Nick Lowe: When early "disposable" music has more value than later "Art."

Like a lot of veteran artists, Nick Lowe is reissuing his back catalog of albums.  First up is JESUS OF COOL (originally released in the U.S. three decades ago as PURE POP FOR NOW PEOPLE with a slightly different tracklist than the UK version) on the veteran artist-friendly Yep Roc label out of North Carolina.

Here's a quote from Nick (found in the JESUS OF COOL reissue booklet):

"In those days I wasn't interested in creating serious art.  I was much more interested in the mischief," says Nick.  "I wanted to make music that was accessible, but just as you've hooked people in, you would screw it up and throw it across the room.  I do regret it somewhat, but time was of the essence and it had to be disposable."

Essentially, the "mischief" in Nick Lowe's career ended around 1989-90 with PARTY OF ONE, an album which (in my mind) was an ideal blend of the humor of old with a more mature, wised-up-by-heartache perspective.

But Lowe lost the plot (a UK expression I like) and subsequent albums like THE IMPOSSIBLE BIRD and THE PROCLAIMER became the aural equivalent of walking in the La Brea Tar Pits: one lugubrious crawling-tempo ballad  ("Look, now I can really SING!") after another with occasional wryness doled out as filler.  And, unfortunately, rock critics went into ecstasy over the grown-up Nick Lowe who put away Childish Things.

As a result, I've avoided last year's AT MY AGE, which--you guessed it--prompted more critical superlatives.

Perhaps Nick Lowe's career might be a good litmus test for discovering the cultural biases of any musicians or Literati you might meet in your lifetime. 

An icebreaking question could be:

Do you prefer the early "disposable" Nick (whose album titles include LABOUR OF LUST, NICK THE KNIFE and THE ABOMINABLE SHOWMAN) or the creator of Serious Art for the last decade-and-a-half?

The answer should be a good indication of whether or not you want to engage in prolonged conversation with that person.

 

Tags: Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds, Rockpile, SECONDS OF PLEASURE, JESUS OF COOL, PURE POP FOR NOW PEOPLE, LABOUR OF LUST, NICK THE KNIFE, THE ABOMINABLE SHOWMAN, PARTY OF ONE, THE IMPOSSIBLE BIRD, THE PROCLAIMER, AT MY AGE, Yep Roc Records