Album of the Day — July 8
Joe Jackson — Look Sharp!
Joe Jackson — Look Sharp!
08.July.2020
Joe Jackson
Look Sharp!
1979
As one of the leaders of the second British Invasion of the late 70s, Joe Jackson was never an artist to accept labels or be painted into any one corner.
During his career, he’s explored just about every genre in music from pop, punk, swing/jazz, new wave, and even classical.
Look Sharp! was where it began.
Joe Jackson’s musical training was at England’s Royal Academy, where he graduated with his degree in percussion. Which helps explain why he turned to rock and roll as a career choice. Walking the same path as his new wave brethren Elvis Costello and Graham Parker, Jackson blended the best of pop, post-punk, and a dash of reggae to release this first album on A&M Records in 1979.
Keeping it lean and mean, the band was a four-piece:
Joe Jackson — vocals, piano, harmonica
Gary Sanford — guitar
Graham Maby — bass
David Houghton — drums
Look Sharp! opens with “One More Time”, a caustic pop song that has Jackson asking a lover to tell him the truth during a break-up. Before this current era of “ghosting” people, there was a time when ending things was at least courteous … it may not have always been face-to-face, but it was at least over the phone.
If you’ve ever had someone inexplicably end things or just leave, then you will find yourself empathizing and singing along … much too easily:
One More Time
Tell me one more time, as I hold your hand, that you don’t love me
Tell me one more time as teardrops start to fall
Shout it to me and I’ll shout it to the skies above me
That there was nothing after all
CHORUS
Baby, baby, tell me that you never wanted my loving
Baby, baby, tell me that you never, tell me, tell me
One more time, one more time, say you’re leaving, say goodbye
One more time, one more time, say you’re leaving, say goodbye
Tell me one more time we never had a thing in common
Tell me one more time as you turn and face the wall
Tell me I should know you never were my kind of woman
And tell me we were fools to fall
REPEAT CHORUS
Tell me one more time your tears are only sad confusion
And tell me it’s just been so long and that is all
Tell me one more time that love was only my illusion
You never answered to my call
REPEAT CHORUS
In 1979, American’s weren’t as well versed in the general awfulness of the British press as they are now … but Joe Jackson was. And not being a fan of the press, he didn’t hold back on “Sunday Papers.”
Driven by Graham Maby’s bass, whose playing on Look Sharp! could pass for John Entwistle of The Who, Jackson sings about the trashy and inaccurate stories printed by the press. However, his sarcasm and vitriol weren’t just for the press — he saved some for those who relish in the nonsense.
“An image that came into my mind was, like, if someone just more or less lived on a diet of these kind of papers, that they might turn into a complete idiot.” — Joe Jackson
Sunday Papers
Mother doesn’t go out anymore
Just sits at home and rolls her spastic eyes
But every weekend through the door
Come words of wisdom from the world outside
If you want to know ‘bout the bishop and the actress
If you want to know how to be a star
If you want to know ‘bout the stains on the mattress
You can read it in the Sunday papers
Sunday papers
Mother’s wheelchair stays out in the hall
Why should she go out when the TV’s on?
Whatever moves beyond these walls
She’ll know the facts when Sunday comes along
If you want to know ‘bout the mad punk rockers*
If you want to know how to play guitar
If you want to know ‘bout any other suckers
You can read it in the Sunday papers
Read it in the Sunday papers
Sunday papers, don’t ask no questions
Sunday papers, don’t get no lies
Sunday papers, don’t raise objections
Sunday papers, ain’t got no eyes
Brother’s headin’ that way now, I guess
He just read somethin’, made his face turn blue
Well I got nothin’ ‘gainst the press
They wouldn’t print it if it wasn’t true
If you want to know ‘bout the gay politician (oh yeah!)
If you want to know how to drive your car
If you want to know ‘bout the new sex position
You can read it in the Sunday papers
Read it in the Sunday papers
Sunday papers, don’t ask no questions
Sunday papers, don’t get no lies
Sunday papers, don’t raise objections
Sunday papers, ain’t got no eyes
Sunday papers, don’t ask no questions
Sunday papers, don’t get no lies
Sunday papers, don’t raise objections
Sunday papers, ain’t got no eyes
Read all about it, Sunday papers
The big hit off of Look Sharp! was “Is She Really Going Out With Him.” A song which he will, deservedly, forever be remembered for.
It was first released as a single in 1978 — whereby it was aggressively ignored. However, despite the failure of two more singles, “Sunday Papers” and “One More Time”, Jackson and his band were picking up traction as one of the leaders of this Second British Invasion.
A&M Records rolled the dice a second time with “Is She Really Going Out With Him” and this time the single struck a chord.
