Toronto Globe and Mail, January 9, 1978: Difference between revisions
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<center><h3> Jittering into prophethood | <center><h3> Jittering into prophethood — the <br> apotheosis of Elvis Costello </h3></center> | ||
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<center> Fred Schruers </center> | <center> Fred Schruers </center> | ||
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A year ago, Elvis Costello was just a rumour, a faint rock and roll rattle that came out of London's pub rock scene. But that rattle has crossed the Atlantic to become a clatter and Elvis Costello is being talked up as a pop-musical prophet for the eighties. While his pictures show an awkward, pebble-complected short guy with thick glasses, Elvis Costello is not as good-looking as those pictures. And while he sounds, on record, pained and gravelly, his live performance is mostly spittle and jitters. His visual and vocal signature, is in fact so hopelessly ungainly that a lot of viewers moaned and turned away when he staggered toward the camera lenses on NBC's ''[[Saturday Night Live|Saturday Night]]'' recently. But for those who love him — and those who promote him — it's all to the good because Elvis Costello's genius lies in the way that he insists the world made him a prize misanthrope. | A year ago, Elvis Costello was just a rumour, a faint rock and roll rattle that came out of London's pub rock scene. But that rattle has crossed the Atlantic to become a clatter and Elvis Costello is being talked up as a pop-musical prophet for the eighties. While his pictures show an awkward, pebble-complected short guy with thick glasses, Elvis Costello is not as good-looking as those pictures. And while he sounds, on record, pained and gravelly, his live performance is mostly spittle and jitters. His visual and vocal signature, is in fact so hopelessly ungainly that a lot of viewers moaned and turned away when he staggered toward the camera lenses on NBC's ''[[Saturday Night Live|Saturday Night]]'' recently. But for those who love him — and those who promote him — it's all to the good because Elvis Costello's genius lies in the way that he insists the world made him a prize misanthrope. | ||
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That performance was so expertly off-putting that his sado-masochistic following sitting in their living rooms had the pleasure of being skewered on the jibes of non-believers. Elvis' opener was a black ditty called "[[Watching The Detectives|Watching the Detectives]]." Singing most precisely against an unsprung calypso rhythm, Elvis manages to link a heartless siren — "She looks so good that he gets down and begs" — with a diatribe against the wedge that television can make between two people on a loveseat: "She's filing her nails while they're dragging the lake." | That performance was so expertly off-putting that his sado-masochistic following sitting in their living rooms had the pleasure of being skewered on the jibes of non-believers. Elvis' opener was a black ditty called "[[Watching The Detectives|Watching the Detectives]]." Singing most precisely against an unsprung calypso rhythm, Elvis manages to link a heartless siren — "She looks so good that he gets down and begs" — with a diatribe against the wedge that television can make between two people on a loveseat: "She's filing her nails while they're dragging the lake." | ||
The song is full of the subliminal musical fillips that producer [[Nick Lowe]] uses on his quirky records — a long, nervous purl of organ, Elvis' own vocal lines overlapping each other, and a stringent faithfulness to that small-band sound. His four-piece unit — drums, base, organ and Elvis' own guitar — handled U.S. television with an easy sneer. And since they had gotten a last-minute booking on the show when crafty manager Malcolm McLaren pulled his [[The Sex Pistols|Sex Pistols]] off the program, Elvis' drummer wore a | The song is full of the subliminal musical fillips that producer [[Nick Lowe]] uses on his quirky records — a long, nervous purl of organ, Elvis' own vocal lines overlapping each other, and a stringent faithfulness to that small-band sound. His four-piece unit — drums, base, organ and Elvis' own guitar — handled U.S. television with an easy sneer. And since they had gotten a last-minute booking on the show when crafty manager Malcolm McLaren pulled his [[The Sex Pistols|Sex Pistols]] off the program, Elvis' drummer wore a [[:image:1977-12-17 Saturday Night Live 131.jpg|T-shirt]] that read Thanks Malc. When the band appeared on screen for their second number, Elvis seemed to quiver with readiness. A few lines into "[[Less Than Zero]]," a song which indicts British television for letting rightist Oswald Mosley appear on a talk show, Elvis stopped dead and flapped his hands. Stop, stop, stop! Ladies and gentlemen, he cried, in a wild burst of politesse, and immediately twisted around to organize his band and lit into "Radio Radio," stumbling to and fro as his guitar clattered against the mike stand. | ||
It was a key gig — ''Saturday Night'''s audience does like their humour to scorch a little — but many people in that audience were surely wondering why they were watching such a cruel-lipped, embittered twirp. | It was a key gig — ''Saturday Night'''s audience does like their humour to scorch a little — but many people in that audience were surely wondering why they were watching such a cruel-lipped, embittered twirp. | ||
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*[http://www.elviscostello.info/articles/d-g/globe_and_mail.780109a.html elviscostello.info] | *[http://www.elviscostello.info/articles/d-g/globe_and_mail.780109a.html elviscostello.info] | ||
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[[Category:Bibliography 1978 | [[Category:Bibliography]] | ||
[[Category: | [[Category:Bibliography 1978]] | ||
[[Category:Newspaper articles | [[Category:Toronto Globe and Mail| Toronto Globe and Mail 1978-01-09]] | ||
[[Category:1977 concert reviews|Globe and Mail 1978-01-09]] | [[Category:Newspaper articles]] | ||
[[Category:1977 concert reviews]] | |||
[[Category:1st US Tour|~Toronto Globe and Mail 1978-01-09]] |
Revision as of 06:08, 16 December 2014
Fredrick Schruers is a freelance writer living in New York.
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