George Washington University Hatchet, March 6, 1986

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Elvis, not Presley; Costello, not Lou

'King' captures true emotion

Dion

The photograph of Elvis Costello on the cover of his latest album, King of America shows a bearded Englishman with dull eyes staring out from behind wire-rimmed glasses. He is hardly recognizable as the young Englishman on the cover of his debut album, My Aim Is True. The picture on that cover displayed a young, frail, clean shaven Brit with large, dark horn-rimmed glasses who looked a bit like Buddy Holly run through a car wash.

My Aim Is True showcased a true lyrical genius. The phrases seemed to flow perfectly, the images were abstract and the feelings real. Songs like "Watching the Detectives" seemed incredibly mature for a debut album. Elvis Costello took his music quite seriously.

For his next album, Costello found three talented musicians to replace the studio band that played on the debut. Dubbed the Attractions, keyboardist Steve Nieve, bassist Bruce Thomas, and drummer Pete "No relation to Bruce" Thomas, gave This Year's Model the added attraction it needed and Costello had a talented back-up band.

Producing six albums in four years, the popularity of Elvis and the Attractions seemed to continually increase. Costello seemed unable to write bad material; the Attractions were open to experimentation and, with the help of Nick Lowe as producer, the albums enhanced the sound of the band.

In 1981, Elvis Costello and the Attractions released Almost Blue, an album composed entirely of country and western covers recorded in Nashville. Fans felt utterly betrayed. Some felt cheated out of the "real" Costello music they had come to expect while others complained he had "no right" to explore the roots of "American" music. Nevertheless, Elvis and the Attractions wanted to do a country album and Costello performed the songs with sincerity,

The following summer, the quartet released all new originals on Imperial Bedroom. The grumbling and complaining about Almost Blue immediately ceased. Costello had come back with some of his strongest material. The subsequent U.S. spring/summer tour served to reaffirm everyone's renewed faith.

The spring of 1983 saw another new release from Elvis and the Attractions. Punch The Clock included Elvis' biggest U.S. hit, "Everyday I Write the Book" which propelled him and the Attractions straight onto the ever hip music show, Solid Gold. Mainstream Top 40 seemed all right for the band, but something was lacking on the album. The addition of the T.K.O. horn section seemed to detract from the album. True emotion and conviction were difficult to locate in Elvis' voice. The accompanying summer tour appeared a bit lackluster. Everything pointed to the abrupt downfall of a cult legend.

As if to respond to the unstated doubts, Costello returned to America the next spring for a solo tour. His solo shows were perhaps the finest performances of his career. There were no overbearing horns or moody Attractions to contend with, just Elvis and his guitars and piano. Even the songs he previewed from the forthcoming album, entitled Goodbye Cruel World, were powerfully stripped down to guitar and vocals. One could only imagine how much better the songs would be with the Attractions. Costello's opening act was a interesting, talented southerner named T. Bone Burnett.

Goodbye Cruel World turned out to be the band's weakest album. Many of the songs lacked any sense of emotion or originality, and there was little of Costello's lyrical brilliancy. Even a poignant song like "Peace in Our Time" couldn't mask the poor quality of the album. Goodbye Cruel World appeared to be an ominous, yet appropriate title. Elvis once said, "You have twenty years to write your first album and six months to write your second." This sentiment, which never seemed to have affected his writing before, finally caught up with him in 1983.

The traditional summer tour did nothing but increase people's fears that Elvis was on his way to has-been status. The solo tour seemed to be a distant memory as Elvis and the Attractions opted to play two different versions of "The Only Flame In Town" in the same concert.

Perhaps Elvis felt the cool reception to his tenth album, or maybe he conceded that the record was weak. Whatever the case was, Elvis didn't rush back into the studio with the Attractions, instead he worked as a producer on his own Imposter Records label. Fans wondered if Goodbye Cruel World was truly the end.

In 1985, Costello did make a quick solo appearance at Live Aid where he sang "All You Need Is Love" which left the crowd screaming for more.

Earlier this fall, a single was released on Imposter Records called "The People's Limousine." It was credited to the Coward Brothers (Henry and Howard) who in reality were Elvis and T. Bone Burnett, his warm-up musician for his solo tour. "The People's Limousine" had a distinctive country feel to it and, when it was learned T. Bone was producing Elvis' new album, the tension began to mount.

Finally, after almost two years without an album, King of America was released on Columbia Records earlier this week. Neither on the front or back of the album does the name Elvis Costello appear. Costello had decided to change his name back to Declan Patrick MacManus. Just to insure that his name isn't too normal, he's added a second middle name, Aloysius, in commemoration of all the years he'd lost to his alter ego's life.

Another drastic change on the new album is that the Attractions play on only one track. In place of Nieve, Thomas and Thomas, Elvis imported an assemblage of musicians including jazz guitarist Ray Brown, jazz great Earl Palmer, Mitchell Froom who has produced both of the Boston based Del Fuegos albums, and three members of Elvis Presley's TCB band, James Burton, Jerry Scheff and Ron Tutt.

King of America is nothing like any previous Costello production, but it's the best album since Imperial Bedroom. Call it an album of rebirth. From the ashes of a waning Elvis Costello rises Declan Patrick Aloysius MacManus. MacManus veers away from the traditional reliance on catch phrases and emphasizes more of the emotion of the songs.

Trying to single out tracks on King of America is like trying to get a consistent policy out of President Reagan — you can't do it. Every song carries every other song. The predominant approach is that the words and music are stripped to their basics and sung with intense feeling. From the cover of the Animals' "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," to "Sleep of the Just" the album relies on sincere emotion instead of complicated chord changes.

From "Indoor Fireworks," written about Declan's recent divorce from his wife to "Lovable," written with Cait O'Riordan of the Pogues, to the MacManus and the Attractions song "Suit of Lights," all possess a prevailing countryish feel.

The finest quality of King of America is that is proves that MacManus is nowhere near being a has-been and is still willing to experiment. Perhaps Declan felt the Attractions were unwilling to make changes and needed the disassociation from the three musicians with whom he had recorded nine albums. It is a relief and a pleasure to know that the ex-Costello is not stuck in a rut and is able to realize and correct his mistakes before it's too late. The only question left is: Will the next album be filed under MacManus or Costello?

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The GW Hatchet, March 6, 1986


Dion profiles Elvis Costello and reviews King Of America.

Images

1986-03-06 George Washington University Hatchet page 07 clipping 01.jpg
Photo by Terence Donovan.


Clipping.
1986-03-06 George Washington University Hatchet page 09 clipping 01.jpg


Page scans.
1986-03-06 George Washington University Hatchet page 07.jpg 1986-03-06 George Washington University Hatchet page 09.jpg

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