As all but the most tolerant, patient, and dedicated fans of Nick Lowe probably agree, shortly after Nick’s first two albums, the lone Rockpile album, and the breakup of the entire Rockpile working arrangement, the guy’s career hit a long stretch of mostly unsatisfying releases. Surely one of us is a greater fan of Nick the Knife or Party of One than the rest of us, and there’s probably even a Nick Lowe fan who regrets his breaking up His Cowboy Outfit, but let’s be honest, the guy lost his spark when he lost that Rockpile crew and from all accounts began changing as a person.
Lowe’s reemergence as an unabashedly adult artist following the release of 1994’s The Impossible Bird or 1998’s Dig My Mood, depending on when you began paying him any attention again, was a welcome and inspiring reemergence. I loved hearing this guy who’d always had a facility for classic pop traditions bear down and confront them head on. How many more mediocre to bad releases would it have taken to convince me that the guy could no longer turn pop conventions on their ear? The guy could have released 100 more albums in a “rocking” vein and never come up with another “I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass” or the exquisite “Cruel to Be Kind”. That’s cool, and what’s cooler is that he had the great sense to get out of the Jesus of Cool business and embrace the pop conventions that have always been at the core of his work.
In an interview with Terry Gross on Fresh Air around the time of one of these mature albums, Terry asked Nick if there was a song that he loved that might suprise his fans. (This is a great question that Gross has asked musical guests over the years, and it could be a good thread for us here at Rock Town Hall someday, so keep it in mind.) Lowe’s song was Tommy Edwards’ ballad “It’s All in the Game”. He picked up his acoustic guitar and played a few measures of the song. It made so much sense, especially with his new direction. Dig My Mood and the follow up, The Convincer, each contained a few songs in that style (along with strong hints of Nat King Cole and The Platters). When he wasn’t crooning on those fine albums he was doing the sort of country-soul identified with the songwriting and production of Spooner Oldham and Dan Penn. His whole “changed man”/”man who’s finally found love” lyrical stance comes through loud and clear on these recordings, and I find them moving despite the “coffee table rock” aspects of The Convincer, in particular.
That brings us to his new release, At My Age. The whole adult rock/changed man thing continues to be at the foundation of his work and his publicity campaign, and that’s all cool. The songs on this album are highly reminiscent of songs from his previous “mature” works, and as far as dedication to craft goes, this is somewhat cool. The arrangements and recordings are still display tremendous taste and understatement, which is very cool, but I’m not sure that I’m cool with the same batch of songs, the same lyrics, the same stance. If Lowe has dedicated golden years of his career to recrafting classic pre-Beatles pop, is he hitting the wall that halted the great works of Lieber and Stoller and associated artists, like The Drifters? Is there a reason that great stuff went by the wayside that has nothing to do with racial ceilings and moptops?
I know some of you would like me to shut up with the backstory and talk about some of the album’s finest tracks, like “Long Limbed Girl”, “Hope for Us All”, and “I Trained Her to Love Me”. That’s cool. You’re excited to hear a report on his breezy collaboration with former student and flame, Chrissie Hynde, on the breezy, insignificant “People Change”. That’s cool too. I’ll tell you what, how about listening to the songs sampled here and digging them for yourself, discussing them as you see fit? Just click on the song titles with the mp3 links.
If there’s any problem with this album it’s that Nick and I are aging at different rates. As much as I appreciate him setting a dignified pace for rockers in their 50s – and believe me, this is a solid, enjoyable album and heads and shoulders above cynical “golden years” crap like that series of Rod Stewart Trashes the American Masters releases – I’m not ready to slow down that much yet. I want to hear Nick lash out at just one classic pop convention now and then. I know he’s a changed man. I know he’s finally found love, but he finally found that love 10 years ago. It’s time I hear about something slightly new, pitched somewhere slightly new. We can work through this together, I’m sure, Nick. If all works out, I’ll be your age one day too, and I’d rather feel what you’re feeling than whatever it is crotchety old Bob Dylan‘s feeling on his recent releases. Maybe Bob is still putting up a fight, but I wish he’d include a tune along the way, just as I’d like to hear Nick kick back the slightest bit. That’s cool, isn’t it?
