Elvis Costello picks music for every hour of the day
Vanity Fair, 2002-11-01
- Elvis Costello
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GOOD MORNING, MY SWEET
String Quartet in C Major, anyone? The author, awoke in a New York
hotel room, and in the mood for some seven a.m. Mozart. |
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ROCKING AROUND THE CLOCK
by Elvis Costello
The perfect music for five A.M. jitters, nine A.M. bustle, two P.M.
contemplation, eight P.M. assignations? The author presents a 24-hour
soundtrack - Mary J. Blige, Haydn, Bjrk, Van Morrison, Hank Williams
Sr. - that can only improve your day.
What wakes you up at 5 A.M.? Toothache? Heartbreak? Or the nervous
rush that comes from too much wine the previous evening? You can tell
yourself it is still "night" in the hour after four. Once
five strikes it is indisputably "morning".
What sound will soothe as the sharp light floods past the ill-fitting
curtains of your hired room? You need fine gauze for the senses. Outside,
the last taxis with exhausted revelers skulk home as newspaper trucks
sling piles that lie in doorways.
Play Joao Gilberto's "Aguas de Maro" (Polygram),
a song that has no need to raise its voice. It's either this or John
McCormack's Songs Of My Heart: Popular Songs and Irish Ballads (Angel)
at a low volume. The circuit of the vanity clock commences. It's just
another parlour (or boudoir) game; in the words of Errol Flynn, this
is only "for fun and sport".
6 A.M. A time of brief respite, before telephones and televisions
assault us, and we may be still and patient enough for Palestrina's
Missa Papae Marcelli sung by the Westminster Cathedral
Choir (Hyperion). It was once thought that this work saved music
in a time when dogmatic cardinals wanted to forbid the use of polyphony.
Scholarship does a disservice to our imaginations by illustrating a
more mundane reality. Listening to "Kyrie", you can believe
that it would have been persuasive.
Voices are raised in praise. Perhaps it is enough to believe that
they believe, but if that feels hypocritical, then you could always
turn to Monteverdi's "Lamento d'Arianna" performed
by the Deller Consort (Vanguard). It speaks of another kind of
love and sorrow.
7 A.M. There is a need for order and purpose to the day. Haydn
symphonies are ideal at this hour. Concise and with an absence of bombast,
they sharpen your wits with a wit of their own.Don't expect this from
the slick machine of the modern orchestra. The period group is what
you need, with the buzz and clang of the arcane bells, reeds, and bows.
There are many recordings, but Volume 2 of the Haydn Symphonies
Series, by the Academy Of Ancient Music (L'Oiseau-Lyre),
directed by Christopher Hogwood, is a good place to begin.
As the murmur of news seeps unbiden through the walls and windows,
you may prefer the prophecy of the opening measures of the Mozart
String Quartet No. 19 in C Major, K. 465", often subtitled "Dissonant",
performed by Le Quatuor Talich (Calliope), or turn to the piano
for "On An Overgrown Path" played by Andrs Schiff
on the album Leos Janácek: A Recollection (ECM),
or Brahms's autumnal intermezzos "Opuses 117 and 118",
performed by Radu Lupu (Decca).
8 A.M. The day is picking up pace. Mingus is playing
loud in the kitchen, something is boiling. It's Blues &
Roots (Rhino), or the excellent Thirteen Pictures: The
Charles Mingus Anthology (Rhino). Hit the repeat function on
"Jump Monk". Like the motor of a city, the rattle of an overhead
railway, blood coursing back to the heart, air propelled through the
pipes of an old hotel. There is a hoarse voice rising to a shout with
the force of life.
What else would work at this hour? The rock-steady beat of Tighten
Up: Trojan Reggae Classics 1968-1974 (Trojan) or "Expecting
To Fly" from Neil Young's great, reissued compilation, Decade
(Reprise).
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THE MUSIC DOCTOR IS IN
Take some Aretha at 9 am, then a dose of Madonna at 10. Dancing
with the Hoover is permitted, even encouraged.
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9 A.M. The guitar and tender falsetto of Curtis Mayfield
lead The Impressions in "I'm So Proud" and "Keep
On Pushing". If you can't find Big 16 (HMV) or 28
Originals (ABC) on vinyl, then The Ultimate Collection
(Hip-O) will spin you out of doors or across tiled floors.
Men of leisure and Victorian-minded are inclined to answer their mail
at this hour. The distraction of Aretha Franklin's I Never Loved
A Man The Way I Love You (Atlantic) will save on postage. Mighty
singers still walk among us. Solomon Burke's mid-2002 release,
Don't Give Up On Me (Fat Possum), is all the proof you
need. I must declare an interest in this one, having co-written one
track, "The Judgement", with my wife, Cait. Songs from Dan
Penn, Tom Waits, Nick Lowe, Bob Dylan, and the album's producer,
Joe Henry, recrown the King Of Rock And Soul. Now it is time
to do some housework.
