JESUS OF COOL: 30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION - NICK LOWE
This album was going to change the world, its rocking power-pop and savagely smart lyrics saving a generation from the torpor of 1978’s one-hit disco flashes and smotheringly produced corporate rock. Things went wrong from the moment CBS Records changed the title to “Pure Pop for Now People” for its U.S. release. But Nick Lowe’s songs remain as brilliant as ever, full of fame-dooming industry inside jokes, from the rich chords of “Music for Money” to the sweet sarcasm of “I Love My Label” to the celebratory anticipation of concert night in “So It Goes.” His encyclopedic knowledge and warm embrace of every post-1950s musical style made the line “Someone in the newspaper said it was art” prophetic in “They Called It Rock.” But critics didn’t make the rules then any more than they do now; radio’s contempt for high-IQ craftsmanship also remains unchanged. Still, “Jesus of Cool” is great as ever. Plenty of bonus/alternate tracks, too.
