super groovy delicious bite: labour of lust

Nick Lowe reunited with Rockpile to record two bona fide new wave roots rock classics simultaneously. After the critical acclaim of his debut 'Jesus of Cool / Pure Pop For Now People', Lowe was caught up in a whirlwind of activity that included producing, touring, and recording: "Back in those days if you wanted to be in the pop business – and it was a much less crowded business then – you would get on the end of a conveyor belt that would move very slowly towards some point in the distance where you would get your big break. Once you were on this conveyor belt you would learn your craft in total anonymity: you had to write songs if you wanted to stick around and learn how to work a room and how to do a show. It involved a lot of riding in vans and playing thousands of gigs until suddenly the ol’ chance came along for you your fellow travelers. My chance had come a year before 'Labour of Lust' and that was when the real work started. There was no hint that it was going to come up, it just suddenly did. 'Labour of Lust' was my ticket to the next stage, which was some sort of international recognition. I was signed to Columbia earlier by the great Gregg Geller, but then Rockpile had been doing thousands of gigs in America and when we came back to England I’d go to the studio with Elvis Costello or somebody else. We just seemed to be working at this incredible pitch. My time on the conveyor belt was spent living in the most appalling sort of squalor. But we were young, you know, and full of pep. It was fabulous, really was fantastic. When all these tours in America started there were shows back to back, with lots of driving hundreds of miles, and then getting back into some vehicle and driving frequently back the same road you traveled the previous day. Sitting here in my cozy London pad, I don’t have any desire to go back to that, but at the same time it was terrific fun and I am ever so glad I did it. But I cannot remember having a plan at all. It seemed that ['Labour of Lust'] was just the next thing on the sheet...When we weren’t working on ['Repeat When Necessary' and 'Labour of Lust'], I was either with Elvis Costello doing Armed Forces or we were on tour in the states. They were both essentially Rockpile records, but we weren’t allowed to call them Rockpile records because Edmunds was signed to Led Zeppelin’s label, Swan Song. It was a shame we couldn’t distill the best tracks from 'Repeat When Necessary' and 'Labour of Lust'. I think it would’ve been a pretty good record."

Lowe produced the sessions for 'Labour of Lust' at Eden Studios in London, England and Love Studios in Helsinki, Finland which featured Nick Lowe on bass and vocals; Dave Edmunds on rhythm and solo guitars and backing vocals; Billy Bremner on rhythm and solo guitars and backing vocals; and Terry Williams on drums; with Huey Lewis adding harmonica on "Born Fighter"; Bob Andrews playing Oberheim on "Endless Grey Ribbon"; Elvis Costello on backing vocals for "American Squirm"; Bruce Thomas on bass for "American Squirm"; and Pete Thomas on drums for "American Squirm". At the same time, the same lineup recorded Dave Edmunds' 'Repeat When Necessary'.