“So It Goes” – Nick Lowe
(Words/music: Nick Lowe, available on Jesus of Cool, Radar Records 1978)
My experience with Nick Lowe’s catalog suggests that he’s a remarkably consistent songwriter. I realize that this sounds like a backhanded compliment, but I mean it with a great deal of respect. Lowe navigates different styles with the same melodic charms. On the Jesus of Cool album, reissued by Yep Roc last year, Lowe’s songs flirt with reggae, disco, and rockabilly at different points. “So It Goes,” a shuffling power-pop song, finds Lowe somewhere in the middle of all of these genre extremes. While it isn’t as adventurous as some of the other songs, Lowe’s focus lies solely on his two biggest strengths – his clever way with words and his knack for spinning a melody. He sings the song in a way that makes him sound a bit like Phil Lynott from Thin Lizzy, and while “So it Goes” lacks the same muscle as a lot of the best Thin Lizzy songs, it has a similar energy. Looking back, the connection between Lowe and Elvis Costello makes perfect sense, as Costello’s first few records (produced by Lowe) sound very similar (not to mention that the covers to Jesus of Cool and This Year’s Model strike me a similar in style). Costello took Lowe’s melodic sensibility and genre curiosities to the masses, yet this shouldn’t diminish Lowe’s reputation as both a performer and a songwriter. At his peak, his songs stand up with Costello’s catalog and his contemporaries as well, additionally having a hand in crafting a sound other power-pop acts would try to emulate.
More on Nick Lowe: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm
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