Nick Lowe
"Party One" Demos
1988

Transfer: .wav files > iZotope RX 10/ ozone 5 (mastered) > xACT 2.59 > FLAC

02 You Got The Look I Like
02 Shting-Shtang
03 I Don't Know Why You Keep Me On
04 (I Want To Build A) Jumbo Ark
05 What's Shakin' On The Hill
06 Love's Been Gone Too Long
07 All Men Are Liars
08 Refrigerator White
09 You Stabbed Me In The Front
10 Honeygun
11 Fool Who Knows Little Village
12 Who Was That Man?
13 Rocket Coast
14 I've Got Work To Do
15 Gai-Gan Man
16 I Live On A Battlefield

Nick Lowe: guitar, bass, vocals

Known Faults:
-Rocky Road and Don't Think About Her removed due to being released on "Party Of Four"

Party of One is widely regarded as a solid, underrated, and transitional album in Nick Lowe�s catalog. It marks the close of his early pub-rock era while offering the first real hints of the more introspective, refined, adult pop and roots-based songwriting that would fully blossom on the excellent follow-up, The Impossible Bird, setting the course for the next three decades of his career.

I�m a fan of both eras of Nick�s work, and while Party of One isn�t among my personal favorites, it remains a historically important release-one that bridges his two musical worlds with clarity and purpose.

The demos that came into my possession - via a source who prefers to remain anonymous and understands you can't take it with you - don�t yet reach the emotional depth of the songs Nick would write later. But they do offer the first real glimpse of the new direction his songwriting was taking. In fact, I find myself preferring these stripped-down versions, built around nothing more than Nick, his guitar, and a bass line (by Nick or possibly by an unknown bassist), to the fully produced tracks that eventually appeared on the album.

Two tracks were omitted from release on Party of Four. Full-band versions of twelve songs ultimately appeared on Party of One (with two more added to the expanded reissue). Full band versons of �I Live on a Battlefield� later resurfaced on The Impossible Bird, �I�ve Got Work to Do� eventually appeared on Austin de Lone�s Soul Blues, and �Fool Who Knows� found its home on Little Village�s debut album. I have not been able to locate any official release of �Love�s Been Gone Too Long.�

Thanks to the anonymous collector for getting this into my hands and to Goody for the pitch update.

mjk5510