Nick Lowe's new Quality Street (Yep Roc Records) stands the traditional-how-many-times-can-you-record-the-awful-"Silver-Bells" mode of holiday recordings on its fat and complacent head, with only a song or two that's well-known, and surprises at every turn.
Quality Street has got variety and then some. There are three Lowe originals, including one penned with Ry Cooder. One by Ron Sexsmith. There's "Children Go Where I Send Thee" in a sort of rockabilly mode that Lowe has long excelled at, plus tropical, New Orleans and lounge rhythms (if lounge has a rhythm--maybe we should beam the question to Perry Como) and a cover of Roy Wood's "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" that's worth the price of admission. There's even some stuff that Lowe sings without irony ("Born In Bethlehem") that's very becoming--after all, he contributed a fine gospel song ("Far Celestial Shore") to Mavis Staples' recent One True Vine.
"Christmas at the Airport" is one great track, with the confusion of the airport ("I took a set of X-Rays/they came out rather well") and the loneliness underneath perfectly crafted. When the character hides in an airport closet to get away from the madness, you wonder if he took someone with him.
Quality Street is leaps and bounds ahead of the usual holiday dreck. Saint Nick has done it again.