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Nick Lowe — 357, 356, 355, 354


ALBUMS: The Rose of England (1985); Nick Lowe and his Cowboy Outfit (1984);
Nick the Knife (1982); Pure Pop for Now People (1978);

MVC Rating: Rose 4.0/$$; Cowboy 3.5/$$; Knife 3.5/$$$; Pop 4.5/$$$.

The best Nick Lowe album on this list is the oldest — Pure Pop for Now People, a minor classic of smart rock popcraft ‘So it Goes’ kicks off the album and sets its tone with a little bemoan alongside a rock and roll beat. Then comes (I Love the Sound of) Breaking Glass and we’re off to the races.

A song about ‘Marie Prevost a silent film star who soared but died in poverty of acute alcohol poisoning has this line: ‘ “She was a winner who became the doggies’ dinner.’

So it goes indeed.

The Rose of England is good, even if Nick resurrects for the umpteenth time the song: (I knew the bride) When She Used to Rock and Roll. The song seems (to me anyway) to be about Carlene Carter and Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds who were both playing on her record at the time and both men have recorded versions of that song. Nick and Dave were frequent collaborators. Nick married Carlene.

But see the Edmunds/Carter video in the Carter post to see if you don’t see some old flame sparks — kinda like the song.

So a Lowe album that’s better than three out of four of these is ‘Labor of Lust’ which my brother had, and I never bought because i played his so much. Rockpile’ ‘Seconds of Pleasure’ is a classic album I’ll be reviewing later. The group featured Edmunds and Lowe.

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Los Lobos — 358

ALBUM: How Will the Wolf Survive (1984)

MVC Rating: 4.0/$$$

The Wolves known by their Spanish name Los Lobos kick off this album with a rocking ‘Don’t Worry Baby’ and then follow that with music reflecting their Mexican roots all rolled up in a mix of blues, country, folk and good old barrelhouse rock and roll.

I saw them at the Marin (Calif.) fair from about 12 feet from the stage and I can tell you as good as they sound on records, they are better live. David Hildago can play.

The album kicks off with “Don’t Worry Baby,’ a guitar guided soul/dance track, then the diversity and musicianship is on display the rest of the way.

Rolling Stone ranked this in the Top 500 albums of all time at something like 300-ish.

I have The Neighborhood and Kiko on CD, all excellent and all different. I would recommend this album if you are interested in exploring the Lobos. Kiko is my favorite, a little off the beaten path. And Colossal Head is a steam roller of guitar rock.

I don’t think you can go wrong with any Los Lobos record. I respect their musicality and their ability to bridge diverse groups,

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Led Zeppelin — 359


ALBUMS: Led Zeppelin IV (Stairway album 1971); Houses of the Holy (1973).

MVC Rating: Stairway 5.0/$$$$; Houses 4.5/$$$$

Robert Plant’s voice is/was a force of nature. No doubt about it.

If you were a parental unit at about the time Led Zeppelin hit maximum frenzy, you would describe that force of nature as the sound of a thousand feral cats f… ,um, fighting.

To a young boy/man feeling spunky and cocky and awkward all at the same time, Plant’s flying screeches were a magic carpet ride at 100 mph going through tunnels of Jimmy Page spun guitar scales and crying runs, halfway tamed by John Bonham’s dinosaur bone skin beating.

From thrash metal to lilting folk it was all featured in this Tolkien fantasy land where if you spark up the right mood you were transported and time flowed until it slowed to a drip.

Some influential critics, outing themselves as not-so-different- from the parental units, bashed Led Zeppelin. They literally made fun of them. What they failed to see was this was the artistic and commercial pinnacle of the electrification of blues absorbed by white British kids. New soul. Clapton Cream Yardbirds (from whom Jimmy Page came) had already turned up Robert Johnson’s amp tenfold but Led Zeppelin kept pushing the excess, no, pushing the word ‘excess’ beyond the bounds of its definition. Albert King and Muddy Waters set up the white boys with high lobs. Paged and brethren smashed it. Ace.

My two LZ albums (I have more on digital) are indeed classics. Critics came around. Like the Beatles, there will likely not be another band that created a sound so distinctly different (despite the plagiarism and blatant lifting of old blues lyrics and riffs.) They took it and made it their own, tho that’s certainly disputed by certain plaintiffs.

On Plant’s voice: The only other one in this era and genre who had a voice that could make thousands of black birds explode from the trees was: Janis Joplin.

The 4th album, Stairway, is the commercial peak and like Free Bird or Hotel California or Bohemian Rhapsody, the song is an epic game changer. Even if no one really knows what they are talking about.

