Beaver County Times, August 7, 1994: Difference between revisions
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<center>''' Elvis Costello </center> | <center>''' Elvis Costello </center> | ||
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<center> | <center> Knight-Ridder Newspapers </center> | ||
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{{Bibliography text}} | {{Bibliography text}} | ||
Continuing with its sterling program of reissuing Costello's entire back catalog plus bonus tracks, Ryko has now reached middle-period, increasingly ambitious E.C. with 1980's ''Get Happy'' and 1981's ''Trust''. | |||
''Get Happy'' — which originally crammed an absurd 20 tracks on one slab of vinyl, now contains an even more absurd 30 tracks on one plastic disc. | |||
It now incorporates fully half of the 20-track ''Taking Liberties'' collection, which was assembled from the outtakes and b-sides that Ryko is now re-positioning on the original albums. | |||
''Get Happy'' remains a terrific showcase of Costello's Motown and Stax imitations, but the added songs are already in most Costello fans' libraries. | |||
Not so with ''Trust'', which seemed like a rather modest effort at the time, positioned as it was between ''Get Happy'' and ''Imperial Bedroom''. | |||
Now, however, the songs on ''Trust'' sound stronger than those that came immediately before and after, and the bonus tracks are both fresh and exceptional. | |||
"Black Sails in the Sunset" did appear as a 1986 b-side, but it's a much better song than that, combining Costello's best confused-lover lyrics (''"Some mysterious dance nobody can do, I thought I knew all the steps, quite clearly I don't have a clue"'') with a powerful mid-tempo melody driven by Steve Nieve's stately piano. | |||
"Twenty-Five to Twelve" and "Seconds of Pleasure" are quite different versions of the same song, each far superior to most artists' throwaways. | |||
"Sad About Girls" is the best bonus track, however — a plaintive, surging ballad that seems to sum up all of Costello's romantic frustrations: ''"Unwrap the love before she can know you, she's just got to show you the way that you're going to be sad."'' | |||
There's also an early version of "Boy With a Problem," which ended up on ''Imperial Bedroom'', and a glum take on Cole Porter's "Love for Sale," pointing the way to Costello's problematic attempt to determine whether, in fact, he actually was a composing genius. | |||
''Trust'' shows that, the closer to rock he remained, the closer to genius he got. | |||
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Revision as of 18:04, 24 June 2015
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