Harvard Crimson, January 17, 1979: Difference between revisions
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<center><h3> Elvis in 1984 </h3></center> | <center><h3> Elvis in 1984 </h3></center> | ||
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Costello's recording history is one of those success stories that's satisfying because the artist deserves every bit of acclaim he's received. His first album, recorded with only a bassist and drummer backing him, shocked people in 1977 — forces that small hadn't produced such energetic and memorable music in ages. The follow-up only a few months later, ''This Year's Model'', landed on the public almost too soon — it was hard to believe one man could write that many great songs so fast, and record them so well. ''This Year's Model'' added an organ to Costello's instrumental mix, but kept the clean, direct sound that delivered his catchy hooks so well. It remains his best album; every song is classic rock and roll in a style critics had given up years ago for lost. | Costello's recording history is one of those success stories that's satisfying because the artist deserves every bit of acclaim he's received. His first album, recorded with only a bassist and drummer backing him, shocked people in 1977 — forces that small hadn't produced such energetic and memorable music in ages. The follow-up only a few months later, ''This Year's Model'', landed on the public almost too soon — it was hard to believe one man could write that many great songs so fast, and record them so well. ''This Year's Model'' added an organ to Costello's instrumental mix, but kept the clean, direct sound that delivered his catchy hooks so well. It remains his best album; every song is classic rock and roll in a style critics had given up years ago for lost. | ||
Behind all this dramatic song-writing lay anger — not a punk's stick-your-tongue-out anger at society, but the very personal anger of a man's failures with women. Track after track railed on about the fumbling, fear and deception that, at least for Costello, no "sexual revolution" ever relieved. On This Year's Model, another figure crept up behind Elvis the victim of women — Elvis the victim of corporate espionage, electronic surveillance, loss of privacy, depersonalization; Elvis the inhabitant of 1984. | Behind all this dramatic song-writing lay anger — not a punk's stick-your-tongue-out anger at society, but the very personal anger of a man's failures with women. Track after track railed on about the fumbling, fear and deception that, at least for Costello, no "sexual revolution" ever relieved. On ''This Year's Model'', another figure crept up behind Elvis the victim of women — Elvis the victim of corporate espionage, electronic surveillance, loss of privacy, depersonalization; Elvis the inhabitant of 1984. | ||
The two characters bumped into each other, of course; in "Living in Paradise," he sang | The two characters bumped into each other, of course; in "Living in Paradise," he sang | ||
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Lament if you must the end of Elvis Costello's youthful spontaneity, the two-minute rockers flowing endlessly from his pen and mouth. At least he hasn't lost his energy and style — he's just turned them in a slightly different direction. Whether he goes off the deep end in future albums remains to be seen. | Lament if you must the end of Elvis Costello's youthful spontaneity, the two-minute rockers flowing endlessly from his pen and mouth. At least he hasn't lost his energy and style — he's just turned them in a slightly different direction. Whether he goes off the deep end in future albums remains to be seen. | ||
The one trend on ''Armed Forces'' he should guard against is the over-production that seeps into the album. Nick Lowe has produced all of Elvis Costello's albums, and has always done right by his music, but on Armed Forces the fiddling just begins to interfere with his simple music formulas. Costello's voice may not be beautiful, but it's strong, warm, and conveys angry emotion better than any other popular singer's today. There's no need for it to be buried in muddy mixing, bounced from one stereo channel to another, or treated with synthetic echo. | The one trend on ''Armed Forces'' he should guard against is the over-production that seeps into the album. Nick Lowe has produced all of Elvis Costello's albums, and has always done right by his music, but on ''Armed Forces'' the fiddling just begins to interfere with his simple music formulas. Costello's voice may not be beautiful, but it's strong, warm, and conveys angry emotion better than any other popular singer's today. There's no need for it to be buried in muddy mixing, bounced from one stereo channel to another, or treated with synthetic echo. | ||
With three records to his name, each a masterpiece, only the most prejudiced or uninformed listener will dismiss Costello as "just another new-waver" or "a boring punk." He's new wave only chronologically, and ''Armed Forces'' makes use of a diversity of styles most performers today are too incompetent or unimaginative to handle. If he can hold his paranoia in check, and prevent it from freezing all humanity out of his music, Elvis Costello may well go on to dominate the next decade the way his namesake dominated the '50s. At least until 1984, that is — if he can outwit the thought police and the "goon squad." Wish him luck. | With three records to his name, each a masterpiece, only the most prejudiced or uninformed listener will dismiss Costello as "just another new-waver" or "a boring punk." He's new wave only chronologically, and ''Armed Forces'' makes use of a diversity of styles most performers today are too incompetent or unimaginative to handle. If he can hold his paranoia in check, and prevent it from freezing all humanity out of his music, Elvis Costello may well go on to dominate the next decade the way his namesake dominated the '50s. At least until 1984, that is — if he can outwit the thought police and the "goon squad." Wish him luck. | ||
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==External links== | ==External links== | ||
*[http://www.thecrimson.com/article/ | *[http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1979/1/17/elvis-in-1984-pbsbome-of-my/?page=single TheCrimson.com] | ||
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Harvard_Crimson Wikipedia: The Harvard Crimson] | *[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Harvard_Crimson Wikipedia: The Harvard Crimson] | ||
Latest revision as of 08:38, 14 February 2016
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