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Track Listings
| 1. Cruel To Be Kind |
| 2. Cracking Up |
| 3. Big Kick, Plain Scrap |
| 4. American Squirm |
| 5. Born Fighter |
| 6. You Make Me |
| 7. Skin Deep |
| 8. Switch Board Susan |
| 9. Endless Grey Ribbon |
| 10. Without Love |
| 11. Dose Of You |
| 12. Love So Fine |
| 13. Basing Street (Bonus Track) |
Product Description
CD Description
This is the welcome reissue of the classic 1979 album that found Nick Lowe with cohorts Dave Edmunds, Terry Williams and Billy Bremner, collectively known as Rockpile, one of the hottest bands on the planet at the time.
It includes Nick's biggest hit in "Cruel To Be Kind", that still picks up regular radio plays, along with other standout tracks such as "Cracking Up", "American Squirm" and "Without Love". A bonus track, "Basing Street", has been added. It comes in a digipack format with original artwork from noted designer Barney Bubbles with fabulous period pictures. The booklet note is by Will Birch with recollections from Nick Lowe.
It includes Nick's biggest hit in "Cruel To Be Kind", that still picks up regular radio plays, along with other standout tracks such as "Cracking Up", "American Squirm" and "Without Love". A bonus track, "Basing Street", has been added. It comes in a digipack format with original artwork from noted designer Barney Bubbles with fabulous period pictures. The booklet note is by Will Birch with recollections from Nick Lowe.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
One of my favorite albums of all time, In 1979 I thought this album was such a cool sound, not punk, not retro Rock& Roll but something new, for me it was New Wave, this album was recorded the same time as Dave Edmunds Repeat When Necessary (you need both) there was a TV special called Born Fighters (check it out on youtube) recorded at the time (1978) and I was hoping that would make a bonus DVD for this release but alas no, the bonus tracks that make the cut are the dark and somber Basing Street (b-side of Crackin Up), and single release American Squirm (which replaced Endless Grey Ribbon on the original U.S. lp release) if you want a Deluxe style experience then purchase the Dave Edmunds album to go with it, the two go hand in hand, Just look at that Barney Bubbles cover this is New Wave.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
The high-water mark album of Nick Lowe's chequered career features the familiar single version of his biggest hit, 'Cruel to be kind', as well as several other witty songs, all with a great pop twist and the wonderful sheer artistry of Dave Edmunds and Billy Bremner on guitars.
Trivia: Nick Lowe and Rockpile sessioned on Mickey Jupp's Juppanese album (Buy that one too, it's great). They backed him up on his song 'Switchboard Susan'. He hated their cut of it, so Nick bought the tape. It's a standout track on here and Mickey Jupp should have kept it. His loss, our gain.
Fantastic album. Buy it NOW.
Trivia: Nick Lowe and Rockpile sessioned on Mickey Jupp's Juppanese album (Buy that one too, it's great). They backed him up on his song 'Switchboard Susan'. He hated their cut of it, so Nick bought the tape. It's a standout track on here and Mickey Jupp should have kept it. His loss, our gain.
Fantastic album. Buy it NOW.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
23 reviews
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
The LOWEst!
10 Nov 2002
Format:Audio CD
A local radio station specializing in music of the 60s, 70s and 80s (after recently dropping its 50s playlist and "Oldies" tag) included Nick Lowe and his "Cruel to Be Kind" on a recent "One Hit Wonders" weekend. Technically, that's true I guess. But for those of us whose perspective on rock music goes a bit further than the U.S. Top Forty, Nick Lowe deserves a little more respect and recognition than this benighted station was bestowing.
Anyone with at least a passing knowledge of rock history knows that Nick Lowe was a seminal figure in late 70s New Wave. As a producer, solo artist and band member (Rockpile), his contribution to that underappreciated genre (more tuneful than straight-on punk, truer to the spirit of rock 'n' roll than all that arena rock junk) cannot be emphasized enough. As good a songwriter and performer as Elvis Costello or Joe Jackson, he never got the recognition he deserved--at least on this side of the Big Pond.
"Cruel To Be Kind" was indeed pure pop for now (and "then") people, but the album itself was much rockier, and thematically edgier than the hit single might imply. "Born Fighter," "Switchboard Susan," and "Skin Deep" are bristling rockers. "Big Kick, Plain Scrap," a cooler, slower talk-song is a fairly frank, non-condemnatory drug song (not TOTALLY condemnatory anway) which probably didn't exactly enhance the likelihood of the album's getting more extensive airplay. Neither do the numerous not-so-ambiguous double-entendres in any number of songs on the record.
Nick Lowe seems to be enjoying a comeback of sorts as a dapper elder statesman of rock 'n' roll. I caught him at a festival last summer on his tour backing THE CONVINCER. The audience didn't need much convincing, however. As rockers go, Nick Lowe is the genuine article. If you're a newcomer to his music LABOUR OF LUST is a great place to start. But don't stop there. There's a whole catalog of material from the 80s and 80s to explore. And maybe...just maybe...someone will see fit to release his first solo record PURE POP FOR NOW PEOPLE on CD sometime in the near future.
23 of 25 people found the following review helpful
A unique pop-rock classic
10 Aug 2000
Format:Audio CD
It says something about the state of the world that this classic pop-rock album is now apparently available only as an import. According to the track listing, this import includes "Endless Grey Ribbon", a B-side ballad not on the U.S. release, but lacks "American Squirm" one of the best songs on the album. If this is true it would be a shame, but if you can't find a used vinyl copy this is still worth it. If the freak hit "Cruel To Be Kind" drove you crazy in 1979-80, songs such as "Cracking Up" or "Dose of You" or "Love So Fine" should take the curse off, and are each worth the price of admission alone. Layered acoustic and electric guitars, snappy melodies, excellent drumming, hooks galore, and (this being Nick Lowe) double entendres, puns and sick jokes all make for a hugely enjoyable, obsessively replayable album. Aside from "Cruel To Be Kind" Lowe's brand of pop irony never caught on with the public, but critics at the time assumed he would continue to release albums of this level of quality. Eleven years later, he did, with Party of One.
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Great Rockpile CD
12 Dec 2003
Format:Audio CD
Jesus of Cool was a jukebox, spinning out a series of perfectly crafted - and decidedly quirky and subversive - pop singles. In contrast, Nick Lowe's second album, Labour of Lust, is the work of a bar band, in this case Rockpile, playing the hell out of the same type of songs. Naturally, the result is a more coherent sound that may be a little less freewheelingly eclectic, but it is no less brilliant. Recorded simultaneously with Dave Edmunds' Repeat When Necessary, Labour of Lust benefits from the muscular support of Rockpile, who make Lowe's songs crackle with vitality. Working primarily in the roots rock vein of Brinsley Schwarz but energizing his traditionalist tendencies with strong pop melodies, a sense of humor, and an edgy new wave sensibility, Lowe comes up with one of his best sets of songs. Not only is his only hit, the propulsively hook-laden "Cruel to Be Kind," here, but so are the rampaging outsider anthem "Born Fighter," the tongue-in-cheek, Chuck Berry-style "Love So Fine," the wonderful pure pop of "Dose of You," the haunting "Endless Grey Ribbon," the druggy "Big Kick, Plain Scrap!," and the terrific "Cracking Up," as well as his definitive version of Mickey Jupp's "Switchboard Susan." It's an exceptional collection of inventive pop songs, delivered with vigor and energy, making it one of the great records of the new wave. - Stephen Thomas, AMG
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