Nick Lowe – Indoor Safari

Since I picked up a pile of used Nick Lowe records in the early 1990s, the rest of my Lowe collection was by way of CD. And all of my Los Straitjackets albums have been on CD. We’re huge fans of both. I think Nick Lowe is one of the sweetest pop songwriters out there, always doing a fresh take on a very standard song style and delivering songs that really hit me emotionally. Los Straitjackets hit me right in my Ventures spot, and are perhaps the tightest band I’ve ever seen, period. And we’ve seen them both a number of times, and it absolutely made sense to us when Nick Lowe and Los Straitjackets started working together.

That came about as a 2015 holiday release – how was that 10 years ago already?! – the Quality Holiday Revue Live.

We’ve seen them both live separately a number of times. We first got to see Nick Lowe in 1987, at SUNY Oswego’s Laker Hall Gymnasium, opening for Elvis Costello. I wrote about that extensively here. The first time we saw Los Straitjackets, and we were already fans, was at a remarkable outdoor show at Schenectady’s Central Park on June 15, 1997 (thanks again, Setlist.fm!) – where the organizers had established a huge sandpile in front of the stage for children to play in, and our elder child, four-year-old Ollie, got to enjoy a sandy mosh pit while we hovered around with their almost-year-old sibling. It was the most lovely, relaxed day with friends and children, and the incredible performance of the amazing masked instrumentalists. How many times have we gotten to see them since? I’ve lost track, to be honest. I know the most recent times were in 2017, playing with Marshall Crenshaw at World Cafe Live, and then in 2023, as part of our 40th anniversary celebration, we got to see them with Nick Lowe just down the street at The Colonial Theatre here in Phoenixville. Always, just always excellent.

So yes, of course when this record was announced, I made sure to reserve a copy. It’s Nick’s first full album in 11 years, and there’s no disappointment. His songwriting skills are as sharp as ever, his special kind of pop lament always shining. And with the tightest band in the world backing him? Sublime.

I love the admonition on the back cover that “This record must be played at 33-1/3 r.p.m. on equipment especially designed for stereophonic records incorporating a stereophonic pick-up and twin-channel amplifier feeding into two loudspeakers.” It doesn’t specify whether it will actually destroy monophonic equipment, but better not to take the chance.

I should add here that because they are the label of both of these favorite artists, Yep Roc is one of the few labels that I actually follow in the modern era. They’re also the home of Dave Alvin and The Fleshtones – so four of my absolute all-time favorite artists are all getting deserved releases on the same label.