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Elvis Costello and the Attractions have done a real '60s album. From the 20 HITS! 20! screaming from the cover of Get Happy!! to the producer's note on the back, with Nick Lowe sounding much like Andrew Loog Oldham, it's all there. And more.
Inside, Elvis has proven once again his unmatched ability in recasting rock's glory years, while sounding like no one else. He rewrote "Satisfaction" a few years back with "No Action," and, on Get Happy!!, he continues to extend the boundaries of rock while reclaiming its soul.
The music calls on the Beatles, R&B, psychedelia and even Elton John. Steve Naive's keyboards dominate much of Get Happy!!, replacing Costello's guitar. With Bruce and Pete Thomas, on bass and drums, the Attractions, no supertechnicians, are the just-right band in the just-right places.
Word games get gloriously out of hand on the album. Puns, cliches and cross references abound. Love as possession and/or control run throughout the album, not so much as themes, but as givens. There's nothing as overtly political as "Night Rally" or "Oliver's Army" on Get Happy!!, but "Opportunity," "Riot Act" and "New Amsterdam" should yield some insights in the direction on repeated listenings.
Many early Elvis fans have defected, charging softness and over production. The latter is a stupid charge, held by folks who think the Clash's rawness is somehow less calculated than a studio-produced sound. On the former charge, Get Happy!! doesn't sound as nasty or ominous as the previous albums. By mixing the vocals down, Lowe has taken some of immediate edge away, but Costello hasn't given up the knife. He still couches his malicious tendencies in innocuous musical passages. In "B Movie" he chirps, "everybody's on the make, it's not your heart I want to break."
Most of the songs, like "Love For Tender," spin around a central metaphor, like love is money, serving up countless mutations within two minutes. The shorter forms allow for perfection, which Get Happy!! achieves more than once. Like "Beaten To the Punch," or "Secondary Modern." "I Stand Accused," one of the two non-Costello songs on the album, may be the best. An old Jerry Butler hit, Elvis testifies quite appropriately, is like a man imprisoned.
Warren Zevon has been dubbed rock's Raymond Chandler, but Costello cuts a better Marlow figure. Listen to "Motel Matches," "B Movie" or "Clowntime Is Over." Like Marlowe, Costello knows that sex and violence aren't distant cousins. And for all their toughness, both are vulnerable. It's in Costello's vocals throughout Get Happy!!. Like on "Human Touch," wherein the hard-boiled Costello cracks the mystery dance: "...but when I see her lying stretched out on that floor, it's no mystery to me anymore, oh give it to me, give it to me..."
In short, E. Costello has done it again. Get Happy!!
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