Customer Reviews

Quiet Please: The New Best of Nick Lowe

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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

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.

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

A couple of weeks ago I happened to see a man on Austin City Limits, while channel surfing. I was mesmerized by his charisma. I had never heard of him before. He had the audience, including myself, eating right out of his hand. After his perfomance, I ran to my computer and read everything I could about him. I ordered this album and have not listened to anything else for over a week. I am still trying to decide which song I like the best. So far it has been I Trained Her To Love Me, but my choice seems to change daily. I will have to include Nick Lowe along with Jimmy Buffett and Gordon Lightfoot as my favorite artists.

In a prolific career spanning more than 30 years how on earth do you pick the greatest hits for a package? The answer is to make it a two CD set packed with 49 tracks that cover not only all the hits, but a huge number of fan favorites from over the years. While many artists tend to frequently repackage older material Lowe has largely eschewed that option and it's been nearly 20 years since "Basher," probably his best greatest hits package until now. While "Basher" was great compilation Lowe has continued to crank out consistently good CDs since that time which have largely been overlooked by the public even while garnering critical raves. That's a shame, because CDs like "The Impossible Bird" "Dig My Mood" and "At My Age" were all well worth the listen. The good news is you'll get samples from all of them here along with older classic Lowe material.

Lowe is probably best known to Americans for his hit "Cruel to be Kind" from nearly 30 years ago, but in his native England and elsewhere he's had more than 20 hits over the years. "Quiet Please" charts his growth and development into a truly talented musician with a knack for catchy tunes with quirky offbeat lyrics. And while most people associate Lowe's music with pub rock there's a bit more variety to his music than you'd expect, with traces of country, R&B, dancehall, Tejano and other influences. For a little variety there are tracks included from his earlier band Brinsley Schwarz, and from side projects such as Rockpile, and Little Village. Many of Lowe's mid-period CDs like "Nick the Knife" "Abominable Showman" and "Cowboy Outfit" are near impossible to find now, so this is about the only place you'll likely be able to find some of these tracks. I hadn't heard tracks like "Raging Eyes" or "Half a Boy" in ages and loved them and the videos from way back in the early MTV era...it was WELL worth the purchase price to hear them again! I can honestly say this compilation is not missing any track I wanted to hear, and that is the hallmark of a great compilation!

Nick Lowe is an unsung hero of New Wave rock and roll. He was a great producer of Elvis Costello, The Pretenders, and other bands of the late 70's, as well as making his own records with one of the best bands ever-Rockpile. The collection spans his career from his early days with Brinsley Schwartz up to the present. He has mellowed and matured now, but he can still write a great melody and put it to great words. Also, Nick did give us "What's so Funny 'bout Peace, Love and Understanding" and that says it all to me.

If you are a Nick Lowe fan and you don't have all of his albums, this is a must. It interesting to see how Nick style has evolved in recent years -- don't let the irony put you off. Nick has a great grasp on being an ageing rock 'n roller. I would have liked more Brinsley Schwartz stuff, but that's just nit(or is it nick)-picking. Buy and enjoy.

I LOVE NICK LOWE - just saw him play solo at a small venue in San DIego and he was GREAT!!! His songwriting and playing with various groups and solo are exceptional. There are a LOT of songs on these CDs - most very good and some others that are important but not what you may expect but, hey, they are all part of Nick's repetoire. I may suggest his earlier Best of if you are not a BIG fan of his, which I am, so I have both. Enjoy!!!

Having been one of those crazy club kids in the early eighties I was a HUGE Rockpile, Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds fan. I already picked up the DE retrospective (Anthology 68-90) but somehow never got around to replacing my vinyl copies of Nick's stuff. So, I thought this to be a great investment - and it is. 2 CDs of great stuff, a DVD to boot, BUT... it's missing 3 MAJOR Nick Lowe songs (that any overview of his career cannot be without): They Called It Rock - from Pure Pop, Switch Board Susan - from Labour of Lust, and 7 Nights to Rock from Rose of England. Thankfully I still own clean vinyl versions of these great songs.

Why 5 stars? This 2 disc set is a 5 star value. For $20 I've been listening to this for about 7 months trying not to wear it out but flipping back to it again and again. I was a Nicky Lowe fan in the 80's but lost track of him over the years however, my husband was new to him and took to him very quickly. This guy is a pop tune genius and has this retrospective to prove it. The old and the new songs get into your head and follow you through the day. He seems to find genres that fascinate him and then create his own tunes within those genres and this creates a wide variety in his work. There's just so much here. Out of about 40 songs I like about 35. Thanks Nick!