Kid yourself you're fighting for love

But maybe in some other lifetime

You won't fit

And if you don't fit

You're not fit for nothing at all.

The reggae tune and sarcastic lyrics combine to assault both the new punk wave he couldn't tackle and the power pop which threatened to box him in. Between the two, Jackson has staked out new musical territory to accompany his apocalyptic vision of English society. Even when his lyrics border on the ridiculous, he can still harness them in a deeper and more soulful voice. "Someone Up There" does not like him, belying the suggestive title. Jackson finds he cannot alter fate, nor find a rational explanation for his girl's departure. But instead of letting the cliched idea and danceable guitar riff carry the song to oblivion, Jackson--the producer (for the first time)--fades out the music and leaves his voice up front, wailing, "Oh no...oh no...oh no." With the same two words, he laments and attacks God's impassivity, and realizes his loss of love.

THE FIRST two albums made this one possible. A group could not start out this tight or knowledgeable, and the power pop background enabled the band to delve into the new syncopations and melodies. Jackson now tries to write off his days as a "Spiv" rocker, but they remain at the core of the layered sound and cynical vision he now emotes.

This album will either disorient or enlighten Jackson's old fans, and ought to attract some aesthetes who had dismissed him as a lightweight; he has grown as a poet and musician. The idols in his world are no longer the women he loses; nor are they the misfits or the blacks and whites battling for a nonexistent ideal. Instead, he praises the kids who have gone 'beat crazy'. By living in music, dressing as they please, and ignoring the world's attempts to involve them in World War III, they prove to be the only one pursuing attainable (if limited) goals. Thanks to Jackson's persistence in delineating his new Rock and Roll, we have a new view of the man, a new field in the realm of pop music, and a new realization of the harsh world around us.