Reviews

Joe Jackson reunited his original band five years ago, and now they've been together longer than the first time around. Tuesday night at the Palladium Ballroom, it showed.

Touring behind Rain, their first studio album since 2003, the trio sounded tighter than a bank with too many subprime loans. Dave Houghton's syncopated rhythms and Graham Maby's melodic bass lines joined in lockstep, leaving space for Mr. Jackson to wrap his elastic piano playing and vocalizing around the beat.

They didn't miss guitarist Gary Sanford, who has left since the reunion, though the rockers "One More Time" and "On Your Radio" could've used some six-string power.

The ease with which the music was delivered was matched by Mr. Jackson's comfort with the audience. He kept up a steady patter, making for an intimate 95-minute set that touched on most aspects of his eclectic catalog. And the crowd gave back, taking over the chorus of "You Can't Get What You Want" and performing call-and-response during the encore of "Is She Really Going Out With Him?"

Like Elvis Costello, that other spazzy Brit of the post-punk era, Mr. Jackson started his career with raw and bitter pop tunes before turning to a more sophisticated style. But heartache is heartache, whether it's masked by new-wave power pop or excursions into jazz.

"I know you think that I protest too much, I'm like the diva with the tragic touch," he sang on "Too Tough," one of the new songs that mark a return to his punkier side.

After opening with "Steppin' Out," a hit from his 1982 Cole Porter-inspired Night and Day, Mr. Jackson leaned heavily on the new album for a while. Then he spent most of the rest of the show sampling a mix of trademark tunes ("Another World," "It's Different for Girls"), semi-obscurities from his middle-period Laughter & Lust ("Goin' Downtown," "Obvious Song") and covers.

Duke Ellington's "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" was a fun diversion, but it was Mr. Jackson's stark reading of the Beatles' "Girl" that startled. With a kind of ragtime/Brecht-Weill feel, it was pure elegance, like the man himself.