Hot Press, February 13, 1980

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 Hot Press   1977 August 19 1977 September 17 1977 October 30 1978 March 30 1979 January 25 1980 February 13 1981 January 24 1981 June 26 1981 July 23 1982 January 22 1982 February 5 1983 June 10 1983 August 19 1983 November 11 1984 July 27 1984 August 10 1984 August 24 1984 September 21 1984 October 5 1984 November 2 1984 December 14 1986 February 27 1986 March 27 1987 July 16 1989 February 23 1989 September 21 1991 April 18 1991 July 25 1991 August 22 1992 March 12 1994 March 9 1994 April 6 1996 July 24 1999 August 4 1999 September 1 2002 April 10 2002 September 5 2004 May 10 2004 October 22 2009 June 3  2010 November 9 2012 May 28 2013 September 5 2015 January 21 2016 July 18   2018 June 24 2018 October 12 2020 July 22  2020 October 30 2021 October 27  2022 January 14 2023 September 8 Magazines  Concerto Details Entertainment Weekly Esquire Forbes Il giornale della musica GQ Interview magazine Life Music Maker The Nation New Yorker Newsweek Nöjesguiden Opera News People Spy Time Total Guitar Uncut Vanity Fair Village Voice Vox The Word — Get Happy Elvis Costello Niall Stokes So rock 'n' roll's most embittered cynic is supposed to have gotten happy. I'm afraid it's a line I can't possibly buy on the evidence in the actual grooves. In fact the title is both ironic and not. In terms of the stance, the ideas, the point of view in the lyrics, there is little change ib Elvis Costello. An alternative title might have been that coined by the J. Geils band for their latest opus Love Stinks; in Get Happy, (consider this) Elvis leads us through a series of skirmishes on the bedroom floor, in and out of hotel rooms and, it seems, across America. The songs are largely autobiographical, as Costello fiercely analyses, denounces and admits his own guilt, in relationships which inevitably prove more problematic than sustaining. The impression gleaned is of a man who finds sex hard to avoid but for whom it provides cold comfort in the harsh light of day. There are suggestions of violence which are disturbing — not in that they necessarily reflect on Elvis Costello personally but in what they imply about human relationships generally. With a few exceptions, more of which shortly, this album is an extended battle of the sexes, with woman too often cast tn the traditional role of temptress. Both these elements crop up together in "Beaten to the Punch," a song that's hardly intended to inspire either complacency or contentment, "Your body speaks louder than your voice," Elvis accuses, "You let it do the talking so I don't have any choice." The point, however, is that he's had enough — a feeling which he states in absolutely unequivocal terms: "You'd better get out now / Cos you'll never go the distance." The tension which runs through the album seems to relate to a lover in the States and another at 'home' in England: each is identified with their respective places of abode. On "Human Touch," Elvis makes his preferences abundantly clear. Over a pointed ska beat — it's what's happening in England after all — he refers to America: "I know I just gotta get out of this place / I just can't stand any more of that mechanical craze / though you say it's only an industrial squeeze / It looks like luxury — it feels like a disease." And the message is that he needs something other than mechanical sex when he pleads — soulfully — "I need / I need / I need / Your human touch." The juxtaposition of that against the preceding "Motel Matches" underlines the point, when in the latter he'd equated matches of the love variety on the road with those given out free in motels. Ephemeral isn't the word. The implications of the placement of "Clowntime is Over," "New Amsterdam" ("has become much too much for me") and "High Fidelity" (it's about love, not hardware) at the end of the second side can't be escaped either — but it'd be a mistake to push the notion that Costello has suddenly reversed his attitudes utterly. The Truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. A line in "Riot Act" says it exactly: "Forever doesn't mean forever any more." And it really doesn't. Remaining text and scanner-error corrections to come... << >> Hot Press, February 13 - 29, 1980 Niall Stokes reviews Get Happy!!. Images Clipping. Clipping. Clipping. Illustration. Cover.

External links

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