NICK LOWE - Labour Of Lust

There's been a bunch of awfully long reviews on this site lately, so let's keep things nice and direct on this one.

Do you like songs? Then buy this album.

(Too short?)

Honestly, you could argue that there's a lot to be said about Nick Lowe—a hugely underrated artist whose relative obscurity is surpassed only by his exceptional skill with a song. As the second in Yep Roc's reissues of Lowe's earliest solo LPs (the first being the reissue of 1978's Jesus Of Cool—our store's number one reissue of 2008), Labour Of Lust isn't nearly as sardonic as its predecessor, but is no less sharp or brilliant. Moving on from critiquing the music industry to examining affairs of the heart, Lowe's songs here are by turns full of humour, bravado, wistfulness and always have an insightful eye for the peculiarities of human behaviour. 

The crown jewel is, of course, "Cruel To Be Kind", a song so perfect in its every aspect that you could teach a whole course on songwriting from it. But there are no weak links here. As biting and wry as Lowe is throughout, he was no disrespectful punk—killer musicianship and tastes that range from country and AM pop, to R&B and bare-knuckle bar anthems make for a breathlessly brilliant half hour that references a broad spectrum of styles. Throughout it all, Lowe's quick wit and self-deprecating nature keeps the album's personality singular and endlessly charming.

For the uninitiated, Yep Roc's twin Lowe reissues are a gift from the gods. It's never too late to discover an album as great as this.

So, like I was saying: buy this album.