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"OOOOOhhh IIII just don't know where to begin."
Elvis Costello first burst upon the music scene in 1977 with the release of the now classic My Aim Is True. Produced by Nick Lowe — as are most of his albums — it is a tight LP that paints the picture of Elvis as an angry young man trying to fit into a world he has yet to come to terms with. It combines Punk's anger with what has become the New Wave type of musical arrangements and adds very clever lyrics that present an overall image of confusion. In songs like "Pay It Back" and "Mystery Dance" we see Elvis in situations that necessarily require an acceptance of standardized social mores to cope: "Until the lights went out / I didn't know what to do / If I could fool myself / In a minute I could fool you."
The first effort with the Attractions — a tremendously talented back-up trio that features Steve Nieve on keyboards, Bruce Thomas on bass and Chris Thomas on drums — was This Year's Model. In it Elvis offered his views on man-woman relationships in a rather unorthodox anti-romantic fashion: "I don't want to kiss you, I don't want to touch / I don't want to see you, 'cause I don't miss you that much" from "No Action" and "Lipstick Vogue's" "Don't say you love him, when it's just a rumor / Don't say a word if there's any doubt / Sometimes I think love is just like a tumor / You got to cut it out." Although the LP was produced by sound genius Lowe, in retrospect the sound at times is a bit tinny and one hears four instruments being played in their most limited mode of tonality, in the sharpest and highest pitches possible for the presentation of the songs. The record also features a great cut "Radio Radio" about radio programming policies that Elvis apparently is not too fond of — "Fools trying to unleash all the kinds of ways you feel" and of his own relationship with the medium, "I want to bite the hand that feeds me / I want to bite the hand so badly / I want to make them wish they'd never seen me."
Whether intentionally or not, during this time Elvis was cultivating quite the image of the proverbial Rock 'n' Roll "bad boy," mostly refusing to talk to reporters, and when rarely doing so, being either too drunk and/ or uncooperative to clear up any of the public's perceptions of himself. At this time our hero was also having difficulties relating to his audience: One story has it that at a small concert arena in Seattle, Elvis stormed off the stage after only twenty minutes. Predictably, the crowd was outraged and on the verge of rioting. Elvis snapped into action and instructed one of his roadies to turn the feedback up all the way in order to make the people leave. After about ten minutes most of the crowd had dispersed, save his die-hard fans. At any rate, close to an hour later he bounded back onstage with the Attraction to play for the faithful.
The next studio effort Armed Forces is a tour de force where Elvis steps out of the metaphysical bedroom to point an accusatory and questioning finger at everything from the socioeconomic status of today's military forces to the temerity of insurance salesman — "They took me in the office / And they told me very carefully / The way that I could benefit from death and disability." On this LP, Elvis seems to have discovered the sound best suited for his musical expression. The band has come to know each other, the producer is familiar enough with the musicians to bring out their best qualities in the studio to create a fantastically sonorous piece of work. The last song on the album was Lowe's "What's so funny 'bout peace, love, and understanding?" which was perhaps meant as a harbinger to Elvis' revised notions in dealing with the press and his audience.
The tour behind the album was going well; Elvis was behaving like a gentlemen while receiving rave reviews—all was well. Then one night, Elvis and his entourage were drinking in a small bar that was also hosting a few American musicians; words were exchanged, the argument grew more and more heated, then came the comment "Ray Charles is a blind, ignorant nigger" — our hero woke up on the floor. Later Elvis explained his words, "Of course I didn't meant it. It was just one of those things where you try to top the next person by saying something that will make them madder than they've made you."
Get Happy contained twenty (that's right, twenty, go ahead and count them) songs that cover a tremendous amount of ground both musically and lyrically. All the songs are very different and outrageously unbelievable. A bit of a Motown influence lends this album a shot of soul and bop previously untapped in Costello's work. The next disc was Taking Liberties, basically a compilation album of B-sides from singles and alternate versions of some of the standards in Elvis' repertoire, was good, but not as good as his other four LPs.
In 1980 he released Trust, an album that Rolling Stone called both "brilliant and frustrating." It contains a variety of musical genres and topics in its contents. Although some of the songs could be called "throw-aways," for the most part, it's very good.
Almost Blue, which was recorded in Nashville and was a complete departure from everything he'd ever done before, contained only covers of older, standard country tunes with the additional twist of Elvis' agonized vocals lamenting some lost love.
1982 saw Imperial Bedroom which displayed a singer-songwriter at the height of his powers. Claimed as a masterpiece in most circles, the numbers ranged over a musical spectrum of incorporated ideas — from Gilbert and Sullivan orchestration to instrumentation similar to that of the Supremes. Returning to the subject of relationships, Elvis offers thoughts on once untouched subjects — "It's been a long honeymoon / she thought too late and spoke too soon / There's no money back guarantee on future happiness."
His latest album — Punch the Clock — shows a return to other subjects and the addition of a horn section and back-up singers to form a very powerful, melodic album. (Punch the Clock is his ninth LP in seven years — not bad.)
As most of you know, this Saturday evening Stony Brook will have the pleasure of hosting a rare acoustic performance by Elvis Costello. It is indeed a treat for our community and, let it be said, a splendid time is guaranteed for all.
You know, one of the reasons performers go on tour solo is to stay fresh, get back in touch with their audience and possibly try some new things out. It will also be quite interesting to hear Elvis with the minimum accompaniment afforded by and acoustic guitar and. piano.
Well, what about his singing? What do you think he's going to sound like? If you will, follow this train of thought for a second: Imagine a small, run-down seedy motel on the lower south side of Mobile or Memphis — inside sits a young man with short-cropped hair, wearing glasses and wearing a stuffy suit — he' s sitting in a chair staring blankly into a TV set — on his right is a 3/4 drunken bottle of fair to average no-name gin; on his left is an ashtray with lipstick stained ciggie butts — the girl he loves just walked out on him — he is unreconciably sad and on the verge of breaking down into tears — suddenly, he stands up and screams out the tortures and miserableness of his soul. This is what you will hear.
The show is almost guaranteed to be stupendous, and it would be a shame to miss Elvis in your own backyard.
General admission tickets are still available.
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