Nick Lowe - Quiet Please, The New Best Of Nick Lowe (2009) [2CD+DVD Deluxe Set] RE-UP

Posted By : perfecta | Date : 11 Feb 2012 12:41:00 | Comments : 7 |

"Quiet Please... The New Best Of Nick Lowe" is the definitive career-spanning best of from the British pop genius that makes all other collections obsolete. This 49-track compendium documents the development of one of popular music s greatest song crafters, from his pub rock days in 'Brinsley Schwarz' and later 'Rockpile,' to his now legendary solo career. Healthy doses of material from 20 different albums ombine to make it clear why Lowe is credited by artists and critics alike with paving the way for punk as well as changing the face of pop music with albums like 'Jesus of Cool,' 'Labour of Lust' and 'At My Age.' A deluxe version of this two disc collection is also available, including a DVD of vintage original Lowe videos for tracks like 'I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass,' 'Cruel to Be Kind' and more as well as a full length solo concert filmed live in Belgium circa 2007.

“

Quiet Please bears the subtitle "The New Best of Nick Lowe," making no attempt to disguise the fact that it's been a full 20 years since Nick's last hits collection, Basher. That "new" designation is also a subtle indication of the editorial slant of Quiet Please, how it shifts away from the frenzied new wave rocker toward the swinging songwriter of the '90s and 2000s, and not just because the second disc of this double-disc set is devoted to the mellow, deeply felt country-rock and torch songs that have been Lowe's specialty since 1994's The Impossible Bird. Compilation producer Gregg Geller admits to bypassing Lowe's covers in favor of his originals -- that explains why such singles as "Switchboard Susan," "Teacher Teacher," and "7 Nights to Rock" aren't here -- but he also deliberately skews the selection of songs from the '70s and '80s to create a common thread from Brinsley Schwarz's 1974 finale The New Favourites to 2007's At My Age, one that concentrates on Lowe's wry, immaculately crafted songs and not the pop prankster Jesus of Cool. This approach may fit the sensibility of Lowe's latter-day records, illustrating the through line from "Endless Sleep" and "You Make Me" to "Lately I've Let Things Slide" and "Indian Queens," but it isn't necessarily a more accurate reading of his career. After all, until The Impossible Bird, there was a lot of rock & roll in Lowe's albums, something that this collection downplays quite a bit -- but if that's the side of Nick you need to hear, stick with Basher, whose title speaks to its style as much as Quiet Please. Plus, this rock & roll deficiency is the only flaw on this otherwise sterling collection, the first to cover pretty much his entire career, which means it's the first to give an idea of just what a consistent body of work Lowe has built up over the years. Over the course of two discs and 49 tracks, the sounds may shift but the quality doesn't: there's not a dip in quality and everything on the second disc holds its own with the music on the first. Throughout it all, Lowe's knack for sly, understated songcraft shines and if he doesn't necessarily get better over the years, he might get seamless, writing songs so elegantly polished and delivered they seem effortless. While it could hardly be said to have all of Nick's best -- it not only is skimpy on rock and Rockpile, but also only one cut from Brinsley Schwarz -- it does what so few career-spanning compilations do: it tells a story and stands as testament to the artist's enormous talents. [The Deluxe Edition of Quiet Please: The New Best of Nick Lowe includes a DVD that contains all nine of his often riotous music videos, plus an excellent full-length latter-day concert.]

-- Stephen Thomas Erlewine, allmusic.com

”

Tracks:

CD 1:
01. (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding
02. So It Goes
03. Heart Of The City
04. Endless Sleep
05. Marie Provost
06. I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass
07. Cracking Up
08. American Squirm
09. Cruel To Be Kind
10. Without Love
11. You Make Me
12. When I Write The Book
13. Play That Fast Thing (One More Time)
14. Burning
15. Heart
16. Raining Raining
17. Ragin' Eyes
18. Mess Around With Love
19. Wish You Were Here
20. L.A.F.S.
21. Half A Boy And Half A Man
22. The Gee And The Rick And The Three Card Trick
23. The Rose Of England
24. I Knew The Bride (When She Used To Rock And Roll)
25. Wishing Well

EAC-LOG 1

CD 2:
01. Lover's Jambolee
02. Shting-Shtang
03. All Men Are Liars
04. What's Shakin' On The Hill
05. Don't Think About Her When You're Trying To Drive [Demo]
06. Fool Who Knows
07. Soulful Wind
08. The Beast In Me
09. I Live On A Battlefield
10. Shelley My Love
11. You Inspire Me
12. Lonesome Reverie
13. Faithless Lover
14. What Lack Of Love Has Done
15. Man That I've Become
16. Lately I've Let Things Slide
17. Homewrecker
18. Has She Got A Friend
19. Let's Stay In And Make Love
20. Indian Queens
21. I Trained Her To Love Me
22. People Change
23. Long Limbed Girl
24. Hope For Us All

EAC-LOG 2

DVD:
Live Concert at Ancienne Belgique
01. People Change
02. Soulful Wind
03. What's Shakin' On The Hill
04. Heart
05. All Men Are Lies
06. Without Love
07. Has She Got A Friend
08. I Trained Her To Love Me
09. Cruel To Be Kind
10. Yo Inspire Me
11. Long Limbed Girl
12. Shting-Shtang
13. Rome Wasn't Built In A Day
14. I Knew The Bride (When She Used To Rock And Roll)
15. (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding
16. Heart Of The City
17. The Beast In Me

Original Music Videos:
01. I Love The Sound of Breaking Glass
02. Little Hitler
03. No Reason
04. Cruel To Be Kind
05. Cracking Up
06. Ragin Eyes
07. Half A Boy And Half A Man
08. I Knew The Bride (When She Used To Rock And Roll)
09. All Men Are Liars

NTSC, MPEG-2 VBR, avg. bitrate 6200 Kbps.
Aspect Ratio - 16:9 A
Dolby Digital 2.0 - 192 Kbps.

DVD-Info 3