Record Mirror, March 11, 1978: Difference between revisions
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And... ''"I don't wanna be hung up, strung up when you don't call up,"'' from "Little Triggers." | And... ''"I don't wanna be hung up, strung up when you don't call up,"'' from "Little Triggers." | ||
I don't wanna this and I don't wanna that. The man is still a | I don't wanna this and I don't wanna that. The man is still a Aladdin's Cave of anti-matter, the big negative. But I don't wanna listen... to the words that much, because they're not so important. | ||
What does matter is that Elvis really isn't a one album wonder, and who suspected for a moment that he was? Nick Lowe isn't the last pop craftsman; and neither is Elvis, but they're both of one breed, ie the short, melodic masterpiece. | What does matter is that Elvis really isn't a one album wonder, and who suspected for a moment that he was? Nick Lowe isn't the last pop craftsman; and neither is Elvis, but they're both of one breed, ie the short, melodic masterpiece. | ||
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"It wasn't until I'd finished 'I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass' that someone told me that Bowie had done a number called 'Breaking Glass.' I had no idea at all. | "It wasn't until I'd finished 'I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass' that someone told me that Bowie had done a number called 'Breaking Glass.' I had no idea at all. | ||
"Of course, coupled with the ''Bowi'' EP it looks as | "Of course, coupled with the ''Bowi'' EP it looks as if I'm some sort of devotee of his. And whereas I do like him, it's pure coincidence. I still haven't heard his version of it." | ||
Implausible as that might seem, it's almost certainly true if only because Lowe wouldn't give a monkey's about telling the world if he had stolen it. | Implausible as that might seem, it's almost certainly true if only because Lowe wouldn't give a monkey's about telling the world if he had stolen it. | ||
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Nick is spread across a brand new chair in a Kermit coloured room at the brand new Radar Records organisation. In each hand he clutches two of the distractions he loves most outside music, Woodbines and Carlsberg Special Brew. His hair is grey — Lowe is the wrong side of 30 — and the bags under his eyes look as flabby as ever. | Nick is spread across a brand new chair in a Kermit coloured room at the brand new Radar Records organisation. In each hand he clutches two of the distractions he loves most outside music, Woodbines and Carlsberg Special Brew. His hair is grey — Lowe is the wrong side of 30 — and the bags under his eyes look as flabby as ever. | ||
Lowe came to Radar from Stiff Records after deciding that Stiff was getting too successful for it to be fun anymore. It wasn't, as some believed, because he was disgusted with his final Stiff single, "Halfway To Paradise" a purulent piece of revivalism that rates as the most boring single he's ever made. | Lowe came to Radar from Stiff Records after deciding that Stiff was getting too successful for it to be fun anymore. It wasn't, as some believed, because he was disgusted with his final Stiff single, "Halfway To Paradise," a purulent piece of revivalism that rates as the most boring single he's ever made. | ||
<!-- Embarrassed --> | <!-- Embarrassed --> | ||
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"And I'll steal from them. I'll steal from Smokie as well. If I think that those world-weary type vocals were needed on something of mine ... I have absolutely no scruples as to where I steal from at all. | "And I'll steal from them. I'll steal from Smokie as well. If I think that those world-weary type vocals were needed on something of mine ... I have absolutely no scruples as to where I steal from at all. | ||
"I'm not scheming to try and get a hit, or anything. My work is extremely easy to me. I suppose it's a kind of talent to know where to steal from. It's just that | "I'm not scheming to try and get a hit, or anything. My work is extremely easy to me. I suppose it's a kind of talent to know where to steal from. It's just that it's better to do this than work in an estate agent's or something. It's like stamp collecting, a hobby. People just happen to be interested." | ||
But the idea of having a successful record isn't as unimportant to Lowe as he sometimes suggests. Though selling a lot of records to him would be little more than a bonus for something he'd be doing anyway, he retains an affection for, what I suppose in his formative years, was the Hit Parade. | But the idea of having a successful record isn't as unimportant to Lowe as he sometimes suggests. Though selling a lot of records to him would be little more than a bonus for something he'd be doing anyway, he retains an affection for, what I suppose in his formative years, was the Hit Parade. | ||
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One mate he came close to losing recently was Dave Edmunds, whose show he walked out on after Rockpile got slung off the Bad Company tour last year. | One mate he came close to losing recently was Dave Edmunds, whose show he walked out on after Rockpile got slung off the Bad Company tour last year. | ||
"My relationship with Dave was very confused for a while. I thought he understood that I only wanted to stay with Rockpile on a very temporary basis. I didn't want to spend my time going up and down the motorway, I'd had enough of that with the Brinsleys. I'm sick of all that, I'm too old for it. I though Edmunds had realised that. | "My relationship with Dave was very confused for a while. I thought he understood that I only wanted to stay with Rockpile on a very temporary basis. I didn't want to spend my time going up and down the motorway, I'd had enough of that with the Brinsleys. I'm sick of all that, I'm too old for it. I <!-- though --> thought Edmunds had realised that. | ||
"He'd either forgotten about it or he'd thought I'd changed my mind, because we were having such a good time. | "He'd either forgotten about it or he'd thought I'd changed my mind, because we were having such a good time. | ||
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All this farting about between roles suggests that Lowe is a man who has trouble making up his own mind, when quite the reverse is true. | All this farting about between roles suggests that Lowe is a man who has trouble making up his own mind, when quite the reverse is true. | ||
"I can make up my mind easily, and I reserve the right to change it. I have no problems making up my mind it's just that people can't make up their mind about me. In a way that's why I've got a reputation as a fly-by-night." | "I can make up my mind easily, and I reserve the right to change it. I have no problems making up my mind, it's just that people can't make up their mind about me. In a way that's why I've got a reputation as a fly-by-night." | ||
One thing that confuses me ... Lowe who is so vehement about the money orientated side of the music business has just released an album with five previously released tracks, a fact that resulted in a fair bit of criticism. | One thing that confuses me ... Lowe who is so vehement about the money orientated side of the music business has just released an album with five previously released tracks, a fact that resulted in a fair bit of criticism. | ||
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"It's as if a magnifying glass has been on everything I've done, while the actual general public has known <!-- f---all --> fuck all about me. I'm extremely grateful for all the coverage but it's a phoney success. The things I've done have just been magnified ... I can't go into a bar and get drunk without somebody writing the next day 'Nick Lowe was really embarrassing at such and such a place last night." | "It's as if a magnifying glass has been on everything I've done, while the actual general public has known <!-- f---all --> fuck all about me. I'm extremely grateful for all the coverage but it's a phoney success. The things I've done have just been magnified ... I can't go into a bar and get drunk without somebody writing the next day 'Nick Lowe was really embarrassing at such and such a place last night." | ||
Lowe has just come back from Finland, where, to quote the sage, it is "brass monkeys." He's been recording with a Scandinavian super-group there, and playing to audiences of about ten blank faced sub-Russians. | Lowe has just come back from Finland, where, to quote the sage, it is "brass monkeys." He's been recording with a Scandinavian super-group there, and playing to audiences of about ten blank-faced sub-Russians. | ||
By the time you read this he'll be in America looking for an already established band to back him up on an American tour. He doesn't want to tour England because he finds it dull — "all those stupid students in all those stupid universities." | By the time you read this he'll be in America looking for an already established band to back him up on an American tour. He doesn't want to tour England because he finds it dull — "all those stupid students in all those stupid universities." | ||
The Rumour and Clover are slight possibilities at the moment for the tour. Richard Hell has been mentioned. But Nick Lowe is keeping schtum. He claims he's going to "keep it blighty" i.e. not invite any Yanks into the camp, but knowing his ability to change his mind at a second's notice the world or at least the USA — could soon be witnessing a very interesting | The Rumour and Clover are slight possibilities at the moment for the tour. Richard Hell has been mentioned. But Nick Lowe is keeping schtum. He claims he's going to "keep it blighty" i.e. not invite any Yanks into the camp, but knowing his ability to change his mind at a second's notice the world or at least the USA — could soon be witnessing a very interesting transatlantic musical bastard. | ||
Which couldn't really be said of Lowe, whose neither | Which couldn't really be said of Lowe, <!-- whose --> who's neither transatlantic, or a bastard. He's very English, very genial, and usually very drunk. He's not the last pop craftsman, as has been [[Melody Maker, October 22, 1977|said]] about him; but it's enough that he's a craftsman, and a peculiarly skilled one at that. | ||
I'll think he's an idiot if he doesn't tour England, but then if | I'll think he's an idiot if he doesn't tour England, but then if "Breaking Glass" isn't a hit, England doesn't deserve him. | ||
{{cx}} | {{cx}} |
Latest revision as of 21:28, 10 December 2023
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