The Impossible Bird

{{Infobox album

| name = The Impossible Bird

| type = Album

| artist = Nick Lowe

| cover = Impossible-bird-nick-lowe.jpg

| alt =

| released = {{start date|1994|11|29|df=yes}}

| recorded =

| venue =

| studio = {{hlist|The Turk's Head Function Room (Winchester Hall), St. Margarets, Twickenham, Middlesex|The Old Cinema (Broadvale Centre), Brentford, Middlesex|The Bonaparte Rooms, St. Margaret's, Twickenham, Middlesex}}

| genre = Country rock{{cite magazine|last=Bruno|first=Franklin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IS0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA21-IA17|title=Nick Lowe: The Impossible Bird|magazine=CMJ New Music Monthly|issue=18|date=February 1995|accessdate=28 May 2020|page=38}}

| length = 40:12

| label = {{hlist|Demon|Upstart}}

| producer = {{hlist|Nick Lowe|Neil Brockbank}}

| prev_title = Party of One

| prev_year = 1990

| next_title = Dig My Mood

| next_year = 1998

}}

The Impossible Bird is an album by British singer-songwriter Nick Lowe. Produced by Lowe and Neil Brockbank, it was released in the United Kingdom in 1994 on Demon Records and elsewhere by Upstart Records.{{cite web|title=Nick Lowe, The Impossible Bird|url=https://www.discogs.com/Nick-Lowe-The-Impossible-Bird/release/3834568|accessdate=3 December 2016}}

Reception

{{Album ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite web|last=Erlewine|first=Stephen Thomas|author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-impossible-bird-mw0000121275|title=The Impossible Bird – Nick Lowe|publisher=AllMusic|accessdate=19 July 2016}}

| rev2 = Chicago Tribune

| rev2score = {{Rating|3.5|4}}{{cite news|last=Caro|first=Mark|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1994-12-15-9412150186-story.html|title=Nick Lowe: The Impossible Bird (Upstart)|work=Chicago Tribune|date=15 December 1994|accessdate=28 May 2020}}

| rev3 = Entertainment Weekly

| rev3score = B{{cite magazine|last=Cannon|first=Bob|url=http://ew.com/article/1994/12/02/impossible-bird/|title=The Impossible Bird|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|date=2 December 1994|accessdate=24 May 2017}}

| rev4 = The Guardian

| rev4score = {{Rating|2|4}}{{cite news|last=Sullivan|first=Caroline|title=Nick Lowe: The Impossible Bird (Demon)|work=The Guardian|date=18 November 1994}}

| rev5 = The Philadelphia Inquirer

| rev5score = {{Rating|3.5|4}}{{cite news|last=DeLuca|first=Dan|title=Nick Lowe: The Impossible Bird (Upstart)|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|date=4 December 1994}}

| rev6 = Q

| rev6score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite magazine|title=Nick Lowe: The Impossible Bird|magazine=Q|issue=100|date=January 1995|page=257}}

}}

In a contemporary review of The Impossible Bird, Rolling Stone critic Paul Evans said that the album showed Lowe "in excellent form" with songs that "demonstrate a prodigious productivity and an emotional realism that ranges from heartbreak... to a well-earned bittersweet humor".{{cite magazine|last=Evans|first=Paul|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/nicklowe/albums/album/184533/review/5946217/the_impossible_bird|title=Nick Lowe: The Impossible Bird|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=29 December 1994|accessdate=4 September 2007|page=190|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930210412/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/nicklowe/albums/album/184533/review/5946217/the_impossible_bird|archive-date=30 September 2007|url-status=dead}} People called it a "high point" for Lowe,{{cite magazine|url=http://people.com/archive/picks-and-pans-review-the-impossible-bird-vol-43-no-3/|title=Picks and Pans Review: The Impossible Bird|magazine=People|date=23 January 1995|accessdate=24 May 2017}} while Los Angeles Times critic Mike Boehm wrote: "The only real impossibility on this album lies in trying to resist the gently seductive pop charms of the crafty old bird who made it."{{cite news|last=Boehm|first=Mike|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-12-08-ol-6264-story.html|title=Nick Lowe 'The Impossible Bird' Upstart|work=Los Angeles Times|date=8 December 1994|access-date=24 May 2017}} Less receptive was Robert Christgau of The Village Voice, who merely gave the album a "neither" rating.{{cite book|chapter=Nick Lowe: The Impossible Bird|chapter-url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=9006|accessdate=28 May 2020|title=Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s|title-link=Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|publisher=St. Martin's Griffin|year=2000|isbn=0-312-24560-2}}