High Roller, No. 1, 1979: Difference between revisions
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Art Bubble reviews ''[[Armed Forces]]''. | Art Bubble reviews ''[[Armed Forces]]''. | ||
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Eric Sundin reviews Nick Lowe's ''[[Pure Pop For Now People]]''. | |||
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<center><h3> Lowesome humor </h3></center> | |||
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<center> Eric Sundin </center> | |||
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'''Nick Lowe''' / Pure Pop For Now People | |||
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On first perusing Nick Lowe's ''Pure Pop for Now People'', one is insulted by its audaciously tacky jacket photograph of its "artiste" in six different rock and roll costumes. I mean, here is this unknown protean sort masquerading from mop-top to southside cool who has the nerve to think that he's creating viable music. Put the disc on the gramophone and the same proteus musically assaults your ears. From early Beatles twangy guitar riffs to late McCartney cutsie "do do doos" to Elvis gutterals to Punk mono-chord music — it's all there in Lowe's chameleon pop. | |||
What is so irritating about the first listen, however, is not the daring blend of dubious pop or Lowe's ridiculous jacket postures. Instead, it is that we find ourselves admitting that the stuff's good. Melodically, the songs are infectious. If not infectious, they are bizarre enough to be interesting. Lowe seems a master of musically wooing you into acceptance — only then to give you a supremely unsubtle lyrical bash in the face. The upbeat "Kodachrome"-ish "Nutted by Reality," the catchy "Rollers Show," the charmingly simple "So It Goes" all belie sarcastic lyric jabs at what they manifest so well — pop music. Through his lyric witticism, one gets the uncomfortable sensation that Lowe is playing a finely-honed joke on a generation cultivated on pop music pap. | |||
Like most good parodists, Lowe succeeds at thoroughly defining the genre he parodies and then deftly puncturing its illusory bubble. The definition occurs in the excellent music; the deflation occurs in the purposely inane lyrics. Ironically, the listener's bash in the face is the success of the album. Paradoxically, Lowe's sarcastic sledgehammer gives us a queer pleasure, perhaps derived from our own realization that we, in the past, considered ourselves "now people" by embracing such "pure pop." Perhaps true enlightenment is the result of personal irritation. | |||
The not-unrelated extremes of enlightenment and irritation are skillfully blended in each of the album's cuts. "Marie Provost" begins as a pleasing ballad of a silent film star who doesn't make the grade in Hollywood after the appearance of talkies. Initially, we are seduced into sympathy for her (as any effective pop ballad should do). Then Lowe harmonizes ''"She was a winner / who became the doggie's dinner"'' after he reveals her suicide. Sharp Lennon guitar riffs introduce ''"even hungry little eyes that could not speak / say that a dog has got to eat / ...the cops came in and threw up at what they found / that hungry little dachshund / poor poor Marie."'' | |||
In a similar progression from pop to bitter humor, the lyrics in "So It Goes" wander from be-bop impressions of a rock concert (''"The security's so tight tonight / They're ready for a tussle"'') to a pessimistic view of American peace-keeping missions (''"...with the worthy men of Spain and Siam / All day discussions with the Russians"''). Sprinkled throughout is a non-grotesque, yet nevertheless poignant, Vonnegutian ''"So it goes / So it goes / Where it's going no one knows."'' | |||
More blatantly sarcastic tunes include "36 Inches High," "Music for Money," and "They called it Rock." The first, a laborious artsy-rock tune, replete with bizarre "cool" effects, begins ''"Once I was a soldier / Riding on a big white horse"'' and ends with a sardonic Swiftian ''"Once I was a ruler / About twelve inches high / Three times me made a yardstick / 36 inches high, 36 inches high / I never got over 36 inches high."'' Lowe's point is that pop music is fine unless one listens to its message (or lack thereof). | |||
"Music for Money" is less subtle, if you can consider any Lowe songs subtle. Tribal drums echo ''"Music for money / Gibsons for gain / Reddies for roadies / Fenders for fame / ...Buckskin for bucks / Singing for sucks."'' Lowe adds the wry chorus ''"Isn't it all clear?"'' after a purposely repulsive Muzak ice-rink organ solo. | |||
If Lowe hasn't made "it" clear by his album cover or the mentioned songs, he certainly freely dispenses vitreous cynicism in the Lynyrd Skynyrd / Presley hybrid "They Called it Rock" and la creme des cliches, "Rollers Show." In the former track, the story of a hot rock group's debut album is spiced with, ''"CBS'll give 'em a big advance / Atlantic, c'mon take a chance / Arista says they love it / But the kids can't dance to it."'' In the latter, seriousness is undercut by the insistent juvenile reprise ''"Gonna see the Rollers / Got a ticket for the Bay City Rollers / Everything will be outta-sight (dynamite)"'' which helps to drive one more nail in pop's coffin. | |||
One can't resist comparing ''Pure Pop'' to <i>National Lampoon</i>'s ''Goodbye Pop'' parody. Unlike ''Goodbye Pop'', Lowe's gem of a musical joke endures repeated plays. Lowe's parody pop, as well as his straight ditties "Breaking Glass," "Little Hitler," McCartney-esque ("It's Only Love") "Tonight," and reggae "No Reason," are all eminently listenable despite somewhat vacuous lyrics. | |||
Lowe's ''Pure Pop For Now People'' more than sufficiently indicates that his talent is limitless. In addition, Lowe's long and varied career as performer and producer is equally impressive. Lowe headed Brinsley Schwarz, a British mellow-rock group of the early '70's; he collaborated with Dave Edmunds and Rockpile; he produced all three of Elvis Costello's albums and masterminded others by Graham Parker, Dr. Feelgood, and the notorious The Damned, the Sex Pistols' main rival in 1976. Yet one can only hope that Lowe's talent will appear more straight-faced on a forthcoming record, since parodies can only go so far as musical classics. Then perhaps the "Jesus of Cool" (as Lowe is known in England) will amoeba his way into musical respectability not as a jack of all trades but a master of one. | |||
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<small>Cover and contents pages.</small><br> | <small>Cover and contents pages.</small><br> | ||
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[[Category:Album reviews]] | [[Category:Album reviews]] | ||
[[Category:Armed Forces reviews]] | [[Category:Armed Forces reviews]] | ||
[[Category:Pure Pop For Now People reviews]] | |||
Latest revision as of 20:55, 26 April 2023
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