Evergreen legend Nick Lowe has announced that ‘The Old Magic’, his first studio album since 2007, is to be issued by Proper records on 12 September 2011.
‘I’m sixty-one years old now, Lord I never thought I’d see 30,’ Nick Lowe sings on ‘Checkout Time,’ a song from the new disc. The line cuts right to the quick. He was very busy in his 20’s spending time ‘not fitting into three successive movements: pub rock, punk and new wave’ according to the New York Times. But Lowe has mined fertile new creative ground in recent years and the eleven tracks on The Old Magic dig deeper still. As National Public Radio in the US observed, ‘Few musicians get better with age. Nick Lowe is an exception.’
The Old Magic was recorded in London with Lowe’s crack backing band anchored by Geraint Watkins (keyboards), Steve Donnelly (guitar), and Robert Treherne (a.k.a. Bobby Irwin, drums). Additional musicians include Ron Sexsmith, Paul Carrack, and Jimmie Vaughan among others. The album was co-produced by Lowe, Neil Brockbank, and Treherne.
Amid urbanely insistent grooves (‘Sensitive Man’), and spare-yet-imposing shuffles (the aforementioned ‘Checkout Time’), ‘The Old Magic’ features three exceptional, recently road-tested Lowe ballads – album opener ‘Stoplight Roses,’ ‘House for Sale’ and ‘I Read A Lot.’ Then there’s ‘Restless Feeling,’ a shimmering dance tune worthy of the roller rink that Lowe wrote for a fictional band he calls Coastline. As is his custom, Lowe also peppers ‘The Old Magic’ with three covers – by Elvis Costello, Tom T. Hall and Jeff West – that fit seamlessly with his originals.
Nick Lowe’s last album, 2007’s At My Age, was widely acclaimed and since then his long-unavailable first two albums Jesus of Cool and Labour of Lust , have been released. Nick is currently playing a few UK shows including Meltdown at the Royal Festival Hall and the Glastonbury festival.
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