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 enlarge | Artist: Nick Lowe
Label: Yep Roc Records
Category: Music
List Price: $16.98
Buy New: $9.99
You Save: $6.99 (41%)
New (39) Used (10) from $8.85
Rating:  30 reviews
Sales Rank: 7284
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.7 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 2620
UPC: 634457262027
EAN: 0634457262027
ASIN: B000YNFY1S
Release Date: February 19, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new, factory sealed. Fast shipping!
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 30
Pure Pop Bliss February 20, 2008
Stork (Atlanta, GA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Was working in a record store (remember those) in '78 when this came out.
Snagged a promo vinyl copy and wore it out. Have been waiting quite a while for it to be re-released. This is a great version. 21 songs plus a free download for 2 more inside. Since I was used to the track listing for Pure Pop for Now People and not Jesus of Cool (UK version), I burned it with the original track listing for PPFNP. The bonus tracks are nice, there are some real pop gems on here. Standouts are:
Music for Money
So It Goes
I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass
Heart of the City
They Called It Rock
No Reason
He's basically making fun of Bay City Roller fans on Rollers Show but it's still one of my favorites on here. So catchy you'll find it stuck in your head. If you like excellent pop music with stellar playing and sly wit you need look no further. This is a bonafide classic.
Good Pop Craftsman, But A Great Producer March 4, 2008
Mike B.
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
My infatuation with Nick Lowe's own recordings began and ended with this debut album. I still think this is pop/rock perfection, and would recommend it to anyone. But when his second album "Labour of Lust" paled by comparison, I found I quickly lost interest in him.
For me, the real Lowe legacy is the inspired work he elicited from others. He produced the first 3 Graham Parker albums: "Howlin' Wind", "Heat Treatment", and "Stick To Me" - which were all fantastic. After that he went on to produce the first 5 Elvis Costello records. Though Costello imitated Parker a little too much to suit me (especially in the early going) - there's no denying that they're classic albums.
Lowe continued to shine best on other people's records - most notably those of Dave Edmunds. Singing and playing with the backing band Rockpile on such exciting and fun albums as "Get It", "Tracks On Wax 4", and "Repeat When Necessary" must have been a blast for him. Edmunds was never shown to better effect. Regrettably, by the time Rockpile finally put out their own album ("Seconds of Pleasure"), the fizz had gone out of the band. The songs weren't up to par for such a great group, and it remains a lackluster effort. There's plenty of people who want to believe it's a classic, but don't listen to them!
After the demise of Rockpile, it seemed Lowe's time had passed. Though he continued to put out many records over the years, it's not unfair to say they largely escaped notice. That would change with "The Impossible Bird" in 1994. Subsequent releases have been more successful (well, sort of), culminating in the well-reviewed "At My Age" (2007). I haven't heard these "comeback" albums, but intend to get "At My Age" just to see what he's up to. Reviewers say he's re-invented himself as a weary balladeer with semi-country and r&b backing. Guess I'll just have to try it out.
Lowe's said "I don't like my older (smart-aleck) songs as much as others do." I guess he's in a mellower mood these days. Luckily, you don't have to be. Buy this CD and have a ton of fun!
Historic Heroic Hysterical March 8, 2008
Robert S. Estes (Santa Rosa, Ca)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
If one reads up on the other 5 star reviews of this perfect pop package, they all have the same glee and sense of discovery. I'd add that in 1978 when the US version was released, I was a DJ at the edge of cable/pirate broadcasting. Most played Springteen Supertramp Segar, the Ramones and good god almighty what was considered HIP at the time.
I liked the way Nick straddled the perfect '60's British pop on American thoroughbred Beach Boy's racehorse/car in a record 2 minutes 30 seconds.
This was NEW!EXCITING and so true. He produced Elvis Costello's first/best records, had a subversive
top 40 hit, "Cruel to be Kind", was a part of Rockpile with Dave Edmunds, married Johnny Cash's step daughter, and continued throughout the 80's 90's to explore and produce great music....
"Jesus of Cool" is now finally available in CD, in it's historical glory, all tracks beat and shiney like well worn tires that tear everyone else off the line.
Until his later solo records... " The Impossible Bird" ," The Deceiver", "At This Age" , when Nick Lowe has proven himself to be the best interpreter of modern saloon music, the best Frank Sinatra since..Frank.
His Career Died for Our Sins April 3, 2008
Otto Luck (Detroit)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Maybe it was the doomed marriage to Carlene Carter, who once famously spoke of putting the "c*** into country." Those eyes, lips, and legs are more than enough to ruin any man and leave behind a quivering, drooling, mouth-breathing, protoplasmic pile of space junk. The cover of "Musical Shapes" still makes my knees wobble.
