Labour of Lust


Labour of Lust is an album by British singer-songwriter Nick Lowe. Also produced by Lowe, it was released in 1979 by Radar Records in the UK and Columbia Records in the US. It was recorded and released at the same time as Dave Edmunds' Repeat When Necessary and features the same Rockpile personnel. It led off with "Cruel to Be Kind," Lowe's only major US hit.
The American version of this record had a slightly different track listing, with "Endless Grey Ribbon" being deleted and replaced with the UK single A-side, "American Squirm." The latter song includes members of Elvis Costello & The Attractions, namely Elvis on backing vocals, Bruce Thomas on bass and Pete Thomas on drums. Credited to "Nick Lowe and His Sound," the B-side of this single was Elvis & The Attractions' version of the Lowe-penned " Peace, Love & Understanding?" "Endless Grey Ribbon" was later issued in America as the B-side of the "Cruel to Be Kind" single.
Labour of Lust was released on CD in 1990 by Demon/Fiend in Europe and Columbia in North America, but quickly fell out of print. Yep Roc Records reissued the album on CD on 15 March 2011, containing all tracks from the US and UK versions, as well as "Basing Street," the B-side of both the UK single "Cracking Up" and the North American single "Switchboard Susan."

Track listing

U.K. version

All written songs by Nick Lowe except where noted.
  1. "Cruel to Be Kind" – 3:31
  2. "Cracking Up" – 2:59
  3. "Big Kick, Plain Scrap!" – 2:28
  4. "Born Fighter" – 3:09
  5. "You Make Me" – 1:53
  6. "Skin Deep" – 3:12
  7. "Switch Board Susan" – 3:50
  8. "Endless Grey Ribbon" – 3:17
  9. "Without Love" – 2:29
  10. "Dose of You" – 2:21
  11. "Love So Fine" – 3:52

    U.S. version

  12. "Cruel to Be Kind" – 3:31
  13. "Cracking Up" – 2:59
  14. "Big Kick, Plain Scrap" – 2:28
  15. "American Squirm" – 2:29
  16. "You Make Me" – 1:53
  17. "Skin Deep" – 3:12
  18. "Switch Board Susan" – 3:50
  19. "Dose of You" – 2:21
  20. "Without Love" – 2:29
  21. "Born Fighter" – 3:09
  22. "Love So Fine" – 3:52

    2011 Yep Roc Records

  23. "Cruel to Be Kind" – 3:31
  24. "Cracking Up" – 2:59
  25. "Big Kick, Plain Scrap" – 2:28
  26. "American Squirm" – 2:29
  27. "Born Fighter" – 3:09
  28. "You Make Me" – 1:53
  29. "Skin Deep" – 3:12
  30. "Switchboard Susan" – 3:50
  31. "Endless Grey Ribbon" – 3:17
  32. "Without Love" – 2:29
  33. "Dose of You" – 2:21
  34. "Love So Fine" – 3:52
  35. "Basing Street" - 2:32

    Personnel

;Additional personnel
Album

Album Charts

Single
YearSongUK singles chartUS singles chart
1979"Cruel to Be Kind"1212

Certifications

Canada-Gold