Look Sharp!

Joe Jackson

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Original Release Date: April 1979
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: A&M
• ASIN: B000002GAL
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #75,131 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. One More Time

2. Sunday Papers

3. Is She Really Going out with Him?

4. Happy Loving Couples

5. Throw It Away

6. Baby Stick Around

7. Look Sharp!

8. Fools in Love

9. (Do The) Instant Mash

10. Pretty Girls

11. Got the Time

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Before Jackson decided he was an artiste and began experimenting with big-band swing and classical music, he was a snotty punk who looked at other people's relationships with a jaundiced eye. His 1979 debut contains several of his best-known hits--"Sunday Papers," "Is She Really Going Out with Him?" and "Fools in Love," plus under-recognized classics like "Baby Stick Around." The simple four-man rock & roll sound suits Jackson's young voice perfectly, and the songs have a pop snap that Jackson unfortunately abandoned as his career progressed. --Steve Knopper

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most purely perfect albums of all time., December 31, 1998

By A Customer

How often have you bought a CD only to find out that only 2 or 3 tracks were worth listening to? This is not one of those CDs. Joe Jackson has put out some enjoyable and even intriguing work since, but this, his 1979 debut, is still the best thing he's ever done. Every single song is a gem.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You Gotta Look Sharp!, March 18, 2005

By	Samhot (Star Land) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

It's easy for many -- especially music industry writers -- to dismiss Joe Jackson as a pop musician who possessed nothing more than delusions of grandeur, due to his forays into jazz and classical shortly after his first two smash albums. A pompous musician, or a true artist? Regardless of what side you're on, there's one thing you can't deny: Joe Jackson was/is one crafty, talented S.O.B., and I feel he's a force to be reckoned with.

_Look Sharp!_ is a smash album with ridiculously catchy tunes, infectious melodies, cynical and ambivalent lyrics, and snappy rhythms that'll be impossible *not* to bop your head to. There is literally not one boring, unlistenable tune to be found here: every track is jam-packed with energy, taste and charisma. While the lyrics are quite sarcastic (and hilarious in spots), the music is impossibly upbeat, and refrains from depressing wallowing: leave it to wisecracking Joe to turn something so self-deprecating and sarcastic into something peppy and upbeat -- it almost makes you wonder if Joe is celebrating his own dissatisfactions with love and life. Either way, infectiousness and intelligence are so rare to come by in one package. But Joe Jackson delivers big-time in this department. "One More Time" is a perfect example of how Joe makes something miserable sound so peppy and fun: listen to those ironic, almost masochistic lyrics. Yet the music is so driving, tasty and energetic. Of course, many already know "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" featuring those semi-hilarious, yet reflective lyrics, and the muted riff on the verses. "Throw It Away" is a fast-paced, energetic rocker, with Joe howling in certain parts of the track. The title track many may have heard as well: a snappy, tasty number exhibiting excellent musicianship. Listen to the sophisticated arrangement in the vocal harmonies during the closing parts of the chorus. "Fools In Love" is a reggae-rock number that pretty much speaks for itself, title-wise: the lyrics and Joe's vocal delivery crack me up hysterically. Hilarious stuff. And later, to close out the album, "Got The Time" is a fast-paced, energetic rocker in the style of "Throw It Away."

Want something ludicrously catchy and snappy? Want something subtly sarcastic and sneering, but at the same time, utterly reflective, moving and funny? Want some upbeat music good for cruising with your girlfriend, or otherwise? Pick this album up, along with _I'm The Man_. Both are essential Joe Jackson albums.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the great pop albums of all time., April 25, 2000

By	Scott M. Blish (Elmira, NY USA) - See all my reviews

Joe Jackson's "Look Sharp!" is one of the few albums in any genre of music that contains no weak tracks whatsoever. The consistency of excellence on this album never ceases to amaze me whenever I listen to it, and it's extremely unfortunate that there are more good songs on this album than on all the rest of the admittedly extremely talented Jackson's albums combined. And for my money, "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" was the top pop single of 1979, and "Look Sharp!", the song, wasn't far behind.

If you don't think that a pop album can be a start-to-finish masterpiece, listen to "Look Sharp!" and be very quickly disabused of that notion. I just wish that Jackson could have sustained this torrid pace through some of his other albums, but that would be a little much to ask of anybody.

Obviously the greatest album that Joe Jackson will ever make, and one of the 100 greatest albums in the history of pop and rock. Get it