Dupe me up, Tommy! This is pretty marvellous stuff, particularly fascinating as a document of Costello's career since very little of this material has been seen here, due mainly to the great man's confoundingly poor commercial showing over recent years. How bewildering that our best songwriter, our most arresting performer, the most articulate and commanding voice in the entire rock circus, should be so indifferently received by the public!
Compiled and released to complement the recent Telstar LP, this essential selection features 22 promotional videos, embracing material from This Year's Model to Goodbye Cruel World. Viewing the very earliest footage is an eerie experience. Eyeballing the videos for "Pump It Up," "(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea" and "Radio, Radio," one is simply left gasping. Was Costello ever really that young? Were any of us ever that young? In a way, this is nostalgia made painful, as memories of Costello's early performance flood back with a vivid clout that made this observer, at least, wince at the passing of time. And where did Bruce Thomas get those flares? Jake, I think we should be told.
These early clips possess a crude, illuminating power. No fancy tricks, no elaborate techniques, just the power of the music, the group backed up against usually stark backdrops, relying eventually for their enormous smack of Costello's sheer presence. Even here, Costello wins the confidence of the camera. In those days a white faced amateur psychopath strapped to a guitar, he summarises the mood of those years with a telling aggression, an actuality to movement and intent that maybe only John Lydon, captured in similar circumstances, could possibly match.
Later videos are definitely more artful. "I Wanna Be Loved," directed by The Rich Kids, is a direct influence on Godley & Creme's superlative "Cry," with Costello in constant close-up in one of those photo-booths that you find at railway stations and airports, commanding the attention, dominating the frame with an astute but never overplayed theatricality. Elsewhere ("Oliver's Army," "Possession," "I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down," the sincerely wired "High Fidelity") Costello and the Attractions are more obviously playful, the videos shot on available locations, making the best of what's wherever with a sneaking wit and an eye for the best shot.
Lots of favourites, then, over 22 tracks and 65 minutes, but a special word for Allen Arkush's genuinely hilarious piece for "The Only Flame In Town" (did Pete Thomas ever get his tongue out of that woman's mouth?) and the videos for "Clubland" and "New Lace Sleeves," both directed by the late Barney Bubbles with a degree of sensitivity and imagination and sympathy for the music that is rare indeed these days.
Definitely recommended; essential viewing, in fact.
|