The Old Magic
Studio album by Nick Lowe
Released September 13, 2011
Recorded 2011
Genre Rock
Length 35:21
Label Yep Roc
Producers Neil Brockbank, Nick Lowe, Robert Treherne
The Old Magic is a 2011 album from Nick Lowe. Mojo placed the album at number 31 on its list of "Top 50 albums of 2011."
Professional ratings
allmusic 3.5/5 stars
Rolling Stone 3.5/5 stars
PopMatters 8/10
Paste Magazine 8.5
Spin 8/10
Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine on allmusic:
Unlike many rockers, Nick Lowe has no quarrel with growing old. Once middle age hit, he happily abandoned any aspiration of chart success, choosing to settle into an elegantly old-fashioned groove carved out of American country, soul, and pre-Beatles pop. All these elements fell into place on 1998's Dig My Mood, and 2011's The Old Magic is his fourth successive LP minted from that mold. To say there are no surprises is no surprise: this nattily tailored roots music sounded comfortable from the outset and since Lowe sees no need to tinker with a formula that works, The Old Magic feels familiar upon its first play, lacking even the light surprises of the limber "Long Limbed Girl" from its predecessor, 2006's At My Age. Lowe rarely picks up the tempo here, coming the closest to a getting a skip in his step with the cheerful shuffle "Somebody Cares for Me," and he's ironed out every remaining twang, so The Old Magic is carefully pressed and smooth, not one hair out of place. Nick would benefit from getting his feathers a little ruffled -- just a smidgeon of the lean country-rock of The Impossible Bird would go a long way -- yet there's still plenty of charm in the old crooner, whether he's singing an old Tom T. Hall tune or writing originals as wryly observed as the self-deprecating "Sensitive Man," the post-breakup ballad "I Read a Lot," and "Checkout Time," a meditation on mortality set to a Johnny Cash beat.
Review by Will Hermes in Rolling Stone magazine:
With his latest, Nat "King" Cole would be a closer match. Devoting himself to songcraft with a master's ear, Lowe croons countrytinged ballads that might've been put in wax a half century ago. Sure, modern irony lurks in songs like "Checkout Time," where the aging narrator gets anxious over his chances of making it past heaven's gates. But like that song, Lowe's lyrical winks magnify his central truths. He's a cynical eye attached to a big heart.
Review by Zachary Houle of PopMatters:
Soft Rock for Yesterday's People
It seems likely that every review that will crop up like bunny rabbits in print or on the Web of Nick Lowe's latest and 13th album, The Old Magic, will include the opening line from the lead single "Checkout Time": I'm 61-years-old now / Lord, I never thought I'd see 30". (For the record, Lowe is now 62.) Few, however, will probably include the lines that directly follow: "Though I know this road is still some way to go / I can't help thinking on / Will I be beloved and celebrated for my masterly climb / Or just another bum when it comes to checkout time?" It's a bit of a dark statement, that one of the post-punk icons from the late Ô70s is belly gazing as to whether his career has been a successful one. Long time fans, of course, will need no argument that Lowe is one of the seminal figures of British music. Starting out with the pub rock band Brinsley Schwarz, Lowe had a great career that envelopes production work with the likes of Elvis Costello, work with Dave Edmunds in the briefly lived Rockpile, and two utterly classic late Ô70s solo albums which are distillations of punk, country and rock influences: 1978's Jesus of Cool (which was titled Pure Pop for Now People in the U.S. and had a slightly different running order) and 1979's Labour of Lust. And listing those achievements would be only scratching the surface of the landmark career of "Basher", so nicknamed for his ability to crank out songs in the recording studio.
