Track Listing

1. So It Goes
2. Heart of the City
3. I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass
4. Little Hitler
5. No Reason
6. 36 Inches High
7. Marie Provost
8. American Squirm
9. Cracking Up
10. Big Kick, Plain Scrap!
11. Born Fighter
12. Switchboard Susan
13. Without Love
14. Cruel to Be Kind
15. When I Write the Book
16. Heart
17. Raging Eyes
18. Time Wounds All Heels
19. Maureen
20. Half a Boy and Half a Man
21. 7 Nights to Rock
22. She Don't Love Nobody
23. Rose of England
24. I Knew the Bride (When She Used to Rock & Roll)
25. Lovers Jamboree

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #71738 in Music
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import

From Amazon.com
Having apprenticed with '60s band Kippington Lodge and '70s pub-rock pioneers Brinsley Schwarz, Nick Lowe became a shining beacon of traditional pop values--wit, concision, unbanishable tunes--amidst the punk furor of the late '70s. This collection is a generous 25-song single-CD selection from eight albums and a few stray singles spanning almost a decade. It may be too generous--the inclusion of a number of so-so songs and failed experiments hampers its playability.

But there are still well over a dozen gems here, including his sole hit, the sparkling, textbook classic-pop masochist's anthem "Cruel to Be Kind;" the ominous voodoo breakdown "Cracking Up;" and the delightfully perverse "Marie Provost," a sumptuous power-pop tune affixed to the horrific tale of a silent-film actress who dies alone and is eaten by her starving dog. There are also at least two songs exploring Lowe's strange obsession with backstage guest lists (first single "So It Goes" and the stately "Little Hitler"), the best version of the pub-rock classic "Switchboard Susan" (containing every conceivable phone/sex double entendre), and a number of crisp rockers abetted by Rockpile, the brilliant band that, credited or not, played on much of members Lowe and Dave Edmunds's best work. --Ken Barnes

Customer Reviews

Pure pop for now people!!!!
This was the first CD I ever bought. Honest. When you only have one CD to your name, 'cos you've just bought a CD player, it should be a good one. This is such a CD. There are generous scoops from every period of Lowe's solo career - lovingly compiled from his growing mass of work on the Demon label.

I used to firmly believe that if there was such a thing as a pop genius, then Nick Lowe was it. From his first single on the Stiff label (up on my wall at home) right to date, I have always enjoyed his music. As for this disc, well, everything you could want is on it. From 'So it goes' right through to the fabulous later work on 'Pinker and Prouder Than Previous' and 'Rose of England'.

This CD became sort of half redundant as I later bought the remainder of the Lowe CD's (to replace my vinyl - some of my oldest friends - which I still kept). But it still get some hammer when I want to just put on the best of Nick Lowe.

If you get this Stiff joke - BUY1