Nick Lowe and Yep Roc reissuing six out-of-print albums on CD and vinyl

Nick Lowe reissuing six out-of-print albums, playing lots of NY-area shows

Nick Lowe is reissuing six of his album albums — 1982’s Nick the Knife, 1983’s The Abominable Showman, 1984’s Nick Lowe and His Cowboy Outfit, 1985’s The Rose of England (my favorite of this bunch), 1988’s Pinker and Prouder Than Previous, and 1990’s Party of One — on LP and CD, all of which have been long out of print. Each vinyl record comes with a bonus 45 RPM single (which are bonus tracks on the CD versions). The records are due out this summer via Yep Roc, and you can also order a bundle of all six that comes with a Nick Lowe Lunch box.

 

Cool!
Does the lunch box have the lyrics to "Teacher Teacher" printed on it...?

 

Nick Lowe Getting Six New Deluxe Reissues From Yep Roc Records

 

Aww man...I just wanted to CDs, not the lunchbox (not that there's anything wrong with lunch boxes). It's $80 for the CD bundle...so I know I'm paying $20 or so for a lunchbox. Yeesh. I'll pass for now.

EDIT: I see now the CDs are individually priced at $16, so that would be $96 individually. So Yep Roc is paying me $16 to take the lunchbox! Well...I'll still pass.

 

I'm only interested in the ones available as bonus tracks as I've got all the original issues for these. Do we know who is mastering them?

Decent price for the LP's

 

Basher on a lunchbox.... well, is that the real jesus of cool?

 

Just to clarify not ALL of them have bonus tracks nor the 45 rpm single for the LPs.

Nick The Knife has three bonus tracks.
Party of one has four
Nick Lowe and His Cowboy outfit has 2
The Abominwble Snowman has two.

So two of the six reissues have no bonus material.

Once I hear who is mastering this, I will decide if I want to upgrade but I will probably just pick up two of the four that have bonus tracks and buy the bonus tracks separately from Yep Rock if they allow it.

 

I think the old reissue of Party had two bonus tracks

 

Great news. I heard The Rose of England for the first time last summer and it blew me away. And side 1 of The Abominable Showman is as good as anything he ever recorded.

 

Indeed, it's a great wlbum. The original mastering for it is pretty sweet.

 

And they're streamable! Well, most of them.

EDIT: They're all on Spotify!

 

I have all the original CDs and the Doings box set. I think I'll pass unless the new CDs are a revelation

 

"The Rose Of England", for me, is right up there with his first two albums... honestly, it's that great!!! Add in about an album's worth of early singles/non-album tracks etc. & that's my top shelf of his work.

That said, there's terrific stuff on any & all of his releases & in my book he's never made anything less than very good albums... often even better than that...

 

I'm there with you. I do think this is a great option for those with holes in their collection.

 

The new reissue has backing vocals on "Rocky Road" (Party of One). Those aren't on my original CD!

 

Interesting. Which cd do you have? I've got a US Reprise cd and a US Reprise lp. I don't recall backing vocals on that song, but been awhile since I played it--especially the lp. I'll try to check 'em both.

 

FALSE ALARM!

I have the European CD. I have to explain that I encountered this difference listening to Spotify on my mobile phone this morning (no loudness or normalization EQ on in Spotify).

This is interesting:
Spotify on phone - Clearly backing vocals high in the mix.
Spotify on iMac - No backing vocals. Perhaps waaay low in the mix, but much better dynamics.

I'm sure my Samsung android phone is playing tricks with the output. I recorded both signals through the respective jack outputs and got two very different results, so definitely the phone messing up the sound. I'm very surprised that the phone could make such a difference from a mp3 file (I guess that's what Spotify use?).

 

I just received the Party Of One vinyl. Haven't played it yet, but did take the time to get the free digital download, and compare it to my original Party Of One cd.

1. The extra tracks are really good. I would go so far as say that Rocket Coast could make a go of it today as a single. That swampy Ry Cooder sound - wow.

2. Frustratingly, the digital version of the remix has a significant amount of compression, along with the usual boost in the upper mid-range. Sounds great with headphones, too much of a wall of sound on my speakers.

Hoping the vinyl is a bit more dynamic. This evening...

 

Thanks for reviving this thread. Please keep us posted. I already have the first four on original vinyl but might spring for the other two if they sound good.

 

Yeh, I went for Party of One because that marks the line where my original Nick vinyl stopped and CDs began.

Will update once I can give a critical listen.

Edit: I really love my original Nick vinyls. Great pressings, tons of dynamic range. They sound awesome loud! It's doubtful I'll buy most of the repressings, but it's great that younger listeners can get a fresh crack of these great albums on vinyl.

 

I’ve got an original US Reprise pressing of Party Of One and think it’s kinda meh sonically (although I should probably revisit it since I changed carts). Curious to hear what you think of the new one.

 

So, my Party Of One vinyl report...

I'd give it 7 stars out of 10. It feels to me like the digital master created off the tapes was used for the vinyl as well. Which means the compression is the same as the digital files.

It sounds GOOD, but doesn't have the analog pop of the earlier Nick catalog. It's also not mastered very loud - you gotta crank it up, which of course brings the noise up with it.

I think this release is best heard on the original CD.

Based on this, I probably won't pursue any of the Yep Roc reissues. Get thee to discogs for the originals - well worth the effort.

Edit: my review applies to the vinyl only. You need the digital version for the 4 bonus tracks, which are excellent.

Edit2: If you want evidence of that missing pop, spin up 'Raging Eyes" on the orginal Abominable Showman after playing the Party Of One reissue. Two different worlds.

 

A great side effect of this reissue campaign is that this year I've found several of the original Demon CDs in the bins (and also an original US Columbia of Nick the Knife).

 

There's been an 80s LP of Nick the Knife sitting in the new releases bin at my local record store for a few weeks now. I tried to get some kid and his girlfriend to buy it tonight but he balked. I might pick it up just as a spare, or to give away, if it's still there the next time I go back.