Customer Reviews

The Convincer

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Nick Lowe was one of the pioneers of new wave music. He wrote scathingly witty songs that were delivered in a power pop, punkish tones. In recent years he has moved away from that sound and developed into something of a balladeer. The Convincer is full mellow songs crooned by Mr. Lowe. His voice has become more and more of an instrument over the years. Despite the change in styles, Mr. Lowe has retained his wry sense of humor and sharp wit. "Bygones (Won't Go)", "I'm A Mess", "Lately I've Let Things Slip", "Let's Stay In & Make Love" and "Only A Fool Breaks His Own Heart" all retain that classic Lowe writing style. He does an elegant version of Johnny Rivers' "Poor Side Of Town" which may be the best song on the disk.

In a recent interview with No Depression magazine, Nick Lowe put over his last three albums (this, Dig My Mood & The Impossible Bird) as being bereft of his usual bag-of-tricks and that all three had "Bottom" which means depth. In the late 70's, when some pretty unlistenable music was at its' mass saturation point on the airwaves, Nick Lowe was one of the few out there that was producing smart music that wasn't ripping kids off. Now the kids that Nick saved the first time around are all grown up and he looks to bail them out again.

A lifelong fan of 50's and early 60's Tin Pan Alley pop, Nick pays stunning tribute and redefines the genre in the process. Amazing, infectious songs such as Cupid Must Be Angry and Indian Queens represent everything that is good about Pre-Beatles, Pre-Stones & Pre-Dylan pop while also avoiding lapses into reverent nostalgia via Lowe's impeccable songwriting and his wittily engaging voice. Nick also delivers deft performances on covers such as Poor Side Of Town and Only A Fool Breaks His Own Heart.

Best of all is the opening track, Homewrecker. For those that haven't heard it yet, I won't spoil it but to say that it contains what might be the funniest, meanest opening line in the history of pop music. The rest of the song keeps up admirably and sets the tone for an album about men getting kicked out and wanting back in from the cold.

Cheers Nick for giving us such a great album and I hope you'll be around to bail us out again in another 20 years!!!

This is, first of all, just a great album. If you had a choice, I might recommend "Dig My Mood" first, because that album reaches incredible heights that aren't quite hit with this one, but I have no complaints--this is wonderful songwriting, and the performances by Lowe and his band are of such sublime subtlety. Getting old sounds great here, if it means you can be relaxed and precise, spontaneous and controlled, all at once.

I keep wondering, though, what the hell everybody means by saying this album "completes the trilogy"? Did Lowe ever announce he was doing a trilogy? Did he map out these three albums (with "Impossible Bird" being first, then "...Mood" then this) in advance? Is he finished now, and is planning to move to a new genre? Is he retiring? From what I can tell of his compositional method, he writes and records his albums a song at a time. If his muse gives him another song in this style, is he going to say, "Oh well, I'm done with all that with the completion of my trilogy, so I guess I'll just send this song along to Solomon Burke or someone else."

Well, I hope not. Bring on the four-peat! This is a great, classic musical model that Lowe can do for the next 25 years as far as I'm concerned.

He's so funny, that Nick Lowe. Gets wittier and drier with every album. I thought Dig My Mood had plumbed the depths to which the deserted male could sink, but The Convincer is colder, leaner and wrings out every drop of feeling like twisting an old dishcloth.

The killer has to be "Lately I've Let Things Slide". "That untouched takeaway/ I brought home the other day/ Has quite a lot to say..." Just what kind of emotional state is this poor man in? What on earth happened between him and Carlene, or whoever she was? We've all been there but, dearie me, there's a lot to learn from these wretched accounts.

Obviously hanging out with Dan Penn has honed Nick's skill even further. The imagery is plainer, more direct . In "What's Shaking on the Hill" ten years earlier, Nick 's lovelorn dilemma was described in terms of social exclusion. Now it's all down to laundry baskets and dirty shirts.Johnny Rivers' "The Poor Side of Town" is a classic, a familiar tale of a lover reclaimed. In "Has She Got a Friend?" we find our hero standing on the sidelines at an early '60's dance, the oh so-nearly nicked guitar phrase from "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" giving the game away. But there is a pared down economy in the writing and a rare tenderness in the vocals on everything here. He is becoming the song writing great he once parodied and every nuance of meaning is carefully delivered.

This new album may not have the comprehensive dazzle of Dig My Mood, but it certainly digs deep. It's leaner, starker and even more - well - hopeless. I'm convinced.

