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An acquaintance recently asked me if I was an Elvis fan. After a moment's deliberation I replied: "Costello or Presley?" Eyes bulging and neck veins pounding, he looked at me as if I had just broken every law of God and man.
I guess he meant Presley, for he did not justify my question with a rely.
Now, I'm not about to pass judgment on Costello's choice of names, but I will judge his new album This Year's Model.
Those of us whose musical tastes were maturing during the late sixties and early seventies will recognize Costello's musical allusion. He alludes to the music of that period that fell somewhere between acid and pop — very much like Question Mark & the Mysterians (remember "96 Tears"). Heavy on the organ, few, if any, guitar solos, solid rock beat and emphasis on lyrics were typical of those bands.
His first album My Aim Is True, released last year, was met with critical acclaim worldwide and even received marginal air play in Columbus (an accomplishment in itself).
Costello's music may be right out of some sixties discotheque-a-go-go, but his lyrics are strictly seventies — late seventies, in fact. They are almost all, as on the first album, angry laments of unrequited love.
"I'm an extraordinarily bitter person," he said in Trouser Press magazine. And his lyrics show this bitterness, in "Little Triggers" he sings: "Little triggers that you pull with your tongue. Little triggers, I don't wanna be hung up, strung up, when you don't call up."
Costello has a unique talent for squeezing unbelievable quantities of words into a measure. And some of his verses are so long that he has no chance to breathe until the end of the verse. This makes his voice break up and gasp towards the end of these verses. A unique sound, it gives his songs that life and death urgency.
If you happened to catch Elvis on Saturday Night Live, you'll recognize the song "Radio, Radio." It was the second song he performed and the only one that didn't appear on the first album.
The band that went unnamed on the first album has been introduced on the second. Above a picture of the four on the back of the cover is this: "left to right Elvis Bruce Steve Pete." That clears it all up, thanks Costello.
Anyway, if you remember those days and that music, break out your polka-dot shirts, string ties and go-go boots, and give this album a listen. It is by far the best release of the year.
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