Age ain't nothing but a number

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Nick Lowe

When he was a young man, Nick Lowe earned the nickname "Basher" for the prodigious pace he kept as a producer. Thirty years on, Lowe, 58, is operating at a more leisurely rate; almost six years have elapsed between "The Convincer" and this equally remarkable successor. The album traverses Ray Charles-like country soul, smoky late-night jazz, lush Western swing, and even a bit of Rockpile-style rockabilly. Its titular theme finds expression in "Long Limbed Girl," a pensive reminiscence about a long-ago love brought on after he comes across her photo in a desk drawer; and in the apologetics of "The Other Side of the Coin." But lest one think that Lowe has lost his edge, "At My Age" is also shot through with the notion that love is a battlefield, from the remarkably vengeful "I Trained Her to Love Me" to the cold hard facts of life laid out in "People Change." [Stuart Munro]