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This will be a crucial year for "New Wave" rock in general and Elvis Costello in particular.
New wave has been hailed in certain important critical corners for the past couple of years as the music of the 1980s, and Costello is generally regarded as the most vital creative force within this movement. The catch to date, though, is that the public has expressed only minimal interest in these matters despite the record industry's heavy promotional push.
While several New Wave and "power pop" acts have made impressive moves on the bestseller charts, there have yet to be any signs of mass appreciation. Linda Ronstadt, of all people, could alter the situation.
Miss Ronstadt, who has been among pop music's premiere vocalists since 1974, established her position largely on the basis of her emotional treatment of country-rock-oriented weepy laments. Another important factor in her success has been the ability of Miss Ronstadt and producer Peter Asher to come up consistently with tunes by talented new writers.
All things considered, Linda Ronstadt would have to be viewed as one of the last persons to go New Wave.
But on the new Ronstadt album for Asylum Records, Mad Love, she has indeed gone New Wave.
The first clue is right on the album jacket. Miss Ronstadt, her hair cropped short, is pictured in stark, somewhat fuzzied black and white. The classic vulnerability associated with Linda Ronstadt has been replaced by an aura of toughness. "She looks like a Nazi," is the way one observer put it.
The suggestion of a revamped attitude is quickly confirmed by the music. Miss Ronstadt sees it as a return to basic rock 'n' roll, pure and simple. No frills. Gone are the lush arrangements; on hand is fundamental rock accompaniment, heavy on the 12-string electric guitar flavor reintroduced by Tom Petty.
The material includes three songs by Costello and an additional trio by Mark Goldenberg of the Cretones. While Miss Ronstadt included a Costello song, "Allison," on her previous LP, the new songs are offered from an obvious New Wave point of view, as are most of the album's other songs.
With this release, Miss Ronstadt has done for New Wave what it has been unable to do for itself, with only a few exceptions. She has provided a stamp of legitimacy, opened the door that leads to mass exposure in those areas that have resisted New Wave until now.
Whether this superstar boost will ultimately benefit the movement in general remains to be seen, of course.
What remains apparent, though, is that Costello's long-range potential is still questionable. He, too, has a new album, Get Happy'', for Columbia Records, and his limitations are as evident as ever. Costello's chief problem is that he is burdened with a thoroughly unappealing voice.
The Costello album — once again produced by Nick Lowe — is crammed with 20 songs, most of them feverish rockers with Costello's whiny voice scatter-gunning generally unintelligible lyrics. Even Lowe's understated, usually tasteful production values are not enough to disguise Costello's weakness as a singer.
The Costello interpretations by Miss Ronstadt, on the other hand, prove that at the peak of his writing form Costello is a writer of above-average ability, even if he does lean heavily on a woe-is-me philosophy. There is a running pathetic theme throughout such songs as "Party Girl," "Talking In the Dark" and "Girls Talk."
In explaining her drastic departure from the pattern that has worked so nicely for her during the past several years, Miss Ronstadt says, "It was like turning a corner, but everything was so natural."
In her search for new material during the past year, Miss Ronstadt took to the streets, taking in the small club scene, attending concerts, listening to tapes. She was impressed by the tougher attitudes, the hard edge of the music she heard.
And while it is somewhat distressing to hear Linda Ronstadt following the lead of a Deborah Harry, one has to be impressed by the boldness of Miss Ronstadt's plunge into a new decade. The wisdom of this move will have to be evaluated at a later time.
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