Hot Press, January 25, 1979: Difference between revisions
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{{:Bibliography index}} | {{:Bibliography index}} | ||
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<center><h3> Elvis' army is here to stay </h3></center> | <center><h3> Elvis' army is here to stay </h3></center> | ||
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<center> Niall Stokes </center> | <center> Niall Stokes </center> | ||
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''' Elvis Costello And The Attractions <br> | |||
Armed Forces | |||
{{Bibliography text}} | {{Bibliography text}} | ||
''"Oh I just don't know where to begin..."'' The first line in the first song on the first side of ''Armed Forces'', that comment represents as appropriate a starting point as you're likely to come up with in discussing Elvis Costello's new album (also, his third). The whole endeavour is so ambitious, its scope is so wide-ranging and its elements are so diverse that once you attempt to become more specific, you're engaged in a process of abandoning possible angles. Necessary but unfortunate. | ''"Oh I just don't know where to begin..."'' The first line in the first song on the first side of ''Armed Forces'', that comment represents as appropriate a starting point as you're likely to come up with in discussing Elvis Costello's new album (also, his third). The whole endeavour is so ambitious, its scope is so wide-ranging and its elements are so diverse that once you attempt to become more specific, you're engaged in a process of abandoning possible angles. Necessary but unfortunate. | ||
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First impressions, however, are deceptive. It's not as immediate an album as either of its predecessors as Costello and band weave webs of greater complexity — and ambiguity —than any crafted within the last two years, bar on some of Dylan's ''Street Legal''. Which is true both musically and — especially — lyrically. The overall sound is gentler, the execution more restrained and the ultimate impact less muscular or assertive than that of ''This Year's Model'' — an album which was, incidentally, one of the finest examples to hand of high-energy rock being performed with consummate musicianship and skill. But once beneath the surface, the imaginative power behind the new project gradually becomes more and more evident. | First impressions, however, are deceptive. It's not as immediate an album as either of its predecessors as Costello and band weave webs of greater complexity — and ambiguity —than any crafted within the last two years, bar on some of Dylan's ''Street Legal''. Which is true both musically and — especially — lyrically. The overall sound is gentler, the execution more restrained and the ultimate impact less muscular or assertive than that of ''This Year's Model'' — an album which was, incidentally, one of the finest examples to hand of high-energy rock being performed with consummate musicianship and skill. But once beneath the surface, the imaginative power behind the new project gradually becomes more and more evident. | ||
On ''Armed Forces'', we find Elvis adopting even more assuredly the mantle of | On ''Armed Forces'', we find Elvis adopting even more assuredly the mantle of detached commentator — though detached is a relative concept. He hasn't entirely abandoned his penchant for subjecting personal relationships to the most rigorous and sometimes jaundiced scrutiny (in the process of which activity, in the past he often became bitter, vitriolic and acerbic beyond the point compassion could ever allow), rather incorporating his insights about the vagaries of personal interaction into an examination of wider issues. | ||
''Armed Forces'' as the title suggests is about institutional violence, about the manipulation of the vulnerable and needy by self-serving political bosses — a process which can be more or less subtle, depending on the particular circumstances. But it's also an album about the depersonalisation of relationships — "emotional fascism," which is inscribed on the inner sleeve, was apparently intended originally as the album title; it's a phrase which throws considerable light on almost every thing Elvis has written to date, though it's uncertain just where the axe falls in some cases at least. | ''Armed Forces'' as the title suggests is about institutional violence, about the manipulation of the vulnerable and needy by self-serving political bosses — a process which can be more or less subtle, depending on the particular circumstances. But it's also an album about the depersonalisation of relationships — "emotional fascism," which is inscribed on the inner sleeve, was apparently intended originally as the album title; it's a phrase which throws considerable light on almost every thing Elvis has written to date, though it's uncertain just where the axe falls in some cases at least. | ||
"Accidents Will Happen" opens the depersonalisation file. It's all in the terminology. ''"There's so many people to see / So many people you can check up on / And add to your collection."'' Which is the way plenty of people see sexual activity. ''"Accidents Will Happen"'' he offers, ''"But only hit and run."'' In which context, consideration of the consequences of any action becomes problematic. ''"It's the damage that we do and never know / It's the words that we don't say that scare me so."'' To elaborate on which ... once people adopt predatory attitudes to sex, then the self-hatred which often results can find an outlet in disgust with a sexual partner during or after the actual act of "making love." And still people continue with the charade, doing ... damage they'll never know, since it's a hit and run experience. | "Accidents Will Happen" opens the depersonalisation file. It's all in the terminology. ''"There's so many people to see / So many people you can check up on / And add to your collection."'' Which is the way plenty of people see sexual activity. ''"Accidents Will Happen"'' he offers, ''"But only hit and run."'' In which context, consideration of the consequences of any action becomes problematic. ''"It's the damage that we do and never know / It's the words that we don't say that scare me so."'' To elaborate on which... once people adopt predatory attitudes to sex, then the self-hatred which often results can find an outlet in disgust with a sexual partner during or after the actual act of "making love." And still people continue with the charade, doing... damage they'll never know, since it's a hit and run experience. | ||
Presumably you get the point: that ''Armed Forces'' ain't no easy meat. Elvis is past assuming that the self-righteous put-down is enough of an answer — or indeed that it's an answer at all. There's also a small matter of nitty-gritty lyrical developments, so subtle that many may fail to see them at first in the magical welter of the teeming music the Attractions lay down. Like, early in "Accidents Will Happen" he suggests ''"Your mind is made up but your mouth is undone,"'' a line which re-enters later as ''"Your mouth is made up but your mind is undone..."'' And the shift ''does'' relate to the thematic development of the song. | Presumably you get the point: that ''Armed Forces'' ain't no easy meat. Elvis is past assuming that the self-righteous put-down is enough of an answer — or indeed that it's an answer at all. There's also a small matter of nitty-gritty lyrical developments, so subtle that many may fail to see them at first in the magical welter of the teeming music the Attractions lay down. Like, early in "Accidents Will Happen" he suggests ''"Your mind is made up but your mouth is undone,"'' a line which re-enters later as ''"Your mouth is made up but your mind is undone..."'' And the shift ''does'' relate to the thematic development of the song. | ||
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{{Bibliography images}} | {{Bibliography images}} | ||
[[image:1979-01-25 Hot Press page 19.jpg|360px | [[image:1979-01-25 Hot Press page 19.jpg|360px]] | ||
<br><small>Page scan.</small> | <br><small>Page scan.</small> | ||
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<br><small>Clippings.</small> | <br><small>Clippings.</small> | ||
[[image:1979-01-25 Hot Press | [[image:1979-01-25 Hot Press page 19 clipping 02.jpg|360px]] | ||
<small>Photo by [[Keith Morris]].</small><br> | |||
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<small>Clipping.</small><br> | |||
[[image:1979-01-25 Hot Press page 19 clipping 03.jpg|360px|border]] | [[image:1979-01-25 Hot Press page 19 clipping 03.jpg|360px|border]] | ||
<small>Advertisement.</small><br> | |||
[[image:1979-01-25 Hot Press page 32 advertisement.jpg|360px|border]] | [[image:1979-01-25 Hot Press page 32 advertisement.jpg|360px|border]] | ||
<small>Cover.</small><br> | |||
[[image:1979-01-25 Hot Press cover.jpg|x120px|border]] | [[image:1979-01-25 Hot Press cover.jpg|x120px|border]] | ||
{{Bibliography notes footer}} | {{Bibliography notes footer}} |
Latest revision as of 16:35, 12 October 2021
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