15

SATURDAY

Joe Jackson may be the most ridiculed “respected” guy in rock. Disappointed since he dissolved his early band and quit singing about how it’s different for girls, I still forgive Jackson’s lounge-jazz phase as the listenable product of restlessness. Absolving Heaven & Hell isn’t so simple. Jackon’s latest is a bridge between “classical” and “rock”—but that’s markets, not music. Why the sharp-dressed man would go through the trouble of assembling an orchestra and then hire vocalists he can outdo himself (but doesn’t) is beyond reason. If Jackson wants to explore sin, he would be better off playing in a three-piece. Band, that is. At 8 p.m. at the Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U St. NW. $27.50. (202) 328-6000. (Brett Anderson)