Look Sharp! (Joe Jackson album)
| Look Sharp! | ||||
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| Studio album by Joe Jackson | ||||
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Publication |
January 1979 |
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| Label (s) | A&M Records | |||
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Format (s) |
LP |
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Title (number) |
11 |
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running time |
36:28 |
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| occupation |
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David Kershenbaum |
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Look Sharp! is Joe Jackson's debut album , released in January 1979. There are some well-known Jackson songs on the album like Is She Really Going Out with Him? , Sunday Papers and One More Time.
The album was voted number 98 of the 100 best debut albums of all time by Rolling Stone . Translation options for the title are Look sharp! , Attention! or hurry up!
General
Joe Jackson and his band made demo recordings in a studio in Portsmouth from the fall of 1977 to the spring of 1978 . He offered his demo recordings to various music labels in London. The American producer David Kershenbaum signed him on August 9, 1978 for A&M Records . After that, the album was re-recorded very quickly, and Jackson and band went on an extensive national support tour by the end of the month.
Jackson later stated that The Man (October 1979) and Volume 4 (2003) were better albums.
Looking back on his website, he says:
“What can anyone say about something they did so long ago ?! I'm not embarrassed, or at least not most of it. It smells positively of London 1978/79 and, well, it is what it is. I'm glad people liked it and still do, although I think that's nostalgia and a tendency to glorify debut albums; as if later albums were somehow less "authentic". It's not bad for a first album, but I was only 23. I would be pretty weird if I didn't think I had done better since then. "
Record cover
The cover shows a pair of white shoes and was voted 22nd of the 100 best album covers of all time by Rolling Stone .
Track list
All titles were written by Joe Jackson.
page 1
- One More Time - 3:15
- Sunday Papers - 4:22
- Is She Really Going Out with Him - 3:33
- Happy Loving Couples - 3:08
- Throw It Away - 2:49
Page 2
- Baby Stick Around - 2:36
- Look Sharp! - 3:23
- Fools in Love - 4:23
- (Do the) Instant Mash - 3:12
- Pretty Girls - 2:55
- Got the Time - 2:55
reception
| Professional reviews | |
|---|---|
| source | rating |
| Allmusic |
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The album was rated very positively in Allmusic :
" Look Sharp! is the sound of a young man searching for substance in a superficial world - and it rocks like hell. "
Cover versions of songs from Look Sharp!
- In 1983 Rita Coolidge sang Fools in Love on the album Never Let You Go
- 1990 Anthrax covered the song Got the Time on the album Persistence of Time
- In 1997 Guttermouth covered Happy Loving Couples on the sampler album The new wave tribute album Before You Were Punk
- 2005 Inara sang George Fools in Love on the soundtrack Grey's Anatomy (Volume 1)
- In 2005 Koufax covered Look Sharp! on their Why Bother At All? -EP
Web links
- Review of Steve Huey's album at Allmusic (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ rollingstone.com: The 100 Best Debut Albums of All Time
- ↑ translate.google.de: Look Sharp!
- ↑ deepl.com: Look Sharp!
- ↑ dict.cc: Look Sharp!
- ↑ allmusic.com: biography
- ↑ joejackson.com: 'm The Man
- ↑ joejackson.com: Volume 4
- ↑ joejackson.com: Look Sharp! (see button Joe's Comments )
- ↑ rateyourmusic.com: Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Album Covers
- ^ Allmusic: Review by Steve Huey
- ^ Koufax - Why Bother At All EP. Retrieved February 15, 2020 .