From The Elvis Costello Wiki
Jump to navigationJump to search
—
|
The return of a man called Elvis Costello
Nigel Cross
Extract 1:
|
31st December 1979... a.m.
Imagine my surprise when I discover a small brown package stuck in the letter box... wincing from the effort of undoing the thing, I spy a copy of "Talking In The Dark" c/w "Wednesday Week," that rare Costello single and two tickets.
To be honest I'd not given much thought to Elvis for quite a long time. 1979 was a pretty quiet year for E.C. & the Attractions; certainly over here in the U.K. at least. I cast my addled brain to the string of concerts they'd done at Xmas 1978 at the Dominion Cinema.
On paper it had looked a good evening (an understatement if ever there was one) with three of the best acts the waning new wave periphery had uncovered: John Cooper Clarke, Richard Hell and finally Elvis and the Attractions.
In reality it was a different kettle of fish: Clarkie's set suffered from his perpetual habit of delivering all his material in a dreadful monotone at warp factor ten, though he salvaged it beautifully with the perceptive and restrained epic "Beasley Street" setting the scene for Hell and the Voidoids who then proceeded to steal the show. (Typically the audience reacted like a bunch of stuffed dummies despite riveting renditions of "Blank Generation" and "The Kid With the Reversable Head," uncompromising to the hilt. I loved it but the poseurs all headed for the bar ...
|
Remaining text not available...
Extract 2:
|
12/2/80
I finally located copies of "I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down" and Get Happy and rushed home (like all good fans) to give them a spin. What can I say about Get Happy which hasn't already been said? Sure enough Elvis has been lending more than just an ear to all those old Stax/ Atlantic singles of the sixties — the whole idea comes over as a concept — it's the best party record since Cliff's and the Shad's early in the sixties.
However, I think that there's more to this soul concept idea than is credited to Nick Lowe's production. When I played it through for the first time I kept slipping into the frame of mind where I thought that it was a Brinsley's album with its Bob Andrews / Garth Hudson influenced smoking organ sound: I suddenly remembered how close the Brinsley's had been to this in 1973-74. Do you remember their beautiful version of the Judy Clay / William Bell song "Private Number"? U.A. if there is life left in your burnt-out hulk why not put out that as a single sometime or how about F-Beat doing it?
It's not a put down to say that Steve Naive is aiming for that Bob Andrews sound. Certainly the lack of layered synthesizers which heavily coloured the last two albums makes for a welcome relief here: there's a subtle lightness stemming from the use of organ and piano only, particularly on the soul limbo "Temptation." Naive on "Possession" creates something of a Highway '61 / Blonde on Blonde keyboard sound whilst the organ motif on the atmospheric "New Amsterdam" is positively Bach-like (pardon me whilst I assume my Derek Jewell mantle). On several songs the Thomas brothers come over as capable and funky as any of those shit hot Motown session rhythm sections such as on "High Fidelity" with its Four Tops type arrangement and on "Secondary Modern" with its "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" bassline. Hey up, they do a bundle on this at Wigan Casino!
|
Remaining text not available...
|
Cover.
|
|
|
|
External links