However, if you only know Lowe's work from that pivotal late Ô70s eraÑwhich might be a given for younger fans seeing that his long out-of-print albums from that time period have recently been lovingly reissued in recent yearsÑThe Old Magic might come across as a bucket of water thrown directly into your face. Gone is the bracing, rocking rhythms of yore, replaced by soft, wistful and utter laid-back slices of almost cosmopolitan Ô60s country. In fact, The Old Magic reminds me a lot of Willie Nelson's 1978 album Stardust in that it presents what is essentially country or roots music as a backbone against an utterly soft shoe, almost geriatric pop approach. If the latter day records by Wilco could be characterized as "dad rock" as one reviewer at another Web site has famously done, The Old Magic comes across as "grandpa rock" in comparison. It's clear that Lowe is trying to gracefully grow old, and, as he himself has said in a New York Daily News piece quoted in the always reliable and dependable Wikipedia, his greatest fear in recent years seems to be "sticking with what you did when you were famous. I didn't want to become one of those thinning-haired, jowly old geezers who still does the same shtick they did when they were young, slim and beautiful. That's revolting and rather tragic." So The Old Magic is what it isÑand you have to approach it on its own terms, ignoring the energetic and caustic songs written well before Lowe was 30 years old. I'll be honest with you: I hated this approach when I first heard it. However, The Old Magic is an album that gradually creeps up on you, and has plenty of rewards for those who can take the now white-haired Lowe basically acting his age.
One thing that hasn't changed is that Lowe, even in his early Ô60s, possesses an acerbic wit. On opening ballad "Stoplight Roses", Lowe offers the wry lines "You've practiced and rehearsed it / But in your heart you know it's too late / Experience should tell you / Never get your story too straight". Meanwhile, "House for Sale" is a scathing kiss-off to a lover: "House for sale / I've had enough / I'll send a van / To get my stuff / House for sale / I'm leaving like I'm getting out of jail". Lowe delivers those lines with an unbridled enthusiasm; you can practically feel the joy in his voice. Certainly, listeners might have the mental image of Lowe walking away, jumping up and clicking his heels at the end of the track. He also references his biggest hit (for Elvis Costello) with the song's final lines: "Because with time, care, cash / Peace, love and understanding / It can be as good as new." Lowe might not be interested in recreating the sounds of his youth, but it seems like he hasn't forgotten from where he came from.
There is a dark quality to the album, too, as Lowe ruminates on the ravages of growing older. On "House for Sale", he makes an allusion of an old house to the debilitating effects of age on his body: "Well, the roof's giving in to the weather / And the windows rattle and moan / Paint is peeling / Cracks in the ceiling / Whatever has happened to my happy home?" Elsewhere, Lowe sounds forlorn on the searing, string-sweeten ballad "I Read a Lot": "Lonely / Isn't the word for me now / Blue / Doesn't describe it somehow." There's a palpable theme on The Old Magic of fearing of growing alone into old age, even though the record is basically a seemingly paradoxical rumination of the failure of relationships to sustain oneself into the golden years of one's life. What's more, Lowe appears to have a coded message for fans expecting the glories of the Ô70s revisited on the aptly titled cover of "You Don't Know Me At All": "You've got me pigeonholed / Catalogued, and bought and sold / Oh, but truth be told / I don't quite fit your mould / But there's many sides and angles that you haven't seen / And since you haven't looked / You don't know what I mean."
If you can get past the fact that the music here is smooth and carefully refined, there are joys to be had on this 11 song collection. There are three coversÑElvis Costello's "The Poisoned Rose", "Shame on the Rain" by Tom T. Hall, and Jeff West's "You Don't Know Me At All"Ñand Lowe puts his own trademark, wistful stamp on them all, blending them seamlessly into the folds of The Old Magic. And while it feels funny coming first in the line up, "Stoplight Roses" is a sorrowful, age-appropriate track full of ache and craving. "Checkout Time" has a nice country shuffle to it and, elsewhere, "Restful Feeling" has a sleazy Las Vegas vibe, filtered through the Ô60s pop of Burt BacharachÑyou can practically feel tiny bubbles floating in the background. "Somebody Cares For Me" is a nice Farfisa organ slouch complete with lurching saxophones. Album closer "'Til the Real Thing Comes Along" has a lilting Belle and Sebastian quality to it. Lowe has surrounded himself with crackerjack musicians to round out these songs and make them whole and complete, which includes guest appearances by Canadian songsmith Ron Sexsmith, Paul Carrack (whom Lowe has produced in the past) and blues guitarist Jimmie Vaughan, brother of the late Stevie Ray.
