Brisbane Courier-Mail, October 16, 2004: Difference between revisions
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<center><h3> Cool, that's Elvis Costello </h3></center> | <center><h3> Cool, that's Elvis Costello </h3></center> | ||
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<center>Kathleen Noonan </center> | <center>Kathleen Noonan </center> | ||
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'''Elvis Costello has survived because he delivers the unexpected, writes Kathleen Noonan. | |||
{{Bibliography text}} | {{Bibliography text}} | ||
People get married to the tunes sung by Elvis Costello. Think She. People are buried to his songs. Think Good Year for the Roses. And people make love to his music. | |||
It's just that he never quite imagined ''Il Sogno'', his debut album of orchestral music for ballet, would be the one. | It's just that he never quite imagined ''Il Sogno'', his debut album of orchestral music for ballet, would be the one. | ||
"Yeah, sure. In bed with a lover, that's exactly how I anticipated it be listened to when I wrote it. Perfect. ''Il Sogno'' . . . the shaggable album of 2004. Great." He chuckles. | "Yeah, sure. In bed with a lover, that's exactly how I anticipated it be listened to when I wrote it. Perfect. ''Il Sogno''... the shaggable album of 2004. Great." He chuckles. | ||
Elvis Costello is taking the mickey. Out of this interviewer and himself and his music. And it suits him. | Elvis Costello is taking the mickey. Out of this interviewer and himself and his music. And it suits him. | ||
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Yet this time the man comes to town with two stories to tell, two albums to sell. | Yet this time the man comes to town with two stories to tell, two albums to sell. | ||
The first is ''Il Sogno'' (The Dream), performed by the | The first is ''Il Sogno'' (The Dream), performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and originally written by Costello as a ballet score for Italy's Aterballetto dance company. | ||
"It's for Shakespeare's ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' so it's a comedy and is about love and playfulness. There's the fun Puck character. So we should listen to it making love. When you think about it, we are quite ridiculous in love." | "It's for Shakespeare's ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' so it's a comedy and is about love and playfulness. There's the fun Puck character. So we should listen to it making love. When you think about it, we are quite ridiculous in love." | ||
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The second story is ''The Delivery Man'' a defiantly raw rock 'n' roll album with a Southern Gothic feel recorded at the Sweet Tea studio in Oxford, Mississippi. | The second story is ''The Delivery Man'' a defiantly raw rock 'n' roll album with a Southern Gothic feel recorded at the Sweet Tea studio in Oxford, Mississippi. | ||
It is this album he will tour Australia with next month with the Imposters. The character of The Delivery Man was imported from a song Costello wrote for the late | It is this album he will tour Australia with next month with the Imposters. The character of The Delivery Man was imported from a song Costello wrote for the late Johnny Cash. | ||
It is this story that is intriguing, a little complex, a little broader and messed up, fractured, more like life. | It is this story that is intriguing, a little complex, a little broader and messed up, fractured, more like life. | ||
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The songs on this album are slow-release pleasures. It draws from rhythm and blues and country but as Costello explains: "In rock 'n' roll, I've learnt to go for the roll rather than the rock. Songs have to have the roll, have to swing. I mean that's where rock 'n' roll came out of, the straight-out New Orleans swing of the late 1940s." | The songs on this album are slow-release pleasures. It draws from rhythm and blues and country but as Costello explains: "In rock 'n' roll, I've learnt to go for the roll rather than the rock. Songs have to have the roll, have to swing. I mean that's where rock 'n' roll came out of, the straight-out New Orleans swing of the late 1940s." | ||
''The Delivery Man'' album features the voices of | ''The Delivery Man'' album features the voices of Emmylou Harris and Lucinda Williams, has a running storyline of a cryptic small-town romantic mystery with bruised characters. "There's a story there but it's not totally explained," he says. | ||
At 50 Costello has lost none of the quirkiness – either musically or in dress sense – that he possessed when he hit the scene with the most original voice of the punk era and 1977 debut ''My Aim Is True''. | At 50 Costello has lost none of the quirkiness – either musically or in dress sense – that he possessed when he hit the scene with the most original voice of the punk era and 1977 debut ''My Aim Is True''. | ||
