Q, unknown date, 1993

From The Elvis Costello Wiki
Jump to navigationJump to search
... Bibliography ...
727677787980818283
848586878889909192
939495969798990001
020304050607080910
111213141516171819
202122232425 26 27 28


Q magazine
Q Special Edition

UK & Ireland magazines

-

Spike

Elvis Costello

David Cavanagh

4-star reviews4-star reviews4-star reviews4-star reviews

For the belated follow-up to the punchy, Attractions-driven Blood & Chocolate, Elvis Costello delivered an album as far-reaching as Swordfishtrombones, Hounds Of Love and his own Imperial Bedroom, except that by abandoning each palette as soon as he'd picked it up, Spike (1989) could only bewilder. It's a vast record, 64 minutes long, and in using 33 musicians, only two songs are played by the same line-up. The Dirty Dozen Brass Band are central, but then again so are Waits's guitarist Marc Ribot, Paul McCartney (who co-wrote the scintillating "Veronica") and the Irish contingent of fiddles and pipes. If "Let Him Dangle," his inspired defence of Derek Bentley (complete with the odd agonising rhyme), became the most famous track, it's only because the bizarre arrangements of "This Town," "God's Comic" and "Pads, Paws & Claws" proved too much. From rhythmic electric cacophonies to funereal New Orleans marches, from Byrdsy Rickenbacker pop to the streets of Arklow, Spike is far too ambitious to make perfect sense of, even four and a half years down the line.

-
<< >>

Q, unknown date, 1993


David Cavanagh reviews a re-release of Spike.

Images

1993-0x-00 Q photo 02 jf.jpg 1993-0x-00 Q clipping 02.jpg
Photo by Jill Furmanovsky.

-



Back to top

External links