While The Old Magic doesn't recapture the effortless rock and roll of Lowe's youth, it does offer an appealing snapshot of an artist who clearly still has it all of these years later. The title of the record is actually fitting as, by mining the seductive sounds of country balladry with old-fashioned pop, it does encapsulate the feel and slickness of artists of the past, particularly Ô60s-era Elvis Presley, among others. The Old Magic is an album you have to take some time with, particularly if you're only really familiar with Lowe's classic material from the Ô70s, but the patience associated with watching an artist grow and mature gracefully after a 30-plus-year span does pay off in dividends. The Old Magic doesn't really aspire to the great heights of Lowe's past, but it is a portrait of an artist as an aging, graceful statesman of British rock. On this album, Lowe is not simply retreading ideas and sounds of his youth, but pushing his way forward toward being an active musician just a few years shy of collecting his pension. And while some things may change, The Old Magic shows that not only does Lowe possess an acidic pen, he still has the ability to craft memorable, hummable tunes. For that, fans both old and new, should feel blessed.
Review by Douglas Heselgrave of Paste:
The spirits of Buddy Holly, Frank Sinatra and Chet Baker inspire Nick Lowe's new album
For more than three decades and despite all of the critical acclaim he's received during that time, Nick Lowe has been making music that flies right under most people's radar. And, that's a shame because it's hard to imagine a soul so hard-hearted and melody-challenged who wouldn't find a lot to love in The Old Magic, Lowe's first collection of new songs in four years.
If you didn't know any better, it wouldn't be much of a stretch to hear songs like "Checkout Time" or "Stoplight Roses" and think you were listening to recently discovered treasures from the Sun Records vault or outtakes from a lost Johnny Cash recording from the '50s. As hyperbolic as that may sound, the eight originals and three covers that Lowe has recorded this time out are as good as pop music gets.
For most people, Lowe is remembered primarily for his exhuberant new wave and pop records from the '80s. Discs like Labour of Lust and Pure Pop for Now People sound just as fresh as they did when they were issued, but the singer and guitarist has never been one to rest on his laurels as he's continued to release a steady stream of brilliant albums that have found favor with a small but dedicated group of fans.
Nick Lowe remains a songwriter's musician. He's never been one for flashy solos, complicated chord sequences or bombastic arrangements. The tracks on The Old Magic are based around simple melodies with Lowe's intimate, straightforward vocals mixed right out front. Numbers like the Sinatra-esque "House for Sale" and the Buddy Holly-influenced Sensitive Man are masterpieces of lyrical economy that showcase Lowe's brilliant phrasing and nuanced delivery.
It would be difficult to pick a standout track on such a strong album, but the Chet Baker-styled "I Read A Lot" is certainly a contender and may just be one of the most witty and soulful break-up songs written in years. Mature love songs are a true rarity in pop music, and The Old Magic offers proof that no one writes them better
than Nick Lowe does. At 61 years of ageÑa time in life when many people begin to consider retirementÑNick Lowe has put out his best album in many years and more than three decades into his career, the British tunesmith may be just beginning to hit his stride.
Review by Larry Rohter of The New York Times:
The 40-year career of the English singer-songwriter Nick Lowe constitutes a paradox: the songs he has written are better known than he is. He cheerfully acknowledges that many people think that Elvis Costello is the author of the Lowe song "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding" and that the Johnny Cash version of "The Beast in Me" has come to overshadow his own, which was used on the soundtrack of the HBO series "The Sopranos."
But at a stage in life when many of his peers are content to live off past glories, Mr. Lowe, now 62, is enjoying a remarkable second wind. Originally a purveyor of witty subversions of Top 40 confections Ñ his first United States solo album, released in 1978, was called "Pure Pop for Now People" Ñ he has reinvented himself in recent years as a writer and performer of spare, reflective songs rooted in the American country music and rhythm 'n' blues he imbibed as a child.
