Nick Lowe C/D?

Hot take: "All Men Are Liar" is a bad song.

*Liars

I think it's a fun novelty song, but IIRC Lowe regrets the Rick Astley lyric. (I don't listen to his records, but I think Astley is supposed to be a genuinely nice guy - I'd leave him be.)

This is my favorite track off Party of One. The keepers have all been anthologized on Quiet Please - unless you want a deep dive into his catalog, you can probably skip it if you've already got that compilation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Biv8XSH8PSs

Mine is "Rocky Road," which he'd try to duplicate on his Serious Records later.

I kind of got off the bus after "cowboy outfit", I could see where it was going and it wasn't for me.

This is my favorite track off Party of One

It's pretty charming that Nick Lowe still brings travel wash on his tours so he can wash his own clothes.

"It costs a small fortune to have a pair of socks laundered in most of these hotels," chuckles Lowe (74) down the phone from New York.

That windfall from The Bodyguard was big, but I'm certain it went a LOT further thanks to his modest living.

Also, he was great last night and joined Elvis for the encore, appropriately "What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love & Understanding." When he talked about Elvis reaching out to him to open his tour, he jokingly translated that into "warm up the crowd as they come in and find their seats," but it was a very enthusiastic reaction to both him AND Los Straitjackets (who played two fast-paced instrumentals as well). Audience was equally enthusiastic when he came back and he clearly enjoyed being on stage for that number.

Elvis's show was one for the fans - a lot of deep cuts (including three from Hey Clockface) that were often substantially different thanks to the rare addition of a horn section. The highlights were mostly things like "The Comedians" (first time I ever heard him play a song from that album), "Poisoned Rose" (which seemed to sway like a gospel number), "Blood and Hot Sauce" (which was worthy of Randy Newman's Good Old Boys), and the Hey Clockface numbers, though an unplanned "(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea" was pretty great too. Strangely his voice was hit or miss where on certain numbers any issues he had in the previous number would miraculously disappear. This was most noticeable when he had to sing high notes - on some numbers his voice would crack and struggle, and on others he would completely nail it. Maybe he just needed some water (which he kept on stage)?

It's funny, the first time I saw Elvis was also at the Beacon back in 2011, and that was an amazing 'best of' show - two and a half hours long, there were a handful of surprise covers (Prince's "Purple Rain," the Beatles' "And Your Bird Can Sing," the Rolling Stones' "Out of Time," Rockpile/Nick Lowe's "Heart of the City" and since it was Dylan's birthday a solo acoustic "License to Kill") but it was mostly his own songs. Only two came after 1986 - "Veronica" and "I Lost You" (with surprise guest Jim Lauderdale). This time was very different.

That windfall from The Bodyguard was big, but I'm certain it went a LOT further thanks to his modest living.

I remember him saying in an interview circa Dig My Mood wherein he said he'd spent it all by buying some nice shirts, eating some extravagant meals, paying his band what they were worth, self-financing the recording of The Impossible Bird, and taxes.

In video clips I saw of a recent gig Nick Lowe slowed everything down including rockers like “I Knew the Bride.” It was ok but I wanted circa 79 energy

Yeah

I can’t find it at the moment but several years ago there was an article about him where he basically said he wasn’t into hard, fast rock n’ roll anymore and that it was a product of simply aging and maturing into a different phase of his life. To drive the point home, he’s at a show watching someone else and the act plays “I Know the Bride.” So I was actually surprised when he did those old songs when I saw him soon after, but he’s definitely settled into a mid tempo groove. Works great with “Without Love” and “When I Write the Book” though. Would love a Rockpile reunion but even if they wanted to, I don’t think it can happen due to age and health. Edmunds is definitely retired.

I can’t find it at the moment but several years ago there was an article about him where he basically said he wasn’t into hard, fast rock n’ roll anymore and that it was a product of simply aging and maturing into a different phase of his life. To drive the point home, he’s at a show watching someone else and the act plays “I Know the Bride.” So I was actually surprised when he did those old songs when I saw him soon after, but he’s definitely settled into a mid tempo groove. Works great with “Without Love” and “When I Write the Book” though. Would love a Rockpile reunion but even if they wanted to, I don’t think it can happen due to age and health. Edmunds is definitely retired.

Fun one from last week:

When you play a Nick Lowe song on the Fenway organ and then find out that Nick Lowe WAS AT THE GAME pic.twitter.com/ZxLGNCJs0B

— Josh Kantor (@jtkantor) July 7, 2023