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| | <span style="font-size:92%">'''Christian Science Monitor''' [[Christian Science Monitor index|{{n}}]]</span> | | | <span style="font-size:92%">'''Christian Science Monitor''' [[Christian Science Monitor index|{{n}}]]</span> |
| *[[Christian Science Monitor, June 5, 1986|1986 June 5]] | | *[[Christian Science Monitor, June 5, 1986|1986 June 5]] |
| *[[Christian Science Monitor, July 26, 1991|1991 July 26]][http://www.csmonitor.com/1991/0726/26132.html {{t}}] | | *[[Christian Science Monitor, July 26, 1991|1991 July 26]] |
| | *[[Christian Science Monitor, March 25, 1994|1994 March 25]] |
| | *[[Christian Science Monitor, June 21, 1994|1994 June 21]] |
| | *[[Christian Science Monitor, July 28, 2006|2006 July 28]] |
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| [[Category:Christian Science Monitor| ]]</noinclude><!-- | | [[Category:Christian Science Monitor| ]]</noinclude><!-- |
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| Don't Be Fooled: Elvis Costello Is Still Bittersweet
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| By Elizabeth A. Brown, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor July 26, 1991
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| BOSTON — WHO is this bearded imposter claiming to be Elvis Costello?Could this grizzly dude in wire rims be the same trendsetter who, sidestepping the spiked hairdos of the punks, scrubbed his face, slicked back his hair, slipped on his thick plastic glasses, and glamorized the nerd back in the early '80s? If his exterior has changed, don't worry: The witty, scathing English singer's new album, "Mighty Like a Rose," is both cutting and sweet. From the pretty, melodic first track (released as a single), "The Other Side of Summer," to the merry-go-round sound of the adorable "Georgie's Rival," to the slow, haunting "Broken," Costello's album resembles thorny roses: Bursts of fragrant sounds atop the sharp, barbing attacks on hypocrisy, pop culture, and modern love. "Rose" is Costello's best album yet in his 15-year, 13-album career; but it is tempting to make that judgment each time he puts out a new album. His last one, "Spike," proved Costello could do more than write perfect pop songs like "Veronica." He could write mellow jazz and political ballads like the one that criticized the politics of Margaret Thatcher for kissing babies in public and slashing welfare programs behind closed doors. Costello has toned down his politics in this album, aiming instead at the hypocrisy of one of pop-music's heroes, the Beatles's John Lennon. "Wasn't it a millionaire who sang 'Imagine No Possessions? Costello asks in "The Other Side of Summer." (Rankling a few fans, Costello said in a New York Times interview that he thought "Imagine" was one of Lennon's worst songs.) In the same single, Costello pierces the pressures of pop culture and the immaturity of the TV-age: "The pale pathetic promises that everybody swallows/A teenage girl is crying 'cos she don't look like a million dollars/So help her if you can/'Cos she don't seem to have the attention span...." Love, Costello's main theme, is not only mighty like a rose, but short-seasoned. In the sticky-sweet "So Like Candy," (co-written with former Beatle Paul McCartney), a young man pines for the girl who left him. Staring at her photo, he misses her bad habits (and perhaps misses the irony): "Here lie the records that she scratched/And on the sleeve I find a note attached.../She couldn't say 'goodbye,' but, 'I admire your taste. (Costello sings the word "scratched" with the proper onomatopoeic harshness of a roughed-up album.) But when love finally works out, and the lovers mature (to the age where Costello's oldest fans are, in their 30s and 40s), Costello paints it fragile and almost morose. In the final track, "Couldn't Call It Unexpected No. 4," he sings: "Well you can laugh at this sentimental story/But in time you'll have to make amends/The sudden chills where lovers doubt their immortality/As the clods cover the sky the evening ends/... So toll the bell/Or rock the cradle/Please don't let me fear anything I cannot explain/I can't believe I'll never believe in anything again." Costello's new album shows that this musician, by any other haircut, still sounds sweet.
