Jesus of Cool

Untitled

Untitled

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]

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.

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.

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.

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

Personnel

• Nick Lowe – vocals, bass, guitars
• Billy Bremner – guitars
• Dave Edmunds – guitars
• John Turnbull - lead guitar on "Nutted by Reality"
• John McFee - guitar solo on "Tonight"
• Andrew Bodnar - bass
• Norman Watt-Roy - bass on "Nutted by Reality"
• Terry Williams – drums
• Steve Goulding - drums
• Pete Thomas - drums
• Charley Charles - drums on "Nutted by Reality"
• Bob Andrews - keyboards
• Steve Nieve - piano on "Nutted by Reality"
• Roger Bechirian - organ, backing vocals

Charts

Album

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

Related links

• "Marie Provost" guitar tabs and lyrics
• Marie Prevost