My Top 1000 Songs #634: I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

Look, pretty much every track on Nick Lowe's 1978 solo debut Jesus Of Cool (a.k.a. Pure Pop For Now People) is wonderful in its own way. "I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass" is actually, at first glance, arguably a lesser track, lacking some of the jubilant fun and playfulness of other highlights. But it just sounds amazing, right? You've got that Bo Diddley beat in the background, but it's overlaid with a mid-tempo semi-R&B pop track, aided throughout by some jaunty piano and studio effects and some of Lowe's showiest bass runs. The package creates a nifty vibe--part Motown, part New Wave, part jazz--that makes for an unexpectedly memorable tune that plays on in your head long after the fade.

Top Of The Pops 1978:

Frequent Lowe collaborators Los Straitjackets bring the surf:

Lovely Marti Jones cover:

Ok, this is not a cover, or related in any way whatsoever, but the Paranoid Style's "I Love The Sound Of Structured Class" gets bonus points for the title alone.