Jackson invites plenty of characters

Joe Jackson (left, with bassist Graham Maby) played most of the songs from his new album as well as some fan favorites on Monday. (JOSH REYNOLDS FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE)

Reprinted from early editions of yesterday's Globe.

Joe Jackson once wondered who the real men are. He need look no further than the characters that populate his own extensive catalog to find them. Monday night at the Somerville Theatre a capacity crowd was introduced to men damaged by love, angry at the world, sanguine about aging, and confused about the way to Chinatown, among others.

Some were old friends from the veteran British singer-songwriter's musical crazy quilt of a past, and others were new acquaintances from his sublime recent release, "Rain." But the common thread was Jackson's gift for locating, and then expressing, the truth of whatever emotion he happened to be translating with his voice and grand piano.

Among the usual suspects in the lineup: the anguished dumpee of the kinetic "One More Time," the urbane city kid of the fidgety "Steppin' Out," and the vengeful pop star of "On Your Radio," lashing out at the doubters of his youth.

Jackson and stalwart bassist Graham Maby and drummer Dave Houghton imbued them all with the kind of telepathic charge that comes from playing together for years but still enjoying the ride.

A portion of the audience clearly would've enjoyed Jackson continuing down this path, as pleas for old-school titles rang out in the dark. But as repeat customers were well aware, the 53-year-old keeps his own counsel. Or as he reminded us Monday night, "There's one thing we don't do: requests."

Instead, Jackson plunged into "Rain," playing eight of its 10 tracks over the course of his 90-minute set. That might have been too many for those looking to revisit the late-'70s and early-'80s commercial peak of Jackson's career, but the songs were a sturdy bunch.

"Too Tough" sketched out the moment where fragility and determination merge in Jackson's chalky falsetto and poignantly lyrical piano work. The classical-leaning "Solo (So Low)" painted a vivid picture of a broken man set adrift by love, subsisting on a diet of self-loathing and "three stale crackers and a fifth of gin." Melancholy and hope mingled in a man's search for a quiet moment of beauty during "A Place in the Rain." Jackson even borrowed a character, trotting out a bare-bones yet charged version of David Bowie's "Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)."

The trio's playing was impeccable throughout, whether teasing out a cha-cha, ruminating over jazz chord changes, or getting their skinny-tie skank on.

The crowd rose for an ovation at set's end and remained standing for the still-irresistible bounce of "Is She Really Going Out With Him?"

With heartfelt thanks, Jackson closed the show as he often does with the keening disappearing act of "A Slow Song."