Quiet Please: New Best of Nick Lowe

Nick Lowe | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 17, 2009)
• Number of Discs: 3
• ASIN: B001QVCF14
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,301,283 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

'Quiet Please...' is the definitive career-spanning best of from the British pop genius that makes all other collections
obsolete. This 49-track compendium documents the development of one of popular music s greatest song crafters, from his pub rock days in 'Brinsley Schwarz' and later 'Rockpile,' to his now legendary solo career. Healthy doses of material from 20 different albums ombine to make it clear why Lowe is credited by artists and critics alike with paving the way for punk as well as changing the face of pop music with albums like 'Jesus of Cool,' 'Labour of Lust' and 'At My Age.' A deluxe version of this two disc collection is also available, including a DVD of vintage original Lowe videos for tracks like 'I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass,' 'Cruel to Be Kind' and more as well as a full length solo concert filmed live in Belgium circa 2007. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Rodney Dangerfield of Rock, March 24, 2009

By 

David K. Richard (Minot , ND USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Quiet Please: The New Best of Nick Lowe (Limited Edition, Deluxe CD+DVD) (Audio CD)

I've been a huge Nick Lowe fan since Labour of Lust hit and wound up buying everything he released before (the excellent Jesus of Cool and the Brinsley Schwarz albums) and after (John Hiatt and Little Village) and of course the Rockpile and Dave Edmunds releases. I always felt Cruel To Be Kind could have been a huge Peter Noone hit. Nick always introduced CTBK as my one "hit".

I don't find any of the early songs as dated. Excellent selection of songs by compiler Greg Geller with all albums represented equally with one quibble, True Love Travels On A Gravel Road should have been included but as it's not written by Nick no dice. To me that's like an Elvis Costello best of without "What's So Funny About Peace Love and Understanding".

The bonus DVD is worth the price alone. You get 10 Nick videos and a 17 song concert from Brussels in 2007. The concert is not Nick solo, he plays 4 songs on acoustic and is then joined by his band for the rest sans the encore when Nick comes back out and sings two more for the enthusiastic crowd. I wish McCartney would have enough sense to watch this DVD and see how a live show is supposed to be filmed. No quick cuts to give you a headache and no crowd. I want to see the performer not the audience. Thanks to Nick and Yep Roc for releasing a first class set. Maybe Nick will now get the respect he so richly deserves.Labour of LustJesus of CoolRepeat When NecessaryBrinsley Schwarz/Despite It AllSeconds of PleasureSilver Pistol/Please Don't Ever ChangeThe Rose of England

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It doesn't get much better than this., May 7, 2009

By 

Doug Baldwin (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Quiet Please: The New Best of Nick Lowe (Audio CD)

BASHER was a terrific best-of disc. But QUIET PLEASE is a true collection, a retrospective that reveals the songwriting and performing genius of Nick Lowe.

Disc One collects his earlier, more rock-oriented material; about 60% of it mirrors what's on BASHER. Highlights: "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding," a track omitted from BASHER; the vicious and funny, "American Squirm"; and the incredibly catchy "I Knew The Bride (When She Used To Rock and Roll)". Quibble #1: Lowe has chosen to omit his cover of John Hiatt's "She Don't Love Nobody."

Disc Two is mellower, more acoustic and more personal. As much as I like the earlier stuff, this is the disc I find myself listening to more often (like right now, as I write this). Highlights: "All Men Are Liars," which as funny as it is, cuts a little too close to the bone; "People Change," a sweet, wise and sad rumination on one of life's core truths; and "Don't Think About Her When You're Trying To Drive," the demo version of the Little Village song, which differs significantly from the previously released version.

There are 49 tracks here, so of course there are one or two clunkers. And (quibble #2) there are no printed lyrics included. But if you want to follow a major musical artist from the beginning of his career to current day, and get a look into his heart, soul and funny bone, you really won't go wrong with this utterly addictive collection.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A splendid retrospective. A 'must' have collection., March 21, 2009

By 

music4yourears (London-New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Quiet Please: The New Best of Nick Lowe (Limited Edition, Deluxe CD+DVD) (Audio CD)

This career-spanning compilation, subtitled `The New Best Of Nick Lowe', offers 49 songs spread over two CDs and a DVD including live footage from 2007 and rare promotional videos, covering the British singer/songwriter's career from "Peace Love And Understanding" to his most recent CD, "At My Age".

Nick lowe came out of the pub rock scene, helped steer the good ship punk rock and emerged as a superb solo singer-songwriter, yet Nick Lowe remains a cult attraction, his songs better known than the man himself.

Thirty three years separate the first and last tracks and chart a remarkable evolution.

From swinging, boogiemesiter to artisan songwriter, all bases are covered.

The early pub rock tunes now sound a little dated and he seems to have improved with age.

Lowe's songs range from rockabilly to soda pop, and from rock and roll to country, with the later songs reflections on love, betrayal and middle age.

" What's So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding" was originally released by Lowe's band Brinsley Schwartz in 1974 before becoming something of a hit for Elvis Costello - whose first few albums were produced by Lowe - in 1979.

It was also recorded by Curtis Stigers in 1992 and icluded inn The Bodyguard soundtrack, one of the biggest selling albums of all time : Nick Lowe turned into a millionaire.

The above mentioned track opens the proceedings with a trump card - it's a belting beat song and paves the way superbly for his most commercial work, from the punky rocker "So It Goes" through the pop hits ("Cruel To be Kind", "I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass") to the folkish "Marie Provost" and the primal "Cracking Up".

On disc two we find songs like "The Beast In Me" that others (his one-time father-in-law Johnny Cash) made famous and most of latter material reflected on matters of the heart and mortality.

"Never really much of a front man, and never straying too far from his 1970s pub-rock roots, Lowe the songwriter has got used to hearing his work poshed-up over the decades by the likes of Johnny Cash, Tom Petty and Elvis Costello".- N. Dunnett

"A lot of cobblers has been talked on the subject of "honest craftmanship", but thankfully not recently by Nick Lowe, who remains the pop craftman's pop craftsman by virtue of the fact that he just gets on with it these days...succinct, digestible, witty, slightly doggy but always engaging. It was never much of a voice, but the tunes hold up like troupers". - N. Coleman

All in all, "Quiet please" is a splendid retrospective that we should add to our music library.

My favourute tracks: "So It Goes", "Endless Sleep", "You Make Me" and "L.A.F.S"

The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album

Real Emotional

At My Age