Curtain Call: Nick Lowe

So many live performances by the Abominable Showman on the shelf. A few random selections are presented for your enjoyment:

Here's one from Rockpile at Montreux in 1980. What a show! Highly recommended. Nick, Dave Edmunds, Billy Bremner and Terry Williams sure knew how to bring it. This was a few months before the only album ('Seconds of Pleasure') to use the Rockpile name was released. Of course, they had been playing together for a number of years on the "solo" efforts of Nick and Dave. This song goes back to a stand-alone single released during the 'Jesus of Cool' era. Here in America, it would appear on 'Pure Pop for Now People.'

They Called It Rock

This next one is from when Nick was backed by His Cowboy Outfit in 1984. In case you're not familiar, that band was Martin Belmont, Paul Carrack and Bobby Irwin. Not bad at all. This show was recorded at the Paris Theatre in London for the BBC, and this song was the latest single. One of my favorites.

Half a Boy and Half a Man

On Nov. 21, 1987, Nick sat in with Elvis Costello and the Confederates for a show at Kosei Nenkin Hall in Tokyo that was recorded for broadcast on Japanese television. I'm getting this one from a bootleg called 'Do the Rumba' I picked up during my days in Japan, and it's one of only two shows I own from the Confederates era. The band rotated in and out quite a bit in those days, but on this night Elvis and Nick were joined by Jerry Scheff, Jim Keltner, Austin De Lone and James Burton. Wow! Costello's banter with the crowd is epic. When he introduces the band, he quips, "I don't know if you understand a word I'm sayin', but I hope you enjoyed it anyway." Before the last song he says, "We're supposed to be off the stage now, otherwise they chop our heads off, but so what? You only live once." Here's a song that has paid Nick's bills for lo these many years. I think you're really going to enjoy the harmonies from Elvis and Nick and as they trade verses.

(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding

You'll find this cover of the Jim Ford song from 1970 on the 'Live! On the Battlefield' EP as performed by his band the Impossible Birds at Sun Plaza in Tokyo circa 1994. It's a roster he played with for five albums and throughout the crooning years until he adopted Los Straightjackets a few years ago. The pace of this song is quite a bit different than the version you probably know from 'Jesus of Cool'/'Pure Pop for Now People,' and it has grown on me considerably.

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