At the same time Mr. Lowe has remade his image to align it with the more mature content of his work, the latest example of which is "The Old Magic," a CD released on Tuesday. Once the prototypical long-haired, insouciant rocker, he now affects an avuncular look, with a shock of snow white hair, ˆ la the older Cary Grant, and a pair of black Buddy Holly specs. That way "I won't have to continually be pretending, like a lot of my contemporaries sadly have to, that they're still young and copping this act they used to do and are condemned to do," Mr. Lowe said during an interview in New York last month. "It's a sort of unseemly sight, and one which I wish to avoid."
It's a remarkable turnabout for Mr. Lowe, who was associated with three of the most important British pop movements of the 1970s: pub rock, punk and new wave. An early band of his, Brinsley Schwarz, was the anchor of pub rock, and as a producer, he shaped and supervised Mr. Costello's influential first five albums, as well as recordings by Graham Parker, the Pretenders, the Damned and Dr. Feelgood.
"When the punk scene came along, Nick was in the right place at the right time," said Will Birch, an English musician, songwriter and producer who is also the author of two books about 1970s British rock. "He was Mr. Fixit, the guy who could produce a record," but also "a sort of headmaster who made sure everything was kept very to the point, short and snappy." A subsequent rockabilly-inspired group, Rockpile, generated gems like "I Knew the Bride (When She Used to Rock 'n' Roll)" and "When I Write the Book." But Mr. Lowe also maintained a skeptical distance from what was going on around him. "I've never really liked being in somebody's gang," he said. "As soon as I feel like I'm being encouraged to join someone else's gang, I react rather badly to that."
What set Mr. Lowe on the path to his current sound was a run of bad luck in the early 1990s. His record label had dropped him; he was coming off what he described as "the disastrous end to a love affair"; and even a return to producing seem closed to him, since "the general public had become conditioned to hearing a record sound a certain way, with a certain sheen," rather than with the "scruffy, homemade sound" he prefers.
But then he had an extraordinary stroke of good fortune. Curtis Stigers's version of "Peace, Love and Understanding" was included on the soundtrack album of the movie "The Bodyguard" (1992), which went on to sell an estimated 44 million copies worldwide and earn Mr. Lowe a windfall in songwriter's royalties.
"I didn't buy racehorses or yachts or anything like that," he recalled, "but it was a big, big payday, and it enabled me to make a break with the past. I didn't have the pressure to play the game. I could turn stuff down and avoid the slippery slope of me being forever in a ÔRemember those fabulous punk rock days? Well here they are again!' sort of thing."
Instead Mr. Lowe followed the advice of two friends whose records he had produced, Mr. Costello and John Hiatt. Touring with Mr. Costello, he began performing solo, and when he got home to London, where he still lives with his wife and 6-year-old son, he emulated Mr. Hiatt's habit of "going to work every day" to write songs in a sort of office at a performance space in a neighborhood pub.
What emerged from that process was a CD called "The Impossible Bird," released in 1994, and a new stripped-down and rootsy sound. "The Beast in Me," written specifically for Johnny Cash, Mr. Lowe's former father-in-law, emerged from those sessions, and on subsequent recordings like "Dig My Mood," "The Convincer" and "At My Age," that approach has been refined.
" A lot of people overproduce records, and in the early days he and I both did the kitchen sink. But now he's focused on what he really wants to be, and there is no dead wood at all," the singer-songwriter Daryl Hall said.
In recent years Mr. Lowe's virtues as a songwriter and performer have been garnering more recognition, especially among younger musicians. Two tribute albums featuring other artists interpreting his songs, "Lowe Profile" and "Labour of Love," have been issued, and this year he was invited to do performances-cum-songwriting-workshops at both the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville and the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles.
"Nick Lowe is a major, major influence for me," said the indie rock and alt-country singer Neko Case, who has recorded a pair of his songs. "He's the most consistent artist I can think of, and there is something about the lyricism and gracefulness of his songs that I just love. Their cadences are unusual and addictive, and the way he sings them, his phrasing, it's just beautiful."
