Look Sharp! It's a February Blog-a-Thon!

Look sharp! You have wandered into the beginning of my February Blog-a-Thon! That’s right: at least one entry a day here in this ghost town of an online journal.

Time to shake things up around here.

First up: an appreciation of one of my favorite record albums, Joe Jackson’s Look Sharp!, which celebrated its 45th anniversary this week. Jackson’s stunning debut was released on January 29, 1979.

I cannot say when I first heard Look Sharp! In its entirety but I certainly became aware of Jackson’s single, “Is She Really Going Out with Him” as it climbed up to #21 on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart in the summer of ’79. More than most other times in my life, I was very plugged into pop radio stations that summer, so I’m not surprised that “Is She Really…” left an impression, though of course it would: it’s a damn good tune.

It took a while, but at some unremembered point, I hooked myself up with Look Sharp!, which more than fulfilled the promise of “Is She Really Going Out with Him?” That song remains a classic, but the whole album, bookended by two ferocious rockers, “One More Time” and “Got the Time”, is a stone-cold classic.

But enough of my yakkin’. For more on Look Sharp!, click here!

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