David Lowery is an icon of americana who has been making music for over forty years and has never lost his passion for all things rootsy, rocky and melodic. His first band was Sitting Ducks which morphed into Camper Van Beethoven and they have the honour of their classic song Take The Skinheads Bowling being featured in Michael Moore’s film Bowling For Columbine. His work for Cracker is sublime and he’s continually re-inventing their material. He has recorded six solo albums and is now also a successful champion of artists’ rights. He’s also passionately anti the internet generation, saying things are worse for the working musician now than they’ve ever been. In 2014 he was named a ‘Global IP Champion’ by the US Chamber Of Commerce.
He’s also produced albums for many artists including Sparklehorse and Counting Crows, and there is a recent new musical autobiography, celebrating his youth, family, friends and the highs and lows of his incident-filled 40-year musical career. So here’s a pick of the best of Lowery’s Cracker material with a token classic from Camper Van Beethoven. He’s a master of his craft and may he continue making music and mayhem forever.
Number 10: Almond Grove from Berkeley To Bakersfield (2014)
This is taken from Cracker’s ninth and latest album to date and it’s a fascinating conundrum of an album. It’s a double album split into two sides – ‘Berkeley’ has grittier, more raucous rockers and has the original line-up of Cracker, Lowery, Hickman, Faragher and Urbano, who haven’t recorded together in almost 20 years, with a selection of other guest musicians. ‘Bakersfield’ has more Americana and rootsy type of songs and includes Lowery, Hickman, Howard Wheatley and again some additional musicians. The album’s politics differ on each side as well, matching the core notion of these two very different parts of America. Almond Grove is on Bakersfield and is a sorry tale of a character who has tragically fallen in with the narco crowd and ends up as a junkie living in his brother’s car. The gentle americana sounds of banjo, soft percussion and pedal steel belie the subject matter – but it’s a classic Cracker tune to be sure.
Number 9: Camper Van Beethoven Take The Skinheads Bowling from Telephone Free Landslide Victory (1985)
My first memory of hearing the musical creativity of Lowery was listening to the late and glorious Andy Kershaw who played Skinheads incessantly and simply adored it. The song was never intended to be a single or a ‘hit’, but it has an incredibly catchy singalong chorus. Lowery himself was mystified at its popularity. “We regarded Take The Skinheads Bowling as just a weird non-sensical [sic] song. The lyrics were purposely structured so that it would be devoid of meaning. Each subsequent line would undermine any sort of meaning established by the last line. It was the early 80′s and all our peers were writing songs that were full of meaning. It was our way of rebelling. BTW this is the most important fact about this song. We wanted the words to lack any coherent meaning. There is no story or deeper insight that I can give you about this song”. The chance for a young music fan to hear a song played on national radio that included the line ‘I had a dream; I wanted to lick your knees’ just did it for me.
Number 8: Been Around The World from Gentlemen’s Blues (1998)
This was Cracker’s fourth album and included a hearty sixteen tracks, as well as a ‘hidden’ track as a present. Lowery wrote or co-wrote twelve of the songs included in the album and it’s my favourite album in their mighty fine cannon of work. The album’s name apparently came about when guitarist Johnny Hickman heard Lowery playing a tune on the piano and suggested that it sounded like an old Southern gentleman trying to play the blues. The song begins with a typically catchy guitar riff before keyboards are added, but it’s a gentle opening. As it continues it gains pace and really comes alive in typical Cracker style. It’s an off-kilter love song about missing your partner and it’s an utter joy.
Number 7: Big Dipper from The Golden Age (1996)
This was album number three for the band and it includes a whopping 21 guest musicians and some backing vocals from Joan Osbourne. There’s also some lovely string arrangements by Beck’s dad, David Campbell. Lowery and Hickman wanted to make an epic album after the sales success of their previous album and indeed it does have an epic grandeur to it. The song is a slow paean to Santa Cruz, where the band formed and the importance of the towns big dipper on its young inhabitants.
Number 6: The World Is Mine from Gentlemen’s Blues (1998)
This album has an incredibly starry set of supporting musicians helping out including keyboardist Benmont Tench and guitarist Mike Campbell from Tom Petty’s band and bassist Tommy Stinson (The Replacements). The song is an out and out rocker which barnstorms in from the get go and has a typical Lowery chorus which simply repeats the song’s title. It’s both annoying and incredibly effective, instilling a natural sing-along effect for the listener.
Number 5: Mr Wrong from Cracker (1992)
Lifted from their debut album, this track was actually written by Johnny Hickman. It’s a hilarious song about one of life’s losers, and includes some genuinely witty and clever lyrics. It’s aided by piano, violin and blues guitar. The album was a wonderful debut with a strong selection of songs and some cracking supporting playing from Benmont Tench again and Jim Keltner on drums on three tracks.
Number 4: Seven Days from Gentlemen’s Blues (1998)
This song starts with a simple but catchy guitar lick with touches of piano, before blasting out with some strong drumbeats into a glorious rocker with some really effective female backing vocals. Interestingly, this album was not a collection of their latest songs. At the time of its release Lowery admitted “actually the majority of the songs were eight to ten years old. We just recorded them again. They were songs we really liked but we never recorded them in a way that satisfied us, that expressed what we wanted to express”.
Number 3: The Good Life from Gentlemen’s Blues (1998)
This track opens Gentlemen’s Blues and we’re instantly introduced to the memorable and catchy tune and Lowery’s honest and blatant lyrics shine – this is another Cracker cracker. It’s jaunty, witty and clever. There’s just no Felicity Kendall in sight.
Number 2: Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out With Me from Sunrise In The Land Of Milk And Honey (2009)
We’re now at the band’s eighth album and one which again has some stellar backup names in the line-up, including Patterson Hood, Adam Duritz, Mark Linkous and John Doe. It also includes the song Darling One, which was originally released on Susannah Hoff’s self titled 1996 album. It was co-written by Lowery. This song is incredibly simple but oh so good, with its aim of taking the mickey out of the hippie lifestyle. Another catchy classic and Lowery’s on super fine form here.
Number One Eurotrash Girl from Kerosene Hat (1993)
This song clocks in at just over 8 minutes and originally appeared on the EP Tucson, but then appeared as a hidden track on Kerosene Hat. It’s a glorious road movie of a song, where Lowery tells the tale of a backpacking trip to Europe and a search for Euro love. This is a live favourite and even though it’s long, it’s a wonderfully inventive and witty song.
As Cracker’s recent Alternative History album shows, the band have been highly creative in recording alternative versions of many of their songs. I have chosen, though, to feature all the ‘original’ recordings of these songs.