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| http://www.csmonitor.com/1994/0325/25122.html
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| CD REVIEW
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| An occasional update of music releases
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| By Scott Baldauf March 25, 1994
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| ROCK/POP Elvis Costello - Brutal Youth (Warner Brothers): For music-industry executives who prefer the cloying, sulky tones of singers that sell, sell, sell, Elvis Costello's voice is a marketing nightmare: an angry yelp, a gurgling snarl, with only the occasional smooth, dreamy vocal. But his fans love him anyway. Costello has been reinventing his sound for 18 years now, dabbling in country, big band, and 1960s soul. In this latest effort, Costello brings back his original raw, gnarled sound but this time his lyrics bear the wisdom of a former Angry Young Man. Listen for a touch of Kurt Weill on the rocker ``20 Percent Amnesia'' and revel in the humor of the sweetly cynical ``This is Hell.''
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| http://www.csmonitor.com/1994/0621/21121.html
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| Summer Concert Season Blasts Off
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| (Extract)
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| Elvis Costello's aim is true, the Pretenders are the talk of the town, and Pink Floyd brings down the wall
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| By Frank Scheck, Special to The Christian Science Monitor June 21, 1994
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| NEW YORK — THE summer concert schedule transports pop-music lovers back to the late 1970s or early '80s. Three of the top touring shows that recently made New York appearances were Elvis Costello, reunited with his original band the Attractions; the Pretenders, doing their first tour in years; and Pink Floyd, who, despite the loss of Roger Waters, has turned out a smash hit album, ``The Division Bell,'' and whose stadium tour is setting attendance records around the country.
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| Costello hasn't toured with the Attractions since 1986, but with them he made some of his best albums, including such seminal releases as ``My Aim Is True,'' ``This Year's Model,'' and ``Armed Forces.'' The group (consisting of Steve Nieve on keyboards, Pete Thomas on drums, and Bruce Thomas on bass) recently played with Costello on his new album ``Brutal Youth.'' The concert, which played in Central Park, contained much new material and a generous sampling of songs from earlier albums, many of which Costello hasn't played in public in years.
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| The last time Costello toured, he performed ``The Juliet Letters'' with the Brodsky Quartet, and it was a highly decorous event. So the impact of seeing him play pure rock-and-roll with his original band was intensified. The singer, in fine voice and even better mood, seemed charged up by the occasion. Not only did the weak material from the new album sound better in concert, more powerful and less fussy, but the older songs played better than ever. Sticking more or less to the original arrangements, featuring the powerful drumming of Thomas and the swirling keyboards of Nieve, the group played muscular versions of some of Costello's best songs, including ``Accidents Will Happen,'' ``Alison,'' ``Watching the Detectives,'' ``Pump It Up,'' and many others. But this was no nostalgia show. The power of the songs was a perfect illustration of the musical vitality of the punk-new wave era.
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| Costello's soulfulness
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| Costello wasn't above having a little stylistic fun, either. Commenting dryly that ``some of you older people in the audience may remember this, it comes from the 1980s,'' he played a speeded-up version of his ``Every Day I Write the Book,'' and his performance of ``Alison'' segued into a cover of ``Tracks of My Tears'' that demonstrated his under-appreciated talent for soulful singing.
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| When Costello melodramatically announced at the end of the show, ``We don't know when we'll see you again, or if we'll ever see you again,'' it wasn't coming from the pique of a singer who wants to break free of his band. It was coming from the restless artistic spirit of one of the most vital singer-songwriters of the rock era. Seeing him live, with the best band he has ever played with, is a summer musical thrill not to be missed.
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| By the way, the show is also one of the better values of the summer, since the opening act could be headliners themselves, the Canadian group Crash Test Dummies. A ubiquitous MTV presence with their supremely catchy hit, ``Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm,'' this group offers a melodic blend of pop-rock, and lead singer Brad Roberts's deep bass voice is one of the most distinctive in rock. He also offers witty deadpan commentary, with a delivery that blends Tom Snyder and Frank Zappa.
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