As with his previous works Nick Lowe delivers a set of brilliantly crafted songs dealing with ups and downs of life and relationships.
This set is darker than his more optimistic last studio work Dig My Mood, but employs the same uncluttered production and instrumentation.
The lyrics and sentiment are crystal clear whether in the relatively dark Homewrecker, the elated She's Got Soul or tender Let's Stay In and Make Love. Another jewel is Indian Queens with a subtle historical touch. The Convincer is a fine example of contemporary song writing with pop and country undertones highlighting concise writing and emotional strength. If already a Lowe fan you'll enjoy. If new to this work I'd take the chance and buy.

This is Nick the well-dressed, elegant charmer -- Nick the knife is long gone. No remakes of "So It Goes" or "Marie Provost" here; he sticks close to the torchy, country- and soul-derived crooning of *Impossible Bird* and *Dig My Mood.* This is an album of mellow pleasures, for better or worse. Its fairly soundalike, and a few of the songs seem slight, but the band and Lowe are in great spirits.

Strangely, this record picks up considerably on the second side -- special highlights for me include Johnny Rivers' "Poor Side of Town," "Bygones Won't Go," "Lately I've Let Things Slide" and of course, the damn-near-perfect love song "Let's Stay in and Make Love."

If I could write as well as Nick Lowe, this review would only be about 20 words long, but would perfectly convey my opinion regarding this CD. Unfortunately, there's only one Nick Lowe! After hearing "She's Got Soul" on our local alternative radio station, I bought this CD, and it's now a favorite! Nick has such a way with phrasing - "no one can wreck a home better than you can, and I should know, cause I'm a homeless man" from "Homewrecker", and "smoking I once quit, now I've got one lit, I just fell back into it", from "Lately I've Let Things Slide" are just two examples. Clean production, catchy melodies, and Nick's voice - sounding like he's telling you his deepest secrets - perfection!

The Convincer, after Dylan's Love and Theft and Lucinda Williams's Essence, may be the most indispensable CD of the year for people of -- let's say -- a certain age who still buy pop CDs. (Tony Bennett's Playing with My Friends and Leonard Cohen's Ten New Songs are not far behind.) Lowe is tired (I'm a Mess), has seen it all (Indian Queens), been both betrayed and betrayer (Homewrecker), but in these snapshots from mid-life, he's also come through wiser, still battling, still a bit of a romantic, and with plenty of life ahead. Among the many highlights are Lately I've Let Things Slide, Indian Queens, the remake of the wonderful Poor Side of Town, Bygones (Won't Go) and the lushly romantic Let's Stay In and Make Love. Written in the 40's and sung by the likes of Nat King Cole (the comparison by the Amazon reviewer is totally apt) these songs would have been called standards. Today they are fine pop crooning. Since you'll never hear them on tightly compartmentalized radio stations, getting the CD is your only option. Do it.

The fact that "She's Got Soul" borrows its rhythm from Julio Iglesias' seminal Un Canto a Galicia tells you how far Lowe has moved since his Jesus of Cool days. This is a very listenable album, but it's not great. This is partly Nick Lowe in his George Strait mode. The problem is, if George Strait did these songs, you wouldn't buy them - he's better at what he does than Lowe is, and chooses better songs. The rest of the album is actually very Iglesias-like - but again Iglesias does it better.

Much as I like both Lowe and country music, I'd frankly prefer a return to the Lowe of Rose of England.

With its mood-setting cover shot of a dapper-suited, laid-back Lowe, "The Convincer" completes a trilogy of darkly soulful albums that began with 1994's "The Impossible Bird." Minus the rockpile-driving pub rockers of yore but still marked by Lowe's trademark adroit wit, these songs smolder and sting with the pain of human experience. From the bitter "Homewrecker" to the lamentable "Only a Fool Breaks His Own Heart" to the slinky "Let's Stay In and Make Love" to the wistful "Lately I've Let Things Slide" ("There's a cut upon my brow / must've banged myself somehow / but I can't remember how"), these are well-chiseled portraits of lives that have been lived. Lives that only someone with Lowe's whitened thatch could understand. Some of these tracks sound like long-forgotten classics, particularly "Indian Queens" and "I'm a Mess." Of course, one song is a long forgotten certified classic, Johnny Rivers' "Poor Side of Town," and Lowe delivers it in a mellifluous, heartbreaking croon. Years ago, Lowe posed the question, What's so funny about peace love and understanding? On "The Convincer," he's finding his answer.