Best Classic Bands, July 8, 2020: Difference between revisions
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Nearly half the new songs (including “Pidgin English,” “Human Hands,” “The Long Honeymoon,” ‘Kid About It” and “Shabby Doll”) had already been aired live in concert during the latter half of 1981, but Costello was continually playing with tempo, vocal approach and song structure, as rehearsals and sessions revealed new possibilities. He would try out singing higher or lower, adjust the “rant” or “smooth” settings on his versatile voice. Costello greatly admired his band’s expertise, and was willing to follow their lead: Pete Thomas’ improvised drumming on the first stab at “Beyond Belief” led Costello to rewrite the song to bring the lyrics and melody closer to the feel Thomas had captured spontaneously. The song leads off the album with a coiled sense of menace and mysterious lyrics: “History repeats the old conceits/The glib replies, the same defeats/Keep your finger on important issues/With crocodile tears and a pocketful of tissues.” | Nearly half the new songs (including “Pidgin English,” “Human Hands,” “The Long Honeymoon,” ‘Kid About It” and “Shabby Doll”) had already been aired live in concert during the latter half of 1981, but Costello was continually playing with tempo, vocal approach and song structure, as rehearsals and sessions revealed new possibilities. He would try out singing higher or lower, adjust the “rant” or “smooth” settings on his versatile voice. Costello greatly admired his band’s expertise, and was willing to follow their lead: Pete Thomas’ improvised drumming on the first stab at “Beyond Belief” led Costello to rewrite the song to bring the lyrics and melody closer to the feel Thomas had captured spontaneously. The song leads off the album with a coiled sense of menace and mysterious lyrics: “History repeats the old conceits/The glib replies, the same defeats/Keep your finger on important issues/With crocodile tears and a pocketful of tissues.” | ||
“Tears Before Bedtime” starts in a weird reggaeish rhythm and blues tempo, with piano and organ lines dueling, and overdubbed multi-Elvis vocals. The bridge is a bit of quasi-Merseybeat pop dropped into a different sonic landscape. Costello says he prefers the alternate version first released on Rhino’s 2002 double-CD reissue, which has a different tempo, melody, feel and lyrics, with no vocal tricks—basically a completely different song with the same title. | “Tears Before Bedtime” starts in a weird reggaeish rhythm and blues tempo, with piano and organ lines dueling, and overdubbed multi-Elvis vocals. The bridge is a bit of quasi-Merseybeat pop dropped into a different sonic landscape. Costello says he prefers the alternate version first released on Rhino’s [[Imperial_Bedroom#Imperial_Bedroom_.282002_Rhino.2FEdsel_edition.29|2002 double-CD reissue]], which has a different tempo, melody, feel and lyrics, with no vocal tricks—basically a completely different song with the same title. | ||
“Shabby Doll” begins with a 12-string guitar run through a Leslie speaker, while Costello’s extremely close-mic’d voice ominously intones, “Giving you more of what for/Always worked for me before/Now I’m a shabby doll/What’s going on behind the green elevator door/With just a shabby doll?” With a bang on the drums and a bump on the bass, the band kicks in with a vengeance. Nieve attacks the piano like he’s a mutant blend of Jerry Lee Lewis and Procol Harum’s Gary Brooker. The jagged melody vocal finds echoes from an overdubbed Costello chorus, eventually decaying into echoed howling while Bruce Thomas lays in some bass licks that EC asserts are his best work on the album. | “Shabby Doll” begins with a 12-string guitar run through a Leslie speaker, while Costello’s extremely close-mic’d voice ominously intones, “Giving you more of what for/Always worked for me before/Now I’m a shabby doll/What’s going on behind the green elevator door/With just a shabby doll?” With a bang on the drums and a bump on the bass, the band kicks in with a vengeance. Nieve attacks the piano like he’s a mutant blend of Jerry Lee Lewis and Procol Harum’s Gary Brooker. The jagged melody vocal finds echoes from an overdubbed Costello chorus, eventually decaying into echoed howling while Bruce Thomas lays in some bass licks that EC asserts are his best work on the album. | ||
