By turns tuneful, brash and raw, songs of that period were best heard played live and raucous. Throughout his career Lowe’s directness of style has put him ahead, he sang what others only thought.
Lowe’s 1970s tsunami of production deposited Elvis Costello, Graham Parker, and the Robert Stigwood Organization’s one Punk Rock experiment The Damned.
Those were heady days for English talents like Ian Drury’s Blockheads, The Jam, and The Clash. Thin Lizzy covered Lowe’s songs. And Lowe worked at the center of that entire scene.
If Lowe had never married Carlene Carter and hence strummed with Johnny Cash, his place in Pop was already surely cemented. But Lowe had a country music heart and a genuine feeling for roots tradition and so went on to mine the rich mountain of American influences, a mission presaged by his earliest work in Brinsley Schwarz.
He in fact remained true to the cutting rockabilly of his co-pilot Dave Edmunds in Rockpile but while “solo,” Lowe chose masters from widely different camps, of the stature of jazz bassist Ray Brown, drummer Jim Keltner and Ry Cooder. Pop star Huey Lewis played on Lowe projects. But getting “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding” onto the soundtrack album for The Bodyguard was the best move of his life, making Lowe rich on royalties from sales of 15 million units. Few people could embody all that and come out cogent.
But with Yep Roc label’s re-release of Jesus of Cool (as it was titled in the UK) the listener can sit back and bask in a torrent of passion – a cheek-by-jowl mix of genres. It worked because of the intelligence and humor so powerfully focused in 11 great songs. The anniversary re-release adds six more tunes and some live versions, and is also available as a double vinyl record. The man himself turns 59 on March 24.
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