Houses of the Holy was a perfectly executed escape from Stairway overkill. It had playful reggae D’yer Mak’er, a James Brown tribute, the Crunge, and a dance tune, ‘Dancing Days.’

There will not be another Led Zeppelin. (Did somebody mention Greta van Fleet?)

“Many times I’ve wondered how much there is to know.”

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Nils Lofgren — 358



ALBUM: Nils Lofgren (1975)

MVC Rating: 4.0/$$

This guitarist has a prolific resume. Founder of the band Grin, they put out some solid rock albums. He was in Neil Young’s Crazy Horse and later Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band.

Meanwhile he put out a number of solo albums like this one in 1975.

When you have close to 700 albums, it’s hard to play all of them consistently. I don’t come home from work and say, gosh I really have to hear some Lofgren. But I should, you should too.. There’s a reason Neil and Bruce like him. He’s a rock and roll guitar player who has fun, plays loose and his music on this album and my two Grin albums sounds like the best bar band you just stumbled onto.

Highlights include Keith Don’t Go, fun homage to Keith Richards complete with Stones’ riffs. “Going Back,” a Goffin/King song shows off his piano skills which I didn’g even know he had.

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Lyle Lovett– 360

ALBUM: Lyle Lovett (1986); Pontiac (1988)

MVC Rating: Lovett 4.0/$$$; Pontiac, 4.0/$$$$

bought this debut album in my early Birmingham years. Probably because of lyrics like this: And this old porch is like a steaming greasy plate of enchiladas
With lots of cheese and onions
And a guacamole salad
And you can get them down at the LaSalle Hotel

Lovett went to Texas A&M just like my Dad.

Lovett loved cheese enchiladas just like Dad (who taught me to love them).

Lovett married Julia Roberts. Dad married Jo Ellen Oliver, beautiful women both. Dad stayed married.

Though I haven’t listened much lately I have this album and a couple Lovett CD’s. His song about church going on too long is a favorite.

Then there’s the ultimate cheating song ‘God Will.‘

 
So who says he'll forgive you
And says that he'll miss you
And dream of your sweet memory
God does
But I don't
God will
But I won't
And that's the difference
Between God and me

In the liner note the legendary Guy Clark wrote: “The first time I met Lyle I thought he was a French blues player. You can’t tell he’s Texan ’til you hear the songs. Then he’s so Texas he doesn’t have to say it.”

After publishing this and weeks later I discovered I had another vinyl Lyle Lovett album called Pontiac. It’s even better than the self-titled debut I reviewed here. HIghlights: “If I had a Boat,’ ‘She’s No Lady,’ and ‘Give me Back My Heart.’

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The Left Banke — 361


ALBUM: The History of the Left Banke (1985)

MVC Rating: 3.5/$$

Rhino Records knows how to make something from not much. This decidedly minor group gets a cover with lots of photos, a plastic cover sleeve with Rhino’s catalog: Best of Troggs, the Nazz, the Standells, the Box Tops, and so on.

Then there is a history on a sheet inside that is everything you would ever want to know about four anonymous guys in a band you’ve hardly ever heard of. That’s Rhino! I love them. Who knows? We document their history and some time in the future there is a Left Banke revival? Nah, but they did one thing that put them on the pop-rock map: ‘Walk Away Renee.’ It’s a pop classic, strings and all. (The version by the Cowsills on their live album is awesome and where I first heard it at about 11 years old.)


‘Pretty Ballerina’ was their other hit and it’s not so much. Two tracks are from the group Stories, which had a cool song about interracial dating/love affairs that was likely bold for its day called Brother Louie. Stories morphed out of the Left Banke in early 1970s.

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Lone Justice — 362

ALBUM: Lone Justice (1985)

MVC Rating: 4.0/$$

This is Tammy Wynette and the Scorchers.

Country leavened belter Maria McKee delivers a hybrid punk country voice that is big and just a shade too sharp for my ears. No question she’s talented. But the LA band came with lots of hype.

One critic declared the self-titled debut the greatest album ever made, according to the band’s Wikipedia page.

Huh?

Just in the sub-genre of cowpunk, two out of three of my Jason and the Scorchers records match or exceed this.

They had a few singles but none did super well. The Tom Petty-penned ‘Ways to be Wicked’ is possibly the best.

I like the more country – leaning songs such as ‘Dont Toss Us Away’‘ and ‘Soap Soup and Salvation’ I love the album’s soft gospel closer, ‘You Are the Light.’

But after disappointing sales, they moved toward more mainstream rock and the band fizzled.

‘You are the light in my dark world, you are the fire that will always burn.’

