Nick Lowe “Indoor Safari”

First new album in over a decade delivers just two new songs, plus two covers, with the remaining tracks comprising of reimagined previous releases.

Having all but abandoned the idea of releasing any more albums, due largely to the realities of the marketplace and expense, Nick Lowe has clearly had a change of mind, returning with his first full-length record in over a decade. To be fair to Lowe the last ten years haven’t simply been a life of pipe and slippers as he has continued to tour, enjoying the camaraderie and rewards of life on the road with his excellent band Los Straitjackets, whilst taking time out to remind everyone he was still around by releasing three EP’s between 2018 and 2022, and it is those songs that make up the bulk of this new offering, albeit having all been reworked to varying degrees.

“Indoor Safari” opens with one of the two new tracks ‘Went To A Party’. Credited as a co-write with Los Straitjackets, this song had been an integral part of their live set for the last few years and perfectly captures the band’s simpatico relationship with Lowe as it crackles from the speakers with all the kinetic energy of the original mod scene from the sixties. That immediacy is just as evident on the other new track ‘Jet Pac Boomerang’, which bristles with the ‘twist and shout’ swagger of an early Beatles number, again highlighting both the accumulative advantages of road-testing the material in advance, along with the influence that Los Straitjackets have had on returning Lowe to his punk rock ethos and away from the lounge bar crooner that has inhabited more recent releases, such as “The Old Magic”.

Of the two cover versions on the album ‘A Quiet Place’, a minor hit in 1964 for soul singer Garnet Mimms & The Enchanters capture the gentle sway and innocence of the original, while ‘Raincoat In The River’, a song recorded by such rock ‘n’ roll icons as Ricky Nelson, here draws it inspiration from Sammy Turner’s 1961 Doo-wop rendition. Once again Lowe and Los Straitjackets seamlessly travel back in time to recreate the magic of pop music in its infancy.

The remainder of the album is made up of 8 tracks previously released either as a single or part of an EP, but now re-worked, whether it be musically, lyrically or in some cases both. ‘Love Starvation’, originally released in 2019 is another classic example of a song that’s benefited from being a regular part of the live shows with the band mining a gorgeous groove almost unrecognisable from the EP version and recalling the mighty Rockpile in their pomp. Similar plaudits apply to ‘Crying Inside’ with engineer Alex Hall’s remix freshening up this track to highlight the happy-sad masquerade of the song’s lyrical narrative that’s long been a Lowe speciality. Elsewhere ‘Different Kind Of Blue’, benefits from a new set of words, while the updated version of ‘Trombone’, perversely no longer has a trombone in the arrangement. Personal favourites are ‘Tokyo Bay’, where Los Straitjackets inject some infectious rockabilly that bounces out of the speakers and ‘Blue On Blue’, that personifies Lowe ‘hearts in limbo’ poetry, so simple and yet so clever, dripping with forlorn elegance.

So though “Indoor Safari” might not be the exact definition of a new album, collectively it is still an excellent listen. The re-worked numbers now inhabit the form of completed portraits rather than simply an artist’s sketch, which combined with the pair of covers and the two new tracks come together to create a body of work that sounds both vibrant and cohesive. Nick Lowe may now be in his 75th year but, with plenty of credit to Los Straitjackets, he has re-found his rock ‘n’ roll heart. Long may that continue.