Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Nick Lowe - Jesus Of Cool - 1978


On the cover of his solo debut album Jesus of Cool, Nick Lowe is pictured in six rock & roll get-ups — hippie, folkie, greasy rock & roller, new wave hipster — giving the not-so-subtle implication that this guy can do anything. Nick proves that assumption correct on Jesus of Cool, a record so good it was named twice, as Lowe's American record label got the jitters with Jesus and renamed it Pure Pop for Now People, shuffling the track listing (but not swapping songs) in the process. As it happens, both titles are accurate, but while the U.K. title sounds cooler, capturing Lowe's cheerfully blasphemous rock & roll swagger, Pure Pop describes the sound of the album, functioning as a sincere description of the music while conveying the wicked, knowing humor that drives it. This is pop about pop, a record filled with songs that tweak or spin conventions, or are about the industry. Only a writer with a long, hard battle with the biz in his past could write "Music for Money" and much of Jesus of Cool does feel like a long-delayed reaction to the disastrous American debut of Brinsley Schwarz, where the band's grand plans at kick-starting their career came crumbling down and pushed them into the pubs. Once there, the Brinsleys spearheaded the back-to-basics pub rock movement in England and as the years rolled on the band got loose, as did Lowe's writing, which got catchier and funnier on the group's last two albums, Nervous on the Road and New Favourites of Brinsley Schwarz. -AMG

If you like "Jesus of Cool" get it here!

4 comments:

Rinjo Njori! said...

This album is awesome. For years I overlooked "Rollers Show" and it slowly became my favorite tune of the bunch. Is this the reissue from this year?

Anonymous said...

Please, please, please...don't just DL this one. BUY IT!!!!!
Shake and pop!!!

Anonymous said...

Agreed. This one is worth buying...just make sure you buy the expanded reissue.

Anonymous said...

Met Nick in Cleveland after the Rockpile show in a downtown bar.

1. The Lyrics are sublime and would make Pink Floyd, Emenim, and others Wilt to their knees in appreciation.

2. Musically, Stupid-Great. Cramps cry, X attempted it.

Essential

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin