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Quiet Please: The New Best of Nick Lowe

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Nick Lowe

 
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Quiet Please: The New Best of Nick Lowe
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The man with the jukebox brain

  • We Say...

    Review by Terry Staunton

    A maverick with mainstream appeal, Lowe has charted a course through the winding streets of the pop map for more than three-and-half decades. This compilation stops off at various points of his journey, from the fledgling New Wave of early Stiff Records cuts "So It Goes" and "Heart Of The City" to radio-friendly hits "I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass" and "Cruel To Be Kind," to the electric folk of "Rose Of England" and "Lovers' Jamboree." Later, less celebrated singles "Ragin' Eyes" and "All Men Are Liars" display a sly wit and a never-failing ear for a catchy tune, while the elegant and mature country of his more recent albums is represented by the sublime "Lately I've Let Things Slide" and "I Trained Her To Love Me."

    Solo recordings dominate, but tracks by three of Lowe's bands flesh out the picture. The collection kicks off with the 1974 Brinsley Schwarz original of "(What's So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding," which remains a staple of Elvis Costello's live set (though it was the Curtis Stigers cover of the song on the mega-selling Bodyguard soundtrack that brought lifelong financial security). Two tracks from Rockpile's only album remind us they were possibly the best bar band since Creedence Clearwater Revival, while both "Don't Think About Her" and "Fool Who Knows," which Lowe recorded with Ry Cooder and John Hiatt as part of the supergroup project Little Village, reveal themselves to be savvy odes to heartbreak that were cruelly overlooked. A heady brew of beat group stylings, blue-eyed soul, roots rock ‘n' roll and laconic Americana, Lowe has never been shy of wearing his influences on his sleeve while steadfastly remaining his own man.

  • They Say...

    Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

    Quiet Please bears the subtitle "The New Best of Nick Lowe," making no attempt to disguise the fact that it's been a full 20 years since Nick's last hits collection, Basher. That "new" designation is also a subtle indication of the editorial slant of Quiet Please, how it shifts away from the frenzied new wave rocker toward the swinging songwriter of the '90s and 2000s, and not just because the second disc of this double-disc set is devoted to the mellow, deeply felt country-rock and torch songs that have been Lowe's specialty since 1994's The Impossible Bird. Compilation producer Gregg Geller admits to bypassing Lowe's covers in favor of his originals -- that explains why such singles as "Switchboard Susan," "Teacher Teacher," and "7 Nights to Rock" aren't here -- but he also deliberately skews the selection of songs from the '70s and '80s to create a common thread from Brinsley Schwarz's 1974 finale The New Favourites to 2007's At My Age, one that concentrates on Lowe's wry, immaculately crafted songs and not the pop prankster Jesus of Cool. This approach may fit the sensibility of Lowe's latter-day records, illustrating the through line from "Endless Sleep" and "You Make Me" to "Lately I've Let Things Slide" and "Indian Queens," but it isn't necessarily a more accurate reading of his career. After all, until The Impossible Bird, there was a lot of rock & roll in Lowe's albums, something that this collection downplays quite a bit -- but if that's the side of Nick you need to hear, stick with Basher, whose title speaks to its style as much as Quiet Please. Plus, this rock & roll deficiency is the only flaw on this otherwise sterling collection, the first to cover pretty much his entire career, which means it's the first to give an idea of just what a consistent body of work Lowe has built up over the years. Over the course of two discs and 49 tracks, the sounds may shift but the quality doesn't: there's not a dip in quality and everything on the second disc holds its own with the music on the first. Throughout it all, Lowe's knack for sly, understated songcraft shines and if he doesn't necessarily get better over the years, he might get seamless, writing songs so elegantly polished and delivered they seem effortless. While it could hardly be said to have all of Nick's best -- it not only is skimpy on rock and Rockpile, but also only one cut from Brinsley Schwarz -- it does what so few career-spanning compilations do: it tells a story and stands as testament to the artist's enormous talents.

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