New Musical Express, March 8, 1980: Difference between revisions
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BETTER put it all in present tenses... | {{Bibliography article header}} | ||
<center><h3> BETTER put it all in present tenses... </h3></center> | |||
From neurology in some pharmacy to Get Happy!! on a seaside holiday(!!) | <center>From neurology in some pharmacy to <br> Get Happy!! on a seaside holiday(!!)</center> | ||
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<center>Ian Penman</center> | |||
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The attraction is in an adventurously limited trail for the provinces, where a lot of people live and buy records and don't get gigs. West Runton pavillon is the first of those definitely smaller, probably more deserving gigs; is practically Norfolk's only hot hop, and – unsympathetic local forces? – is soon to be shut, finitely. | The attraction is in an adventurously limited trail for the provinces, where a lot of people live and buy records and don't get gigs. West Runton pavillon is the first of those definitely smaller, probably more deserving gigs; is practically Norfolk's only hot hop, and – unsympathetic local forces? – is soon to be shut, finitely. | ||
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Undesirable ideologies – you know, the things the Left is always lapel-badging against – are born and bred in daily language, in triviality, in casual acquaintances with culture... | Undesirable ideologies – you know, the things the Left is always lapel-badging against – are born and bred in daily language, in triviality, in casual acquaintances with culture... | ||
"Those disco synthesizers/Those daily tranquillisers/...Those bedroom alibis." | "Those disco synthesizers / Those daily tranquillisers / ...Those bedroom alibis." | ||
Elvis Costello and The Attractions bespeak a less padded, more aesthetically radical case for thorough narrative, a better bitterness in an instrumental introduction without off-putting echoes of stock rock rigmarole – the obstinate inherited manners, rusty riffs in smiling files. It's a music which will inevitably draw to it unsufferable adjectives, like: nervous (but it's not inhibited) or aggressive (but it's not inhibiting – maybe it was, but no longer). It's not straightforward. | Elvis Costello and The Attractions bespeak a less padded, more aesthetically radical case for thorough narrative, a better bitterness in an instrumental introduction without off-putting echoes of stock rock rigmarole – the obstinate inherited manners, rusty riffs in smiling files. It's a music which will inevitably draw to it unsufferable adjectives, like: nervous (but it's not inhibited) or aggressive (but it's not inhibiting – maybe it was, but no longer). It's not straightforward. | ||
At West Runton they played confident but agitated, spiked but not arrogant pop music, with someone sympathetic over the mixing desk dials. Perhaps they were too cramped at times, but with the concentration of words as it is, especially in the Get Happy!! songs, it's definitely apt and probably inevitable that an odd beat be left hanging on the phoneme. | At West Runton they played confident but agitated, spiked but not arrogant pop music, with someone sympathetic over the mixing desk dials. Perhaps they were too cramped at times, but with the concentration of words as it is, especially in the ''[[Get Happy!!]]'' songs, it's definitely apt and probably inevitable that an odd beat be left hanging on the phoneme. | ||
The difference between this show – pun music, jump music – and the other once I saw them live (year and a half ago) was between being left numb, and have succumbed. A sensual change – you're kept under an impression, not ego'd underband, allowed to follow apace. | The difference between this show – pun music, jump music – and the other once I saw them live (year and a half ago) was between being left numb, and have succumbed. A sensual change – you're kept under an impression, not ego'd underband, allowed to follow apace. | ||
The three Attractions are still rhythmically centrifugal and suitably anonymous. An ideal engine now able to exploit the terribly meticulous tension they're capable of producing, even if it still isn't overwhelmingly reflected in their own aesthetic presence. | The three [[The Attractions|Attractions]] are still rhythmically centrifugal and suitably anonymous. An ideal engine now able to exploit the terribly meticulous tension they're capable of producing, even if it still isn't overwhelmingly reflected in their own aesthetic presence. | ||
EC is still the totem. His aesthetic I reckon to be about the equal opposite (kick me if this get too screwed-up hippie astronomer-ish) to the pin-up doubt, Sting. Elvis is cluttered cool, melancholy's violence, a sweaty statue. Smaller venues suit them, I suppose. | EC is still the totem. His aesthetic I reckon to be about the equal opposite (kick me if this get too screwed-up hippie astronomer-ish) to the pin-up doubt, Sting. Elvis is cluttered cool, melancholy's violence, a sweaty statue. Smaller venues suit them, I suppose. | ||
Get Happy!! and This Year's Model were sources for the majority of selections, so when things drag – as anything does – I at least had home-from-home fun with favourites, lines ("I wanted to seize you/But I'm no good with machinery") and tunes (including the sneak-spaced Get Happy!! love story trilogy: | ''Get Happy!!'' and ''[[This Year's Model]]'' were sources for the majority of selections, so when things drag – as anything does – I at least had home-from-home fun with favourites, lines ("I wanted to seize you / But I'm no good with machinery") and tunes (including the sneak-spaced ''Get Happy!!'' love story trilogy: "[[Temptation]]" – "[[Opportunity]]" – "[[Possession]]"). | ||
'Watching The Detectives' got the big de-dub dig, simply interrogated into incompatible parts, quietly battered. The only other real elder was | 'Watching The Detectives' got the big de-dub dig, simply interrogated into incompatible parts, quietly battered. The only other real elder was "[[Less Than Zero]]," which wasn't so severely dealt with. Something I didn't recognize led with an introductory bar or so of "[[Tears Of A Clown]]", done most slowly, surreptitiously: what a wounded stare you wear. | ||
Other titles are easily guessed. The definitely terrace-chant and probably chart-top 'I Can't Stand Up | Other titles are easily guessed. The definitely terrace-chant and probably chart-top "[[I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down|I Can't Stand Up]]" announced the encores; EC lectured persons unknown about their spit – "Pardon me while I contain myself" – and everybody seemed happy at the end. | ||
They could have done Smokey Robinson & The Miracles 'When The Words From Your Heart Get Caught Up In Your Throat' – but that's just me wishing overboard, as usual. "I think I'd better write a note..." | They could have done Smokey Robinson & The Miracles 'When The Words From Your Heart Get Caught Up In Your Throat' – but that's just me wishing overboard, as usual. "I think I'd better write a note..." | ||
One such: I'd missed Clive Langer & The Boxes, because it took me even longer than usual to get to the | One such: I'd missed [[Clive Langer|Clive Langer & The Boxes]], because it took me even longer than usual to get to the | ||
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{{Bibliography notes}} | |||
'''New Musical Express, March 8, 1980 | |||
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[[Ian Penman]] reviews Elvis Costello & The Attractions, [[Concert 1980-03-01 West Runton|March 1, 1980]], Pavilion, West Runton, England. | |||
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[[image:1980-03-08 New Musical Express cover.jpg|900x120px]] | |||
<br><small>Cover.</small> | |||
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==External links== | |||
*[http://www.nme.com/ NME.com] | |||
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NME Wikipedia: NME] | |||
[[Category:New Musical Express]] | [[Category:Bibliography|New Musical Express 1980-03-08]] | ||
[[Category:Bibliography 1980|New Musical Express 1980-03-08]] | |||
[[Category:New Musical Express| New Musical Express 1980-03-08]] | |||
[[Category:Magazine articles|New Musical Express 1980-03-08]] | |||
[[Category:1980 concert reviews|New Musical Express 1980-03-08]] |
Revision as of 17:36, 6 February 2013
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