Cruel to be Kind - The Life and Music of Nick Lowe by Will Birch

 

As with many people, I discovered Nick Lowe from his Pure Pop For Now People debut solo album and his work with the fab Stiff Records (including producing the Damned's amazing debut album) and have appreciated his career since, although I have never known much about the man, which Will Birch wanted to rectify with this book.

Being the son of a serviceman, Nick moved around quite a bit as a child - some of his father's exploits are pretty impressive - but he had an early love for music and his first instrument was a banjolele! Of course, with the advent of skiffle along with instrumental bands like the Shadows, his tastes grew into rock'n'roll quickly, alongside the rest of the country. After a few bands that did nothing, he hooked up with some new mates, including one by the unlikely name of Brinsley Schwarz, and started playing a bit more seriously.

Tidbits abound, such as NIck's prodigious use of acid, how the band was influenced by an American group that started playing in a local pub to kill time and thus helped start the British "pub rock" scene and how Dr. Feelgood came onto the scene with youth'n'power and made the old pub rock groups irrelevant. Eventually Schwarz disbanded and Nick's manager, Jack Rivera, started Stiff Records ("if it ain't Stiff, it ain't worth a fuck!") and Nick became involved in the burgeoning punk rock/new wave scene. Dave Edmunds appeared on the scene, as well, and after signing with Led Zep's Swan Song Records, began a mutually beneficiary relationship, including the fantastic combo, Rockpile.

Of course, Lowe's career is primarily as a solo artist and producer, and he has had many ups'n'downs over the years, some big financial success (as when a cover of "Peace, Love and Understanding" appeared on The Bodyguard's multi-million selling soundtrack), and lots of lean times, although often accompanied by critical acclaim. He worked with many collaborators, from the famous, such as Ry Cooder, to the unlikely, such as Los Straitjackets, and many others, and often toured as a solo act, to cut costs and to challenge himself. Having reinvented himself as a cult artist, he continues to survive off of his royalties and occasional shows - gigging when he wants and with whom he wants. Not a bad way to live, if you ask me!

Author Will Birch has an impressive resume - he was a member of the power pop masters, the Records, a producer of many hip band, including Dr. Feelgood, Rockpile's Billy Bremmer and the Long Ryders (!), and he co-wrote "A-1 on the Jukebox" with Dave Edmunds! And he has known Nick since the 70's, giving him an intimate viewpoint for his fine story telling. He does a fine job on his subject and keeps the book reasonably riveting throughout although, as usual for me, the 60's and 70's are the most interesting parts of Nick's career. Definitely one for the fans and those who want to learn more about this multitalented geezer!