Trouser Press, October 1977

Bibliography   72 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 UK & Ireland weeklies UK & Ireland magazines UK & Ireland newspapers US newspapers US rock magazines US music magazines US magazines US alternative weeklies European magazines European newspapers Canada  •  Mexico  •  Asia Australia  •  New Zealand South America  •  Africa Blogs  •  Fanzines  •  Books Online publications — Nick Lowe's Brainscram Scam! Bruce Rosenstein In the ever-fluid rock world, Nick Lowe comes as close to being the man-of-the-hour as anyone. To paraphrase a Stiff Records ad phrase, he is playing "today's music today," but it may have nothing to do with what he'll be up to in six weeks. Emerging from the relative obscurity of Brinsley Schwarz (the band), in which he served several years as lead singer, songwriter and bassist, followed by a period of general laying about after the breakup of the Brinsleys in mid-1975, Lowe has literally burst into prominence by dint of a virtual landslide of recent projects. From cult band to cult leader, Lowe seems on the verge of becoming a household name, an honor he has long deserved. I talked with Nick in late July about the highlights of the past year, his plans for the immediate future and his feelings about being nearly famous.. .with a bullet! Clearly a busy chap, Lowe has, in the past two years, produced albums for Graham Parker and the Rumour, the Damned and Elvis Costello; released two solo singles and an EP (named Bowi to get back for Low); produced and played on parts of the Bunch of Stiffs album; produced a 45 for an American band, Clover; written songs and played on Dave Edmunds's Get It; and joined Edmunds's Rockpile band for his aborted US tour. Judging by both his inventive production work for others and his non-pareil songwriting and solo performing, Lowe has developed quite a rep for his talented self. His dry humor and bitter enthusiasm makes him the perfect fed-up rock star, but one who doesn't ride to gigs in a Rolls. Armed with a knack for doing the right things with the right people, Lowe has shown so many glimmers of brilliance lately, that his threatened solo album may just be a masterpiece. Because of his involvement with the Damned and Stiff, Lowe has been associated with the new wave, which in true Lowe fashion, is old wave to him now. "I got off on them," Lowe says, "because of their attitude. They had something going for them. This was before punk-rock was even one-quarter of what it's blown up to be now. I thought they were obnoxious wankers when I first met them, but I got off on them for something kind of obscure. It was because a lot of musician friends, they didn't just say to me, 'Oh, the Damned, they're shit.' They'd say, 'The Damned ought to be stamped out, they ought to be put down now with a hammer!' And I thought, well, any group that can generate this kind of reaction in somebody must have something going for them." He is much more positive and enthusiastic about Elvis Costello, whose next album he is also producing. About the first, My Aim Is True, Nick comments, "It's a fantastic record. I'm not saying that because I produced it; it's just the music on it. It's not particularly anything I had to do with it. The music on the record is exciting because it's new wave music in a way, but it's very, very musical. It's not hundred mile an hour bashes—'I'm so bored, I'm so pissed off,' the way they all go on nowadays — it's old-fashioned to me. It's not that I'm an old fart, or I don't understand what they're going on about. I just think that sort of music is old-fashioned. "People have called me a punk-rocker because I did the Damned. It's pop music to me; I just do whatever I think is interesting at the time. I ain't going to do any more Damned LPs; they asked me to do their next LP, but I won't do it. I'll do Elvis' next one because I think it is going to be even hotter than the one he's got out now. I'll do it not because I think, 'Ooh, I'm onto a good hot one here; I'll make myself really well known by this.' It's not that. It's because I think it's hot music. And I just get on with what I think is hot music." The first Nick Lowe solo album should be out in October to coincide with a British package tour by Stiff artists. He put together a band which will do the tour with fellow Stiffs Elvis Costello, Wreckless Eric, and Ian Dury, leader of the now-defunct Kilburn and the Highroads. The Nick Lowe Band will include guitarist Larry Wallace (look under the Pink Fairies), along with a Finnish guitarist Nick calls "Mush" because his name is, according to Nick, unpronouncable. On keyboards will be Penny Tyburn, and there will be two drummers, to be picked from Terry Williams (ex-Man, now with Rockpile), a 17-year-old named Dave Berk, and Pete Thomas (a member of Elvis Costello's band this summer) who was with Chilli Willi and recently returned from the States where he did a two year stint with John Stewart. To those who have followed Nick Lowe's career since Brinsley days, public recognition seems long overdue. If anyone has the raw ingredients to be a star, it would be Nick. He's got tall, natural good looks, an engaging personal manner and of course lots of singing and songwriting talent. However, the Brinsleys' approach to rock was low-key, a trait which in the end did them in. Brinsley and keyboardist Bob Andrews became relatively well-known through Graham Parker and the Rumour, remainder of text to come... Trouser Press, No. 22, October 1977 Bruce Rosenstein profiles Nick Lowe. Dave Schulps reviews My Aim Is True. Images Cover and page scans. Elvis Costello My Aim Is True Stiff SEEZ 3 Dave Schulps Who is this little fella striking a defiant Presleyesque pose on the cover of My Aim Is True? Why, its Elvis, of course. Not the late great, but Stiff's newest future superstar flaunting this year's most auspicious debut album. Produced by (who else!) Nick Lowe (whom many thought actually was Elvis before proof of Costello's existence was revealed), Elvis sounds like a cross between Lowe — apparently Costello was a super Brinsleys fan and his phrasing is strikingly similar to Lowe's — and Graham Parker, whose musical influences he seems to share (though more rock, less Motown). But as much as I'll admit to being a sucker for Lowe and Parker and their style of music in general, there's an intangible quality about Elvis that not only sets him apart from both of them, but makes me think he's destined for great things in the near future. Of course, commercially speaking, I could easily be wrong. The substance of Elvis' music is based on the emotional content of his delivery, songs and lyrics. The music is stripped down to bare essentials (spell that minimalism if you must) — just guitar (Elvis), bass, drums and occasional rhythm guitar (supplied by members of Clover). This doesn't necessarily spell sales, but as I said there's something intangible working here. Perhaps it's the way he combines anger and vulnerability on "I'm Not Angry," "Miracle Man," or "Alison" to become every little guy who ever wanted to be something he wasn't; or maybe it's the way he just rocks away so hard, so loose and unselfconsciously that you're won over by the sheer guts of his performance. In a year that is beginning to look more and more like a landmark in rock 'n' roll history, Elvis Costello has produced a classic in his first try. Where he'll go from here should be exciting to watch.

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