Labour of Lust
Studio album by Nick Lowe
Released 1979 (this reissue released in 2011)
Recorded 1979
Genre Rock
Length 37:49
Label Yep Roc
Producer Nick Lowe
Labour of Lust is an album by British singer-songwriter Nick Lowe. Also produced by Lowe, it was released in 1979 by Radar Records in the UK and Columbia Records in the US. It was recorded and released at the same time as Dave Edmunds' Repeat When Necessary and features the same Rockpile personnel. It led off with the arch "Cruel to Be Kind," Lowe's only major US hit.
The American version of this record had a slightly different track listing, with "Endless Grey Ribbon" being deleted and replaced by the UK single A-side, "American Squirm." The latter song includes members of Elvis Costello & The Attractions, namely Elvis on backing vocals, Bruce Thomas on bass and Pete Thomas on drums. Credited to "Nick Lowe and His Sound," the B-side of this single was Elvis & The Attractions' version of the Lowe-penned "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding?" "Endless Grey Ribbon" did get an American release as the B-side of the "Cruel to Be Kind" single.
Yep Roc Records reissued the album on March 15th 2011, containing all tracks from the US and UK versions, as well as the B-Side "Basing Street."
Professional ratings:
allmusic 5/5 stars
Robert Christgau A
Pitchfork 8.4/10
Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine on allmusic:
Jesus of Cool was a jukebox, spinning out a series of perfectly crafted -- and decidedly quirky and subversive -- pop singles. In contrast, Nick Lowe's second album, Labour of Lust, is the work of a bar band, in this case Rockpile, playing the hell out of the same type of songs. Naturally, the result is a more coherent sound that may be a little less freewheelingly eclectic, but it is no less brilliant. Recorded simultaneously with Dave Edmunds' Repeat When Necessary, Labour of Lust benefits from the muscular support of Rockpile, who make Lowe's songs crackle with vitality. Working primarily in the roots rock vein of Brinsley Schwarz but energizing his traditionalist tendencies with strong pop melodies, a sense of humor, and an edgy new wave sensibility, Lowe comes up with one of his best sets of songs. Not only is his only hit, the propulsively hook-laden "Cruel to Be Kind," here, but so are the rampaging outsider anthem "Born Fighter," the tongue-in-cheek, Chuck Berry-style "Love So Fine," the wonderful pure pop of "Dose of You," the haunting "Endless Grey Ribbon," the druggy "Big Kick, Plain Scrap!," and the terrific "Cracking Up," as well as his definitive version of Mickey Jupp's "Switchboard Susan." It's an exceptional collection of inventive pop songs, delivered with vigor and energy, making it one of the great records of the new wave.
Review by Robert Christgau:
The title is more than a (great) joke--this album is consciously carnal, replete with girls who come in doses, tits that won't quit, lumps in the pocket, and extensions that aren't Alexander Bell's invention. With Rockpile backing, it's also more straight-ahead than Pure Pop. This is nice--my favourite line is "I don't think it's funny no more"--but it does nothing to stop Lowe from falling into cliches like "Without Love," which ought to be funny and isn't. But then again on the other hand that's probably the point.
Review by David Bevan of Pitchfork:
Deep into "Born Fighters", a 1979 BBC documentary on the simultaneous recording of Nick Lowe's Labour of Lust and Dave Edmunds' Repeat When Necessary that year, the two Rockpile bandmates are arguing on either side of a kitchen table. Lowe, pub rock pioneer, is trying to express just how much everyman gloom and despair plays a part in his songwriting, going so far as to compare himself to "Joe Blow," the guy who delivers the milk. "I supposedly write the theme music for 'Coronation Street', for life," he says. "That's what I set myself up to do." Edmunds isn't having it. The Welsh rocker lets his friend know that a) he doesn't have anything at all in common with Joe Blow; and b) he thinks what Lowe just said is "stupid, really stupid." Lowe replies with the sort of twinkling deadpan that's defined so much of his pop music: "That's why I think you and me are friends."
It's a great scene captured during the making of a great album. Lowe and Edmunds had become friends a few years earlier, when the latter, a guitar-wielding, rock'n'roll purist from Cardiff, helped produce 1974's The New Favourites of Brinsley Schwarz, the final album from Lowe's legendary pub-rocking outfit. After that band dissolved, Lowe also took to production (nicknamed "Basher," he helped shape the roughly-hewn sounds of Elvis Costello's first five LPs as well as the debut from pop-punk blueprinters the Damned) and joined up with Rockpile, Edmunds' tireless touring band. That's who we hear behind him in Labour of Lust, his follow-up to solo debut/masterpiece, 1978's Jesus of Cool. Out-of-print since its last CD run in 1990, it's an album far more cohesive and contained than its eclectic, bursting-at-the-seams predecessor. What it lacks in variety or ragged kineticism, it makes up for in the kind of thorough, clock-punching craftsmanship you'd expect from a guy who sees some of himself in a milkman.
