Peace, Love and Understanding

Nick Lowe is a much respected but, I think, still criminally under-appreciated British singer, songwriter, musician and producer.

His musical career began in the late ‘60s in the band Kippington Lodge, which sank without trace but re-emerged as pre-punk, pub rock stalwarts, Brinsley Schwarz, who were briefly hyped as the next big thing. They turned out not to be.

Embarking on a solo career in the late ‘70s, Lowe hit a purple patch, putting out two albums, ‘Jesus of Cool’ (1978) and ‘Labour of Lust’ (1979) which wouldn’t disgrace anyone’s record collection. At the same time he was also a member of pub-rock ‘supergroup’, Rockpile. Not content with that, he developed a parallel career as a record producer of distinction, not only producing the first UK punk single - ‘New Rose’ by The Damned (still one of the greatest singles ever, in my opinion!) - but also the classic first 5 albums by Elvis Costello. Other clients of note included The Pretenders, Graham Parker, Dr Feelgood, his then-wife Carlene Carter, and his then-father-in-law, Johnny Cash.

Although his commercial heyday was behind him by the ‘90s, he still produced some sterling work including as part of the band Little Village with esteemed bandmates John Hiatt, Ry Cooder and Jim Keltner; and then began a solo career renaissance with his 1994 album ‘The Impossible Bird’. From that point on he’s been a critically acclaimed elder statesman of rock and an entertaining raconteur - yet still not well enough known by the wider public.

Now in his mid-‘70s, he performs with US rockabilly/surf-rock band Los Straitjackets - famed for their performances in Lucha Libre masks.

All were in excellent form tonight at The Arts Club in Liverpool, and Lowe’s vocals remain superb.

For a flavour of the show, here they are a few months ago playing a song they played tonight. It’s one of Lowe’s greatest songs - and surely an anthem for our times - ‘(What’s So Funny ‘bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?’ https://youtu.be/6jAlDVxPz8o?si=vthPr5tvD93yqWRY

And here he is (with Rockpile) back in my adolescent years when I first became aware of him, with ‘So It Goes’ the song which kicked off tonight’s show https://youtu.be/YEpr8kaczck?si=onrG11pI0ir80Suw

He ended the show’s second encore with a beautiful solo rendition of Elvis Costello’s ‘Alison’, a song he produced back in 1977. Here’s a rather shonky clip of Lowe and Costello performing it together 3 years ago https://youtu.be/BPpqldQvVZM?si=fUjnISc8fZLSzkEp

A memorable night, indeed!

Setlist included:

So It Goes
I Went to a Party
Lately I've Let Things Slide
I Live on a Battlefield
Love Starvation
Jet Pack Boomerang
Tokyo Bay
Ragin' Eyes
Trombone
12‐Step Program (to Quit You Babe)
Blue on Blue
Cruel to Be Kind
Half a Boy and Half a Man
(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding
I Knew the Bride (When She Used to Rock 'n' Roll)
Heart of the City
When I Write the Book
Alison

And a few more…