This fall Mr. Lowe will tour with Wilco, which just recorded his tongue-in-cheek late-'70s composition "I Love My Label." But Mr. Lowe will undoubtedly be doing things in his own understated way, even if it costs him: Huey Lewis, a friend for 30 years who credits Mr. Lowe for jump-starting his career, recalls inviting him to join him onstage for "I Knew the Bride" a few years ago, only to be told "Huey, I don't rock anymore."
"Obviously success is crowned with some sort of financial reward, that's what puts the stamp on it," Mr. Lowe said of his current trajectory. "That sort of stuff comes along, but that's not really what I'm after. I'm not a greedy man. I've lived well, but I'm not really interested in that. I'm more interested in seeing what happens next, what the end of the movie is."
Review by Nate Cavalieri of Spin:
It's gratifying to see Nick Lowe, a critical darling who stood gawkily in the margins of '80s pop trends, striding effortlessly through his inimitable late career. These lightly swinging throwback grooves and torchy ballads brim with ruminations about love from a sly, sure-handed codger who's been around the block more than twice. Whether crystallized in dead-simple one-liners ("Checkout Time" opens by confessing, "I'm 61 years old now / Lord, I never thought that I'd see 30") or finely tooled metaphors ("I Read a Lot"), Lowe's sexagenarian years have real sparkle.
Review by Nick DeRiso of No Depression:
Growing older has made Nick Lowe grayer, a little quieter, but no less clever, no less relevant, and certainly no less off-handedly absorbing. He is the living, breathing, guitar-playing, Buddy Holly shade-wearing embodiment of the old saw about getting better with age.
And that's saying something. After all, Lowe helped shape the New Wave sound of the late 1970s and '80s as a producer for Elvis Costello, the Pretenders and Graham Parker, even while establishing his own often overlooked career as a solo act ("Cruel to Be Kind" went to No. 12 in 1979) and as a member of Rockpile. If all of that seems like a long time ago, well, it was. But Lowe has continued putting out thoughtful, largely overlooked recordings, each filled with clever asides and smart hooks.
If there's anything different, beyond his shock of white hair, it's that Lowe Ð the guy who once wrote the angry treatise "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding" for Costello Ð has begun to work in a more wistful palette. The forthcoming The Old Magic, Lowe's first release since the terrific At My Age from 2007, is no different.
A life now in its sixth decade has imparted a deeper wisdom and, if anything, a sharper lyrical eye. Yet Lowe is still frisky enough to toss a curveball every once in a while. (A Tom T. Hall song? Yes. A Tom T. Hall song). As Lowe sings on the opening "Stoplight Roses": "Experience should tell you, never get your story too straight."
[SOMETHING ELSE! REWIND: A terrific new live album, 'Live at Montreux 1980,' documents the p...]
Lowe makes it all work. In fact, the timelessly straight-forward The Old Magic, out today on Yep Rock Records, sounds like a record that could have made at any time during the rock era Ð all chanky-chank guitars, old-fashioned keyboards and rattling train-trestle rhythms. That dovetails perfectly, in a larger sense, with a set that so consistently celebrates the perspective that life belatedly gives us.
It's not all good news, of course. Hell, a lot of it's bad. Lowe contemplates death, though in his distinctively wry manner, on the lead single "Checkout Time." He talks about troubles with love, but in writerly ways that bring you right into the moment, on songs like "House for Sale" and "Poisoned Rose," written by Costello. Hall's "Shame on the Rain" is, fittingly, a cloudy-day lament.
But shambling rock numbers like "Somebody Cares for Me" Ð the only other non-original on Lowe's 13th solo project, it was written by Jeff West Ð serve to balance the ledger. "You Don't Know Me," boasting a conjunto kind of sway, is this fun little put down. Then there's the smartly performed bit of ennui found on Lowe's closing "Til' the Right Thing Comes Along," where he expertly dials into the modern generation's what-the-heck kind of not-quite passions.