I’m waiting any second now for Oats to profess his love for Party of One (which is pretty close to a full-fledged Rockpile reunion) and for Big Steve to defend the earlier ’80s stuff like the Cowboy Outfit record.
Personally, though, I’m mostly in agreement with you Mr. Mod. None of his ’80s records (and I have all of them) are anywhere near as satisfying, to my ears anyway, as say Jesus of Cool and Labour of Lust. I even think that Rockpile album Seconds of Pleasure is a bit weak if you want my honest opinion.
Anyway I think the ’80s records had their moments and weren’t bad by any means, but I like his last 4 albums much more.
I feel like in many ways the ’80s were transitional years for him. He wanted to get away from the clever/new wave thing and adapted a country-ish voice and a more “rootsy” sound, but still felt like he had to prove that he could rock out. Thus, he wasn’t able to figure out how to do it until The Impossible Bird. Of course, much of this can be attributed to label pressure on him to have hits whereas in the ’90s and beyond, he’s done EXACTLY what he wanted to and in turn he’s almost created his own genre (music for adults) or at least contributed a worthwhile canon to it (I would also place artists like The Trashcan Sinatras, Roddy Frame and maybe even those later-day Johnny Cash albums very much in the “music for adults that doesn’t suck” category). Who knows how soon we would’ve heard this newer version of Nick had he gotten the million dollar check for The Bodyguard a few years earlier. Then again, he was also in bad personal shape in the ’80s due to alcoholism and a failed marriage. Perhaps he just needed the time off.
What I’ve never been able to figure out, though, is why The Impossible Bird seems to be the most well-liked of his later albums. For me, The Convincer is the jewel of his later catalog despite its “coffee table rock” trappings, as you note. Regardless, I view this one as another really good album though like you said, very similar to his previous 3 albums. Then again, I think consistency is an often-overlooked and underappreciated virtue in rock and roll. Perhaps I’ll do a post about that one day.
Thanks for the samples – they’re great. Love his voice. He has found his style it seems. There was an good interview with him on the AV Club too.
Great photo of him over there…
Would love to sit down to dinner with him…and Robyn Hitchcock too…the old grey haired masters. Now there there’s an idea for a thread!
I’m with the crowd that finds The Impossible Bird the best of the trilogy that’s now just gone “plus one.” The tunes aren’t more catchy or less catchy, but I find them more consistently believable. On both of the other two (Convincer is much better than Dig, I’d say), some songs strike me as more contradictory, or even vaguely a con. And I’d say Dig is the least melodically engaging.
Unless I’m missing something, the protagonist in I Trained Her To Love Me is a misogynistic asshole. A song like that hardly represents the mellow, settled geezer you’re setting up to knock down in this review.
BigSteve wrote:
Is this what I’m doing here? I don’t think so.
I happen to really love this new album. I think he throws in plenty of lyrical curve balls, like the one BigSteve mentions, and gives the whole album his distinct stamp — it’s not a genre exercise at all. I really appreciate singers who can do this kind of stuff effortlessly and still hold onto their distinct personality.
My opinion may change, but I think that it doesn’t have high-points like “The Beast in Me” or “Shelley My Love” on The Impossible Bird, but it’s a more overall satisfying listen than that album. I never heard Dig My Mood and I sold back The Convincer within a month of its release.
Does this boil down to Mr. Mod wanting to hear Nick do pub-rock again? I don’t know if that would work; judging from interviews he just doesn’t have it in him anymore. It would probably just sound forced.
BTW, judging from some YouTube clips I’ve seen, Rockpile had a shit-hot live sound, but, man they had NO mach schau, no stage presence. Now I understand why they’re not as fondly remembered as Elvis Costello and the Attractions, X, The Pretenders, even if Lowe is as great a songwriter as the ones in those bands.
And yes, I do love Party of One. “What’s Shakin’ on the Hill” is one of my favorite songs of ever.
