Review of When I Was Cruel
NY Daily News, 2002-04-14
- Jim Farber
Why Elvis Costello's Aim Is Still True
By JIM FARBER
Elvis Costello isn't sure how he'd like to you to refer to his new
album, "When I Was Cruel." He isn't comfortable calling it
his first "rock" record in a long time, though many pundits
already have done so, since it's his first in eight years fired by fat
guitars, crashing drums and a driving beat.
"I never liked the term 'rock,' " Costello carps. "Back
when rock lost the 'roll' part of it, all the sex and swing went out
of it."
He's just as fidgety about referring to the album as his first "proper"
record in a long time, though, in fact, it is the first in six years
to bear only his name.
"That makes it seem like all those collaborations I've been doing
were less important," Costello says, referring to his joint efforts
with everyone from lounge king Burt Bacharach to mezzo-soprano Anne
Sophie von Otter.
"Maybe you should just call this my first loud record in however
many years," Costello says with a laugh.
Wait. That doesn't work either. "Any record can be loud if you
turn the volume high enough," he jokes.
So, okay. Clearly, Costello isn't a guy who's terribly chummy with
categorizations. His recent résumé shows he has been working
overtime to defy any and all musical definitions.
He has sung jazz pieces with the Mingus Orchestra, duetted on country
songs with Lucinda Williams, performed gospel harmonies with the Fairfield
Four, vocalized with the Brodsky String Quartet, crooned Charles Aznavour
ballads for a movie soundtrack and written a musical theme for a British
TV series. Last year, he even accepted an offer from an Italian dance
company to write a full score for a 60-piece orchestra, for which he
had no preparation whatsoever.
"It's not that different from working with a band," Costello
says blithely. "I started out with four guys. Now it's up to 60.
You just have to make sure the flute doesn't end up sounding like a
guitar. I read a technical manual and felt my way through it."
Such creative pluck has made Costello's career one of the most far-reaching
and respected if also one of the most tricky to follow
in pop history. He has become so chameleonlike, he makes Madonna look
like a creature of habit. Who else, after all, has the range, imagination
and chutzpah to command two separate recording contracts at the same
time?
Currently, the 47-year-old artist filters his music through a twin-headed
corporate hydra: the pop division of Island/Def Jam, which is releasing
his new album, and the more specialized imprints of Universal Classics,
which release such projects as his collaboration with von Otter and
the aforementioned ballet score.
The split ultimately reveals a more prosaic reason why Costello hasn't
released what he sometimes likes to call "a rowdy rhythm record"
in years. He admits he didn't want to fork over any pop-oriented music
to Island until the company got through its wrenching reorganization.
"I wasn't about to give them a record when I wasn't sure who was
in charge," he says, sounding slightly soiled by even having to
consider such matters.
While Costello says he certainly does want his albums to sell, he isn't
happy with any marketing term being applied to them. He hates the label
"crossover," which has been used for his classical-leaning
efforts. "It's insulting because it implies that you're trying
to ingratiate yourself with an audience who otherwise wouldn't like
you," he says. "With Anne Sophie, if we wanted to ingratiate
ourselves we would have made a very different record. We did the songs
that she enjoyed and she sang them exactly the way she wanted."
Certainly, Costello understands how rare it is for an audience to be
allowed to follow that agenda in the corporate world. But observers
feel that privilege is more than justified. "He's a master songwriter,
who has earned the right, and has the fans, to allow him to go whereever
he wants," says Rita Houston, music director of the respected Bronx-based
free-form radio station WFUV. "He loves all kinds of music without
bias."
'Cruel' Intentions
Better for all his songwriting output, Costello's cleverness as a lyric
writer and flair for melodic hooks hasn't waned after more than 25 years
at the game.
"When I Was Cruel" is another example of his verbal derring-do.
In subject matter, word choice and point of view, there isn't a cliched
moment on the disk.
Take the opening cut. The title, "45," refers to both the
peak year of the baby boom and the antique term for vinyl singles. As
an added joke, the song lasts precisely three minutes and 33 seconds
(suggesting the playing speed of an old LP).
At first, Costello swears the running time was an accident, then playfully
adds, "We could be lying about the length, anyway. Has anyone actually
timed it?"
Regardless of its brevity, the song covers an amazing range of subjects,
including memory, fetishes, history, biography, style, corporate revolt,
musical rebellion and the wages of fame. It just re-proves the old theory
that the best pop singles tackle the most ground in the shortest space.
Unsurprisingly, Costello considers himself something of a singles obsessive,
not to mention a record junkie. "It's my one extravagance. I'm
not much of a fashion plate. I don't care what shoes I wear. But I love
to buy records. I much prefer that to getting them for free. Queueing
up [in a store] is part of it."
Costello isn't inspired only by music but also by the machinations
of the music business. On the new song "Spooky Girlfriend,"
Costello sings about a pliant female singer and her creepy manager.
"There's something fascinating about the acquiescence of a pop
creation, just as there is a morbid fascination with the Svengali figure,"
he explains.
