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What do you get when you put 20 B-side singles and previously unreleased songs from different time periods of a current new wave artist's career on to one new album? If the recording artist is Elvis Costello and the album is Taking Liberties the result is a dynamic collection of high impact sounds whose musical value goes beyond being of interest to only the ardent collector and music historian.
Elvis Costello is still in his early 20's and has already made a name for himself in modern music. His first four albums on Columbia contained material which not only broke through to top 40 radio, but changed the very nature of such stations music selections. From My Aim Is True album "Watching The Detectives," "Alison" and "Miracle Man" were as successful on the pop stations as the progressive ones.
For the uninitiated, Elvis Costello was a computer programmer who's demo tapes got him started on a music career which lead to playing on the Stiff tour, an all star group, which included Wreckless Eric, Ian Drury, and Nick Lowe. Costello was the voice and writer of the modern ballad. When the band's members went their separate ways Elvis formed the Attractions to back him up. As writer and singer Costello's words and music continue to reflect an isolated lonely view of an apathetic world. Even with this pessimistic style Costello's music carries the new wave beat at its finest, making the Attractions as popular on the dance floor as in the living room. Much of the success of this sound can be attributed to the continued efforts of Nick Lowe as both producer and on occasion bass player.
All this leads to Columbia's new album Taking Liberties. After four l.p.'s and numerous singles Columbia had amassed quite a large collection of leftover recordings, flip sides of hit singles and English recordings cut before Costello's official switch to Columbia.
From this description, given on the cover notes, it's difficult to expect much more than a series of unrelated songs that almost made it, but didn't for good reasons. After listening to the album it's much easier to believe the rest of the liner notes which go on to explain that these tunes didn't make l.p.'s because there wasn't enough room for all the quality material recorded.
Mind you, it is not all excellent material but it is certainly as good as some of the previous albums. In the first place only three of the album's 20 pieces were previously unreleased and one of those three, "Black and White World," is one of the best songs on the record. Secondly, the remainder of the album is made up of more recordings which were previously released on labels other than Columbia, such as F-Beat and Radar records, than B-sides of American releases.
One thing sorely missing from this album is any indication of recording dates. If this is suppose to be a semi-collectors item, where is all the pertinent information real fans lust after. You could assume from listening to the album that it's in a somewhat chronological order, but the consumer deserves more than educated guesses.
Taking Liberties uses the same Vivatonal recording process as Get Happy, the previous album, which in this case allows 20 songs to be fit onto the album without sacrificing sound quality. While the sound quality is always there the styles from song to song change drastically.
"Clean Money," the opening track and one of the previously unreleased songs, has a rough edged rock and roll sound to it. "Talking in the Dark" makes use of Costello's sad man lyrics: "I talk to myself, but I don't listen ... without you I miss talking in the dark." "Talking in the Dark" also contains some of the heaviest horn production ever used by Costello. It's almost reminiscent of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper. "Just a Memory" is smoother, softer and more gentle than almost any other Costello recording. One of the most noticeable tunes on the album is "Stranger in the House." Imagine Costello trying to belt out country and western.
It's not apparent just how seriously every song on the album should be taken, but it is obvious that over the years Costello has been trying a lot more than has made it onto one of his albums.
For an album which was not recorded to be a unified package it's amazing how well the separate pieces of Taking Liberties work together. As a whole it's an album packed with good music and a few bonuses for the fan who's interested in what's beyond the commercially packaged album.
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