Nick Lowe C/D?

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.

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