In another track, "Doll Revolution," Costello reverses his
focus and writes about musicians revolting against the business, like
the pioneers of grunge (or punk). The song might even be seen as a harbinger
of what's to come next in music. "I'm always hopeful for the next
big thing," he says. "No matter what it is."
Together, these two songs show the breadth of Costello's point of view.
He says he witnessed both sides of the music biz at this year's Grammy
Awards, at which he served as a presenter. "It's like a trip to
the fair," he says. "You either come away with a big teddy
bear or you eat too much cotton candy and feel sick. This time, you
had Ralph Stanley singing 'O Death.' So there was this shock of recognition
that something real was actually being allowed to break through, in
the midst of these really contrived things. But the contrived things
are interesting, too. There's no right or wrong here. To me, it's good
that it's all represented."
Costello makes his open-minded attitude more personal in his album's
title track, "When I Was Cruel." It finds Costello nostalgic
for his youthful arrogance, when he could indulge the simple pleasure
of writing people off without a thought.
"When you're older you see the humanity, even in people you despise,"
he explains. "You'll see an awful world leader, but then you notice
the gravy stain on their tie or their bad toupee and there's this terrible
moment where you feel pity before you get back to hating them
again."
Costello sustains his empathy further in "15 Petals," one
of his few unguarded love songs to his wife, Cait O'Riordan.
"I was never too good at the straight love song," Costello
says. "I always felt the need to find a twist. But in this, there
isn't any getting out."
Costello's lyrical dexterity is mirrored in the way he has moved with
aplomb from one complex project to the next. His packed schedule has
led some observers to label him a workaholic which, characteristically,
makes him blanch.
"The term suggests an unhealthy compulsion," he says. "But
I really can't tell you a week when I've regretted it. To be in New
York on Sept. 20, in that moment in the city, and record the horns for
this record, and then go to L.A. to sing with the Mingus Orchestra for
two of the best shows I've ever been involved in, then come back to
Nashville and play with Lucinda Williams for a three-hour taping for
Country Music Television ... why wouldn't I want to do that? My job
is to play music."
Among the Penguins
But does this schedule leave Costello time for anything outside the
world of song? He says he enjoys watching soccer, "though that
usually involves some singing." And he likes to travel, though
not to the usual places. His favorite trip was to an island near the
South Pole. "To get bundled up and be surrounded by 70,000 curious
penguins, that's better than drugs," he says.
Music remains his most reliable intoxicant. "And the least dangerous,"
he says, having given up alcohol. "I lost the taste one day
the same with meat. I think everybody has a certain allotment in their
life and I met it. Besides, when you get older it slows you down and
makes you blue and I'm melancholic enough."
So how does Costello transgress these days? "In ways you can't
even imagine," he shoots back.
Of course, why act out in self-destructive ways when you can shatter
the rules in your art? Costello clearly relishes his position as a maverick
who can indulge every creative whim, regardless of how many people it
reaches.
"I never think about the audience," he declares. "That
would be patronizing. You can complain about how a record didn't reach
more people or didn't get a fair shake because of trends or business
reasons. But none of that matters. The main thing is just to make the
records. They exist! They're there to be discovered or rediscovered.
You can bury them at the bottom of the ocean, they'd still be there,
somewhere, waiting to be heard."
Costello Classics: A User's Guide
As one of music's most prolific beasts, Elvis Costello has hundreds
of songs in his canon. Here, we sift out the collections you shouldn't
miss:
"My Aim Is True" (1977)
The first flourish of Costello's genius, it's full of nervous little
hits like "Less Than Zero" and "Red Shoes," plus
his breakthrough ballad, "Alison."
"This Year's Model" (1978)
Costello's band the Attractions first played on this album, one of
the most ferocious ever made. It features classics like "This Year's
Girl" and "No Action," plus vocals from Costello that
make him sound as if he could devour piranha.
"Armed Forces" (1979)
Here Elvis and the Attractions achieve a theatricality as grand as
anything by Bruce Springsteen. Includes his kiss-off to punk "What's
So Funny (About Peace Love and Understanding)?"
"Trust" (1981)
Costello begins to emerge as a master vocalist here, and as a songwriter
capable of genuine grace.
"Imperial Bedroom" (1982)
This one matches some of Costello's most adventurous song structures
to his most beautiful melodies, including "Man Out of Time"
and "Beyond Belief."
"All This Useless Beauty" (1996)
Elvis records his versions of songs he had written over the years for
others. Surprisingly, it holds together as his best sustained compendium
of ballads.
"The Songs of Elvis Costello" (1999)
Covering a Costello song is like climbing Mount Everest for a singer.
But a rash of them have made it to the summit, and lived to tell about
it, including such contributors to this album as Annie Ross, Norma Waterson
and June Tabor.
"Elvis Costello With Anne Sophie von Otter" (2000)
A stellar collection of pop songs rendered by one of the only opera
singers open and clever enough to tackle them.
Original Publication Date: 4/14/02