Nick Lowe and his Labour of Lust: the Coolest Guy Alive?

As mentioned last post, Nick Lowe is one of those rare breed of rock 'n' roll guys who are growing old with some dignity. Although he wrote some of the best songs of the last 35 years or so, he doesn't write quite as much as he used to, sometimes preferring to interpret other's work. Maybe if you can afford to not worry too much about the extra bit of income from your own songwriting, if you can tame your ego, you can escape looking desperate in search of a hit. Lowe's not hitting the iTunes best-sellers on a regular basis, but he's carved out his own niche, and he's already made his pop/rock hits. From his last album, At My Age, here's I trained Her to Love Me.



One more from the last album, both of these tracks exemplify the mellow turn Lowe's recent work has taken. Lowe's label Yep Roc uses descriptive turns of phrase such as "croon", "soul-soaked country pop", and "refined", and I'd say they're spot on.

Nick Lowe"people changes" by musicarea

One of my favourite albums of all time, Lowe's Labour of Lust, was finally reissued recently. Give a listen to these tracks from the album, feel free to ignore the videos, some of them make no sense at all (don't ask me what's up with Endless Grey Ribbon, I haven't a clue).

























I also stumbled upon a 12-part series called Born Fighters from 1979 chronicling Rockpile, Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds at al, as they document their work after they weren't allowed to use the Name Rockpile. It's all on YouTube, with links listed under info (click "show more")to the next section.



Buy Nick Lowe from Yep Roc.