Like his elder Neil Young, Joe Jackson has had more than one musical incarnation in his long, storied career, including forays into orchestral music, jump blues and neo-classical. But, just as we'll always regard ol' Neil as the folk-rocking godfather of grunge, we think of Jackson as the literate prince of piano pop. We think sneering, runt-sized rebel, a brilliant loser with the cleverest of melodies.

Jackson returned to his most popular form of expression on 2003's Volume 4, his most acclaimed album since the '80s. And now he continues to please fans with another drenching of magic, 2008's Rain. The album is rich with gorgeous melodies and beautiful piano work, and square in its sites are romantic ("Too Tough"), pop culture ("Citizen Sane") and music industry targets ("Good Bad Boy"), as well as some tender, introspective bloodletting ("Wasted Time").

Backed by his rhythm section from the original Joe Jackson Band, he recorded the 10-song, 47-minute Rain in East Berlin, of all places. Dripping-with-talent bassist Graham Maby and timekeeper Dave Houghton embrace each track as master instrumentalists, of course, but also with the love and knowing of dear friends from the old 'hood in Portsmouth, England.

The result is a format that places Jackson's piano and strong-as-ever vocals (his falsetto is shockingly on-spot) to the fore, whether the songs are essentially piano-vocal solos like "Solo (So Low)" or ensemble pop pieces. Either way, the overall sound is warm, melodic, even at times muscular and reminiscent of The Ben Folds Five. In fact, any fan of Folds' ability to wrench transcendent, irreverent pop from a classic drums-bass-piano jazz trio instrumentation would be wise to pick this up. After all, wasn't it Folds who carried Jackson's pop-piano torch while he went off on his musical expeditions in the '90s?

The album ends tragi-beautifully with the waltz about global warming, "A Place In The Rain." Shivers.

The bonus DVD in the package includes live versions of three of the songs from Rain performed in 2007 at the Islington Academy in London, along with interview footage of Jackson, Maby and Houghton, along with Joe's guided tour of East Berlin.

By Todd Spencer