10 A.M. Turn up Madonna's "Rays Of Light",
or even that "Into The Groove" 12-inch single (Warner Bros.)Éuntil
the neighbours complain. Dance around the furniture with the Hoover
like Fred Astaire and his hatstand. The Pet Shop Boys' Please
(Capitol) will assist with the dusting. Elgar's "Enigma"
Variations conducted by Sir Adrian Boult (EMI Classics)
may bring a little nobility to the washing up. Gentlemen, beware, that
novelty apron will rob you of your dignity.
11 A.M. Time for a cup of tea and a biscuit after all that hard
work. Select a record from the dressing-up box - David Bowie's Hunky
Dory (Virgin) or Elton John's excellent Tumbleweed
Connection (Rocket), from his Annie Oakley period. This is also
the occasion when you may seek out a lost gem like Judee Sill's
"Jesus Was A Cross Maker" (Asylum) or "The Bells"
from Gonna Take A Miracle (Columbia), performed by Laura
Nyro and Labelle.
NOON. If you are just waking up now, then you have missed a
wonderful morning. Try playing the title song from Oklahoma!
(Angel Classics) at full blast until you repent. For those of you just
returning from your morning appointments, there is time enough for an
act or two of a Mozart opera. Try the first act of Le Nozze
di Figaro conducted by Karl Böhm (Deutsche Grammophon),
all temptation and intrigue, or the finale conducted by John Eliot
Gardiner (Archiv), for some sublime forgiveness. It depends on how
that meeting went. Those leftovers in the refrigerator start to look
like lunch.
1 P.M. Coffee is on the stove, if that is your poison. Duke
Ellington and His Orchestra fill the air - it's Ellington
At Newport (Columbia). Follow up with selections from Porgy
& Bess (Verve) performed by Louis Armstrong and Ella
Fitzgerald. This may be just the time to play Louis Armstrong's
"Wild Man Blues" from The Complete Hot Five and Hot
Seven Recordings (Columbia/Legacy). That cut contains everything
you need to know.
2 P.M. Switch off the television, disconnect the phone, and
pull down the shutters. Abandon clock time for one hour in a cool, low-lit
room. Everything can wait. Two works from the end of the catalogue occupy
you now: Schubert's "Piano Sonata No. 21 in B-flat Major,
D. 960", played by Alfred Brendel (Philips), followed by
Beethoven's "String Quartet in F Major, Opus 135",
performed by the Budapest Quartet (Sony). They sing of ideas
beyond words. Tell whoever was waiting on your arrival that you had
to see your priest.
3 P.M. You are out of this world now. You might as well keep
going. Skip James's Complete Early Recordings (Yazoo)
will be your guide. The eerie falsetto ray sails out beyond the surface
clicks and scratches. You may also need PJ Harvey's Stories
From The City, Stories From The Sea (Island), where the air
is rarefied. By the time you read this you should be able to purchase
Björk's Greatest Hits (Elektra). When you feel it
is time to re-enter the atmosphere, cue up Ralph Stanley
(DMZ/Columbia), a new installment of Dr. Stanley's beautiful art. Scare
the pants off your death-metal nephew with the ancient tale "Little
Mathie Grove": "And with his sword (he) cut off her head and
kicked it against the wall."
4 P.M. Music of the longer shadows is now needed, something
where you can detect the glue and rivets holding it all together. For
goodness' sake, it's the Mississippi Sheiks' "The World
Is Going Wrong" from Stop And Listen (Yazoo). Richard
Manuel's yearning voice cries "Tears Of Rage" from Music
From Big Pink (Capitol), while Emmylou Harris's unsentimental
"Red Dirt Girl" (Nonesuch) reports the demise of a childhood
friend. Finally, enter the world of Alice (Anti), Tom
Waits's masterpiece of dark mirrors and the frozen earth.
5 P.M. Let's try another language. Swinging Addis, Volume
8, or Ethiopian Blues & Ballads, Volume 10,
of the superb Éthiopiques series (Buda Musique), will transport
you in time and space. We whine about whether our records are free enough,
and dupe ourselves into thinking that piracy is a blow against the capitalist
marauders, when we just want something for nothing. Here is a country
that had a pop explosion in the brief window of opportunity between
a feudal monarchy and the insane repression of distorted Marxism. Imagine
that you dropped the greatest James Brown records into a 5,000-year-old
well of deep lamentation and you will get the idea. Do you really want
me to care about the nasty little Reagan's children of the Napster generation
or which nitwit is running AOL Time Warner or Vivendi Universal this
week? They all deserve one another.
