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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

Intervention Records Premium Reissue Features: 100% Analog Mastering From Real Analog Tapes! Mastered by Kevin Gray At Cohearent Audio. Dead Quiet 180-Gram Vinyl Pressed At RTI. Exquisitely Restored Cover Art Printed By Stoughton. Look Sharp! is sourced from the best tape currently available, a beautifully preserved ½” “safety copy” of the original stereo master. When mastering this LP we compared what we were getting off the tape to an original A&M UK LP. While great sounding overall, the original LP is of course a very edgy sounding New Wave, post-punk record with a brashness that borders on being outright bright sounding. Where the aggressive top -end energy is concerned, the tapes showed no discernible age! We were able to maintain that grungy edge, but also restore the driving bass lines and bottom-end foundation that were on these tapes. The result is the best-sounding Look Sharp! anyone's ever heard, with all the drive and pop of the original UK release, but with superb tonal balance, imaging and clarity. The definitive issue of this iconic New Wave classic!

Product details

Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 12.2 x 0.2 x 12.2 inches; 6.35 ounces
Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ Intervention Records
Date First Available ‏ : ‎ October 11, 2015
Label ‏ : ‎ Intervention Records
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B016GQXVE8
Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1

Best Sellers Rank: #48,369 in CDs & Vinyl (See Top 100 in CDs & Vinyl)
- #21,387 in Pop (CDs & Vinyl)
- #22,249 in Rock (CDs & Vinyl)

Customer Reviews:
4.7 387 ratings

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Rick the Ace

Amazing debut from Joe Jackson.

Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2022

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Joe Jackson's debut album. Killer. Great songs from end to end. Lyrics, music, performances. All great. Insightful, sometimes acerbic commentary on modern life with all its excitement and disappointments. Most heard is "Is she really going out with him?" If you liked that you should have this album. Don't stop there. Follow-up "I'm the Man" is more of the same. Must have both if you like rock, pop, jazz, new wave, whatever this is. It's Joe Jackson.

One person found this helpful

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Steven Sly

Joe Jackson - Great Debut Album

Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2008

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If ever there was such a thing as a rock n roll chameleon, Joe Jackson would be it. Over the years he has done albums that encompassed punk, new wave, pop, jazz, swing, album oriented rock, and even progressive rock. On this his first album Jackson burst on to the scene mainly appealing to the punk and new wave crowd, but unlike most artists of this ilk, Jackson could actually play the hell out a piano and wrote lyrics that were both biting and incredibly intelligent. Joe's debut would rocket him to stardom with the smash hit single "Is She Really Going Out With Him" and three other lesser hits "One More Time", "Sunday Papers" and "Got The Time". Joe's lyrics are cerebral, cynical and at time hilarious as he portrays the angst of a 20 something trying to fit in with the new wave 80's culture. The music is all solid with Jackson's original band featuring Gary Sanford, Graham Mabey, and Dave Houghton. "Look Sharp" is not Jackson's best album, but was a great debut for one of the more innovative artists to come out of the punk / new wave era.

3 people found this helpful

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Timothy D. Shoppa

Angry Young Man + Tight Band

Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2002

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I've played this album over and over again on vinyl and now have this new remastered CD. The sound on the CD is better, and the tight band of the original vinyl is still perfectly intact. It sounds like you're listening to a live set (all the energy you could expect out of any recording session) while the band is flawless; a combination that no other "angry young men" band of the late 70's could achieve. (OK, most of the other bands didn't play more than 3 chords, but that's a different matter.)
Not all the songs are "angry young man"-oriented, of course. The background of club music is very strong, especially in "Is she
really going out with him" and the almost doo-wop "Baby stick around", but these are executed with a vibrancy and excitement that you rarely see applied to pop-tunes. At the other end of the spectrum "Got the time" and "Throw it away" are pure frenzy that's also musical. I would give anything to go back in time and see the band do these live.
The two bonus tracks are obviously just "tacked on" to the end of this CD; they don't belong there but I won't hold them against the CD. Just program your CD player to not play them.

3 people found this helpful

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Robbob

Classic JJ

Reviewed in the United States on April 10, 2022

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Early JJ that's gets your feet tappin'.

One person found this helpful

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Garry from Atlanta

Great Sounding Vinyl

Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2019

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FYI, I bought this album after researching the quality of the new pressing and I will say that the articles I read are true. This is a great sounding album made from the original analog tapes. I never really knew much about Joe Jackson's music, but I really learned to like the songs as well. Hence this album has awesome songs with a very clear and distinct recording. I am very happy with this purchase. 5 Stars

2 people found this helpful

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Hondo

Sharp Songs

Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2018

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This is a long-time favorite album of mine. While everybody knows the hit "Is She Really Going Out with Him," I love so many of the other songs such as "Fools In Love" (with the lyric "Fools in love ... Is there any creature more pathetic?") and "Happy Loving Couples" and "Throw It Away" and the album title track. On "Look Sharp," Joe Jackson sounds sharp (in the best possible connotation).

