Not So Silent Night
In England, where atheism grows with every passing year, Christmas albums are not only uncool, they are anathema. So how did Nick Lowe — the man who produced the Damned, Elvis Costello, the Pretenders, and Johnny Cash, and whose own debut record was aptly titled Jesus of Cool — become a fan of the holiday revue? It helps that he’s backed by Los Straightjackets, musicians so skilled their true identities must be hidden behind Mexican wrestling masks. It also helps that Lowe’s velvety voice is sinuous enough to make chicks wiggle in their knickers with a rendition of “Silent Night,” but he chooses unusual tunes, like “Children, Go Where I Send Thee,” a cumulative counting song on which he manages to outstrip Johnny Cash by several magnitudes of awesome. And, frankly, the originals — “I Was Born in Bethlehem,” which evokes “If I Only Had a Brain” from another holiday classic, and the heartbreakingly lovely “A Dollar Short of Happy,” for which Ry Cooder penned lyrics — are absolutely worth the price of admission.
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