos – Percussion
  Percussion instrument
  A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
  
  , drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  
• Dan Hickey – Drums
• Graham Maby
  Graham Maby
  Graham Maby , is a bass guitar player. He has recorded and toured with Joe Jackson since his first album, appearing on most of Jackson's albums and tours. He has continued to record and tour with Jackson even while working with other artists.In the early '90s he toured with Graham Parker, Garland...
  
   – Bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  , vocals
• Tom Teeley – Guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  , vocals

Guest musicians:

• Tony Aiello – Saxophone
  Saxophone
  The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
  
  
• Charles McCracken – Cello
  Cello
  The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
  
  
• Michael Morreale – Trumpet
  Trumpet
  The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
  
  
• Annie Whitehead
  Annie Whitehead
  Annie Whitehead is an English jazz trombone player.-Career:Annie learned trombone at school; at 14 she was already busy playing with brass bands, local dance groups and the Manchester Youth Jazz Orchestra and began her professional career at sixteen. Among her initial influences were Miles Davis,...
  
   – Trombone
  Trombone
  The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
  
  

Charts

UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...	U.S. Billboard 200 Chart Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
#41	#116