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Love Tractor, Let’s Active — 364, 363

ALBUM: Love Tractor , ‘Themes from Venus’ (1988); Let’s Active, “Big Plans for Everybody.’ (1986).

MVC Rating: Tractor 4.0/$$$; Active, 3.5/$$$

I was disappointed to pull out my Love Tractor album and find that it was warped. I’m talking about a big warp at the inception of the record which makes it skip. Sadly I am probably going to have to throw it away. And that’s a shame because I remember it fondly. Another Warped Hometown Band.

I combined Let’s Active with this as well because it was part of a group of records that were my college soundtrack. Both had Mitch Easter connections and Athens, Ga., connections, my more or less hometown. Let’s Active was from, I believe Chapel Hill, a university town that followed Athens’ as an incubator for good music. Of these Love Tractor is more varied and a little bit more alternative or should I say Avant Garde.

They started out as a mostly instrumental band. When they found their words they were mostly super silly but cool super silly like “I Like My Power Tools.”

Let’s Active was often compared to REM but except for some trebly jangly-ness of the guitars I didn’t see them that like that. I thought they sounded more like Ryan Adams.

Love tractor had the wonderful ‘I broke my saw’ in the spirit of Big Fat Tractor by the Swimming Pool Q’s.

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Little Richard — 361


ALBUMS: Precious Lord (1985)

This is an interesting record from one of the founders of rock ‘n roll.

MVC Rating: 3.5/$$$$

Son of a church deacon, who severely punished Little Richard after catching his son wearing women’s clothes , Little Richard aka Richard Wayne Penniman clearly had some personal issues in his life — sexuality conflicts and substance abuse.

According to various sources including an autobiography, Little Richard’s father’s church duties in Macon, Ga., were augmented by a moonshine and nightclub business. So somewhere therein lies a reason or two why Little Richard bounced back and forth between being ‘born again,’ singing gospel and secular music that pushed the bounds that society had laid down for sexually explicit content at the time.

Long Tall Sally, Tutti Frutti, and Good Golly Miss Molly are three of his bigger hits whose vocal stylings influenced everyone from Paul McCartney to Wilson Picket.

The record company had to hire someone to clean up the lyrics forTutti Frutti, for example. This 1985 gospel record is not listed on Wikipedia’s discography although you can buy it on vinyl on Amazon for about $17. I bought this new back in 1985 after wandering into a store in one of Birmingham’s mostly black neighborhoods. That’s where I also found a Birmingham Community Choir record, which I feature earlier in my countdown.

This album is not well recorded and that’s why I give it a 3.5, rather than a 4 or better. It sounds like it was recorded in a cavernous empty church with one microphone dangling from the ceiling. An echo-ey and distant feel.

That said, the singer shows off an amazing voice and range. Glad I got it

ALABAMA NOTE: In one of his bounce backs to religion in the late 60s, he attended Oakwood College (now University) in Huntsville. It is a historically Black Seventh-day Adventist institution,

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Little Feat — 363, 362


ALBUMS: Sailin’ Shoes (1972); Hoy Hoy (1986)

MVC Rating: Sailin’: 4.0/$$$; Hoy: 4.0/$$$

Little Feat and its leader Lowell George started with a foundation of Southern blues rock a la the Brothers Allman, added a touch of the Brothers Neville and topped it off with some funky Brothers Isley.

When I think of Little Feat I think of their song Dixie Chicken and the great swinging opening:

I’ve seen the bright lights of Memphis
And the Commodore Hotel
And underneath a street lamp I met a Southern belle
Well she took me to the river, where she cast her spell
And in that Southern moonlight, she sang a song so well

And the refrain that sticks in your brain like gum on a shoe on a hot day.

If you’ll be my dixie chicken, I’ll be your Tennessee lamb
And we can walk together down in dixieland
Down in dixieland .

Lowell George formed Little Feat after leaving Frank Zappa’s Brothers, er, Mothers of Invention. George said he was encouraged to leave Zappa because Frank, who eschewed drugs, didn’t like the drug references in the George song “Willin’. This is seemingly ironic given that the Mothers had released the psychedelic album of the ages in ‘Freak Out’ — but, oh yeah, with Zappa he wasn’t laughing with them, he was laughing at them. (Tripping hippies, I’m talking about).

‘Sailin’ Shoes’ was the second in a handful of consistently good albums. As the band started to fall apart in the 80’s, Lowell George went on tour behind a very good solo album, ‘Thanks I’ll Eat Here.” See MVC review,

He died in a motel room in Virginia, the victim of his appetites for drugs, alcohol and food, especially food. He reportedly weighed more than 300 pounds at death.