Nick Lowe - Quality Street: A Seasonal Selection For The Whole Family - Christmas Music - CD

Nick Lowe's latest album, QUALITY STREET: A SEASONAL SELECTION FOR ALL THE FAMILY, is a twinkling blend of traditional hymns, forgotten gems and Lowe originals.

Easing into his second decade as a dapper crooner, it's little wonder that Nick Lowe has succumbed to the siren call that seduces every gentleman vocalist: he's gone and made a Christmas album. Quality Street: A Seasonal Selection for All the Family is cut from the same cloth as all of Lowe's recent albums, cannily mixing up country, rockabilly, torch songs, and '50s pop, a cozy blend that's well suited for evenings snuggled up by the fireplace. Surprisingly, Quality Street isn't as sleepy as its predecessor, 2011's The Old Magic, a charmingly low-key collection whose pulse rarely quickened. That's 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. It's 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 Wood's "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day" so it grooves along to a R&B beat and, best of all, there's 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 Bryant's "Christmas Can't Be Far Away," on a cheerful, sparkling take on Ron Sexsmith's "Hooves on the Roof," on a gentle version of Roger Miller's "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. It's funny, it's 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. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

Performer	Nick Lowe
Music genre	Christmas Music
Music release type	CD
Media format	CD
Original release date	2013
Language	English
Is collectible	Y
Has parental advisory label	N
Number of discs	1
Track listing	Children Go Where I Send Thee, Christmas Can't Be Far Away, Christmas at the Airport, Old Toy Trains, The North Pole Express, Hooves on the Roof, I Was Born in Bethlehem, Just to Be with You (This Christmas), Rise Up Shepherd, Silent Night, A Dollar Short of Happy, I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day
Record label	Yep Roc Records
Target audience	Family
Songwriter	Nick Lowe
Occasion	Christmas
Track name	Nick Lowe Quality Street: A Seasonal Selection For All The Family Sampler, Christmas At The Airport, I Was Born In Bethlehem, Quality Street (10th Anniversary) Jigsaw Puzzle Timelapse, Children Go Where I Send Thee, Christmas Can't Be Far Away, Old Toy Trains, Christmas at the Airport, A Dollar Short of Happy, I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day
Digital audio file format	CD
Music media format	CD
Is edited	N
Is enhanced	N