Nick Lowe’s career transformation is complete after 40-plus years of
successful tinkering. As a shuffling pub-rocker in the mid-’70s, Lowe
influenced the era’s blossoming punk movement with his primal
productions, which married the chaos of the period with his love of the
Everly Brothers and Buddy Holly. Eventually, Lowe moved toward an even
deeper blend of Americana on the way to his current role as soulful
crooner and elder musical statesman, while consistently maintaining his
status as a songwriter’s songwriter.
Lowe’s previous greatest-hits packages focused on compartmentalizing
his work within various eras. The two-disc Quiet Please, is the
most comprehensive look at Lowe’s extensive catalog. The first disc
begins somewhat ironically with “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love
and Understanding,” one of Lowe’s most famous compositions, recorded by
his first significant band Brinsley Schwarz. But it quickly moves into
the brilliant late-’70s solo work that brought Lowe attention,
particularly “So It Goes,” a smirking take on pop stardom; “Cruel to Be
Kind,” the hit single that cemented his celebrity; and the one-off
Rockpile project with Dave Edmunds that proved his authenticity.
Wisely, Quiet Please pulls great tracks from some of Lowe’s
unfairly overlooked ’80s albums (Nick the Knife, Nick Lowe and His
Cowboy Outfit, The Abominable Showman, The Rose of
England) rather than padding the surroundings with obvious
choices.
The second disc showcases Lowe’s ’90s work, from his other all-star
supergroup Little Village to The Impossible Bird, the album that
set the stage for his magnificent work over the next decade and a half,
which is faithfully documented up until his latest album, At My
Age. Quiet Please juxtaposes Lowe’s amazing early songs with
his impressive later output, providing solid evidence that genius, like
wine, only gets better as it ages. — Brian Baker
This article appears in Mar 25-31, 2009.
