Lowdown was always a great jam, and you get at why: you could hear it as disco or just as a sublime R&B groove. It met the listener where they were or are, because it still bends to you. And the earliest Columbia albums do have hints of that, once or twice making me think of Bill Withers.
AOR here in the UK was way behind the US in the late seventies. Despite a growing market amongst aging baby boomers, there was a fixation on the youth market as a result of punk. In September 1978, after Lido Shuffle and What Can I Say had been hits for Boz and Silk Degrees made the Top 20, UA MD Howard Berman criticised the industry for neglecting young adults who didn't relate to the excesses of contemporary rock and were too young for middle of the road fare; there was only one radio DJ taking a deep dive into this stuff on the BBC at the time. Things really didn't really change until the CD began to take off in 1984.
Reading your post it made me realize how seldom I listen to his music today. I really liked it back in the late 70s and early 80s though! Favorites would probably be the big U.S. hits: Lowdown, Lido Shuffle (although I never have been able to figure out those lyrics!), Breakdown Dead Ahead, and Jojo. The last one Frank, in particular really likes as we heard it a couple times on our journey back from Palm Springs!
And this is why it was so important for Punk to come and revitalize Rock and Roll, which by the mid-70’s was quickly becoming Granny music! Where was the rebelliousness that had been present just 15 to 20 years prior? How did this music represent teen angst? Where was the ambition and drive to change the world?
The Ramones first, and then everything that followed were like the EMT’s electric paddles to the heart of the music!
Lowdown was always a great jam, and you get at why: you could hear it as disco or just as a sublime R&B groove. It met the listener where they were or are, because it still bends to you. And the earliest Columbia albums do have hints of that, once or twice making me think of Bill Withers.
AOR here in the UK was way behind the US in the late seventies. Despite a growing market amongst aging baby boomers, there was a fixation on the youth market as a result of punk. In September 1978, after Lido Shuffle and What Can I Say had been hits for Boz and Silk Degrees made the Top 20, UA MD Howard Berman criticised the industry for neglecting young adults who didn't relate to the excesses of contemporary rock and were too young for middle of the road fare; there was only one radio DJ taking a deep dive into this stuff on the BBC at the time. Things really didn't really change until the CD began to take off in 1984.
Reading your post it made me realize how seldom I listen to his music today. I really liked it back in the late 70s and early 80s though! Favorites would probably be the big U.S. hits: Lowdown, Lido Shuffle (although I never have been able to figure out those lyrics!), Breakdown Dead Ahead, and Jojo. The last one Frank, in particular really likes as we heard it a couple times on our journey back from Palm Springs!
And this is why it was so important for Punk to come and revitalize Rock and Roll, which by the mid-70’s was quickly becoming Granny music! Where was the rebelliousness that had been present just 15 to 20 years prior? How did this music represent teen angst? Where was the ambition and drive to change the world?
The Ramones first, and then everything that followed were like the EMT’s electric paddles to the heart of the music!