Blasting out from the opposite coast, "Envy No Good" is
a standout track from the Afro-Rock Volume 1 (Kona/DMI)
collection. A young Englishman went to Ghana to seek out the last vinyl
copies of this music. He made sure the musicians got their royalties.
Any record that contains the work of K. Frimpong and His Cubano Fiestas
can only improve your day.
6 P.M. As you gather yourself for the evening ahead, some cautionary
words from Luke The Drifter may be advisable. "Too Many
Parties And Too Many Pals" is one of Hank Williams Sr.'s homilies
under that alias. You'll find it alongside terrifying ballads such as
"They'll Never Take Her Love From Me" on two of Hank senior's
numerous collections (Jasmine, Mercury).
George Jones sings of a man who did little to heed such warnings.
As "The Last Town I Painted" concludes, "I painted it
blue". Then check out "Mr. Fool" from Cup Of Loneliness:
The Classic Mercury Years (Mercury).
Switching over to Merle Haggard, you can take some comfort
in the recklessness of "No Reason To Quit" (Capitol). Get
back in the mood with some of Muddy Waters's ferocious Chess
sides; "Just To Be With You", "Too Young To Know",
and "I'm Ready" should do it. Then take it up to the top of
the hour with Sonny Boy Williamson's "One Way Out "
and "Commit A Crime" by Howlin' Wolf (various Chess
compilations).
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TIME TO HIT THE TOWN
For the evening hours, our musicoligist
recommends Mary J. Blige, to prepare the mind for the night's exploits,
followed by Al Green. |
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7 P.M. You're in a car now, destination unknown. "Ball
Of Confusion (That's What The World Is Today)" from The Temptations'
Psychedelic Soul (Spectrum) compilation is rattling the bodywork.
It alternates with Mary J. Blige's No More Drama (MCA)
and El-P's Fantastic Damage or El-P Presents
Cannibal Oxtrumentals (both Definitive Jux).
This might also be the time to revisit songs that you haven't heard
for a while, such as "She Is Still A Mystery" and "Six
O'Clock" from The Lovin' Spoonful - Greatest Hits
(Buddha). You might prefer something by Salt-N-Pepa or Hanson,
depending on your birthday.
At this hour, A Hard Day's Night (Capitol) is almost
certainly a better Beatles choice for the motorcar than Revolver
or The White Album. Then crank up Disc One of The Byrds'
boxed set (Columbia/Legacy) for "She Don't Care About Time".
Ignore people staring as you sing along with "I'll Feel A Whole
Lot Better" while waiting at a red light.
8 P.M. Assuming you didn't get pulled over for speeding, you
are where you need to be right now. If you are with your beloved, then
you already know what sets your scene. We shall discreetly fade to black.
Is that Sonic Youth that I hear in the distance?
If you should find yourself waiting by the phone for an invitation
that never comes, literal-minded selections may mock you as much as
they comfort. In this respect, Al Green's Call Me
(Hi) probably just beats Don Covay's "It's Better To Have
(And Don't Need)" from Mercy Mercy: The Definitive Don Covay
(Razor & Tie).
Resist the temptation to play old slow songs. "I've Grown Accustomed
To Her Face" from My Fair Lady (Sony Classical/Columbia/Legacy)
will only alarm the neighbors as they hear the stifled sobbing coming
through the walls. Dogs fear human tears nearly as much as lighning.
9 P.M. Face it, you are settling in for the night. Let Van
Morrison's Veedon Fleece (Polydor) wash over you:
Fair play to you
Killarney's lakes are so blue.
These songs are beautiful and unfathomable:
Linden Arden stole the highlights
And he put his finger through the glass
For still more mischievous moods, dive straight into Bob Dylan's
Love And Theft (Columbia). One song, "Floater (Too
Much To Ask)", states:
I left all my dreams and hopes
Buried under tobacco leaves.
The very next, "High Water (For Charlie Patton)", advises
you:
Throw your panties overboard.
There is lots of life in lots of old dogs.
10 P.M. You've run out of explanations and tall tales. Miles
Davis's In A Silent Way (Columbia/Legacy) rides on
a Tony Williams cymbal all the way to the immaculate puzzle of Radiohead's
Amnesiac (Capitol). "Morning Bell" at evening
time. Something leads you to Surf's Up (Capitol), the
Beach Boys' very own archaeological dig, you dig? The Brian Wilson
title song is so beautiful and bold. The lovely track that Cameron Crowe
used at the end of Almost Famous can also be found here. It's
the work of brother Carl and is called "Feel Flows".
