Review of radio show from 2002-01-24: with Brodsky Quartet; London, BBC Radio 3, "Morning Performance", 11:30
- John Foyle

 

Morning Performance with the Brodsky Quartet

On Thursday January 24 2002 new recordings by Elvis Costello and The Brodsky Quartet were aired on the BBC Radio 3, a (primarily) classical music channel. All week the 11.30AM 'Morning Performance' programme had been devoted to The Brodsky Quartet and their many , diverse recordings. This final edition featured Elvis.

Three songs were featured . All were credited as having been recorded in the BBC's Maida Vale, London studios 'last month'( Dec.2001). Interspersed with the songs were brief interviews with Elvis and Ian Bolton ( Second Violin with the Quartet). These comments dealt with the circumstances of their meeting in the late 1980's and the recording of The Juliet Letters. Elvis spoke of his prior assumption that classical musicians were 'all sons of Dukes' and how the Brodsky's  corrected that impression . He further spoke about how the recording industry initially presumed they would be doing an 'Eleanor Rigby' but that was never his intention.

The three songs performed started with 'Who do you think you are' from The Juliet Letters. Elvis' voice sounded fantastic , much warmer than the recorded version. The lyric of the song was not changed in anyway. This was not so in the final two songs performed.

Pills And Soap came up next. It seemed like a brand new song. Besides a perfectly pitched vocal line the use of stringed instruments as opposed to the electronic elements of the recorded version seemed to give a greater humanity to the songs stark message. The song also featured some mysterious new lyrics. The original version's second verse includes the lines 'Some folk have all the luck/And all we get are pictures of lord and lady muck/They come from lovely people with a hard line in hypocrisy/There are ashtrays of emotion/For the fag ends of the aristocracy' . This version went ' Some folks have all the might/And majesty will run on  Bombay Gin and German spite/They come from lovely people with a hard line in hypocrisy/There are tears of mediocrity/For the fag ends of the aristocrisy'. - so it's a good old dig at the Empire, the reported heavy drinking habits of certain royal family members (one of whom has recently shuffled off this mortal coil and another of whom is surely just about to) and, of course, the true origins of the family "Windsor"! The "tears of mediocrity" bit alludes to the "outpouring of grief" at Diana's funeral, I presume. The phrase isn't very well constructed, in my opinion. Can tears be meaningfully described as "mediocre"?

However , judging from the rather sedate types who appear to take part in the Radio 3 web site feedback forums , fair dues to Elvis for even doing the song in the first place.

The final song was Brutal Youth's Rocking Horse Road. Yet again an adventurous choice , considering the song's basic inspiration. This tribute to escaping from provincialism is particularly ironic in the context of this type of show. Elvis's gives the songs a sad delivery , the Quartet's strings dipping and rising to give the song an engaging sound. The freshness of this new take on the song compares well with the recorded version. A lyric change occurs again. The final verse originally included the lines 'And the eyes in the curtain/Follow you like a smirking ghost'. This time Elvis sings 'And the face in the window/ Follows..etc.'

That was the total of Elvis' involvement with the show. The excellence of his vocal delivery bodes well for his new recording. The perceived contrariness of his overall contribution also tell's another story - this is the Elvis we know and like, ready as always to mess with your head.