This was a CD purchased for my husband. As he already has it in a cassette and wanted to get a CD of it, I would assume that it is a favorite of his and that he would recommend it highly.
October 7, 2008Anyone delving into the evolution of power pop in the 70s, should do themselves a favor and grab this album. I ran into Nick as I was checking out the early, arguably best, Costello albums. Yeah as a child of the 70s, I was familiar with the cryptic yet smart hit Cruel To Be Kind but never followed up. I think one of the reasons that Nick has fallen under the radar is that he has always been a musician/songwriter over being a star. Rather than get hung up on image, as it seems from this best of collection, he has consistently focused on craft. Consistently over this album, he is not looking to impress but on offering good compositions with enough lyrical turns and musicianship to keep you coming back. And that is impressive enough for me! The first fourteen tracks are the highlight of the record, focusing on his first two records with Rockpile (Gotta get Minutes of Pleasure). After that things get a bit spotty. Things rise and fall on the characteristics of his collaborators. The low point for me is his slower material and the stuff which sounds way too 80s. "I Knew The Bride" has way too much Huey Lewis feel for my liking. Then again "Half a Boy" runs "? and The Mysterians" through new wave production to produce a catchy little number. So when I look back at it, two-thirds is a damn good hits to miss ratio. Atop of the 14(!) song winning streak, you get little gems like "7 Nights to Rock" and "Raging Eyes". Pretty good deal. Since I've bought this disc, I have come back numerous times. It totally offsets the lesser lights. So if you want, pop craft with hooks and smarts, come and get this!
March 8, 2008 |  | Basher, Best Of Nick Lowe |  |
Really good compilation of his better songs. A few were omitted,but those are for others to find.Really good quality too,which is nice.worth owning.some awesome songs that i remember wondering who in heck sang that
February 28, 2008| | | Hall of Famer deserves better | |
One of music's little indignities is that your greatest achievements wind up disappearing if the curators don't give a damn. Such is the case with Nick Lowe, a criminally underrated artist who helped shape the sound of the 80's. His production work with the likes of Elvis Costello and Graham Parker all but defined New Wave, his work with Rockpile is perfect and his solo albums always had reasons to actively listen.
Alas, from that classic period, this is all that remains domestically available. "Basher" (a nickname he earned for his production methods, famously described by Elvis Costello as "a fader in one hand and a vodka bottle in the other") is 25 songs from 8 albums, the first 14 from "Jesus of Cool/Pure Pop For Now People" and "Labour Of Lust." His best known song, "Cruel to be Kind" is here in all its pure pop glory, along with such proto-punk material like "I Love The Sound of Breaking Glass" from the Stiff record days. There's the perversely witty "Marie Provost" ("she was a winner that became the doggie's dinner") and "Cracking Up" as well.
After that, each album gets a slim pick or two (The Rose of England manages four) and only one solitary track from Rockpile's "Seconds of Pleasure" (and not even "Teacher Teacher!"). There's some cool pubrock/rockabilly like "Half a Boy and Half a Man" (should have been a hit!) and "7 Nights to Rock" which belies the depth of later albums. This leaves off a great deal of interesting songs ("Stick it Where The Sun Don't Shine" and "The Beast in Me" would have made my list) and stops when Lowe left Columbia for "Party of One." Lowe is one of those heritage artists who deserves a double "Essentials" collection, and his golden albums should be available to all.
Which leads to my final comments: Why is Lowe yet to be even nominated for The Rock and Roll Hall of fame? He is the architect of a lot of the sound we came to identify as a decade, even to where Huey Lewis is a producer on "I Knew The Bride" (and once covered it) and such luminaries as John Hiatt and Paul Carrack make appearances. The other is that this album is a 1989 master of songs that you can't get anywhere else. Lowe deserves better.
September 22, 2007Some very poor selections on here. It also almost ignores his two best CDs-The Rose of England and Cowboy Outfit. (And what is "Maureen" doing on here? uggg--where are Wishing Well, I Got the Love, Luck Dog, LAFS, etc.) 14 of these songs are from his first two albums--too much in my opinion.
But the real gripe is that the bulk of this man's CDs are unavailable. No one should have to settle for this collection when you think of what he did from about 1978 to 1990. Some truly great stuff is lost. I think he is the most underrated musician in all of rock. Bar none.
February 16, 2007More reviews at Amazon.com ...
(22 reviews)