Oats asks:
No, not at all! In fact, I give him mad props for abandoning the stuff he can no longer do. The point of this review was to say that he’s “out-aged” me again, not in a bad way, just a way that I regret a little bit. Did you ever have a friend in school or sibling who was your friend who was a couple years older, who’d move up to high school when you were still in 7th grade, who’d go away to college when you were in 11th grade? Every few years you’d lose a bit of touch with this person, as you had to play “catch up,” find out what new things he or she had been getting up to. And just when you catch up, that friend or especially close sibling/relative goes and moves onto something new.
For a couple of releases, I was able to tail behind my “older friend” Nick and feel a kinship with him. Now, I’m not sure if he’s merely repeating himself one too many times for my LOVING the album (as opposed to liking it) or whether he’s moving up to that next stage in life that I’m still too young to grasp.
Maybe I just don’t LOVE the album yet (or ever), but in no way do I want him to regroup His Cowboy Outfit. I feel like he’s getting a little too comfortable with this new phase for my comfort, like he’s off and married and I’m still running around with my friends partying.
I thought I remembered the song he picked to perform on Fresh Air was Tommy Edwards “It’s All In the Game”. The interview took place in January of ’95 and was also released as a promo CD through the Upstart label.
I love the fact that chrissie co-wrote and sang on a song called “people change” considering people have never allowed her to grow beyond her first 2 recordings. Who really cares if these folks don’t “rock out” like they once did. They are still class acts and that is more than can be said for the majority of aging musicians. I find it hilarious when fans don’t like the direction that their idols go…well go to Pitchforkmedia or Stylus and latch on to someone new cause rock and roll is very vital now……
Yes, “It’s All in the Game” was the song! Thanks. I’ll correct that now.
Mark429 – welcome aboard! As I said earlier in the comments, I’m trying to get at something a lot more subtle than “Jeez, Nick no longer rocks out, maaaaannnn!” I’ve tried to be clear in acknowledging that I like this album and that I admire all the class and craft that went into its making. If I wanted to go elsewhere and latch onto “someone new,” I wouldn’t take the time to try to discuss what I feel is a valid issue with trying to keep up with aging artists we love now and then. Think about what I’m really saying and let me know if this makes any more sense to you. There’s probably more we can discuss. Let’s do it.
Well, you know, Mr mod. That’s Cool
I really liked Rockpile. I think that’s a great album. And as much as I can respect Nick Lowe, he’s always been more ready than me to be an adult about this whole damned thing. There’s no denying the man can write songs that are catchy and memorable, but there’s something about his execution I don’t like.
On Hope For Us All I hear the intentional shades of Al Green, but Nick’s voice isn’t strong enough to convince me. I’d like to hear the horns pop more. I loved the minsogynistic I Trained Her to Love Me lyrically (I love women, one in particular, but I’m a man and that’s the way I like to pout and be bitter and escape for a bit and wallow), but misogyny is better when it’s got some force behind it. If you’re gonna be a pig, then don’t be sneaky about it.
I’m not a big fan of “adult rock.” Being an adult is like a 24/7 deal around here. I need a break once in awhile. Actually, it appears I need a break a lot, but I don’t see me and Nick taking those breaks together outside of Rockpile. Which is cool. One great album is more than most people can claim, and one day I’ll probably find some cool three cd career retrospective on Sundazed or something and I’ll be good with that.
Nick is one of my all-time faves, and as much as I love the old LPs and pop singles, I also love the “adult” records he now makes.
I don’t know if this makes sense the way I wish it would, but he just sounds like a guy who is completely and utterly comfortable in his own skin.
I admire that.
I’ve listened to the CD a couple of time through on Rhapsody. A couple of good songs but otherwise its a snoozer.
Deep lyrics just don’t do it for me. Especially from Nick – the man who used to make numerous penis references. Something about the sound is just too tame for me. Like how the horns are mixed for example.
Give me Labour of Lust anyday.
Labour of Love: Switchboard Susan “When I’m with you girl, I get an extension.” Love So Fine “She’s got a pair of tits that just won’t quit.” THAT’S the real Adult album.
Sorry for the pince nez that I’m about to drop, but “Switchboard Susan” was actually written by Mickey Jupp, not Nick. With that said, I love that line and the one quoted in “Love So Fine” as well. Labour of Lust has always been my favorite album of his.