Look Sharp!

Wait there were late 70s early 80s UK New Wave albums that are actually fun and engaging but our original author didn’t include them in the 200-300 bad ones that were on the list? Weird!

Shame that Joe Jackson isn't anywhere on the list... This, I'm the Man and Night & Day are all well ahead of many the entries that made it. Great to see someone is paying appropriate tribute to Joe Jackson. Definitely in the punk/rock style & biting wit of Elvis Costello & Graham Parker. Strong from start to finish... with really good variety in tempo and style from Fools in Love to Got the Time.

a perfect power pop album!

A familiar (though for me kind of forgotten) album that in my opinion could have bumped several entries on the "official" list. Slight objections to a bit too much of a cynical bite to many of the lyrics, and for ending on a kind of subdued note. Still, great music, great singing, smart and funny lyrics.

Seeing this album on the list made me think that I was surprised that Night and Day wasn't on this list. This is a good album, but Night and Day is classic to me. Maybe someone else can add that one! (hint!). Is She Really Going out with Him has always been one of my favorite songs by Joe Jackson. Solid album. I'm a fan. 4/5

Rating: 7/10 Best songs: Is she really going out with him, Happy loving couples, Pretty girls, Got the time

I like this, the angry, instant Joe Jackson. You can tell he could end up a capital s Songwriter, but this has more immediacy, and takes itself less seriously.

Oh yes, this is great stuff. This is an album I was waiting for on the original list and it just never showed up. Glad to see it here. This is my favorite kind of pop music - smart, catchy, and more than a little prickly. A little uneven in quality, but still so much fun to listen to. Fave Songs: One More Time, Baby Stick Around, Sunday Papers, Is She Really Going Out with Him?, Got the Time, Look Sharp!

Joe Jackson is a too often forgotten artist today, this is funky stuff!

I love “Is She Really Going Out With Him?” and “Steppin’ Out” by Joe Jackson but really didn’t know much else of him. I’m glad to have listened to this album, and I liked it, but none of the songs quite reached the pinnacle of those two classics.

I was glad to hear some Joe Jackson here. This isn't something I would have liked back when (I think my college roommate had this album) but I like it now.

Classic album with pointy pop songs. Great diverse songs like "Is She Really Going Out With Him" (marvelous melody and bass), "Sunday Papers" (reggae), "Fools In Love" (reggae again) and "Got the time" (up-tempo as hell; the cover version by Anthrax is also fantastic).

Excellent! I know he had a couple of big hits, but I'm surprised Joe Jackson wasn't a bigger star. 4 stars.

Cover looks sharp and – more importantly – music sounds sharp. Tight, vintage new wave before JJ became relegated to poor man's Elvis Costello territory. "Is She Really Going Out with Him?" is a classic. "Sunday Papers" also strong, but every cut is polished, tight and – yes! – sharp. Definitely would be a good fit on official list.

Joe Jackson is an interesting and even intriguing figure, an obviously talented artist who performed in the overall rock / pop rock genre almost as much as he dabbled in lounge latin jazz and orchestral music. This Elvis Costello-adjacent debut has a fistful of (apparently) quite memorable "hits" in the "angry young man" style that surged at the same time as the late seventies punk explosion. The thing is, Jackson himself pointed out that the importance fans ascribed to this debut mostly came from their nostalgia. And browsing through his few later rock LPs, released from the late eighties / early nineties to the early noughts, it feels that some of those other albums might objectively be of the same overall quality indeed... In other words, I don't really know what to think about this one. Just like the early Costello albums, that I initially dismissed a little too quickly, maybe more songs on this record will grow on me. Or maybe they won't. Wait and see... As of now, it just feels like once the first three highlights opening the first side are in the rearview mirror, the rest of the album just tags along in the same vein going from uptempo rockabilly-inspired compositions to slower numbers, and this without offering any *real* surprise (bar one exception -- more on that very soon!). You even have the mandatory reggae cuts, so trendy to play after a couple of prominent artists nodded to the genre in the previous years. Yawn. ONE track on the second side goes against the grain, though. It's the short, loony and hectic-as-fuck "Got The Time", which could easily be included in Devo's repertoire without raising any eyebrows. Love what Jackson does with his vocals on this one, especially on the song's bridge. Many thanks to the reviewer who informed me that this song had been covered by Anthrax, of all people. This surely caught my attention. I was actually tempted to skip a couple of tracks as I was listening to the end of this album, and had I done so, I might have missed this gem. Just because of this review, I didn't, and I'm a wee bit wiser now for it. But can one single gem save an album's "half*? The jury's still out on this one. Even if the musicality throughout *Look Sharp!* remains top-notch, the rather mundane fashion in which the rest of the cuts follow one another ends up playing against this record as a whole statement. Costello's *This Year's Model* and *Armed Forces* have some of their best assets and tunes in their second halves, which always dynamize your experience of listening to whole albums. And apart from "Got The Time", I can't say that I'm sensing that in here. At least not yet. It's one thing to "look sharp" from the get-go. But you also need to have the goods where it counts as the night then moves on. 3.5/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums, rounded up to 4 8.5/10 for more general purposes (5 + 3.5) Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 14 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 22 (No way this album would have gone above a 3/5 mark, and therefore be placed in that category, without "Got The Time" adding to the first three songs. As of now, the chances of *Look Sharp!* joining my own list of keepers are very thin. But sometimes a grain of sand can trigger an avalanche...) Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 41

