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I've had this terrible nightmare. I'm walking through the supermarket comparing the prices of macaroni and cheese when I recognize the piped-in muzak to be a violin-soaked interpretation of Elvis Costello's "Accidents Will Happen."
Don't laugh. Every song on Armed Forces is melodic enough to appeal to Mantovani or whoever does those mindless tunes. What's more, this new album is already a hit, the highest debuting album on the national charts last week.
Elvis' success should be no surprise to those who have been fans since his first album My Aim Is True in which he made it clear he was one of the most expressive vocalists and perceptive songwriters in the music industry. Even the New Wave association couldn't stop Costello from appealing to the same people who were buying Saturday Night Fever. And it didn't hurt when Linda Ronstadt covered "Alison" on her last album (a version that didn't stand up to the original).
The critics knew about Elvis all along. When the New York-based Village Voice took their year-end poll of music writers in 1977, My Aim Is True was tabbed the number two album of the year. In the 1978 survey, Elvis' This Year's Model was number one.
In fact, I wouldn't recommend showing any signs of surprise when Armed Forces nabs the top spot 11 months from now.
Just as he did on This Year's Model, Elvis has changed his "sound" from the previous album. In contrast to Model's simplicity, Armed Forces is an excursion in lushly produced pop.
Producer Nick Lowe has abandoned his "Get them in and slap it down" policy that distinguished his previous work. In fact, I sometimes get the feeling that Lowe is trying to challenge Brian Eno for complex layerings of sound.
For example, listen to the end of "Big Boys." Costello's final "Oh!" sets off an intriguing meshing of mechanical-sounding drum beats, sliding bass lines and an almost atonal blanket of high pitched organ chords. That "sound of the 80s" also marks one of the LP's best cuts "Moods For Moderns," another Eno-ish cut complete with an endless supply of keyboard hooks.
Lowe shows more production trickery in speaker separation with the drums on "Chemistry Class" and the vocals on the final verse of "Goon Squad."
Each of those experiments are a success. On the other hand, Lowe almost falls into over-production at several points on this album, burying rather than intensifying Costello's emotion. The complex, production on "Goon Squad" or "Oliver's Army" can't compare to the effectiveness of the four snare drum taps that punctuate "Green Shirt" or the tremolo guitar effects on the last verse of "Senior Service."
Costello has a gift for hooks like these. Even though they often explore interesting and challenging chord progressions and often change keys in mid-song, Costello's pop tunes are catchy and very memorable. And when it comes to catchy pop tunes, Nick Lowe is the best producer since Phil Spector and George Martin.
Elvis even tosses in bits of pop history, a good indication to his roots. There are the obvious allusions: the Abbey Road melody used at the coda of "Party Girl" or the Beach Boys harmonies that finish "Busy Bodies." Then there are more subtle hints like the buried "Rebel Rebel" guitar riff in "Two Little Hitlers."
Unfortunately, Elvis' fondness for the obscure has crept into his lyrics. On This Year's Model, Costello was not coy. His no-nonsense lyrics ran the range from agonizing to frightening, whereas the new album is filled with oblique references, non sequiturs and an obsession with cute lyrical twists ("I get hit looking for a miss" and "It's a death that's worse than fate," among others). While these lyrics may provide more fodder for intellectuals, they downplay Elvis' strong sense of sincere commentary.
Costello's best lyrics can be found on the album's most touching song "Party Girl " which musically and lyrically is almost a follow-up to "Alison." In this song, Elvis sings about the pretty women who he could only dream about before he became a star, and how things have changed: "They can't touch me now... I could give you anything but time." There is a slight touch of revenge here, but it is neither angry nor bitter but merely the confidence of someone who knows he has risen above what he was.
Maybe that's the problem. Maybe Elvis is too confident to complain or to be angry. And maybe it is that confidence that will make Elvis Costello a household name.
Because of this confidence and the complexity in arrangements, I wouldn't be surprised if Armed Forces ten years from now will be remembered with the same awe that we now hold for the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
I, however, will still prefer the simple, direct aggression of This Year's Model, the record that may be someday remembered as the album that came before the big one.
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