Detroit Free Press, August 16, 1996

Bibliography   72 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 UK & Ireland weeklies UK & Ireland magazines UK & Ireland newspapers US newspapers US rock magazines US music magazines US magazines US alternative weeklies European magazines European newspapers Canada  •  Mexico  •  Asia Australia  •  New Zealand South America  •  Africa Blogs  •  Fanzines  •  Books Online publications Detroit Free Press   1977 September 27 1977 December 18 1978 April 25 1978 April 27 1978 June 6 1979 January 14 1979 March 16 1979 April 11 1979 July 22 1981 April 19 1981 December 20 1982 August 10 1982 August 11 1983 August 21 1983 August 24 1984 April 24 1984 June 24 1986 March 9 1988 January 3 1989 February 13 1989 April 21 1989 April 22 1989 August 9 1991 May 20 1993 January 18 1993 January 31 1994 May 27 1996 August 16 1997 November 16 1999 June 15 1999 June 20 2003 September 28 Michigan publications  Ann Arbor News Canton Observer Central Michigan Life Detroit Free Press Detroit News Flint Journal Grand Rapids Press Hope College Anchor Kalamazoo News Lansing Star Lansing State Journal Local Spins Michigan Daily Michigan Law Res Gestae Michigan State News Northern Express Oakland Press Univ. of Detroit Varsity News West. Michigan Univ. Herald US publications by state  AL  •  AK  •  AR  •  AZ  •  CA CO  •  CT  •  DC  •  DE  •  FL GA  •  HI  •   IA   •   ID   •   IL   IN   •  KS  •  KY  •  LA   •  MA MD  •  ME  •   MI  •  MN  •  MO MS  •  MT  •  NC  •  ND  •  NE NH  •  NJ  •  NM  •  NV  •  NY OH  •  OK  •  OR  •  PA  •  RI SC  •  SD  •  TN  •  TX  •  UT  VA  •  VT  •  WA  •  WI  •  WY — Costello has eye on future Brian McCollum This just may be Elvis Costello's final tour. No, no — he's not hanging up his music career, not by any stretch of the imagination. But after two decades as a regular — if occasionally low-key — presence on the pop concert scene, Costello is ready to branch out, to ply the musical education he's given himself the last couple of years. The idea of never again playing rock onstage is far froth mournful, Costello says — and is, in fact, quite cathartic. "There's a tremendous feeling knowing this may be the last time I play these songs in this way," he says. "I'm just not making any plans. Every year, I've said, 'I'll be back next year.' This time, I can't say that. And I'm not just being melodramatic." Besides putting together All This Useless Beauty — the lauded spring release that features his versions of songs he originally wrote for other artists — Costello has spent recent musical life, immersing himself in a swath of colors: Projects include collaborations with jazz innovators the Jazz Passengers, pop songwriting patriarch Burt Bacharach and a classical ensemble (for a vocal rendition of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night). "To walk through all these doors and stay for only a day is very uplifting and fires you up to want to take some of it with you," Costello says, looking past this tour's September finale. "When I catch my breath and think about what to write next, some of that education, the energy of responding to other people's music, is going to come into play." That could mean an extended teaming with Bacharach. Their recent writing experience reminded Costello that the strongest displays of passion are often found in the simplest sounds. "His best records are pretty amazing things," Costello says. "They don't involve any loud guitars or rocking, but they do involve intense emotions — and restraint that gives you power, which rock 'n' roll doesn't even begin to challenge. Despite the gentleness of the musical texture, it's rawer emotionally because you're so much more exposed." Costello is reveling in that raw exposure onstage on this tour, which brings him to Fox Theatre tonight. Performing again with longtime supporting players the Attractions, Costello is doing everything he can — including using a two-piece drum kit and unwieldy guitars — to put more space into the sound. "Somebody said yesterday we've discovered a new ambient zydeco groove," Costello says, laughing. "But it's really keeping with the way we played originally. The songs have that atmosphere that perhaps isn't there when you do the big stadium, rock 'n' roll sound. The slinky feel of my early records has been brutalized by playing in big venues over my career." The new liberation has given Costello license to pull some old tunes out for display. At a New York show last week, the band whipped up "The Loved Ones" for the first time since it appeared on Imperial Bedroom in 1982. "There's a line in that one, 'They bitch about your pretty face turning ugly on you' says Costello, 42. The audience clicked on it right away." So even if he never returns to playing the quick-and-sour pop sizzlers that mark his 20-year career, Costello says he's not just rejecting his past. But his eyes — and ears — are certainly on the future. "This may not please everybody because people get nervous — even angry — when you move from a previous notion," be says. "But you just have to address the audience — there's a massively curious audience for music that the business just doesn't serve. "I want a moment of contemplation in the middle of a concert. I would think most people have gotten past the simple impulse of bashing their heads onstage all night." Elvis Costello & the Attractions with Ron Sexsmith 8 tonight Fox Theatre, 2211 Woodward $25 << >> Detroit Free Press, August 16, 1996 Brian McCollum interviews Elvis Costello ahead of his concert with The Attractions, Friday, August 16, 1996, Fox Theatre, Detroit, Michigan. Images Clippings. Page scans.

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