Sounds like an American version of Elvis Costello, but it turns out he's English too! A wonderful mix of punk energy, rock n roll instrumentation, and country influenced lyrics (in places). Lots of lovely little rhythmic quirks, including some great reggae influences and the Bo Diddley beat turning up (as it so often does!)

This was a fun 70s rock album. I liked that the production focused on getting a live sound by using a lot of first takes. It definitely adds a bit of that late 70s grit to the album that helps set it apart from some of the cleaner, more overwrought work being done in this period. This sounds like Elvis Costello at times, though I'm not sure in what direction that influence goes. The reggae influence is definitely here as well, and I tend to find that a very pleasant touch to add to rock from this era 4/5

Man with so much shitty new wave on the original list they couldn't have actually included a good one?? My personal rating: 4/5 My rating relative to the list: 4/5 Should this have been included on the original list? Yes. Replace one of the so many shitty new wave acts.

Would’ve enjoyed the 1001 more if all the Britpop albums were like this one - slickly produced, sharply executed, and with just enough tongue-in-cheek attitude to sell the whole package. The slower songs dragged a bit for my taste, but I’ll be returning to the uptempo ones for the great guitar parts and fun energy overall

1978 and this jam pops out you know this was the most played new wave album. Is she really going out with him is a classic. An anthem for all the short and skinny men out there. Overall this album is pretty good. The comparison to Costello is obvious but I enjoyed this more. Less quirky, more artistic instrumentally and much more palatable. 6.2/10

Some of the original list’s Costello budget should have gone to this, but it is also in the same family as Costello

Just a fantastic album. Love "got the time". Everyone knows that a breakup album sells and in the pantheon of breakup/unrequited love songs, "Is she really going out with him tonight" ranks right up with "Dance away" by Roxy Music as some of my favorites. But this album is so much more than just this.

What a breath of fresh air! And great proposal for the extended list. I very much enjoy the energy and clever songwriting.

This was good. Felt Elvis Costello inspired a little bit also had its own thing going that I’m too high to explain rn.

Just a reminder, this is NOT Michael Jackson's dad. Cover from Goldfinger: https://open.spotify.com/track/6pM8nIWQSQczmxBHcNJtao

Awesome.

Enjoyed that.

I did not know about Joe Jackson before this, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. A lot of Elvis Costello vibes to it and I wouldn’t have minded if one of his albums was subbed out for this one. Very cool!

Obvious replacement for any (or all?) of the Costello albums on the original list.

I recognised the one song. But otherwise never heard of this man Music was okay

Its main tracks are fortunate enough to be quite dynamic, and there are even a few that stand out. It's pure 70s rhythm that remains musically very competent today.

New wave, pub rock. Ni fu ni fa.

Lots of fun to be had here but I also don't feel instantly hooked on it the way many seem to be. I like "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" quite a bit. I always thought that was an Elvis Costello track? Wonder how I mixed that up.

Great album cover, pretty decent for something that is not usually my scene

Not too bad, just late 70s pub rock really. Bit of a punk/ska/reggae edge. Would never willingly listen to it, but it wasn't too bad. 3/5.

Ouch

It was ok, there was one iconic song. The rest was a bit above average

Not really my thing

Classic new wave album, should have been on the original list, surely room for this over one of the Elvis Costello albums.

I enjoyed! Didn’t think I would but it was a pleasant surprise. Like a more accessible Elvis Costello.

A foray into pseudo punk pop

The author(s) of the book probably followed the list using this site, and finally, they found album No. 1002. It was a nice listening session, but I finished it with the complete feeling that it's an album that should be on the original list, for the good and the bad.

A classic tune plus a bunch of soundalikes.

No idea what this is. *Opens reviews* "This reminds me of Elvis Cost-" *Immediately closes reviews* Suddenly the album generator starts feeling like clocking into your 9 to 5. It's not bad or anything, but I feel like I've already heard every single combination of notes a new wave song could possibly have after enduring the original list.