Tartan Horde - "Bay City Rollers We Love You"

Released by United Artists in 1975, The Tartan Horde's "Bay City Rollers We Love You" was a contract breaking scheme that backfired. Nick Lowe's band Brinsley Schwarz broke up in 1975 and Lowe found himself stuck under contract to their label, United Artists. Lowe was eager to move on, so he and manager Jake Riviera cooked up a scheme to get the label to dump him. Lowe produced a tongue-in-cheek homage to Scottish teenybopper phenomena The Bay City Rollers under the pseudonym The Tartan Horde assuming the label would be horrified by it and drop him straight away.

Unfortunately, the execs at UA liked what they heard and gave the song a worldwide release. The single predictably tanked everywhere in the world, except for Japan where it became a surprise smash hit. UA was so pleased with the sales that they demanded a follow up. Lowe obliged with a second Tartan Horde single, "Rollers Show" which sold miserably and finally got him out of his contract with UA leaving him free to record for Riviera's fledgling independent label, Stiff Records.

Anyway, that's the story. There's just one problem: I think the song is really good. Sure it's clear that Nick is having a bit of fun here, and there is an element of absurdity involved. But the craftsmanship is extremely solid and the song gets under your skin like only really great pop music can. More than a little effort was put into creating this confection. No right thinking rocker would have admitted to it in 1975, but I detect at least a hint of genuine affection for the Bay City Rollers in this contract-breaking tribute.

Nick discusses his mixed feelings about the song below. He calls the song "utterly ghastly" and "truly awful," but also expresses a certain amount of pride in it at the same time.
 

Nick Lowe - Labour Of Lust Reissued At Last

It was nearly three years ago that I lamented the fact that Nick Lowe's impossibly perfect second solo album, Labour Of Lust, was out-of-print. Since that time Yep Roc has continued reissuing classic Nick Lowe albums, and now I am happy to report a historic injustice has at long last been rectified as Labour Of Lust gets the deluxe reissue treatment:

As the bassist and primary songwriter for Brinsley Schwarz, Nick Lowe was one of the catalysts of the pub rock phenomenon in the early 1970s. As the co-founder and house producer at Stiff Records, he would help create the blueprint for the modern indie rock label and usher in British punk and new wave, helming historic recordings for The Damned, Elvis Costello, and The Pretenders. Here, his landmark second solo album Labour of Lust gets the deluxe reissue treatment, sporting an expanded 12pg. booklet with period photos, new essays and artwork by groundbreaking graphic artist Barney Bubbles.

The reissue also includes Nick's biggest US hit "Cruel To Be Kind," the originally U.K.-only "Endless Grey Ribbon" and U.S.-only "American Squirm" plus bonus B-side "Basing Street." Labour of Lust is the only of Lowe's solo albums to hold the distinction of featuring Nick's Rockpile cohorts Dave Edmunds, Billy Bremner and Terry Williams on every track. Originally released in 1979 and out of print for nearly twenty years, the album has been remastered from the original source, reintroducing this masterpiece to a new generation of pop music obsessives.

It's hard to believe an absolute classic album such as this could have been out-of-print for so long.  CD reissue date is 03/15/2011 with an LP reissue to follow on 04/12/2011.

Nick Lowe - Labour of Lust

Yep Roc just reissued Nick Lowe's classic first solo album, Jesus of Cool. Hopefully it is the first in a series of reissues, because the man's catalog (or catalogue) is a mess. How can it be that an album as great as Labour of Lust could ever be allowed to go out of print? Sure, many of the highlights are available on Basher: The Best of Nick Lowe, but you really need songs like "Born Fighter," "You Make Me," "Skin Deep" and "Dose of You" too. Every song on that album is a classic. Nick The Knife, The Abominable Showman, Cowboy Outfit, etc. may not be as consistently great, but they still deserve to be heard without being robbed on Amazon's Marketplace. This is an injustice of epic proportions. Can you imagine the reaction if none of van Gogh's paintings were on display in any of the world's museums? If Citizen Kane were only available on SelectaVision? If Hulk Hogan retired? This is the rock and roll equivalent people. It's sick and twisted and just plain wrong, wrong, wrong. Am I making myself clear?

So go buy Jesus of Cool (even if you already own it it's worth it for the bonus tracks and excellent packaging). Then demand reissue of Labour of Lust and the rest of Nick Lowe's catalog.