Owing as much to The Damned as to The Shangri-Las’ “Leader of the Pack”, Jackson’s writing approach to the song was meant to be cheeky. Unfortunately, the song was interpreted as “angry” … and Jackson got mislabeled as an “angry young man.”
“I heard that phrase [is she really going out with him] somewhere and I thought that could be a kind of funny song about gorgeous girls going out with monsters. It just started from there. It was just a funny song, or supposed to be funny. It was a great surprise to me when some people interpreted it as being angry.” — Joe Jackson
Is She Really Going Out With Him
Pretty women out walking with gorillas down my street
From my window I’m staring while my coffee grows cold
Look over there! (Where?)
There’s a lady that I used to know
She’s married now, or engaged, or something, so I am told
CHORUS
Is she really going out with him?
Is she really gonna take him home tonight?
Is she really going out with him?
Cause if my eyes don’t deceive me,
There’s something going wrong around here
Tonight’s the night when I go to all the parties down my street.
I wash my hair and I kid myself I look real smooth
Look over there! (Where?)
Here comes Jeanie with her new boyfriend
They say that looks don’t count for much
If so, there goes your proof
REPEAT CHORUS
But if looks could kill
There’s a man there who’s more down as dead.
Cause I’ve had my fill
Listen you, take your hands off her head
I get so mean around this scene
Is she really going out with him?
Is she really gonna take him home tonight?
Is she really going out with him?
Cause if my eyes don’t deceive me
There’s something going wrong around here
“Happy Loving Couples” keeps Jackson’s wit and sarcasm in check:
Happy loving couples make it look so easy
Happy loving couples always talk so kind
Until the time that I can do my dancing with a partner
Those happy couples ain’t no friends of mine
People say I’m too damn fussy
When it comes to girls
Happy couples say I must live
In a lonely world
That song ends with him saying “Alright that’s enough” and then jumps right into the high-energy “Throw It Away”, as punk as any other punk song … except it has structure, tone and is catchy as hell.
“Throw It Away” and “Baby Stick Around” mark the high energy mid-way point of Look Sharp!. Then Jackson and band slide into a reggae rhythm and bring it down a little on the title track “Look Sharp” before embracing reggae entirely on “Fools in Love” — a song that again highlights the sardonic wit Jackson would become known for:
Fools in love they think they're heroes
Cause they get to feel more pain
I say fools in love are zeros
I should know
I should know because this fool's in love again
The cocaine-fueled fury of the albums closer “Got the Time” is a harbinger for what would become the “go-go” 80s.
Adhering to a basic punk tenant of simplicity and spontaneity, most of the songs on Look Sharp! were recorded in one take … with no overdubs. Jackson, under the watchful eye of producer David Kershenbaum, said that he wanted “a bit more live band sort of sound.”
Mission accomplished.
If there is any doubt about Jackson’s wit, one need only look at the album cover. While both the title and the image were firmly tongue-in-cheek, it was lost on many. British fashion and culture magazine The Face missed it entirely and referred to him as a “sartorial disaster area.”
Despite Jackson’s hatred of the cover, it would become a nominee for the Best Recording Package Grammy in 1980 and one of the most revered of the era.
CRITICS:
Bud Scoopa’s five-star review in Rolling Stone said: “The album’s “One More Time” and “Sunday Papers” were a welcome merger of edginess and ear candy, which connected immediately with fans who couldn’t abide the brutal fun of ‘God Save the Queen.’”
Robert Christgau in The Village Voice gave Look Sharp! a B rating but left this cryptic review: “In which an up-and-coming professional entertainer tricks up Britain’s latest rock and roll fashion with some fancy chords and gets real intense about the perils of romance. Well, better “Is She Really Going Out with Him?” than “Sunday Papers,” the social-criticism interlude, which inspires fond memories of ‘Pleasant Valley Sunday.’” [whatever dude]
Josh Jackson of Paste Magazine ranked Look Sharp! as the “17th best new wave album.”
Madeline Bocaro said: “Jackson’s sound reflects the early British Invasion, and its quick one-two punch is comparable to the first two albums by the Jam. However, Jackson’s material is not a rip-off in any way. It’s all fresh, slick and polished. His originality emerges in the rhythm changes and in the dominant syncopation throughout the album. Jackson’s lyrics are definitely a sign of the times.”
Joe Jackson may not have achieved the heights of critical success of his fellow new waver Elvis Costello, but I’m not convinced that was part of his plan.
This record oozes with a cross blend of genres like rock, punk, reggae, a touch of do-wop, and a wide berth of creative expression because three things Joe Jackson has in abundance are creativity, talent and conviction.
Looking back on his career, you hear the confidence oozing from Look Sharp! and it announces — loudly — that Joe Jackson is much more than a bratty new wave punk … he’s an artist.