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And Costello and his music grew up with his fans, matured with them. Over the years he has taken them on journeys they might not have gone on with anyone else. It has tested them. | And Costello and his music grew up with his fans, matured with them. Over the years he has taken them on journeys they might not have gone on with anyone else. It has tested them. | ||
He went to Nashville to make ''Almost Blue'' out of plain curiosity. Then there was the 1998 collaboration with | He went to Nashville to make ''Almost Blue'' out of plain curiosity. Then there was the 1998 collaboration with Burt Bacharach, ''Painted From Memory''. And they stuck with him. All because he was there when they needed him most. | ||
Today, Costello is in a pretty good place. He rejects many more projects than he accepts. | Today, Costello is in a pretty good place. He rejects many more projects than he accepts. | ||
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He has played on stage and collaborated with the world's best. His songs have been recorded by performers including Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Dusty Springfield, Solomon Burke. | He has played on stage and collaborated with the world's best. His songs have been recorded by performers including Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Dusty Springfield, Solomon Burke. | ||
Treasured musical memories include the [[Concert 1987-09-30 Los Angeles|1987 concert special | Treasured musical memories include the [[Concert 1987-09-30 Los Angeles|1987]] concert special ''A Black and White Night'' with Roy Orbison, filmed in black and white with a remarkable cast of A-list Big O fans as his accompanists. | ||
Under the direction of | Under the direction of T{{nb}}Bone Burnett, the stage band included Jackson Browne, Burnett, Costello, kd lang, Bonnie Raitt, J.D. Souther, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits and Jennifer Warnes with the rhythm section from Elvis Presley's late 1960s-1970s touring band. | ||
"What a privilege. And it was interesting to see people like Springsteen, huge at the time, so humble. A good lesson." | "What a privilege. And it was interesting to see people like Springsteen, huge at the time, so humble. A good lesson." | ||
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"It's tremendous. A lot of great songs. Trampled Rose is my favourite." | "It's tremendous. A lot of great songs. Trampled Rose is my favourite." | ||
Also he's loving an outfit out of California called | Also he's loving an outfit out of California called Rilo Kiley. "They've a great singer and writer called Jenny Lewis who has a beautiful voice and tells terrific stories." | ||
Rilo Kiley's website says their latest album ''More Adventurous'' is an album full of uplifting songs of heartbreak, traditional pop from the future, country music from the city, and all other manner of oxymoronic perfection. And eclectic Costello likes it. | Rilo Kiley's website says their latest album ''More Adventurous'' is an album full of uplifting songs of heartbreak, traditional pop from the future, country music from the city, and all other manner of oxymoronic perfection. And eclectic Costello likes it. | ||
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"And, of course, old stuff like Louis Armstrong, all over the place. You have to have the old and the new." | "And, of course, old stuff like Louis Armstrong, all over the place. You have to have the old and the new." | ||
Costello plays QPAC Concert Hall in Brisbane, November 30, and Jupiters Theatre on the Gold Coast, December 1. Supporting will be | {{cx}} | ||
'''Costello plays QPAC Concert Hall in Brisbane, November 30, and Jupiters Theatre on the Gold Coast, December 1. Supporting will be Stephen Cummings. | |||
Costello's new albums ''The Delivery Man'' and ''Il Sogno'' are out now. | '''Costello's new albums ''The Delivery Man'' and ''Il Sogno'' are out now. | ||
{{Bibliography notes header}} | {{Bibliography notes header}} | ||
{{Bibliography notes}} | {{Bibliography notes}} | ||
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'''The Courier-Mail, October 16, 2004 | '''The Courier-Mail, October 16, 2004 | ||
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[[Kathleen Noonan]] interviews Elvis Costello | [[Kathleen Noonan]] interviews Elvis Costello ahead of his concert with [[The Imposters]], Tuesday, [[Concert 2004-11-30 Brisbane|November 30, 2004]], Brisbane, Australia. | ||
{{Bibliography images}} | {{Bibliography images}} | ||
[[image:2004-10-16 Brisbane Courier Mail photo 01.jpg| | [[image:2004-10-16 Brisbane Courier Mail photo 01.jpg|300px|Quirky... Elvis Costello continues his idiosyncratic career. Photo uncredited.]] | ||
<br><small>Photo uncredited.</small> | |||
{{Bibliography notes footer}} | {{Bibliography notes footer}} |
Latest revision as of 22:44, 27 March 2024
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