It's about time! One of the greatest albums of the '70's is finally being reissued after years of being sadly out of print. Long spoken about in hushed tones, Jesus of Cool was the de facto beginning (after some unsuccessful singles) of pure pop tunesmith/producer/raconteur Nick Lowe's solo career.

Lowe, he of both the catchy melody and witty turn of phrase, busted out of the gate with this masterpiece in 1977 when punk was just gaining a foothold in England and other more musically inclined musicians were just beginning to start the New Wave movement. Where punk had the energy of garage rock times a hundred, and little to no melody, New Wave had amped-up energy as well but proffered catchy, quirky melodies.

Lowe began his career as a member of British pop band Kippington Lodge with his friend, guitarist Brinsley Schwartz, in the late '60's. Soon tiring of playing disposable pop music (great disposable pop music as it was) Lowe and Schwartz soon broke away from the Lodge and found some like-minded musical friends. Naming the band after Lowe's guitarist buddy, the band Brinsley Schwartz was born.

Taking its' cue from bands such as Crosby Stills and Nash and The Band, Brinsley Schwartz' music was a response to the thuddeningly dull pop and heavy metal music being made at the time by British bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. While one can agree both those bands were great at what they did, at the time many were yearning for a more melodic, less wanky alternative.

Typically contrary to anything remotely considered commercial, Lowe decided the best path to follow was one filled with introspective country rock. For the next six years he led the always musically-evolving Brinsleys from their country rock beginnings to their end as one of the best pub-rock bands ever. Of course, pub-rock led to punk, which led to New Wave. Lowe's career after Brinsley Schwartz was as an originator of all of these genres.

As a staff producer at Stiff Records, Lowe jumped into the studio with any motley character he could find. His nickname "Basher" came from this period, where Lowe would take some scuzzy-looking punk-rocker with lots of vision, but usually negligible talent and haul them off to the studio to "bash" out some songs as quick as possible. Though skilled in the studio thanks to years of work with Kippington Lodge and the Brinsleys, Lowe's production strength was in allowing the artists' own innate musical qualities to come through, while still being able to offer a gentle nudge in the right direction.

In other words, a Lowe production was known for Lowe staying in the background, though it is worth considering how much Lowe really offered his charges. Just about every Lowe production is pretty stellar (especially his work with Elvis Costello) which might allude to his being more involved than previously thought. He wasn't George Martin by any means, yet his work still stands up where other producers' work during this time period often sounds dated and lacking.

During this time of heavy production work for such influential artists as The Pretenders, Dave Edmunds, Elvis Costello, and The Damned, Lowe was also working on several albums as session player and songwriter including Edmunds' albums Get It and Repeat When Necessary. Edmunds had met and befriended Lowe when the Brinsleys requested Edmunds help produce what would become the band's final album release. Though saddened by the Brinsleys break-up, Lowe and Edmunds got along quite well and formed an ad-hoc partnership of sorts that would last five years and produce many fine albums, culminating in their own band Rockpile's lone album (the marvelous Seconds Of Pleasure) in 1980.