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“Almost Blue” (written after the Nashville sessions for the album of that name) not only melodically echoes classics like “My Funny Valentine” and “One For My Baby,” but contains further evidence of EC’s literary and poetic chops, as he keeps hammering the word “almost” from different angles (“It’s almost touching/It will almost do”). He relates a “blue” mood to eyes “red from crying,” and plays with clichés (“Not all good things come to an end,” “Flirting with this disaster became me”). “. . .And In Every Home” is a lushly orchestrated track that is Costello at his most psychedelic. During a break from ''Tug of War'', Martin vetted Nieve’s charts, which contain subtle references to Beatles instrumental scores. | “Almost Blue” (written after the Nashville sessions for the album of that name) not only melodically echoes classics like “My Funny Valentine” and “One For My Baby,” but contains further evidence of EC’s literary and poetic chops, as he keeps hammering the word “almost” from different angles (“It’s almost touching/It will almost do”). He relates a “blue” mood to eyes “red from crying,” and plays with clichés (“Not all good things come to an end,” “Flirting with this disaster became me”). “. . .And In Every Home” is a lushly orchestrated track that is Costello at his most psychedelic. During a break from ''Tug of War'', Martin vetted Nieve’s charts, which contain subtle references to Beatles instrumental scores. | ||
“The Loved Ones,” leading off side two, is a track that wouldn’t be out of place on EC’s Armed Forces album, with one of Costello’s most sneering vocals, along the line of “Oliver’s Army.” Nieve’s piano is dominant beneath, and what he does on the outro is stellar. | “The Loved Ones,” leading off side two, is a track that wouldn’t be out of place on EC’s ''Armed Forces'' album, with one of Costello’s most sneering vocals, along the line of “Oliver’s Army.” Nieve’s piano is dominant beneath, and what he does on the outro is stellar. | ||
“I’ve been talking to the wall and it’s been answering me” is the opening line of the dramatic “Human Hands,” which might be the LP’s strongest overall song and recording. There are echoes of “Watching the Detectives” and “(I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea” in the rhythm and arrangement, and the torrent of words is constant, oblique and darkly amusing (“With the kings and queens of the dance hall craze/Checkmate in three moves in your heyday”). | “I’ve been talking to the wall and it’s been answering me” is the opening line of the dramatic “Human Hands,” which might be the LP’s strongest overall song and recording. There are echoes of “Watching the Detectives” and “(I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea” in the rhythm and arrangement, and the torrent of words is constant, oblique and darkly amusing (“With the kings and queens of the dance hall craze/Checkmate in three moves in your heyday”). | ||
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Costello calls the concluding “Town Cryer” “a truthful if rather self-pitying lament.” It’s got a lush melody, wildly inventive strings and brass courtesy of Nieve again, and some of EC’s cleverest lyrics, especially his sly American football reference in the repeating “I’m a little down with a lifetime to go.” After he describes himself as “just a little boy in a big man’s shirt” Nieve’s orchestration takes over for a Philly-soul-style coda. | Costello calls the concluding “Town Cryer” “a truthful if rather self-pitying lament.” It’s got a lush melody, wildly inventive strings and brass courtesy of Nieve again, and some of EC’s cleverest lyrics, especially his sly American football reference in the repeating “I’m a little down with a lifetime to go.” After he describes himself as “just a little boy in a big man’s shirt” Nieve’s orchestration takes over for a Philly-soul-style coda. | ||
