Nick Lowe - Quality Street: A Seasonal Selection For All The Family '2013

Tracks list

 Easing into his second decade as a dapper crooner, its little wonder that
Nick Lowe has succumbed to the siren call that seduces every gentleman vocalist:
hes gone and made a Christmas album. Quality Street: A Seasonal Selection for
All the Family is cut from the same cloth as all of Lowes recent albums, cannily
mixing up country, rockabilly, torch songs, and 50s pop, a cozy blend thats well
suited for evenings snuggled up by the fireplace. Surprisingly, Quality Street
isnt as sleepy as its predecessor, 2011s The Old Magic, a charmingly low-key
collection whose pulse rarely quickened. Thats not the case with Quality Street,
which opens with a kicking rockabilly revision of the traditional Children Go
Where I Send Thee, a cut that rocks harder than anything on The Old Magic. Its
not the only thing here with a swinging backbeat, either. The North Pole Express
swings loose and low; Rise Up Shepherd skips to a sprightly country beat; Lowe
strips away the excesses on Roy Woods I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day so
it grooves along to a R&B beat and, best of all, theres a witty rock & roll
revamp of Silent Night that is perhaps the biggest surprise on this seasonal
platter. Elsewhere, Lowe does get dreamy -- on a lovely version of Boudleaux
Bryants Christmas Cant Be Far Away, on a cheerful, sparkling take on Ron
Sexsmiths Hooves on the Roof, on a gentle version of Roger Millers Little Toy
Trains, and on his own originals I Was Born in Bethlehem and A Dollar Short of
Happy -- but the song that captures the slyly humorous spirit of the whole
endeavor is Christmas at the Airport, where Nick is snowed in at the airport on
Christmas day by the deep and crisp and evil snow. Its funny, its knowing; it
speaks to the other side of Christmas, so it feels like it could be a Christmas
perennial, a tart bit of counter-programming in a holiday season that can get
too sticky and sweet. The same could be said of this roundly enjoyable seasonal
selection. 
:: TRACKLIST ::

1. Children Go Where I Send Thee (02:39)
2. Christmas Cant Be Far Away (03:29)
3. Christmas At The Airport (03:46)
4. Old Toy Trains (02:58)
5. The North Pole Express (02:43)
6. Hooves On The Roof (03:31)
7. I Was Born In Bethlehem (03:22)
8. Just To Be With You (This Christmas) (03:29)
9. Rise Up Shepherd (02:56)
10. Silent Night (02:38)
11. A Dollar Short Of Happy (02:43)
12. I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day (04:21)

A Seasonal Selection For All The Family is a twinkling blend of traditional
hymns, forgotten gems and Lowe originals.

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