Thursday 4 June 2020

Polyvinyl Craftsmen - Jesuses of Cool


Coop here, my turn this week. So, the title; apparently that is the correct pluralisation of Jesus, looks wrong to me but there you go. And I'm not saying the Polyvinyl Craftsmen are Jesuses of cool, we're blatantly not but I think the subjects of my playlist this week are. This is my opinion, it doesn't necessarily reflect the views of other Craftsmen!

Greg Cartwright and Nick Lowe are two of my favourite songwriters and singers, so this is a chronological wander through their back catalogues. 

Greg Cartwright has been my favourite for a few years, I was hooked when I heard "Stop and Think It Over" and then gobbled up everything else I could find that he was involved in.

Nick Lowe has been around a lot longer and has taken more time to appreciate. I heard him first in the 70s and liked what he did but never really dug much deeper than a couple of singles. I saw Brinsley Schwarz doing "Surrender to the Rhythm" on an Old Grey Whistle Test repeat about 10 years ago and picked up a best of Brinsley Schwartz comp and then a best of Nick Lowe on the back of that and then collected all his early LPs. I've just finished Will Birch's "Cruel To Be Kind" bio and have been buying all of Nick's later LPs/EPs too. He is growing old gracefully and his music is reflecting that.

Enough waffle, have a listen, there are similarities you might notice, both are influenced by country, soul, R&B and the love of a good song. I could have picked 100 songs by each but chose 20, all written by them rather than covers (they are both ace at interpreting other people's songs too).


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