Product Description

2008 marks the 30th anniversary of Nick Lowe's seminal 1978 album Jesus of Cool. The album, released in the U.S. as Pure Pop for Now People, marks the beginning of one of the most storied and influential solo careers in pop music and marks the true emergence of a songwriting monolith. The album is a literal compendium of 25 years of pop music history. Here, the sweet melodies of pre-Beatles pop, the energy of the British Invasion, the excess of glam and elements of ska and new wave don t blend but stand side by side on the field of battle, each one willing to lay down his life for the other. Jesus is the crossroads where pop music and pop culture collide, self-aware for the first time, fusing into a white hot chunk of rock n roll energy.
Here, on this 30th anniversary edition of the album, the original and U.S. versions of the album are combined to include all material ever available on either release. In addition, seven bonus cuts are included making this the definitive version of this undisputed pop masterpiece.

Track Listing

1. Music For Money
2. I Love the Sound Of Breaking Glass
3. Little Hitler
4. Shake And Pop
5. Tonight
6. So It Goes
7. No Reason
8. 36 Inches
9. Marie Provost
10. Nutted By Reality
11. Heart Of the City (Live)
12. Shake That Rat
13. I Love My Label
14. They Called It Rock
15. Born A Woman
16. Endless Sleep
17. Halfway To Paradise
18. Rollers Show
19. Cruel To Be Kind
20. Heart Of the City
21. I Don't Want the Night To End

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6099 in Music
• Released on: 2008-02-19
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
If you have a dog-eared copy of Nick Lowe’s Pure Pop for Now People, here is your chance to revitalize. That 1978 record, an ingenious and melodic pop gem, is really the Americanized version of Jesus of Cool, Lowe’s European debut, released the year after his departure from pub-rockers Brinsley Schwarz. This 30th-anniversary edition combines the original Jesus, extra songs that appeared on Pure Pop, and seven bonus tracks (including the original version of Lowe’s most successful single, "Cruel to Be Kind"). The collection is without an Achilles heel, from "I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass," with its Bo Diddley riff, on through Lowe’s experimentation with pre-Beatles pop ("Little Hitler"), glam rock ("So It Goes"), new-wave rock ("Shake and Pop"), and even disco ("Nutted by Reality," a jocular salute to Fidel Castro). The morbidly funny "Marie Provost," a power-pop tale of the tragic silent-film actress, ranks with the best in Lowe's stash and serves as the anchor for the record, which features guest players Dave Edmunds, Billy Bremner, and the Attractions. --Scott Holter

Review
For his first solo album, Nick Lowe completely abandoned the rootsy underpinnings of his work with Brinsley Schwarz and refashioned himself as a pop craftsman -- or, as the original British title put it, the Jesus of Cool. Lowe tries anything and everything on the record, from the sweet pop of 'Tonight' to the blinding rock of 'Heart of the City.' It's a veritable tour de force of his songwriting talent, as well as his wit. Not only does he turn in a set of wildly eclectic pop songs, he writes lyrics that slyly and gleefully subvert and pervert rock & roll tradition. Pure Pop for Now People sounds like '60s pop from an alternate universe, where hit singles are about actresses who are eaten by their pet dogs, castrating Castro, and grown men who write odes to teen idols. He also writes about the sleaziness of the music business itself with unrestrained joy. If Lowe's sense of humor wasn't so sharp and his melodies weren't so catchy, the amalgam of pop music and pop culture wouldn't have been so successful. However, he not only can write pop songs, he knows how to record them -- each song sounds like an individual single, and the cheap production means that the album sounds like it's coming out of tinny radio speakers. And that also means that it doesn't matter what sequence these songs are put in -- the album is like a jukebox, where different musical styles can follow each other and all make perfect sense.


Five Stars (highest rating): Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide --All Music Guide

Customer Reviews

Nick's Best Release
This album rocks from cover to cover. I think it is Nick's best release. I was disappointed to find out that Norman Watt Roy of the Blockheads did most of the bass work, but I love him too. Nick grabs every hook in the book, and puts his own signature on them. It took me awhile to realize it, but "36 Inches High", with its quircky organ riff is priceless. This release includes a lot of nuggets that were only available on other releases previously, so I would recommend it over the US release, called "Pure Pop for Now People". Cool cover with a montage of Nick as various different rockers as well.

Nick Lowe is the greatest
When I first heard So it Goes on the Bay Area's KSAN, I was hooked. I had my sister visiting London, get me the single and the LP. Nick Lowe rules.

Great clever fun
I bought this to replace a cassette that I had made from the original vinyl LP and from vinyl 45s. Often collections of this type have a lot of filler that would best be left off. Not so here. If anything, I wish they had added one or two more B-sides from that period. This is great album packaged up to make a great collection. The result is a very enjoyable listen.