Labour of Lust

Certain Songs #1335: Nick Lowe – “Skin Deep”

September 30, 2018 by Jim Connelly

Album: Labour of Lust
Year: 1979

My favorite song on Labour of Lust, and along with “So It Goes,” my favorite Nick Lowe song period, “Skin Deep” is a yet another incredibly cynical look at love and sex.

It’s also a perfect microcosm of what made Rockpile such a great band: songs that had great basslines, powerful drum parts, weird harmonies, and floated on mattresses of acoustic guitars with electric guitars serving as decoration or stingers.

Certain Songs #1334: Nick Lowe – “American Squirm”

September 29, 2018 by Jim Connelly

Album: Labour of Lust
Year: 1979

Nick Lowe had a pretty fucking great 1979, even beyond the success of “Cruel to Be Kind.”

Not only did he record and release two albums with Rockpile — his own Labour of Lust and and Dave Edmunds’ Repeat When Necessary — he also found time to produce his fourth Elvis Costello album in three years, Get Happy!!, all of which was part of his D.I.Y. aesthetic, a philosophy that has stuck with me to this day.

Certain Songs #1333: Nick Lowe – “Cruel to Be Kind”

September 28, 2018 by Jim Connelly

Album: Labour of Lust
Year: 1979

Why “Cruel to Be Kind”??

Without dismissing it as a song — it’s a great pop song on every level — out of all of the great power-pop songs floating around in 1979, how is it that “Cruel to Be Kind” became a massive hit, peaking a #12 not just here in the U.S., but also in the U.K., Australia, Canada and New Zealand?