And Rockpile-- what a perfect name for a rock band. Though Yep Roc's re-mastered re-issue of Labour of Lust doesn't include a DVD of "Born Fighters", it does a fine job of highlighting the many muscular moving parts of Lowe's songwriting at the time, as they were bashed out by professionals just like those Lowe describes in the hard-charging song of the same name. A bassist, he insisted that every one of his songs rely on rhythm first. So whether it's the devilish basslines of "Big Kick, Plain Scrap" or the galloping snap of Terry Williams' drumwork in opener "Cruel to Be Kind", a converted Brinsley Schwarz song and Lowe's lone U.S. chart hit, the foundational tracks sound golden in mp3 or vinyl format. The latter is pure pop and pure Lowe, a typically self-deprecating gem whose vocal hook is inescapable. Even more satisfying is "American Squirm", a sweeter number that features a spritely Costello on back-up vocals. Layer by layer, it showcases even further that Lowe was as sharp a producer as he was a songwriter. There's as much warmth as there is punch.
Both lyrically and sonically, you'll find a lot of that again from top to bottom, the Dire Straits-alluding "Cracking Up" or coal-miner's ache of "Endless Grey Ribbon" being two fine examples. Yep Roc didn't go overboard in the way of (often) unnecessary extra material, a decision that befits the no-nonsense feel of the record itself. The quiet bonus B-side "Basing Street" is a country-inflected folk number that hints at Lowe's later work, but was rightly left off the original playlist, if only because there's enough of that to chew on as is. At the halfway mark rests "You Make Me", a similarly hushed love tune in which Lowe is alone with just a guitar and some reverb. It's short and plain and startling in its vulnerability. But the crackle of the original recording is still there. It's not hard to imagine Lowe putting up a fight to keep it that way.
Review by Ed Ward of NPR Music:
Simultaneously with the rediscovery of Nick Lowe's classic 1979 album Labour of Lust, someone has dug up an old British television documentary that was shot in Eden studios as Lowe recorded it and posted it on YouTube. The film, titled Born Fighters, has been chopped into 12 tiny pieces, which makes it hard to watch, but it shows the intensity Lowe put into the project.
There were four musicians involved Ñ Dave Edmunds and Billy Bremner on guitars, Lowe on bass and Terry Williams on drums Ñ and depending on who had the most recent album out, they toured as either Dave Edmunds and Rockpile or Nick Lowe and Rockpile. The reputation they had as one of the tightest bands around was, as I can attest from having seen them several times, well-deserved.
Born Fighters, Part 1 of 13: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V7WubQ1uiY
One thing about the band was the ability to speak punk without being punk. Edmunds' part of the band stuck closer to more traditional classic rock 'n' roll, but Lowe already had a reputation for having produced bands like The Damned, as well as his protege, Elvis Costello. The British press may have said snide things about their being too old to play like that Ñ the liner notes say their average age was an ancient 32 Ñ but the British press was always saying snide things, and the proof was in the grooves.
Labour of Lust was something of a crucial test for Lowe. His British record company, Radar, had signed a deal with Columbia in the U.S., where radio's resistance to the new music of the late '70s was at a high point. His first album, called Jesus of Cool in the U.K., was retitled Pure Pop for Now People for the American market and was just that Ñ pure pop. But although a couple of singles were pulled from it, they flopped. Gregg Geller, who was overseeing the new album for Columbia, asked Lowe to include a song he'd recorded with his old band, Brinsley Schwarz, and it turned out that the track Ñ "Cruel to Be Kind" Ñ would make all the difference.
"Cruel to Be Kind" was, and remains, Lowe's biggest U.S. hit, peaking at 12 on the Billboard chart, not coincidentally because a brand-new television channel, MTV, showed its video, which was shot at Lowe's wedding to Carlene Carter, part of the extended Johnny Cash family. Some of us had already heard "American Squirm," a single Lowe had recorded with Elvis Costello's band, released in England, and which showed up on the album, which could well have been about her.
But Johnny Cash was a fan of his new son-in-law, and would soon record his version of one of Labour of Lust's best songs, "Without Love."
In the end, Lowe proved to be more of an album artist than a singles artist. He's had a long and fruitful career, and this is the record that established him. It's good to have it back.
LP track listing
All songs written by Nick Lowe except where noted.
Side One
1. "Cruel to Be Kind" (Nick Lowe, Ian Gomm) Ð 3:29
2. "Cracking Up" Ð 2:58
3. "Big Kick, Plain Scrap!" Ð 2:27
4. "American Squirm" Ð 2:30
5. "Born Fighter" Ð 3:08
6. "You Make Me" Ð 1:51
7. "Skin Deep" Ð 3:13
Side Two
8. "Switchboard Susan" (Mickey Jupp) Ð 3:47
9. "Endless Grey Ribbon" Ð 3:15
10. "Without Love" Ð 2:28
11. "Dose of You" Ð 2:19
12. "Love So Fine" (Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds, Billy Bremner, Terry Williams) Ð 3:52
13. "Basing Street" [Bonus Track] - 2:32
Personnel:
* Nick Lowe Ð vocals, bass
* Dave Edmunds Ð rhythm and solo guitars and backing vocals
* Billy Bremner Ð rhythm and solo guitars and backing vocals
* Terry Williams Ð drums
Additional personnel
* Huey Lewis Ð harmonica on "Born Fighter"
* Bob Andrews Ð Oberheim on "Endless Grey Ribbon"
* Elvis Costello Ð backing vocals on "American Squirm"
* Bruce Thomas Ð bass on "American Squirm"
* Pete Thomas Ð drums on "American Squirm"