Laughter And Lust

In the late-'80s/early-'90s, Jackson seemed unsure of what direction to take. His various stylistic experiments seemed to have backed him into a corner, but he'd grown too much to return to the effervescent rock & roll of his early days. Instead, he put his energies into a couple of slickly produced, carefully composed albums that approached pop music with a decidedly adult sensibility and a decades worth of hard lessons. more...

LAUGHTER & LUST takes the ideas introduced on the preceding BLAZE OF GLORY to extremes. The more sophisticated, arrangement-driven material like "Trying to Cry" relies more on elaborate textures than basic songcraft for its impact. Many of the tunes though, achieve a viscerality missing on BLAZE OF GLORY. Unsurprisingly, the simplest are the most effective; the self-explanatory "Obvious Song", the Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac cover "Oh Well", the Latin-tinged "Jamie G". The cynicism that is Jackson's hallmark is in fine form on the self-mocking highlight "Hit Single".

Rolling Stone (5/30/91)
- 3.5 Stars - Very Good

Q (6/91)
- 3 Stars - Good - "...There's more drive and energy than he's exhibited in some while..."

New York Times (5/1/91)
- "...marks the 36-year old singer's debut on Virgin Records after 11 years with A&M. Among the subjects addressed are the difficulty men have in crying, the temptations of slavish pop commercialism and the complexities of grown-up relationships."