Jesus of Cool

Infobox Album
Name = Jesus of Cool
Type = Studio album
Artist = Nick Lowe


Released = March 1978
Recorded = 1976 - 1977
Genre = Rock, Power pop
Length = 33:17 (first CD reissue 40:08, 2008 reissue 62:51)
Label = Radar Records (UK) Demon Records (UK reissue) Proper Records (UK reissue) Yep Roc Records (US reissue)
Producer = Nick Lowe
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:d7xvad1ky8wo link]
*Pitchfork Media (9.3/10) [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/48755-jesus-of-cool link]
*Entertainment Weekly (A) [http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20179396,00.html link] |
Last album =
This album = "Jesus of Cool" (1978)
Next album = "Labour of Lust" (1979)
Misc = Extra album cover 2
Upper caption = Back cover
Type = Studio album


Lower caption = From the original Radar Records release Infobox Album
Name = Pure Pop for Now People
Type = Studio album
Artist = Nick Lowe


Released = 1978
Recorded = 1978
Genre = Rock
Length = 36:55
Label = Columbia (US)
Producer = Nick Lowe
Reviews = *Allmusic Rating|5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:7jd3vwbva9xk link]
*"Rolling Stone" (favorable) [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/nicklowe/albums/album/100843/review/5944462/pure_pop_for_now_people link] |
Last album =
This album = "Pure Pop For Now People" (1978)
Next album = "Labour of Lust" (1979)

"Jesus of Cool" is the solo debut album by British singer-songwriter Nick Lowe after leaving Brinsley Schwarz in 1974. Produced by Lowe, it was released in March 1978 by Radar Records in the UK. In the United States, the album was retitled "Pure Pop for Now People", with Columbia Records replacing "Shake and Pop" with "They Called It Rock" (a Rockpile version of the same song, which had been included as a single-sided bonus 45 in the Radar album), swapping the live version of "Heart Of The City" for the studio version that had been released as a single on Stiff Records (the other side of the single, "So It Goes", was included in both versions of the album), and adding "Rollers Show" from a pre-Stiff United Artists maxi-single. The songs are also in a different order than the UK version.

The album has been highly acclaimed by critics. The album was reissued in an expanded, deluxe edition by Proper Records (in the UK) and Yep Roc Records (in the US) in February 2008. [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/page/news/47456-nick-lowe-reissues-expands-ijesus-of-cooli]

Themes

"Jesus of Cool" has a number of tracks attacking the commercialism and greed of the record industry and the shallow content of pop music : "Music for Money", the fraternal twin songs "Shake and Pop", "They Called it Rock", and "Rollers Show"; the last being a parody of the teen audience of the Bay City Rollers. Although musically sophisticated in conventional genres, the album shares the energy, cynicism and rebelliousness of the contemporary New Wave movement.

Album cover

The original UK vinyl album cover for "Jesus of Cool" actually spelt out "Pure Pop for Now People" in the photos. "PURE" was small yellow print in the top left photo, "POP" was small red print in the top middle, "FOR" was small blue print in the top right, "NOW" was small blue print bottom left, "PEO" was small yellow print in the bottom middle and "PLE" was small red print in the bottom right.

Track Listing for "Jesus of Cool"

All songs written by Nick Lowe except where noted.
# "Music for Money" – 2:03
# "I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass" (Lowe, Andrew Bodnar, Steve Goulding) – 3:05
# "Little Hitler" (Lowe, Dave Edmunds) – 2:51
# "Shake and Pop" – 3:13
# "Tonight" – 3:45
# "So It Goes" – 2:23
# "No Reason" – 3:25
# "36 Inches High" (Jim Ford) – 2:50
# "Marie Provost" – 2:41
# "Nutted by Reality" – 2:46
# "Heart of the City" (Live) – 4:15
# "They Called It Rock" (Lowe, Rockpile, Dave Edmunds) - 3:10 (bonus single-sided 45, credited as Rockpile, not on original LP)

The track "Rollers Show," included on the U.S. issue of "Pure Pop for Now People", was added as a bonus track for the UK CD re-release of this album.

Track Listing for "Pure Pop for Now People"

# "So It Goes" – 2:23
# "I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass" (Lowe, Andrew Bodnar, Steve Goulding) – 3:05
# "Tonight" – 3:45
# "Marie Provost" – 2:41
# "Heart of the City" – 2:01
# "Rollers Show" – 3:31
# "They Called It Rock" (Lowe, Terry Williams, Billy Bremner, Edmunds) – 3:10
# "No Reason" – 3:25
# "Little Hitler" (Lowe, Dave Edmunds) – 2:51
# "Nutted by Reality" – 2:46
# "36 Inches High" (Jim Ford) – 2:50
# "Music for Money" – 2:09

Track Listing for "Jesus of Cool" [2008 deluxe edition]

All songs written by Nick Lowe except where noted.

The original album
# "Music for Money" – 2:03
# "I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass" (Lowe, Andrew Bodnar, Steve Goulding) – 3:05
# "Little Hitler" (Lowe, Dave Edmunds) – 2:51
# "Shake and Pop" – 3:13
# "Tonight" – 3:45
# "So It Goes" – 2:23
# "No Reason" – 3:25
# "36 Inches High" (Jim Ford) – 2:50
# "Marie Provost" – 2:41
# "Nutted by Reality" – 2:46
# "Heart of the City" (Live) – 4:15And more
# "Shake that rat" - 2:12
# "I love my label" (Lowe, Profile) - 3:00
# "They called it rock" (Lowe, Billy Bremner, Dave Edmunds, Terry Williams) - 3:13
# "Born a woman" (M. Sharp) - 2:27
# "Endless sleep" - 4:08
# "Halfway to paradise" (Gerry Goffin, Carole King) - 2:26
# "Rollers show" - 3:32
# "Cruel to be kind" (Lowe, Ian Gomm) (original Brinsley Schwarz version) - 2:52
# "Heart of the city" - 2:07
# "I don't want the night to end" 1:57

Personnel

*Nick Lowe – vocals, bass, guitars
*Billy Bremner – guitars
*Dave Edmunds – guitars
*John Turnbull - lead guitar on "Nutted by Reality"
*John McFee - guitar solo on "Tonight"
*Andrew Bodnar - bass
*Norman Watt-Roy - bass on "Nutted by Reality"
*Terry Williams – drums
*Steve Goulding - drums
*Pete Thomas - drums
*Charley Charles - drums on "Nutted by Reality"
*Bob Andrews - keyboards
*Steve Nieve - piano on "Nutted by Reality"
*Roger Bechirian - organ, backing vocals

The album cover when first released deliberately omitted any mention of the musicians involved. [ref sleeve notes for 2008 deluxe edition]

Charts

Album

Related links

* [http://www.e-tabs.org/tab/nick_lowe/marie_provost "Marie Provost" guitar tabs and lyrics]
*Marie Prevost