Look Sharp!
Studio album by Joe Jackson
Released 5 January 1979 (1979-01-05) (UK)
April 1979 (1979-04) (U.S.)
Recorded 1978, Eden Studios, London, England
Genre New wave, punk, ska
Length 36:28
42:55 (2001 reissue)
Label A&M Records, AMLH 64743
A&M/PolyGram Records 214 743
A&M/Universal Records 586 194 (2001 reissue)
Producer David Kershenbaum
Professional reviews
* Allmusic 5/5 stars link
* Robert Christgau (B) link
* Rolling Stone 5/5 stars link
Look Sharp! is the debut album by Joe Jackson, released in 1979. Look Sharp! was re-released in 2001 with two bonus tracks, "Don't Ask Me" and "You Got the Fever" the respective b-sides of the singles "One More Time" and "Is She Really Going Out with Him?" originally released in May and July 1979. In addition to the standard 12-inch vinyl release, the record was also released in a special package on two 10-inch discs that also included a Look Sharp! badge. The cover is number 22 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest album covers of all time.
A brilliant, accomplished debut, Look Sharp! established Joe Jackson as part of that camp of angry, intelligent young new wavers (i.e., Elvis Costello, Graham Parker) who approached pop music with the sardonic attitude and tense, aggressive energy of punk. Not as indebted to pub rock as Parker and Costello, and much more lyrically straightforward than the latter, Jackson delivers a set of bristling, insanely catchy pop songs that seethe with energy and frustration. Several deal with the lack of thoughtful reflection in everyday life ("Sunday Papers," "Got the Time"), but many more concern the injuries and follies of romance. In the caustic yet charming witticisms of songs like the hit "Is She Really Going Out With Him?," "Happy Loving Couples," "Fools in Love," and "Pretty Girls," Jackson presents himself on the one hand as a man of integrity seeking genuine depth in love (and elsewhere), but leavens his stance with a wry, self-effacing humor, revealing his own vulnerability to loneliness and to purely physical attraction. Look Sharp! is the sound of a young man searching for substance in a superficial world -- and it also happens to rock like hell.
This 2008 vinyl reissue contains two additional bonus tracks not included on the original 1979 release.
Track listing
All songs written by Joe Jackson.
1. "One More Time" – 3:15
2. "Sunday Papers" – 4:22
3. "Is She Really Going Out with Him?" – 3:33
4. "Happy Loving Couples" – 3:08
5. "Throw it Away" – 2:49
6. "Baby Stick Around" – 2:36
7. "Pretty Girls" – 2:55
8. "Look Sharp!" – 3:23
9. "(Do the) Instant Mash" – 3:12
10. "Don't Ask Me" – 2:43 (Bonus Track)
11. "Fools in Love" – 4:23
12. "Got the Time" – 2:55
13. "You Got the Fever" – 3:37 (Bonus Track)
Personnel
* Joe Jackson – vocals, piano, harmonica
* Gary Sanford – guitar
* Graham Maby – bass
* David Houghton – drums
The Shoes
Joe Jackson's Denson shoes are the cover models for this album.
Covers
American thrash metal band Anthrax covered "Got the Time" on their 1990 album Persistence of Time.
American punk band Guttermouth covered "Happy Loving Couples" on the 1997 new wave tribute album Before You Were Punk.