One quick listen to any Nick Lowe album after, oh, "The Rose of England," and it's obvious that quality was no longer job one at Casa Lowe, the man formerly known as "Basher" more concerned with exposing his grey matter going up in flames, trying to live up to press accolades which had him hoodwinked into believing he was a serious singer/songwriter, and fleecing a loyal fan base with a series of dour, entirely forgettable albums like "Dig My Mood" and "The Convincer," than writing a really good song. You know, one with a pulse. See also Elvis Costello, Graham Parker, and Joe Jackson. [Fall all over yourself praising Costello from a mountaintop somewhere if you really must, but let's face it: the post-"Almost Blue" section of his resume isn't worth the plastic it's pressed on. Serves him right for ditching The Attractions. "Imperial Bedroom"? Feh. But I digress...]
Thirty years ago, however, Lowe didn't know any better, a snapshot in time exposing a pub fly content with crafting songs that twitched with the type of loose jangle and clever, warped wordplay the term "power pop" seemed invented for (if, uh, Pete Townshend hadn't used it to refer to "I Can't Explain" during an interview more than a decade earlier), lending a rough, ragged hand to the likes of Costello, The Damned, and The Pretenders as house producer at Stiff, and avoiding the curse of taking himself seriously.
Unfortunately, with "Jesus of Cool" and its mutant Stateside counterpart "Pure Pop for Now People," he set the bar incredibly high right out of the blocks, unwittingly dooming himself to failure when trying to match (let alone surpass) it on subsequent releases. "Labour of Lust" comes as close as anything in his catalog to repeating history, but falls just this (holds fingers about a half-inch apart) short.
As Lowe drolly observes in "I Love My Label," "They always ask for lots of songs of no more than 2:50 long, so I write `em some," and here Yep Roc rolls them out in waves, including all of the tracks from both versions of "Jesus of Cool" / "Pure Pop for Now People" and a raft of extras which actually put the "bone" into "bonus." The whole thing plays out like an opium dream you keep expecting to suddenly and cruelly end with a hard pinch. This album languishing out of print for all those long years while the entire worthless Pavement and Genesis back catalogs received the remaster/bonus track treatment was not only an insult, but simply not right.
"Jesus of Cool" crackles and pops courtesy of some of the finest musos available in Blighty at the time, names familiar to anyone who's ever squinted to read the liner notes on a plethora of Stiff releases, like various and sundry members of The Rumour, The Attractions, and the three guys who would eventually join Lowe in Rockpile (Billy Bremner, Dave Edmunds, and Terry Williams). Nearly every song here would slot comfortably onto the track list of any Lowe career retrospective imaginable, but "Marie Provost" may just be the best thing he's ever come up with and considering the roll he was on as the 70's slinked into the 80's with its tail between its legs, that's really saying something. By the time you realize you're singing along to the sordid saga of a silent film star who was found dead along with evidence she'd been gnawed on by her weiner dog, it's too late. You're toast.
It's nice to finally have "So It Goes" and "They Called It Rock," both of which pound and swirl with a combination of bombast and rockabilly shuffle, together in one place as well as two versions of "Heart of the City" - live and studio - the bass line of which caused an sudden and entirely unexpected stampede of women bum rushing the St. Andrew's Hall stage when Lowe played there way back when Jesus played fullback for Jerusalem. The production and scope of "Little Hitler" recalls Phil Spector, "36 Inches High" sounds like the onset of a nervous breakdown, and "Nutted by Reality" is actually two songs in one; a funky samba intro welded to a galloping, sugary Lowe hook.
Elsewhere, things get a little stranger, but the results are no less engaging. "Shake and Pop" is actually a slower, rhythmically-challenged pass at "They Called It Rock," "Shake That Rat" sounds like drunken, land-locked surf music, Lowe doing his best Hank Marvin impression on bass, and the original version of future smash "Cruel to Be Kind" is set to a disco beat and features a straight-faced spoken interlude where Lowe complains "You know what, baby? You're so cruel." But even with the benefit of three decades of contemplation, I still can't figure for the life of me if "Rollers Show" is heart-felt tribute or complete piss take.
The packaging here is top shelf as well; a glossy digipak that unfolds in four different directions to form a stained-glass cross upon which Lowe is crucified, still holding his trusty Fender Jazz, and a booklet packed with photos of Stiff and Radar memorabilia, album cover outtakes, and production notes. My only beef is the availability of two bonus tracks - "Truth Drug" and "Keep It Out of Sight" - via download only. Call me "self-serving," but I couldn't download a digital file if you put a gun to my head and believe me, I've tried. The downloading that is, not the gun. Hey Yep Roc: next time, why not just append them to the disc instead of using the offer to try to sell your back catalog?
At all time classic March 11, 2008
Dwayne Takeda (OC, CA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I prefer the American title "Pure Pop for Now People", and the original running order, especially opening with "So it Goes," however, this version of "Jesus of Cool" comes with bonus tracks! I already own most of those tracks on old import 45's, but it's great to get them digital. If you don't own this album, then you are officially not a "Now Person". Get it! (Dave Edmunds reference).
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