"...Words Of Wisdom From The World Outside..."
Never has a debut album had
such an 'apt' name as "Look Sharp!" Along with Graham Parker, Elvis
Costello and Ian Dury - Staffordshire's Joe Jackson was part of England's Punk
and 'New Wave' explosion in the late Seventies. With razor precision - the
24-year- old's tunes were both catchy and relevant - cool bopping little slices of
intelligence.
Like his compatriots in musical crime - David Ian Jackson was part of that emerging breed of songwriters who saved us from Rock's tired and bloated last gasps with angry-young-man vignettes - hard-hitting but truthful songs that had one eye on the dancehall and the other on the social pulse of the time (as well as last orders at the bar).
Like his compatriots in musical crime - David Ian Jackson was part of that emerging breed of songwriters who saved us from Rock's tired and bloated last gasps with angry-young-man vignettes - hard-hitting but truthful songs that had one eye on the dancehall and the other on the social pulse of the time (as well as last orders at the bar).
It's a measure of "Look
Sharp!" and the lasting impact it had when you know that 5 of its 11
tracks regularly feature on "Gold" 2CD anthologies to this day -
still leaving album winners like "One More Time", "Happy Loving
Couples" and "Look Sharp!" for the devoted to rediscover. Hell
even Mod Revivalists and Dancers have loved its bopping charms for decades now
and coveted those original A&M Records vinyl LPs - Euro Soul Boys picking
up a copy on their visits to Blighty. And this fantastic 2001 Remaster from
Universal's top man ERICK LABSON has only made me love it all over again. Here
are the white boy's winklepickers...
US released 14 August 2001
(imported into the UK) - "Look Sharp!" by JOE JACKSON on A&M 314 586 194-2
(Barcode 731458619420) is an 'Expanded Edition' CD Remaster with Two Bonus
Tracks and plays out as follows (42:55 minutes):
1. One More Time
2. Sunday Papers
3. Is She Really Going Out
With Him?
4. Happy Loving Couples
5. Throw It Away
6. Baby Stick Around
7. Look Sharp!
8. Fools In Love
9. (Do The) Instant Mash
10. Pretty Girls
11. Got The Time
Tracks 1 to 11 are his debut
album "Look Sharp!" - released January 1979 in the UK on A&M
Records AMLH 64743 and April 1979 in the USA on A&M Records SP 4743.
Produced by DAVID KERSHENBAUM – it peaked at No. 40 in the UK and No. 20 in the
USA.
BONUS TRACKS:
12. Don't Ask Me - non-album
B-side to "One More Time" released May 1979 in the UK on A&M
Records AMS 7433
13. You Got The Fever -
non-album B-side to the reissue of "Is She Really Going Out With
Him?" released July 1979 in the UK on A&M Records AMS 7459. "Is
She Really Going Out With Him?" was his debut solo 45 in the UK released
September 1978 on A&M Records AMS 7392 with the album cut "(Do The)
Instant Mash" as its flipside.
The 12-page booklet is a
concise but pleasing affair. SCOTT SCHINDER provides two pages of informative
and affection liner notes - you get lyrics to all the songs including the two
album outtakes that turned up as B-sides ("Don't Ask Me" and
"You Got The Fever") including four A&M trade adverts for the
singles and album. The back of the booklet and the photo beneath the
see-through CD tray have our Joe trying to look sharp at the camera but
actually looking a bit of place and confused (too much pressure man). But all
of that pales against the 96K/24-Bit Remaster from one of Universal's Top Audio
Engineer's - ERICK LABSON. Having handled The Who, Three Dog Night, The Mama's
and The Papa's, Wishbone Ash, Buddy Holly and almost everything on the mammoth
Chess label of artists - Labson is an Engineer with over 1200 audio restoration
credits to his name. Always a punchy album - here its leaps back to life - real
muscle without being overly trebled.
It opens on the choppy
guitars of "One More Time" and instantly this is 'not' Rock but
something sharper. The UK issued it as a 45 in May 1979 with the non-album
"Don't Ask Me" on the flipside - featured on this CD as one of the
Bonus Tracks. I absolutely flip for the Reggae-Rock of "Sunday
Papers" (so Police first album) where words of wisdom from the world
outside tell us about 'stains on the mattress' and the deal between 'the bishop
and actress'. The single "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" broke
him in both countries - in the USA first in May 1979 (No. 21) and July 1979 in
the UK (No.13). If you wanted proof of 'sharp' audio then "Happy Loving
Couples" is the cheesecake - absolutely amazing clarity and what clever
lyrics - self-knowing and yet with that hint of loneliness and hurt.
"Throw It Away" is about as Punk as the album gets - Gary Sandford
letting rip on the guitar while Graham Maby slaps those heavy bass strings.
"Look Sharp!" is
genius - a fantastically hooky song with 'no illusions' lyrics. It also
features a very distinctive Joe Jackson piano-break that would practically
redefine his sound for his "Night And Day" LP in 1982 and the
"Body And Soul" album from 1984. "Fools In Love" is a
vicious little sucker dressed up in a huge Bass Line while Sandford does his
best Andy Summers on a Reggae tip impression. Bit of a Rock boogie comes in the
shape of "(Do The) Instant Mash" - a great tune but one that sounds
slightly out of place alongside the other later tracks. Mini-skirt frustration
runs through the brill and infectious "Pretty Girls" where our Joe
implores God to turn off his rampant libido (the loose clothing of women's
liberation is doing his nut in). It ends on the Bass Race of "Got The
Time" - another rapid-paced Rocker that killed whenever it was featured
'live'. The album outtakes used as B-sides are both superb and round off the CD
with brilliance (I love that flicking guitar on “You Got The Fever” and the
hooky Harmonica solo towards the end). I can imagine a Mod doing his stuff to
this on any talcum-powered dancefloor...as Joe sings "...the girls at work
are married...the girls in bars are waiting for their friend or their new fiancée..."
(oh dear).
I could never understand why
neither this nor the follow-up LP "I'm The Man" from 1980 ever
received CD release proper back here in his own UK - both of the August 2001
Erick Labson CD remasters remain US imports to British buyers (it’s cheap
though even as an import). But what I do know is that "Look Sharp!"
needs to be looking sharp on your CD shelves someday soon...
