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He is Nick Lowe, alias the Prince of Pop. a.k.a. the Titan of Trash and the Herald of Hip. Only this morning his dry wit, affable charm and eminently quotable bon mots had the college radio press eating out of the palm of his hand. But less than ten hours later, as the lanky bassist squints fixedly at the telegram tacked to the wall of his Boston Garden dressing room, a very different side of Nick Lowe begins to emerge. Slowly it dawns me that the feted paragon of insouciance, this self-styled Jesus of Cool, is – believe it or not – on the verge of tears. “I can’t believe he did this,” mutters Nick, his voice tinged with emotion. “Listen to this: “Dear Nick, Sorry I can’t be with you for this one. Know you’ll knock ‘em dead. Your buddy, Peter Wolf.” Aw, old Wolf didn’t have to do that,” continued Lowe, groping for another Heineken with one hand as he runs the other through his shaggy mane. “I mean here’s this guy I admire so damn much – he kept the old flag of R&B flying for all these years, and now they’re bloody number one; haven’t seen him in ages, and he takes the time out there on tour to send this. You shouldn’t really play R&B like I do,” he confesses to his beer.
“Those guys are the real thing. And I was so damned pleased when their song went to number one. I bought every bastard in the bar a drink!”
Wait a minute, is this genuinely warm, humble guy the same cool, cavalier popster that wowed the Adidas brigade at lunch?
You bet.
In fact, the real Nick Lowe is exactly that: a pleasantly paradoxical juxtaposition of passion and detachment. Unlike many of the post-punk English set who, in their rush to escape cliched forms and structures also reject the essential musical principles needed to create effective new rock vehicles. Lowe’s unerring command of traditional rock dynamics, coupled with his detached objectivity (conceptual, not emotional) enables him to reshuffle these musical elements into novel configurations at will, creating in the process a unique hybrid of rock, pop, R&B, reggae and country. Clever as all this may sound, Lowe is acutely aware that it’s his underlying passion for rock ‘n’ roll and his commitment to his craft that provide the depth and force that lend his efforts credibility.
Remaining text and scanner-error corrections to come...
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