It has been a very interesting week, very interesting indeed, but not super silly. I brought the week in with yet another shot of Bob Dylan, Empire Burlesque this time. That makes my twentieth Dylan album, and the time has come for a respite from Bob; too much of a good thing can be too much. However, I can’t part ways without mentioning my take on Empire Burlesque. I concur with the general reviews that this is an ’80s album; it has that feel. It is also eclectic, with a revolving door of talented accompanists, bringing a different taste to the album’s flavour. I won’t rate this album in the top echelon of Dylan albums, but it is still a pleasant listen and thus avoids the fate of Dylan’s self-titled 1973 album, banishment, never to be heard again.

Moving on, I listened to Resurrection Song by Mark Lowry—a shot of white Christian Bible belt church music. Just as popular music artists go on tours to take their messages to the masses, popular Christian artists also did that. They would go from town to town and church to church. The bigger the artist, the bigger the churches. Mark Lowry was of the Southern Baptist flavour and was an accidental comedian. As the backing tracks for his songs were set up and guitars tuned, he would do monologues that he noticed were bringing laughter to his routine. He began making that a staple of his shows and was quite good at it. Mark scored one mega-hit with the song “Mary, Did You Know?” I can remember a missionary that our church supported singing this song. It was a powerful performance. This album isn’t of that calibre, but as far as white Baptist singers go, this is par for the course.

Next, we have a different flavour of gospel music: black southern gospel, John Littleton Et The Clarence Jones Family, and Steel Away. This album seemed uneven to my ears and never really got a head of steam going, which is unfortunate because there is some excellent music to be heard on this album. I will do bin diving to find more from either of these two artist groups, John Littleton and The Clarence Jones Family.

K.O.G. Zone 6, Agege (feat. Franz Von & Gyedu-Blay). I have been listening to modern African jazz lately and enjoying what I hear. This album is more in the world music category but excellent in any genre. I’ve listened to it several times and am sure more spins will come.

Next in the queue, we have Nick Lowe. I have been listening to his music since his first solo album, Pure Pop For Now People. I am, in fact, listening to that album now. This album is titled “Jesus of Cool” in the UK and has some different tracks; check out Wikipedia for the long story. From his days in the band Brinsley Schwarz to playing bass in another band, Rockpile, Nick has had a stellar career and collaborated with some of music’s heavy hitters, including his once-upon-a-time wife, Carlene Carter.

I went on a binge with Nick Lowe this week: Pure Pop For Now People, Labour Of Lust, Nick the Knife, The Abominable Showman, Rose of England ( Nick Lowe and his Cowboy Outfit), Pinker and Prouder Than Previous, and closing with Love Starvation/Trombone/Tokyo Bay/Crying Inside.

These are only his solo albums, and I don’t have all of them. Elsewhere on our journey through the alphabet, we will encounter Nick in the records of Elvis Costello, Ian Gomm, Rockpile, Dave Edmunds and many others. Nick also produced albums for Dr. Feelgood, The Rumours and others and collaborated with Johnny Cash and a laundry list of others. Nick genuinely plays well with others. 

I listen to the first two albums by Nick Lowe most frequently, Pure Pop For Now People and Labour of Lust. Two album titles hint at the wordplay in Nick Lowe’s songs. These albums came out in 1978 and ’79, fertile years for New Wave music for which I was a sponge. Although he didn’t have a long list of top ten hits, he did chart a few times and a couple of heavy hitters written by Nick Lowe and covered by others charted. He is best known for the songs “Cruel to Be Kind” (a US top 40 single) and “I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass” (a top 10 UK hit), as well as his production work with Elvis Costello, Graham Parker, and others. Lowe also wrote “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding,” a hit for Costello and “I Knew the Bride (When She Used to Rock ‘n’ Roll),” a hit for Rockpile bandmate Dave Edmunds.

Nick Lowes’s influence is impressive. Paraphrased from Wikipedia:

In 2011, The New York Times claimed: “The 40-year career of the English singer-songwriter Nick Lowe constitutes a paradox: the songs he has written are better known than he is.” Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys described Lowe as one of his favourite lyricists. In another interview, he said he was “blown away” and sent “back to square one” by Lowe’s songwriting.

Wilco covered the Nick Lowe song “I Love My Label” as the B-side to “I Might” (2011) on their dBpm label. Nick Lowe toured with Wilco for their album The Whole Love and made guest appearances on his “Cruel to Be Kind” and (along with Mavis Staples) appeared onstage for a cover of The Band‘s song “The Weight.” The quality of this video sucks, but it gives a hint of the power that occupied the stage that night. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qn75TFZA5k&t=4s

So there we have it, a week dominated by Nick Lowe with brief interludes by others. Happy listening, and  “If the Good Lord’s Willing and the Creek Don’t Rise,” I look forward to exploring our musical journey again next week.