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Nick Lowe powered by Los Straitjackets

It’s 11 years since the evergreen Christmas LP, Quality Street, and for various reasons Nick Lowe had suggested that’d be his final proper album. However, backed up by the unlikely backing band Los Straitjackets - surf instrumental specialists who perform in Mexican wrestling masks - another entry in Nick’s meandering but always rewarding discography has taken shape.

Almost all of these songs have trickled out on singles and LPs over the past 6 years or so, but they’re re-recorded here and sequenced expertly alongside a couple of new ideas, including the punchy opener ‘Went To A Party’. Across 37 minutes, Los Straitjackets allow Nick to mix elements of his 60-year career into an easy-drinking cocktail. Tracks like ‘Tokyo Bay’ have the tight rockabilly twang of his Rockpile years, and when the pace drops for stuff like ‘Blue on Blue’ it harks back to the albums he started making in his 40s - the impeccably recorded ‘Brentford’ sequence that showcased his witty, soulful songwriting more than ever. ‘Love Starvation’ and ‘Crying Inside’ have a strong Buddy Holly flavour that has always fitted Nick like a glove. ‘Lay It On Me Baby’ and ‘Jet Pac Boomerang’ are built like early Beatles album cuts, an influence the latter song acknowledges when Nick cheerfully quotes ‘Please Please Me’ in its closing seconds. He sounds like he’s having enormous fun - now that he’s hit his stride with Los Straitjackets, let’s hope it’s not so long a wait before the next album.