Louisville Courier-Journal, October 12, 1999

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Everyman


Jeffrey Lee Puckett

Elvis Costello's aim has been true most of the time in a 22-year career

The image is as unforgettable as any in rock.

A young Elvis Costello, disarmingly knock-kneed yet somehow arrogant, huge geek glasses framing a face that seemed to invite mocking but indicated he knew better than you. And that name. What was up with that name? The cover to Costello's first album, 1977's My Aim Is True, was a series of beautiful dichotomies that laid the foundation for one of the most daring careers in rock 'n' roll. If you were lucky enough to stumble across it at the time, it was a revelation.

But it didn't make complete sense until years later. In retrospect, we were being told that there was no point in taking Costello, who's in concert tonight at the Louisville Palace, at face value, because he inevitably would turn the tables on us. Punk? Retro-1950s rocker? Political arsonist? Pop revisionist? Country singer, composer of chamber music, a crooner of modern standards? What, exactly, was the Englishman up to? Everything, as it turns out.

Over the course of more than 20 recordings, Costello has demonstrated a remarkable consistency given his range, and no one in pop music has delivered as many classics in a relatively short time: My Aim Is True, This Year's Model, Armed Forces, King of America, Imperial Bedroom,, Blood and Chocolate.

And his second-tier stuff is better than most anyone else's top efforts: Trust, Painted From Memory, Get Happy, All This Useless Beauty.

And while this next bit may sound a little over the top, it's undeniable that pop music fans have been blessed to spend the last 22 years with Costello. Talent like his is rare.

If nothing else, Costello's ambitious nature has been an inspiration. My Aim Is True was a stripped-down production, recorded in fits and starts over the course of 24 hours; it had the immediacy and simplicity of rockabilly.

Two years later he delivered the lush, modern pop of Armed Forces, and three years after that came the densely textured novella called Imperial Bedroom, an album that is still giving up secrets 17 years after its release.

Not all of Costello's explorations have paid off. The Juliet Letters, a collaboration with the Brodsky Quartet, had too much head and not enough heart. His country album, Almost Blue, was sporty but enthusiastic. Many Costello fans balked at Painted From Memory, a recent collaboration with Burt Bacharach, although it contains perhaps his finest, most emotionally direct singing.

And some of Costello's albums, of course, have simply been average. The guy's not a machine. But the big picture is what's important.

Costello has forged a career, which is increasingly rare, and when you look back over Costello's 11 years of recording, you see far more high points than low and in the context of history, the low points don't seem so bad.

This is a man who in 1977 gave "Alison," among the most subversive love songs in pop history, and in 1998 gave us "I Still Have That Other Girl," one of the most purely romantic.

You have to love that, and you have to respect it.

Again, we've been blessed.

Elvis Costello will perform at 8 tonight at the Louisville Palace with his longtime partner, keyboardist Steve Nieve. A few tickets are still available at $35 and $30.

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The Courier-Journal, Scene, October 10, 1998


Jeffrey Lee Puckett profiles EC ahead of his concert with Steve Nieve, Tuesday, October 12, 1999, Louisville Palace, Louisville, KY.

Images

1999-10-12 Louisville Courier-Journal page C-01 clipping 01.jpg
Clipping.

1999-10-12 Louisville Courier-Journal page C-01.jpg
Page scan.

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