Graham Reid | | <1 min read
Nick Lowe: I Trained her to Love Me
To be honest, I consider Nick Lowe's '98 album Dig My Mood so outstanding that anything he does subsequently will pale in the comparison.
By the time of that album, the former English pub-rocker in the post-punk era and friend of Elvis Costello had taken a considerable career turn and was now a gorgeous country-soul singer whose songwriting put him so far ahead in the field that others must have despaired.
Lowe continued in that vein, hitched up with the legendary songwriting team of Spooner Oldham and Dan Penn (his natural allies) and this album -- six years on from his fine The Convincer -- exudes the same charm, wit, effortless melodicism, and dark corners in the lyrics. And confirms his place in the pantheon of great singers and songwriters.
The title is telling too: here are songs of regret for lost love; others about bitterness; some about being happy with life and a new love; others just about being . . . . well, being his age I guess.
He covers some little-known but classic material (including Charlie Feathers' The Man In Love which comes with a gentle kick), but it is his own songs like I Trained Her To Love Me which has an undercurrent of self-loathing beneath the braggadocio and the reflective ballad The Other Side of the Coin which make this an outstanding collection of country soul and softly swinging jazz-blues.
The Lone Ranger - May 29, 2009
I recorded a Jools Holland show from the mid 90's which featured Nick in his country genre.
SaveWhat a great band.
Loved that twang.
Didn't pick the guitarist but that became clear eight years later.
I've never had the chance to catch Nick,but at Bluesfest 2004 and Narooma 2007 I caught the great Bill Kirchen,the guitarist from Commander Cody & the Last Planet Airmen,who played the twang with Nick on that Jools Holland show.
At Bluesfest 2004 he shared two sets with the Paladins.
I watched him play the extended version of Hot Rod Lincoln with an open mouth.
At Narooma 2007 he played with an Aussue band called Git,featuring Chris Wilson the harp player.
They backed Bill to a mesmerised audience.
I stood at the front,and a guy walked up to him at the end and said "I'm a musican but I've never seen anyone play like you played "Lincoln".
What an awesome Telecaster player.
I got him to autograph all my Cds plus a copy of the set list.
A vastly underrated guitarist outside a cult following.
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