The Old Magic was recorded in London with Lowe's regular backing band: keyboardist Geraint Watkins, guitarist Steve Donnelly and drummer Robert Treherne (a.k.a. Bobby Irwin). Guest musicians included Paul Carrack, Ron Sexsmith and Jimmie Vaughan, among others.
Review by Chris Roberts of BBC Music:
Whereas some singers resist the ageing process as if their careers depend on it Ð and in many cases they do Ð others embrace it, turn it to their advantage, and reinvent themselves as sage veterans, delivering wisdom and pathos in every world-weary line. The final Johnny Cash records did this best, but several senior crooners have tried since, with varying levels of conviction and success, from Neil Diamond to Tom Jones. Somewhat frighteningly, the punk generation appears now to be adopting this approach. Nick Lowe made his name with albums like Jesus of Cool and Labour of Lust as a new-wave songwriter's songwriter, a less-marketable version of friend-ally Elvis Costello. On his first release since 2007's At My Age, he's languid and laid-back, offering lines like, in Checkout Time, "I'm 61 years old now / Lord I never thought I'd see 30".
He chooses that most conservative of genres Ð the subtly-styled country ballad Ð to underscore his pithy observations here. Most songs deal in gentle metaphors or pragmatic truths regarding mortality; but there's an inherent, resilient cheerfulness in Lowe's persona Ð a very British refusal to take things too seriously Ð which means it's all winks and nods rather than tears and traumas. This may prove frustrating to some, encapsulating why he's perceived as a minor talent Ð a "good bloke" Ð rather than a blazing genius, but to diehards it is precisely what makes him great. On much of The Old Magic, he's Richard Hawley unplugged.
A cover of Costello's The Poisoned Rose is darker, but generally Lowe soldiers on with the stoicism of those to whom self-pity is anathema. Sensitive Man is a dated romp, but Restless Feeling merges doo-wop and some Fred Neil techniques to fine effect. If I Read a Lot recalls Don't Get Around Much Any More, made famous by The Ink Spots, it's Nat King Cole who most frequently comes to mind, Lowe's voice now almost a facsimile of those soft, sensuous tones. For all the surely deliberate fleeting echoes of George Jones, Jim Reeves or even Bing Crosby, it's Cole he most resembles. High praise, indeed.
LP track listing
Side One
1. "Stoplight Roses" (Nick Lowe) - 3:28
2. "Checkout Time" (Nick Lowe) - 2:52
3. "House For Sale" (Nick Lowe) - 3:41
4. "Sensitive Man" (Nick Lowe) - 2:52
5. "I Read a Lot" (Nick Lowe) - 3:17
6. "Shame on the Rain" (Tom T. Hall) - 2:24
Side Two
7. "Restless Feeling" (Nick Lowe) - 2:40
8. "The Poisoned Rose" (Elvis Costello) - 4:46
9. "Somebody Cares For Me" (Nick Lowe, Geraint Watkins) - 2:50
10. "You Don't Know Me At All" (Jeff West) - 3:06
11. "'Til the Real Thing Comes Along" (Nick Lowe) - 3:25
Personnel:
* Robert Treherne - drums
* Geraint Watkins - organ, piano
* Steve Donnelly - lead guitar
* Neil Brockbank - vibraphone
* Johnny Scott - guitar
* Matt Radford - double bass
* Nick Lowe - rhythm guitar
Additional Contributions
* Paul Carrack - flute, oboe, backing vocals
* Anna Harvey - French horn, backing vocals
* Matt Holland - trumpet, flugelhorn
* Bob Loveday - trumpet
* Rory McLeod - tenor sax, baritone sax
* Nick Payne - trombone
* Ron Sexsmith - backing vocals, baritone guitar, six string bass, keys
* Kate St. John - backing vocals, effects
* Linnea Svenson - violin, viola
* Jimmie Vaughan - backing vocals, cello
* Annie Whitehead - backing vocals
* Martin Winning - percussion, harp, banjo, accordion, lap steel