Nick Lowe
‘Indoor Safari’
Yep Roc Records

The to-do stemming from the drag queen re-enactment of “The Last Supper” (1496-98) at the Paris Olympics put me in mind of Nick Lowe. Not that the singer, songwriter, and producer has a penchant for donning female attire or iconoclasm, but the overripe interpretation of Leonardo’s masterpiece was a reminder that our cultural elites have long had a fondness for mocking Christianity. The depressing thing about such provocations is their laziness.

Mr. Lowe isn’t lazy, though it’s been more than a decade since we’ve had an album from him: the holiday outing titled “Quality Street: A Seasonal Selection for All the Family.” Most of the numbers on “Quality Street” were covers, but Mr. Lowe contributed a handful of his own songs. Among them was “I Was Born in Bethlehem,” a song as gentle in its ministrations as it is humane in its outreach. No irony, please: Mr. Lowe dared a sincere encomium and succeeded where lesser wits, whether they be in France or elsewhere, wouldn’t have the wherewithal to tread.

Which isn’t to say that Mr. Lowe is allergic to irony. His American debut album was called “Pure Pop For Now People”; in Britain, “Jesus of Cool.” Both titles are redolent of the artist’s cheek. Along with his own work, Mr. Lowe has produced records by a number of raucous talents, including Graham Parker and the Rumour, the Damned, the Pretenders, and Elvis Costello and the Attractions. Although he scored a hit in 1979 with “Cruel To Be Kind,” Mr. Lowe’s most renowned song is likely “(What’s So Funny ’Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding.” 

Mr. Costello recorded the authoritative version; Curtis Stigers’s take on the song, included on the soundtrack for “The Bodyguard,” was the most profitable. Both covers took the title plaint at face value: Mr. Costello bellowed in fury; Mr. Stigers, in soulful remonstrance. As originally recorded by Mr. Lowe as part of the pub rock band Brinsley Schwarz, the song was a teasing dig at hippie do-gooderism. It’s a bracing tune, sure, but the sardonic tone of Mr. Lowe’s musings on “the children of a new generation” tell another story.

In 2007, Mr. Lowe recorded “At My Age,” an album that took him on a concerted turn, to being a crooner from his status as “The Basher” — the nickname he garnered as a producer. Gone, it seemed, was the nonchalance and wit of the earlier recordings; fans met the results with bemusement. Geezerhood doesn’t mean jettisoning one’s spritz, spunk, and sprightliness, does it? Mr. Lowe was 58 years old at the time.

The songwriter, now 75, is set to release “Indoor Safari” this coming Friday. It is a good sign that the album’s cover is as goofy as it is. A model of a certain age with a Louise Brooks hairdo and a leopard-skin print ensemble is seen sitting within a jungle setting that is as authentic as a three-dollar bill. Mr. Lowe’s collaborators on the album are Los Straitjackets, an instrumental outfit with a taste for surf music and Spaghetti Westerns. Did I mention that its members never leave their houses without wearing Mexican wrestling masks?

“Indoor Safari” is a throwback to the music of Mr. Lowe’s youth: Carl Perkins, the Everly Brothers, and Buddy Holly. The tunes skitter and the sentiments are plainly stated. What could have been an essay in rank nostalgia is mitigated by a renewed sense of purpose. Mr. Lowe’s gift for lyrical concision is, as ever, a wonder, and his wistful tendencies are given irresistible form. That, and he never arrives without a hook.

“A Quiet Place” is as fetching an embodiment of spiritual longing as one could hope for. It’s followed by a romantic avowal given authority by the pithy musical accents of Los Straitjackets, “Blue on Blue.” “Raincoat in the River” is kin to “Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying” and “Singin’ in the Rain.” Elsewhere, Mr. Lowe nods to the Beatles, posits the virtues of the trombone, and acts like a big galoot. In pure pop fashion, the Jesus of Cool assures that “it will all work out in time.” It’s a testament to Mr. Lowe’s gifts that we take him at his word.