Good Times, January 16, 1978: Difference between revisions

From The Elvis Costello Wiki
Jump to navigationJump to search
(Create page for Good Times review of a concert at The Bottom Line, New York, NY in December 1977)
 
(add transcribed text)
Line 9: Line 9:
<center> Kurt Loder </center>
<center> Kurt Loder </center>
----
----
{{Bibliography text}}
The most entertaining riffs of this whole wobbly evening at the Bottom Line were the massed jeers of “Whipping Post”!” and “Eat shit, assholes!” that were elicited by the opening act, Tuff Darts.  Seldom has such scathing derision been so richly deserved.


{{Bibliography text}}
The Darts may have given their all when they gave up Robert Gordon.  Their new lead singer, an insufferably snotty young lout with predictably slicked-back hair and rent-a-punk wardrobe, is the most offensive clown to clutter up a stage since Screaming Lord Sutch.  (Although guitarist Jeff Salen has his eye on the title too.)  The group’s playing was limp and raggedy throughout, and the effrontery of their tin-piped vocalist attempting such Gordon-era faves as “All for the Love of Rock’n’Roll” and “Slash” boosted the ambient abuse level to near fever pitch.  Any threat of an encore would have precipitated outright violence, and the Darts wisely deferred to the unmistakable wishes of the ugly, hooting mob they’d created.
At this point the sold-out house – already heavily papered with rock writers, record execs and other hard-nosed hangers-out – would have been a fit audience for a public baby-burning.  Bad news for Elvis Costello, who, in a phrase, has not got it together. 


A sometimes striking song-writer with a fresh, direct, melodic style, Costello is hampered onstage by his wooden indecisiveness – should he go all the way with the pop-eyed post-geek persona he’s been saddled with, or should he instead give vent to his own obviously disturbed personality? Outside of an occasional splay-footed lurch and a curious robot moué that never leaves his lips, he ain’t much to watch.  And he’s further encumbered by a four-piece backup band that must’ve been tossed together on the plane trip over here.  (It requires a really web-footed ineptitude to trample the beat on as precise and straight-forward a rocker as “Mystery Dance,” one of the strongest cuts on Costello’s ''My Aim Is True'' album, but these bozos turned it into a cymbal-crashing stampede worthy of the Surfaris.)
<br>
{{rttc}}
{{cx}}
{{Tags}}[[Bottom Line]] {{-}} [[Tuff Darts]] {{-}} [[Mystery Dance]] {{-}} [[My Aim Is True]]
{{cx}}
{{cx}}



Revision as of 21:08, 7 October 2019

... Bibliography ...
727677787980818283
848586878889909192
939495969798990001
020304050607080910
111213141516171819
202122232425 26 27 28


Good Times

Magazines
-

Elvis Costello

The Bottom Line

Kurt Loder

The most entertaining riffs of this whole wobbly evening at the Bottom Line were the massed jeers of “Whipping Post”!” and “Eat shit, assholes!” that were elicited by the opening act, Tuff Darts. Seldom has such scathing derision been so richly deserved.

The Darts may have given their all when they gave up Robert Gordon. Their new lead singer, an insufferably snotty young lout with predictably slicked-back hair and rent-a-punk wardrobe, is the most offensive clown to clutter up a stage since Screaming Lord Sutch. (Although guitarist Jeff Salen has his eye on the title too.) The group’s playing was limp and raggedy throughout, and the effrontery of their tin-piped vocalist attempting such Gordon-era faves as “All for the Love of Rock’n’Roll” and “Slash” boosted the ambient abuse level to near fever pitch. Any threat of an encore would have precipitated outright violence, and the Darts wisely deferred to the unmistakable wishes of the ugly, hooting mob they’d created.

At this point the sold-out house – already heavily papered with rock writers, record execs and other hard-nosed hangers-out – would have been a fit audience for a public baby-burning. Bad news for Elvis Costello, who, in a phrase, has not got it together.

A sometimes striking song-writer with a fresh, direct, melodic style, Costello is hampered onstage by his wooden indecisiveness – should he go all the way with the pop-eyed post-geek persona he’s been saddled with, or should he instead give vent to his own obviously disturbed personality? Outside of an occasional splay-footed lurch and a curious robot moué that never leaves his lips, he ain’t much to watch. And he’s further encumbered by a four-piece backup band that must’ve been tossed together on the plane trip over here. (It requires a really web-footed ineptitude to trample the beat on as precise and straight-forward a rocker as “Mystery Dance,” one of the strongest cuts on Costello’s My Aim Is True album, but these bozos turned it into a cymbal-crashing stampede worthy of the Surfaris.)


Remaining text and scanner-error corrections to come...


Tags: Bottom LineTuff DartsMystery DanceMy Aim Is True

-

Good Times, January 16, 1978


Kurt Loder reviews Elvis Costello and The Attractions at the Bottom Line, New York, NY.

Images

1978-01-16 Good Times page 37.jpg
Page scan

1978-01-16 Good Times cover.jpg
Cover.

-



Back to top

External links