Jesus of Cool

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Jesus of Cool
Jesus of Cool cover
Studio album by Nick Lowe
Released 1978
Recorded 1978
Genre Rock, Power Pop
Length 33:17 (CD reissue 40:08)
Label Radar Records (UK)
Demon Records (UK reissue)
Yep Roc Records(reissue)
Producer Nick Lowe
Professional reviews
Nick Lowe chronology
Jesus of Cool
(1978)		 Labour of Lust
(1979)
Back cover
From the original Radar Records release
From the original Radar Records release
Pure Pop for Now People
Pure Pop for Now People cover
Studio album by Nick Lowe
Released 1978
Recorded 1978
Genre Rock
Length 36:55
Label Columbia (US)
Producer Nick Lowe
Professional reviews
Nick Lowe chronology
Pure Pop For Now People
(1978)		 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 Yep Roc records in February 2008.[1]

Contents

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Track Listing for Jesus of Cool

All songs written by Nick Lowe except where noted.

  1. "Music for Money" – 2:03
  2. "I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass" (Lowe, Andrew Bodnar, Steve Goulding) – 3:05
  3. "Little Hitler" (Lowe, Dave Edmunds) – 2:51
  4. "Shake and Pop" – 3:13
  5. "Tonight" – 3:45
  6. "So It Goes" – 2:23
  7. "No Reason" – 3:25
  8. "36 Inches High" (Jim Ford) – 2:50
  9. "Marie Provost" – 2:41
  10. "Nutted by Reality" – 2:46
  11. "Heart of the City" (Live) – 4:15
  12. "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.

[edit] Track Listing for Pure Pop for Now People

  1. "So It Goes" – 2:23
  2. "I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass" (Lowe, Andrew Bodnar, Steve Goulding) – 3:05
  3. "Tonight" – 3:45
  4. "Marie Provost" – 2:41
  5. "Heart of the City" – 2:01
  6. "Rollers Show" – 3:31
  7. "They Called It Rock" (Lowe, Terry Williams, Billy Bremner, Edmunds) – 3:10
  8. "No Reason" – 3:25
  9. "Little Hitler" (Lowe, Dave Edmunds) – 2:51
  10. "Nutted by Reality" – 2:46
  11. "36 Inches High" (Jim Ford) – 2:50
  12. "Music for Money" – 2:09

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Charts

Album

Year Chart Position (UK) Position (US)
1978 Pop Albums 22 127

[edit] Related links