Two Lloyd Cole Reviews for the Price of One Blog Post

Lloyd Cole Live at Club Café, 6/16/15; Standards, 2013 

By Henry Lipput

“Perfect Skin,” “Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken,” “Why I Love Country Music,” “Don’t Look Back,” “Like Lovers Do,” “Like A Broken Record,” “Myrtle and Rose,“ and the list goes on. I’ve been listening to Lloyd Cole for over 30 years and look forward to each time I get to see him play live or to grab one of his new albums.

Lloyd Cole at Pittsburgh's Club Café

Well, I got that chance again earlier this month, when he once again performed a terrific solo set of songs (two sets, actually, with a break between them) at Club Café on the South Side of Pittsburgh. It was a standing-room only crowd that applauded and hooted at the beginning of every song they recognized (especially, it seemed, for deep cuts like “Hey Rusty” from the 1987 Mainstream album).

It was the fourth time I’ve seen him at this club -- in addition to two times in the early 90’s in Philadelphia. Both of those times followed the release of his first two solo albums and with bands that, the first time at least, included the late, great Robert Quine.

Cole never fails to thrill -- if such a thing can be said about a man standing on stage with an acoustic guitar. Pulling out tunes from throughout his career (he first appeared on the music scene in 1984 with Lloyd Cole and the Commotions), he sang from nearly every one of his albums including his latest release.

The author with Lloyd Cole

Cole’s most recent album, Standards, was released in pretty much every country but the US in 2013; it was officially released for the domestic market last year.

Unlike other albums by long-time rockers that are made up of songs from the past, the title of Cole’s album refers instead (to me at least) to the fact that he has standards that need to be lived up to; and this he certainly does on this disc.

Standards has been touted as a return to Cole’s work with a full band. But anyone paying attention to his career knows that he has used other musicians on almost all of his discs with the exception of two or three of his solo albums -- with The Negatives (from the 2000 album of the same name) being the only one of these musical teams getting an actual name.

If anything, the latest album is a return to the sound of his first self-titled solo album from 1990. Bringing back Fred Maher on drums and Matthew Sweet on bass, Cole rocks on “Women’s Studies,” “Period Piece,” and “Opposites Day.” The lovely “Blue Like Mars” recalls Lloyd Cole’s “No Blue Skies,” and “It’s Late” is another example of his occasional country stylings.

It goes without saying that, on Standards, Lloyd Cole has once again assembled an album of literate songs. You can say he is “too well-read” as someone is accused of being in “No Blue Skies,” but that’s one of his strengths and why it’s still such a thrill to listen to him.

Standards is out now on Omnivore Recordings.