Nick Lowe C/D?

Many of the songs on Pure Pop/Jesus of Cool are take away from other songs. "Music for Money" is a rip of 10cc's "Art For Art's Sake". "So it Goes" takes the verses from Steely Dan's "Reelin' in the Years". "Nutted by Reality" is very similar to "I Want You Back" (at least, the bass line is). There are a few more examples mentioned upthread. I think this was kind of the point of the album and I can't deny how great it turned out. His later releases are kind of naff. Nick the Knife is great. Abominable Showman has some good songs...all the other albums up to Party of One are baaaarf

"No Reason" had bit(s) from "All along the watchtower"

Labour of Lust to be released in deluxe fashion by Yep Roc Records on March 15.

"Nutted by Reality" is very similar to "I Want You Back" (at least, the bass line is).

Damn stingy extras on the LoL reissue. Just the one b-side? Pfft!

"Endless Gray Ribbon"? "Basing Street"?

Yeah, and they've called it a "deluxe" edition!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0l3QWUXVho

How is the box set? Is there anything critical missing?

Going to see him again tonight. Anyone know who's been opening for him on this tour? Hope he plays this one — my fav.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUHWh810L0M

Never mind. Looks like it will be Kim Richey. Was hoping for Bill Kirchen like last time. He was awesome.

He did play "Half a Boy and Half a Man" last night and didn't even bother dedicating it to the POTUS.

I know he's past 70 but the tempos were a little slow for my taste, even w/ Los Straitjackets.

I was hoping that he and/or the band would cut loose on "I Knew the Bride" but I didn't mind the stateliness overall.

Love stately Nick Lowe. Perfect songs.

mea culpa, he aint 70 yet

Yeah, he's just been grey/white headed for 30+ years.

Think the last time I saw him was a decade ago at The Supper Club

It was the tour with Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham opening, so make that two decades. Time wounds all heels.

Dud.

Pub-rock cobblers.

Weird comment.

Anyway, nice new interview here:

http://variety.com/2017/music/news/nick-lowe-talks-peace-love-and-understanding-johnny-cash-1202481424/

I was hoping that he and/or the band would cut loose on "I Knew the Bride" but I didn't mind the stateliness overall.

― Elvis Telecom, Sunday, August 6, 2017

A friend who saw him a few years back grumbled that he didn't rock out at all. I guess he's moved on from that.

He's been moved on from that for decades now.

Hasn't cut loose on "I Knew The Bride" since about 1978 sadly.

At least he didn't go the route of making alt-country children's music, like some.

Really want to read the Will Birch bio.

Last time he cut loose on stage was probably when he was alongside Elvis Costello.

Happy Birthday!

love

A low-key favorite:

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

I actually just found a good $3 copy of Nick the Knife. forgot how good that record is...the dodgy stuff comes after. idk when is a good time to get back on the bus though. I've heard "Impossible Bird" but I don't remember a thing about it.

but yeah - "Raining Raining" on Nick the Knife is such a great tune. its something McCartney could've wrote

"The Convincer" wouldn't be a bad place to test the waters IMO, it's appropriately named.

I drove through Indian Queens lately, it's in Cornwall and really not very attractive.

Nick the Knife was weird. Believe it came shortly after Rockpile broke up iirc, so there was a little bit of a letdown and loss of momentum, but yeah, probably not that bad in retrospect.

Ahh nice I think I actually spotted The Convincer in the used section, if it's still there I'll pick it up

kinda dig a (semi) famous musician letting his hair go white like that. I feel like I'm headed in that same direction by the time I'm that age.

Nick the Knife is all over the place but song for song it's pretty strong. IMO it's got more memorable tunes than the next 4 or 5 albums combined. he's such a cornball lyrically though

OTM. Seems like he got less and less interesting until the "comeback" of Party of One.

I take it back, sort of. Really, really like Nick Lowe and His Cowboy Outfit.

xxxp Not bad, it's got some highlights like a good version of "Heart" (not better than Rockpile's but for a stripped down solo recording, it's very good) and "Stick It Where the Sun Don't Shine" is a great rip-off of the "Green River" guitar riff.

Rose of England is a favorite, and hilariously the one track I never liked (the inferior re-make of "I Knew the Bride") convinced the label to put it out. IIRC they rejected the album for having no hit singles, then Huey Lewis (a good guy even if his records aren't) got the idea of producing "I Knew the Bride" and sticking it on there, believing it will sell the album. Lowe was deeply skeptical, especially since the song was about seven years old at that point, but Lewis said something like "who plays it though? Great record but not a lot of people know it, so let's do it." And he was right!

I like it more than Party of One, but both are pretty good albums. Impossible Bird is probably his best once since Jesus of Cool and Labour of Lust - I always got the impression it was the first one in a long time (maybe ever) where he seriously didn't care about making $ and just did something he'd enjoy without any commercial considerations, thanks to that Bodyguard money.

I bought Party of One as a boomer-friendly teen in 1990 and...didn't get it. Still don't. The Dave Edmunds mix improves on Lowe's increasingly muddled self-production.

I'm a fan of Nick the Knife! His last consistently funny album.

btw I checked: "I Knew the Bride" (1985) earned honest-to-goodness heavy rotation on MTV in the fall of '85.

One of the things that helped the '85 "I Knew..." is that it sounded exactly like a new Huey Lewis track with Lowe singing, and audiences were hungry between Sports and Fore!.

Exactly

xp Hungry in '85? Shit man, wasn't Back to the Future enough??? They even had a track on We Are the World to kick off the year!

Huey Lewis. Back to the Future. We Are the World. That's like a trifecta or eightiesness.

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.