After cranking out a string of U.K hits in the '60s as the leader of the beat group Amen Corner, Low came of age as an artist the following decade, fashioning three delightful and distinctive solo albums for A&M Records that took on (and retain) the status of connoisseurs delights for their impeccable musical understatement and the everyman's eloquence of their songs and singing. In a 1978 essay on Low, the esteemed rock critic Robert Christgau noted that there is "a quirky punch to this music, especially in the grit and surprising turns of Low's singing, which has gained strength without getting pushy about it, that makes for great rock and roll. It's country-style music that's black as well as white. It's alive."
You will agree with every syllable of Christgau's rhapsodic assessment if you were lucky enough to be introduced to, and thus fall under the spell of, those three '70s records. The good news is that the fittingly titled "Sweet Soulful Music," sounds precisely like the logical next chapter in this trio of cult classics, which began with 1975's Spider Jivin', rolled along with 1976's La Booga Rooga and concluded with 1978's Be Bop 'n' Holla. "The more you do something, you ought to get better at it," Low submits.
Low readily admits that "I spent a lot of time on these lyrics; it was a lot of work." He did his work well enough that there's really no need for him to explain these songs; they explain themselves. Consider "Zazzy," which contains what could stand as this iconoclast's personal credo: "I won't be what you want me to be / Can't go where you want me to go / I believe in myself and nobody else / I wouldn't say it if it isn't so."
Talking to Christgau back in '78, Low acknowledged that even then he labored over his material for months to make it come off as spontaneous. "But mind you," he told the journalist, who noted that the artist was anxious not to sound pretentious, "I write big." If Low wrote big as he was turning 30, he's writing positively massive here. This is a record the world needs to hear, and the world needs to know that. Here's hoping a few discerning souls happen upon Sweet Soulful Music and are inspired to spread the everyman's gospel of Andy Fairweather Low. ~ Bud Scoppa, 2006
After cranking out a string of U.K hits in the '60s as the leader of the beat group Amen Corner, Low came of age as an artist the following decade, fashioning three delightful and distinctive solo albums for A&M Records that took on (and retain) the status of connoisseurs delights for their impeccable musical understatement and the everyman's eloquence of their songs and singing. In a 1978 essay on Low, the esteemed rock critic Robert Christgau noted that there is "a quirky punch to this music, especially in the grit and surprising turns of Low's singing, which has gained strength without getting pushy about it, that makes for great rock and roll. It's country-style music that's black as well as white. It's alive."
You will agree with every syllable of Christgau's rhapsodic assessment if you were lucky enough to be introduced to, and thus fall under the spell of, those three '70s records. The good news is that the fittingly titled "Sweet Soulful Music," sounds precisely like the logical next chapter in this trio of cult classics, which began with 1975's Spider Jivin', rolled along with 1976's La Booga Rooga and concluded with 1978's Be Bop 'n' Holla. "The more you do something, you ought to get better at it," Low submits.
Low readily admits that "I spent a lot of time on these lyrics; it was a lot of work." He did his work well enough that there's really no need for him to explain these songs; they explain themselves. Consider "Zazzy," which contains what could stand as this iconoclast's personal credo: "I won't be what you want me to be / Can't go where you want me to go / I believe in myself and nobody else / I wouldn't say it if it isn't so."
Talking to Christgau back in '78, Low acknowledged that even then he labored over his material for months to make it come off as spontaneous. "But mind you," he told the journalist, who noted that the artist was anxious not to sound pretentious, "I write big." If Low wrote big as he was turning 30, he's writing positively massive here. This is a record the world needs to hear, and the world needs to know that. Here's hoping a few discerning souls happen upon Sweet Soulful Music and are inspired to spread the everyman's gospel of Andy Fairweather Low. ~ Bud Scoppa, 2006
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"...as ever, the tunes are sly and laconic, and lyrics jaunty and laconic, the POV stubborn, thoughtful and true." ~ Robert Christgau, Blender, 2006
