California Aggie, May 7, 1980

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The king's difficult masterpiece


Steve Wynn

With the no-nonsense, aggressive This Year's Model, Elvis Costello captured the unattended throne as the king of rock 'n' roll. The ambitious, eloquent Armed Forces, one year later, came along and put the title out of reach from any contenders. After only three LPs, Elvis had become the heir apparent to Bob Dylan as the thinking man's rock hero.

With all of this conquering behind him, Costello has released Get Happy!!, a 50-minute, 20-song record that is, at once, his most confident and most unconventional record yet. A record that sounds annoyingly incomplete on the first listen, Get Happy!! turns out to be the best example of Costello's melodic abilities, as well as a strong testimony to the strengths of Costello's backing band, The Attractions.

The record's full charms don't come across right away for several reasons. To begin with, it is no easy task to digest 20 (count 'em 20) songs at one time, even though there is not a bad track on Get Happy!!.

Another stumbling block is the record's style. Get Happy!! doesn't sound much like anything that Elvis has done before. This album is a soul record, echoing styles from Motown and Stax-Volt all the way to reggae and ska. The subtle use of dub on "B Movie" is more authentic than gimmicky. "High Fidelity" could be a Four Tops song. "I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down" is a Sam & Dave song from the mid-60S.

Then there is the brevity of the cuts. Only two of the songs are over three minutes long and all but five are under 2:30. Eighteen of the 20 tracks end with a fadeout and quite often the fadeout seems unnatural, as though some villain at the mastering plant had turned down the volume before Elvis had a chance to sing his last verse.

Still, these barriers against quick accessibility are wry challenges rather than faults and only serve to make the album much more incredible once all of the songs sink in. Like all great records, Get Happy!! is rich beneath the surface and does not wear out too easily.

The musical variety on this album is staggering and completely transcends the pedestrian notion of "new wave." There's the lovely country ballad, "Motel Matches," that is not "new wave country," but straightforward cry-in-your-beer country music. Period.

But labels are silly with this record. Costello's vocal range and control (not to mention emotion) are awesome, and he more than does justice to the quiet, jazz-tinged "Secondary Modern," just as he did to "My Funny Valentine" last year. At the same time, "Beaten to the Punch" and "Love for Tender" rock more convincingly than almost every cut on the lush Armed Forces.

Happily, the record buyers in the U.S. are no longer hung up over Costello's association with the not-very-new-wave and Get Happy!! is a top 20 LP and will probably be Costello's second consecutive gold record. If John Q. Record Buyer can have the patience to explore as challenging a record as Get Happy!! and experience its many rewards, then there might be something to get happy about, after all.


Tags: Get Happy!!The AttractionsThis Year's ModelArmed ForcesBob DylanMotownStaxB MovieHigh FidelityThe Four TopsSam & DaveI Can't Stand Up For Falling DownSecondary ModernMy Funny ValentineMotel MatchesBeaten To The PunchLove For Tender

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The California Aggie, May 7, 1980


Steve Wynn reviews Get Happy!!.

Images

1980-05-07 California Aggie, Profile page 05 clipping 01.jpg
Clippings.


1980-05-07 California Aggie, Profile page 08 clipping 01.jpg


Page scans.
1980-05-07 California Aggie, Profile page 05.jpg 1980-05-07 California Aggie, Profile page 08.jpg

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