Keep that remote control close at hand. Here comes Mike Love's
"Student Demonstration Time". Will the madness never end?
11 P.M. The day is almost done. Now there is a choice between
words and another form of eloquence. Joni Mitchell's Blue
(Reprise) sounds better than ever at this hour. All of today's confessional
writers need to spend a year of pre-midnight hours with this record
before sharing their pain with us.
Something still darker and stronger can be found in the tormented
imagination of Gesualdo: Madrigals, directed by William
Christie (Harmonia Mundi). It is hard to imagine the world from
which these compositions came. Carlo Gesualdo was the heir to
a prince and was said to have been a murderous cuckold who displayed
the slain bodies of his first wife, her lover, and a child of doubtful
paternity. It can make you uneasy about even listening to this music.
You probably have enough of your own troubles. Pablo Casals's
recordings of the Bach Cello Suites (EMI Classics) will bring
the day to a supernatural conclusion.
MIDNIGHT.
Can I cry a little bit?
There's nobody to notice it
Can't I cry if I want to
No one cares...
Randy Newman's magnificent "Just One Smile" comes
from Dusty Springfield's Dusty In Memphis (Rhino).
It's the record you selected just ahead of that pile of Peggy Lee
albums you keep for this very occasion.
The blue mood is irresistible now. The hi-fi plays "You Don't
Know Me" from Ray Charles's Modern Sounds In Country
And Western (Rhino):
You give your hand to me
And then you say hello
And I can hardly speak
My heart is beating so...
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MUST ... HAVE ... MUSIC
One am. The night is winding down.
You are not. Surrender to the melancholy of Lucinda Williams. |
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1 A.M. Surrendering to melancholy... Lucinda Williams's
Essence (Lost Highay) plays as loud as the hour allows.
Her tales of "Lonely Girls" and reasons to cry use only the
essential words. This is a deeper shade of "Blue", her lovely
ballad. She will inquire, "Are you down?"
If this is not the way to go for you, then put on John Prine's
Great Days (Rhino), a collection of his finest moments,
or his album of duets, In Spite Of Ourselves (Oh Boy).
Finally, play Sam Phillips's Fan Dance (Nonesuch).
It is in a world (and class) of its own and you can visit it.
2 A.M. Jimmy Reed will put a little motor in the mood
with the woozy groove of "Take Out Some Insurance" and "My
Bitter Seed" from Rockin' With Reed (Vee-Jay). The
lights are low - there would be cigarette smoke, but you know that is
a filthy habit ... and your heart can't stand another drink. This record
does all the hurting for you. The world is winding down. Hounddog
(Columbia/Legacy) is the perfect accompaniment. Mike Halby and
David Hidalgo's impossibly slow blue pulse never sound better
than on "I'll Change My Style".
3 A.M. Quarter to three has come and gone, but that won't stop
Only The Lonely (Capitol) from being the ultimate Frank
Sinatra album for this time of night - weary, confidential, and
completely self-obsessed. You could ask for no more than "Angel
Eyes", "Good-Bye", or "One For My Baby". The
only record that I know of that is more drained of expectation is Chet
Baker's early vocal masterpiece "The Thrill Is Gone".
Indeed. You can find it on Chet Baker Sings (Pacific Jazz),
and he does. There is a James van Heusen song that both men share.
Sinatra's version can be found on In The Wee Small Hours
(Capitol). It is both noble and knowing. Chet's narcotic rendition could
once be found on Chet Baker With Fifty Italian Strings
and has now been reissued as the title track of Deep In A Dream:
The Ultimate Chet Baker Collection (Pacific Jazz). It is altogether
more troubling.
My cigarette burns me
I wake with a start
My hand isn't hurt
But there's pain in my heart
But we'll love anew
Just as we used to do
When I'm deep in a dream of you.
Now as you edge closer to the darkest hour, play "Ghost Of Yesterday"
or "Laughing At Life" (with
Lester Young) from
Lady
Day: The Complete Billie Holiday On Columbia (1933-1944).
4 A.M. Eyes are closing despite your struggle. Morton Feldman's
almost seamless fabric of music for piano and string quartet is both
hypnotic and transporting. I use the word "fabric" with good
reason. The composer is said to have written in admiration of tapestries
with just the occasional fascinating imperfection. The recording Piano
And String Quartet is by The Kronos Quartet and Aki
Takahashi (Nonesuch).
As you drift between the conscious and unconscious worlds, you may
glance at a mute television to find that Oliver Postgate's Clangers
is being aired. If you can't find a channel showing these stop-frame
animated parables of the wonderful armadillo-like creatures and their
planet, you can always use Vernon Elliot's lovely score (Trunk)
to dream your own version.