Despite the lack of a hit single, the album sold well enough to reach #30 on the American Billboard Pop Albums chart and #6 in the United Kingdom. The witty Picasso-inspired cover art from Barney Bubbles (credited as “Sal Forlenza”) gives a good idea of the multi-colored delights inside. The Rhino expanded reissue is well-worth seeking out; it contains 23 bonus tracks, including fascinating demos, alternate versions, a take of Smokey Robinson’s “From Head to Toe” that was released soon after the album and became a hit single in England, and the title song that didn’t make the album. Costello describes the song “''Imperial Bedroom''” as “a sick waltz about the seduction of a bride by the best man. It was not a natural choice for the former ABBA singer Frida, but it was nevertheless originally submitted for inclusion on her latest solo album. It was not thought suitable by her producer, a Mr. Collins. He was probably right for once.” | Despite the lack of a hit single, the album sold well enough to reach #30 on the American Billboard Pop Albums chart and #6 in the United Kingdom. The witty Picasso-inspired cover art from Barney Bubbles (credited as “Sal Forlenza”) gives a good idea of the multi-colored delights inside. The [[Imperial_Bedroom#Imperial_Bedroom_.282002_Rhino.2FEdsel_edition.29|Rhino expanded reissue]] is well-worth seeking out; it contains 23 bonus tracks, including fascinating demos, alternate versions, a take of Smokey Robinson’s “From Head to Toe” that was released soon after the album and became a hit single in England, and the title song that didn’t make the album. Costello describes the song “''Imperial Bedroom''” as “a sick waltz about the seduction of a bride by the best man. It was not a natural choice for the former ABBA singer Frida, but it was nevertheless originally submitted for inclusion on her latest solo album. It was not thought suitable by her producer, a Mr. Collins. He was probably right for once.” | ||
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{{tags}}[[The Attractions]] {{-}} [[Imperial Bedroom]] {{-}} [[Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink]] {{-}} [[Geoff Emerick]] {{-}} [[The Beatles]] {{-}} [[The Zombies]] {{-}} [[George Martin]] {{-}} [[Paul McCartney]] {{-}} [[Jon Jacobs]] {{-}} [[Steve Nieve]] {{-}} [[Pete Thomas]] {{-}} [[Bruce Thomas]] {{-}} [[Almost Blue]] {{-}} [[Billie Holiday]] {{-}} [[David Ackles]] {{-}} [[Frank Sinatra]] {{-}} [[Pidgin English]] {{-}} [[Human Hands]] {{-}} [[The Long Honeymoon]] {{-}} [[Kid About It]] {{-}} [[Shabby Doll]] {{-}} [[Beyond Belief]] {{-}} [[Tears Before Bedtime]] {{-}} [[Jerry Lee Lewis]] {{-}} [[Man Out Of Time]] {{-}} [[Bob Dylan]] {{-}} [[Almost Blue (song)||Almost Blue]] {{-}} [[...And In Every Home]] {{-}} [[Chet Baker]] {{-}} [[The Thrill Is Gone]] {{-}} [[Nashville]] {{-}} [[My Funny Valentine]] {{-}} [[The Loved Ones]] {{-}} [[Oliver's Army]] {{-}} [[Watching The Detectives]] {{-}} [[(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea]] {{-}} [[Kid About It]] {{-}} [[John Lennon]] {{-}} [[Little Savage]] {{-}} [[Pump It Up]] {{-}} [[Boy With A Problem]] {{-}} [[Trust]] {{-}} [[You Little Fool]] {{-}} [[The Hollies]] {{-}} [[Town Cryer]] {{-}} [[Barney Bubbles]] {{-}} [[Smokey Robinson]] {{-}} [[From Head To Toe]] {{-}} [[ABBA]] | {{tags}}[[The Attractions]] {{-}} [[Imperial Bedroom]] {{-}} [[Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink]] {{-}} [[Geoff Emerick]] {{-}} [[The Beatles]] {{-}} [[The Zombies]] {{-}} [[George Martin]] {{-}} [[Paul McCartney]] {{-}} [[Jon Jacobs]] {{-}} [[Steve Nieve]] {{-}} [[Pete Thomas]] {{-}} [[Bruce Thomas]] {{-}} [[Almost Blue]] {{-}} [[Billie Holiday]] {{-}} [[David Ackles]] {{-}} [[Frank Sinatra]] {{-}} [[Pidgin English]] {{-}} [[Human Hands]] {{-}} [[The Long Honeymoon]] {{-}} [[Kid About It]] {{-}} [[Shabby Doll]] {{-}} [[Beyond Belief]] {{-}} [[Tears Before Bedtime]] {{-}} [[Jerry Lee Lewis]] {{-}} [[Man Out Of Time]] {{-}} [[Bob Dylan]] {{-}} [[Almost Blue (song)||Almost Blue]] {{-}} [[...And In Every Home]] {{-}} [[Chet Baker]] {{-}} [[The Thrill Is Gone]] {{-}} [[Nashville]] {{-}} [[My Funny Valentine]] {{-}} [[The Loved Ones]] {{-}} [[Oliver's Army]] {{-}} [[Watching The Detectives]] {{-}} [[(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea]] {{-}} [[Kid About It]] {{-}} [[John Lennon]] {{-}} [[Little Savage]] {{-}} [[Pump It Up]] {{-}} [[Boy With A Problem]] {{-}} [[Trust]] {{-}} [[You Little Fool]] {{-}} [[The Hollies]] {{-}} [[Town Cryer]] {{-}} [[Barney Bubbles]] {{-}} [[Smokey Robinson]] {{-}} [[From Head To Toe]] {{-}} [[ABBA]] |
Revision as of 19:26, 26 July 2020
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