One person found this helpful

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D. Doescher

A classic

Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2014

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He's never rested on his laurels. During his career, he's explored so many musical styles, and is always seeking new horizons. This first album broke him big. While Joe Jackson may have hopped on the "New Wave" bandwagon to exploit this style of music, this is an organic tour de force. Every song's a winner, and everything sounded (and still sounds) fresh. The secret weapon is the amazing band on this record. If you already own it, the remaster job makes it worth another purchase. If you don't know this album, get it. It's that good.

One person found this helpful

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anonymous1

Super Joe

Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2020

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If you can find a fresh copy buy it. If you find two, make a friend’s day. This was a breakthrough in its time and still kicks ass.

2 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Great Service!

Reviewed in Canada on January 25, 2024

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Absolutely thrilled with the service! Excellent delivery and the album is perfect. Was a gift and it was appreciated.

Francesco

Mi piace Joe Jackson

Reviewed in Italy on August 31, 2022

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Lo cercavo da molto tempo.

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Mandrek Larl

Unassuming near perfect post-punk power-pop packed with hopeless romantic witticisms ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 29, 2021

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I remember a colleague of mine, I'll call him Andy [because that was his name] coming into the office one morning in early 1979 and saying he'd met Joe Jackson the night before in a pub in Putney, and what a nice unassuming guy he was [Joe Jackson not Andy]. And with that memory in mind, this morning I'm listening to Jackson's excellent but initially overlooked debut album "Look Sharp!".

Falling somewhere between Elvis Costello and Graham Parker, Joe Jackson's "Look Sharp!" may only be eleven tracks long, but there's not a duffer amongst them. Opening with the crisp chugging partly-palm muted reggae chords of "One More Time" sets the format and direction from the first chord, this was the late '70's and everyone who was anyone was doing it reggae style back then. The second tack is another slice of appropriated reggae stuffed full of Jackson's dry humour as he sings of the lurid exclusive exposés to be found then [and still] in the "Sunday Papers". Next up with the opening "Pretty women out walking with gorillas down my street", one of the all-time best opening lines is, lead single "Is She Really Going Out with Him?", this sublime piece of three minute power-pop remains a daytime adult-oriented radio favourite and needs no introduction from me; and then the fourth track sees Jackson returning to the reggae format and continuing with his hopeless romantic wit as he sings of his dislike of "Happy Loving Couples".

The heavier and much punkier "Throw It Away" with its Jerry Lee style piano chords is a bit of a change of direction but is one of my favourites if for nothing more than Jackson and the bands sheer energy and gay-abandonment. Next "Baby Stick Around" was, like all the other tracks here penned by Jackson, but its throwbacks to '50s rockabilly could have you thinking it's a cover of some long lost pop nugget. Title track "Look Sharp!" has, from a distance of forty plus years, early hints of Jackson's later soulish sophisti-pop sound, it's Ok but possibly my least favourite track on the album [which is a bit odd given how much I like Jackson's sophisti-pop triumph "Night and Day"].

The wonderful "Fools in Love" with its huge dollops of cynicism follows, while not a single in the UK it's another that needs little introduction. Originally the B-side to "Is She Really Going Out with Him?" the upbeat dance number "(Do the) Instant Mash" isn't nearly as bad as the title might suggest and like many of the other tracks here if you listen closely to the lyrics it comes with lashings of sarcasm. Penultimate track "Pretty Girls" with its Graham Parker'y soul-sound has an infectious sing-along "down-do-be-do-do-wop-a-do-do-wop-a-do-do-wop" chorus line; and finally closer "Got the Time" is another with a great heads-down punky drive that I am informed by Wiki [other and sometimes more reliable information sources are available] has been covered by the thrash-metal band Anthrax, need I say anymore?

And that's it, eleven tracks of unassuming near perfect post-punk power-pop packed with Jackson's understated wry observations and hopeless romantic witticisms that are as apt today as they were forty years ago when Andy met Joe in a pub in Putney.

And as for the brilliantly simple cover you'll either love it or hate it, I know where I stand and the least said the better!

Client d'Amazon

JOE JACKSON LOOK SHARP

Reviewed in France on April 28, 2021

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Cet album musical est fabuleux ( ma jeunesse en est imprégné) et donc ce style musical fait partie de mes passions dans la musique populaire.Merci a vous.

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