''Big World'' is a 1986

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th centur ...

of original songs by Joe Jackson. The album was recorded in front of an invited audience at the

Roundabout Theatre The Roundabout Theatre Company is a non-profit theatre company based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, affiliated with the League of Resident Theatres. History The company was founded in 1965 by Gene Feist, Michael Fried and Elizabeth Owen ...

, East 17th Street in

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on 23, 24 and 25 January 1986 (except "Man in the Street", recorded during rehearsals on 22 January). The songs are loosely linked by lyrics covering a general theme of post-World War II international relations and global travel.

Production

Jackson's intent for the recording was to capture the intensity and spontaneity of a live performance, but without the distraction of noise from the crowd. He requested that the audience remain silent while the performances of his band were recorded. Unlike most other pop music recordings, which use

multitrack recording Multitrack recording (MTR), also known as multitracking, is a method of sound recording developed in 1955 that allows for the separate recording of multiple sound sources or of sound sources recorded at different times to create a cohesive who ...

techniques, no post-recording mixing or overdubbing was performed on the album. The music was mixed live from microphones on each musical instrument, then sent directly to a two track stereo

digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Businesses *Digital bank, a form of financial institution *Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) or Digital, a computer company *Digital Research (DR or DRI), a software ...

tape recorder. Regarding the album, Joe says: ‘I want to clear up two myths about this record which still crop up all the time. Myth 1: During the live recording of the album, the audience was forbidden to applaud. Fact: There was plenty of applause. We were just playing a lot of unfamiliar material, and recording it for an album, so the audience were asked to hold it until they were sure a song was finished. They understood this and there was no problem. Myth 2: It’s a double album with a side missing. Fact: This was my first album to be released on CD, where the running time was not an issue. I was having a hard time deciding what to leave out for the LP, though, and I suggested making a 3-sided one, and selling it for the price of a regular album. Much to my surprise, the record company said yes. So rather than a side missing, you got an extra side. Critics, of course, hadn’t had to pay for it.’

Release

The LP release was a

double album A double album (or double record) is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording ...

, but only three sides had music. The fourth side label stated "there is no music on this side", and the record had a groove containing approximately 30 seconds of silence that quickly led to the inner to prevent stylus damage. The CD release contained the same 15 tracks on one disc. The front cover of the album (work by

Serge Clerc Serge Clerc (born 12 October 1957) is a French comic book artist and illustrator. Serge Clerc began his professional career in 1975 in the monthly magazine '' Métal Hurlant'', after having created his own fanzine, ''Absolutely Live''. Initially a ...

) features the phrase "Big World" in French,

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

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Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, people from the Korean peninsula or of Korean descent * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Korean **Korean dialects **See also: North–South differences in t ...

, Thai,

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

Irish Gaelic Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigeno ...

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

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, English,

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, Indonesian,

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, and Polish. The back cover features the same phrase in

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overseas Vietnamese, Vietnamese people living outside Vietna ...

, Swedish,

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, Turkish,

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

, Swahili,

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, Danish, Finnish, Welsh, and Hungarian. The album included an eight-page booklet which included the lyrics to all fifteen songs and recording information in English, German, Japanese, French, Italian and Spanish. The original South African LP release featured all 15 songs on one disc, however did not include the booklet.

Track listing

All songs written and arranged by Joe Jackson. Produced by Joe Jackson and David Kershenbaum. This is the track sequence for the

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and was capable of hol ...

and LP. The cassette release has the same tracks, but in a slightly different order.

Personnel

; Musicians * Joe Jackson - piano, recorder, accordion, melodica, vocals * Vinnie Zummo - guitars, vocals * Rick Ford - bass, acoustic guitar, vocals * Gary Burke - drums * Joy Askew, Nikki Gregoroff, Peter Hewlett, Curtis King Jr. - extra backing vocals ; Production * Joe Jackson and David Kershenbaum - producer * Michael Frondelli - recording engineer * Guy Charbonneau - remote recording technician * Dave Roberts - onstage technician * Dave Hewitt - remote recording production coordinator * Eddie Ciletti - digital tape technician

Covers

* Amy Fox covered "Be My Number Two/Shanghai Sky" and Mary Lee's Corvette covered "Home Town" on the 2004 album '' Different for Girls: Women Artists and Female-Fronted Bands Cover Joe Jackson''.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Sales and certifications

References

External links

Big World
album information a
''The Joe Jackson Archive''
{{Authority control Joe Jackson (musician) live albums 1986 live albums A&M Records live albums Albums produced by David Kershenbaum