Nick Lowe, Los Straitjackets – Indoor Safari (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 37:37 minutes | 793 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Yep Roc Records
Nick Lowe returns with Indoor Safari, his first studio album in over a decade. Backed on every track by Nick’s trusted collaborators Los Straitjackets, Nick exhibits his razorsharp songwriting ability through a multitude of sonic environments. With his signature wit on display for grooving numbers like “Went to a Party” and “Don’t Be Nice to Me,” to the heartfelt sentiment on “Blue on Blue” and “Jet Pac Boomerang,” and topped with Nick breathing new life into hidden gems of the ’60s like “Raincoat in the River” and “A Quiet Place,” Indoor Safari demonstrates how Nick Lowe continues to make his mark as a performer, songwriter and producer over a half-century after his start in the music industry.
The unlikely partnership of Nick Lowe and Los Straitjackets, the Nashville-bred surf rock band whose members wear Mexican wrestling masks, has given his long career a new act. First heard on the 2015 Christmas album, The Quality Holiday Revue, the bond between the instrumental quartet and the canny veteran—writer of such pub rock classics a “Cruel To Be Kind’ and “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding”—has not only spawned his first album in over a decade, but also changed the trajectory of Lowe’s career. “I realized my fate maybe wasn’t to just keep playing the same old songs to the same old tubby ex-pub rockers. Suddenly, the whole thing started to get some bounce to it. Like, ‘Wait a minute, this is really something,’” he recounts in the album’s liner notes.
At the center of Indoor Safari is Lowe’s devotion to songcraft in the genres he knows best, especially the catchy singles of the early years of rock ‘n’ roll. The opener, “Went to a Party,” is Lowe revisiting Elvis, Lesley Gore, and Gene Vincent—all in the same moment. Continuing in the bouncy, poppy, early rock vein, “Love Starvation” finds him lamenting, “I’ll tell you something about love starvation/ It’s like a prison in your mind you’re locked up in/ Disappointment, desperation/ Your two old friends.” Age creeps into “A Quiet Place,” where he pleads for peace from his “noisy street” where “There’s a drunk that wakes me in the middle of the night/ Singing ‘Sweet Caroline.’” One of the highlights on a record full of them is “Blue on Blue,” where a sturdy melody, Lowe’s flawless enunciation and the close miked vocals make lines like “Your kiss is my one true desire/ I long each waking hour for you” land with convincing force. “Tokyo Bay” with the reverb laid on his voice is a tough roots rock guitar workout. And doomed love song “Trombone” demonstrates just how limber and expressive Lowe’s voice can still be. Los Straitjackets are tight throughout, and their energy has clearly added fresh inspiration to Lowe’s already illustrious career. – Robert Baird
Tracklist:
1-1. Nick Lowe – Went to a Party (02:57)
1-2. Nick Lowe – Love Starvation (02:51)
1-3. Nick Lowe – Crying Inside (02:55)
1-4. Nick Lowe – A Quiet Place (03:12)
1-5. Nick Lowe – Blue on Blue (03:37)
1-6. Nick Lowe – Jet Pac Boomerang (03:14)
1-7. Nick Lowe – Tokyo Bay (02:22)
1-8. Nick Lowe – Trombone (04:07)
1-9. Nick Lowe – Different Kind of Blue (03:32)
1-10. Nick Lowe – Raincoat in the River (02:57)
1-11. Nick Lowe – Lay It on Me Baby (02:54)
1-12. Nick Lowe – Don’t Be Nice to Me (02:55)
