Harvard Crimson, January 17, 1979: Difference between revisions
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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 |
Revision as of 01:51, 14 November 2015
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