Friday, June 6, 2014

Nick Lowe - Nick Lowe & His Cowboy Outfit

This month marks the thirtieth anniversary of Nick Lowe & His Cowboy Outfit, the fifth studio album from Nick Lowe. This 1984 release spent twelve weeks on the US Billboard Album chart, peaking at number 113.


Side one begins with "Half a Boy and Half a Man". As the first single, it went to number 66 in Australia and number 53 in the UK. The music here reminds me of a carnival with fast rides, bright lights and games of chance. The title almost sounds like one of those side-show attractions that they would have; you would pay money to go back in the tent to see some kind of anomaly of nature.

"Breakaway" is a cover of the 1961 UK hit by the Springfields (siblings Dusty and Tom Springfield, and Tim Feild).

A cover of Mickey Jupp's "You'll Never Get Me Up in One of Those" is next. Lowe had previously done a version when he was part of Rockpile.

"Love Like a Glove" is up next. It is a cover of a track from Carlene Carter's 1983 album C'est C Bon.

I first heard the swaying "The Gee and the Rick and the Three Card Trick" on a Lowe compilation. It has one of those unique titles, which is a key to the chorus that ends up popping into my head at totally random times.

Side two starts with "(Hey Big Mouth) Stand Up and Say That", the quirky B-side to the second single.

The B-side to the first single was "Awesome". It is a cool instrumental riff with the periodic interjection of the one word title.

The rockabilly "God's Gift to Women" tells of a guy who thinks an awful lot of himself.

"Maureen" is next. It reminds me of some of the early rock and roll odes to young ladies.

"L.A.F.S.", released as the second single, is short for love at first sight.

"Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young" is a cover of the 1955 Faron Young hit.

One thing I really like about Nick Lowe's 80's recordings is that they have a cool retro sound to them. Sadly, I had to dig around YouTube to find many of the deeper cuts from Nick Lowe and His Cowboy Outfit.

For more posts about Nick Lowe here on my blog, click here.

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