Hot Press, February 13, 1980: Difference between revisions
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{{:Bibliography index}} | {{:Bibliography index}} | ||
{{:Hot Press index}} | {{:Hot Press index}} | ||
{{: | {{:UK & Ireland magazines index}} | ||
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<center><h3> Get Happy </h3></center> | <center><h3> Get Happy </h3></center> | ||
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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. | 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 | 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 in 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. | 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. | ||
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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. | 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. | ||
But what Elvis Costello does here is to blow sky high the myths propagated by the bands of the Eternal Boogie, who celebrate the "chicks" and the "groupies" they use and abuse along the way. | But what Elvis Costello does here is to blow sky high the myths propagated by the bands of the Eternal Boogie, who celebrate the "chicks" and the "groupies" they use and abuse along the way. | ||
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But ''Get Happy'' is still musically excellent, without a real disappointment among the twenty dense cuts. And some are amazing: automatically I'd nominate some slow ones on which Elvis sings with an emotion that's almost intimidating — "Riot Act," "Motel Matches," "Secondary Modern" and the more sprightly "New Amsterdam" (which is breathtaking), "King Horse" and "High Fidelity." "Human Touch," incidentally, shows the door to any other ska contenders I've yet heard. | But ''Get Happy'' is still musically excellent, without a real disappointment among the twenty dense cuts. And some are amazing: automatically I'd nominate some slow ones on which Elvis sings with an emotion that's almost intimidating — "Riot Act," "Motel Matches," "Secondary Modern" and the more sprightly "New Amsterdam" (which is breathtaking), "King Horse" and "High Fidelity." "Human Touch," incidentally, shows the door to any other ska contenders I've yet heard. | ||
It'd be useless and misleading to pretend to having | It'd be useless and misleading to pretend to having fully assimilated the music on ''Get Happy'', even after a week of solid playing, Apart from the fact that Costello is among the most intellectual of pop writers, meaning that he has a penetrating grasp of ideas, a superb command of language and an abundantly fertile imagination among other things, the fact is that there are twenty songs here, and that, even now, new ones are insinuating their way into the subconscious. | ||
And it's when it's taken as a whole, that the full achievement of ''Get Happy'' becomes clear. | |||
Just don't expect to get happy all the time. | |||
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Latest revision as of 16:36, 12 October 2021
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