|
PHILADELPHIA — Elvis Costello is to be commended for his ambition.
"Costello Sings Again," the name of his multi-night, multi-themed presentation that ends tonight at the Tower Theater, is a study in precision craftsmanship as well as a test for his audience's tolerance of his degree of quirkiness.
Costello has never been without his quirks. So it's no wonder the themes are different each night he plays at a particular venue. At the Tower, Night One was dubbed "The Confederates," Night Two "The Spectacular Spinning Songbook" and Night Three, the Blood & Chocolate set.
For the uninformed or casual Costello listener, that means the first night included a country-oriented band anchored by keyboardist Benmont Tench of Tom Petty's Heartbreakers, former Elvis Presley Memphis-era guitarist James Burton (Ricky Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons) and ace session drummer Jim Keltner, known for his work with John Lennon and a host of others.
Last night, Costello brought along his usual band, the Attractions, as he spun a wheel spoked with his greatest hits, allowing the contraption to randomly dictate the evening's song selections. Tonight, it's the Attractions again, playing the more rollicking fare from Blood & Chocolate (Columbia), Costello's latest album, as well as anything else the host might decide to conjure up.
I caught the Confederates set, and I must tell you, if you don't know your Elvis — no, make that crave your Elvis — you might be disappointed, if anything, for the excessiveness of the endeavor.
Because they are a country music outfit, the Confederates augment Elvis with a type of music not commonly associated with new wave's original angry young man. More a well-settled man these days, Costello's music has diverged in other directions in the past couple of years. His King of America LP, released early this year, is a study in Costello experimentation, as well as an exercise in discovering some of rock 'n' roll's earliest roots.
But in order to flesh that show to three hours without any breaks (really, wouldn't two hours be enough?), Costello and the Confeds stirred up a somewhat limited mixture of country, rockabilly, honky-tonk and a few ancient R&B numbers that were less R than B. The set encompassed virtually all of King of America, as well as acoustic interpretations of the much-maligned, Goodbye Cruel World LP, touches of other obscure, but similarly adaptable past material and acoustic versions of a very limited number of uptempo rockers, like "Green Shirt," from Armed Forces, and "The Only Flame in Town," his otherwise duet with Daryl Hall, from Goodbye Cruel World.
When the band took a rest, Elvis chose to go acoustic, utilizing either an acoustic guitar or a sparsely manipulated electric guitar.
It was during those moments when he offered powerful versions of "Tokyo Storm Warning," the first song from his new Blood & Chocolate LP, plus other rarely heard solo acoustic versions of Imperial Bedroom's "You Little Fool," Taking Liberties' "Radio Sweetheart," and Get Happy's "New Amsterdam," injected with a few bars of the Beatles' "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away." That was also his opportunity to display much of the never-toured-for LP, Goodbye Cruel World, including "Deportee" and "Inch By Inch."
Overall, seeing Elvis up-close-and-personal places a deeper emphasis on the intricate lyrics that have become his trademark. But the dry humor of his between-song — and during-song — banter tended to ramble beyond its engaging intentions.
Costello is a complicated artist, to be sure, and any fan who came to check him out might have been misled on Night One, and might easily grow weary of the extent to which he delved into this reassessment of his non-commercial side.
There was a steady stream of concertgoers filing out of the theater during the last hour, proof this easily could have been pared down to some two dozen numbers instead of nearly three dozen. Even a few dyed-in-the-wool Elvis buffs must have wondered if he wasn't stretching it a bit — especially when he offered two different versions of "American Without Tears."
This was the type of show where audience silence was similar to that of a musical recital. All Elvis had to play was the first two notes of a song, and the hardcore were applauding in earnest. If you looked around, it was not uncommon to find many mouthing every lyric to every song.
This was certainly a show for the tried and true. A little more softening and some better pacing would have made it a show for everyone.
| 
