New Wave avatar’s debut gets spiffed up for 30th anniversary
After spending the first half of the ’70s fronting underrated roots-rock band Brinsley Schwarz, Nick Lowe morphed into a superhero at the dawn of punk and New Wave. Along with producing memorable LPs for The Damned, Graham Parker & the Rumour and Elvis Costello, “Basher” (as his mates called him) co-founded archetypal indie label Stiff, for which he threw together his first solo album, joined by members of The Rumour, Ian Dury’s Blockheads, The Attractions and Rockpile (the hotshot combo he started with Dave Edmunds). Exhilarating (“So It Goes,” “Heart Of The City”), cutting-edge (“I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass,” “36 Inches High”), retro (“Little Hitler”), playful (“Shake And Pop”), cynical (“Music For Money”) and picaresque (“Marie Provost”—who had the misfortune of becoming her own “doggie’s dinner”), Jesus of Cool filters the hopped-up energy of 1977 London through Lowe’s quirky genius, and its neon immediacy is undimmed after 30 years. The 10 single sides on the expanded reissue complete this electrifying portrait of a man with his finger in the socket.