Interview magazine, May 1994: Difference between revisions
(update index links) |
(+GreilMarcus.net link) |
||
Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{Bibliography header}} | {{Bibliography header}} | ||
{{Bibliography index}} | {{:Bibliography index}} | ||
{{:Interview index}} | {{:Interview index}} | ||
{{: | {{:Magazine index}} | ||
{{Bibliography article header}} | {{Bibliography article header}} | ||
<center>''' Elvis Costello's ''Brutal Youth''</center> | <center>''' Elvis Costello's ''Brutal Youth''</center> | ||
Line 9: | Line 9: | ||
<center> Greil Marcus </center> | <center> Greil Marcus </center> | ||
---- | ---- | ||
{{Bibliography text}} | {{Bibliography text}} | ||
"My ultimate vocation in life is to be an irritant," EC said long ago, but it's unlikely he meant it quite so literally as some of the songs on his recent ''[[Brutal Youth]]'' suggest. "[[Pony St.|Pony Street]]," "[[Kinder Murder]]" and "[[13 Steps Lead Down]]" kick off the album and set a tone; they're written around grating, bashing, or whinily sing-songy choruses and incessantly repeated title lines, driving themselves at you like bad commercial jingles. "Thirteen steps lead dow-ow-own," Costello bleats, as if he's turned himself into a human wah-wah pedal — now, that's an irritant. "Dow-ow-own," answers the radio. "Dow-ow-own, dow-ow-own, dow-ow-own," you echo helplessly, trapped, prisoner of pop, like someone who, innocently standing in line, minding his | "My ultimate vocation in life is to be an irritant," EC said long ago, but it's unlikely he meant it quite so literally as some of the songs on his recent ''[[Brutal Youth]]'' suggest. "[[Pony St.|Pony Street]]," "[[Kinder Murder]]" and "[[13 Steps Lead Down]]" kick off the album and set a tone; they're written around grating, bashing, or whinily sing-songy choruses and incessantly repeated title lines, driving themselves at you like bad commercial jingles. "Thirteen steps lead dow-ow-own," Costello bleats, as if he's turned himself into a human wah-wah pedal — now, that's an irritant. "Dow-ow-own," answers the radio. "Dow-ow-own, dow-ow-own, dow-ow-own," you echo helplessly, trapped, prisoner of pop, like someone who, innocently standing in line, minding his | ||
or her own business, suddenly starts mumbling the words to "Achy, Breaky Heart." One can read in the mass of features and interviews accompanying this presumptive come-back album — Costello is again recording with his punky '70's band, [[the Attractions]] — that "13 Steps Lead Down" is a swipe at twelve-step program panaceas, exactly the sort of thing the Costello of yore named emotional fascism. A worthy target, you might think. Contemporary! But if you can't bear to listen, do you care? | or her own business, suddenly starts mumbling the words to "Achy, Breaky Heart." One can read in the mass of features and interviews accompanying this presumptive come-back album — Costello is again recording with his punky '70's band, [[the Attractions]] — that "13 Steps Lead Down" is a swipe at twelve-step program panaceas, exactly the sort of thing the Costello of yore named emotional fascism. A worthy target, you might think. Contemporary! But if you can't bear to listen, do you care? | ||
Straight off, ''Brutal Youth'' comes across with a rampant unpleasantness. Flinching at Costello's floods of words, his sprung rhythms, and the refusal or inability of the band to find a groove, to let a song flow and cut its own bed, all I could hear was an overwhelming clutter. By the time the album began to breathe — five songs in, with "[[Clown Strike]]," then four songs later, with "[[Sulky Girl]]" — I couldn't hear that. What I could hear was that "[[London's Brilliant Parade]]" sounded so much like an old [[The Kinks|Kinks]] song that [[Ray Davies]] might have a conceptual copyright claim; that "[[My Science Fiction Twin]]" had so little heart it came off like a novelty song; and that "[[Just About Glad]]" is the sort of thing Costello probably writes while he's brushing his teeth. Thanks to the fulsome press response to ''Brutal Youth'' — praising Costello for leaving behind the experimentation of his song cycle '' | Straight off, ''Brutal Youth'' comes across with a rampant unpleasantness. Flinching at Costello's floods of words, his sprung rhythms, and the refusal or inability of the band to find a groove, to let a song flow and cut its own bed, all I could hear was an overwhelming clutter. By the time the album began to breathe — five songs in, with "[[Clown Strike]]," then four songs later, with "[[Sulky Girl]]" — I couldn't hear that. What I could hear was that "[[London's Brilliant Parade]]" sounded so much like an old [[The Kinks|Kinks]] song that [[Ray Davies]] might have a conceptual copyright claim; that "[[My Science Fiction Twin]]" had so little heart it came off like a novelty song; and that "[[Just About Glad]]" is the sort of thing Costello probably writes while he's brushing his teeth. Thanks to the fulsome press response to ''Brutal Youth'' — praising Costello for leaving behind the experimentation of his song cycle ''The Juliet Letters'' or the supposedly unfocused jumbling of ''Spike'' and ''Mighty Like A Rose'' and once more joining hands with his old mates to bring back the old fervor, the "real" Elvis — it's possible to hear in ''Brutal Youth'' a certain careerist panic, to hear more persona than person. He's supposed to sound angry, bitter, pissed off, unforgiving- and he does. And if this doesn't sell, then what? But again, if a singers song doesn't move you, why should you care about his strategy? | ||
Funny thing was, I kept playing ''Brutal Youth'', precisely because it was the most unpleasant thing I had in the house. One test of music is how well it can stand up to whatever you happen to be carrying around inside yourself — which, of course, can mean bits and pieces of the outside world, public events, international catastrophes, the news. Should ''Brutal Youth'' be remembered in years to come, it may not be remembered that its release came at the same time that Bill Clinton's presidency began to crumble — for that matter, Bill Clinton's presidency may not crumble. But it was crumbling in March of 1994, and what I was carrying around inside me was an irritant, a refrain, like that title line from "13 Steps Lead Down," something I just couldn't get out of my head. | Funny thing was, I kept playing ''Brutal Youth'', precisely because it was the most unpleasant thing I had in the house. One test of music is how well it can stand up to whatever you happen to be carrying around inside yourself — which, of course, can mean bits and pieces of the outside world, public events, international catastrophes, the news. Should ''Brutal Youth'' be remembered in years to come, it may not be remembered that its release came at the same time that Bill Clinton's presidency began to crumble — for that matter, Bill Clinton's presidency may not crumble. But it was crumbling in March of 1994, and what I was carrying around inside me was an irritant, a refrain, like that title line from "13 Steps Lead Down," something I just couldn't get out of my head. | ||
Line 38: | Line 36: | ||
{{Bibliography images}} | {{Bibliography images}} | ||
[[image:1994-05-00 Interview magazine cover.jpg| | [[image:1994-05-00 Interview magazine cover.jpg|x120px|border]] | ||
<br><small>Cover.</small | <br><small>Cover.</small> | ||
{{Bibliography notes footer}} | {{Bibliography notes footer}} | ||
Line 48: | Line 46: | ||
*[http://www.interviewmagazine.com/ InterviewMagazine.com] | *[http://www.interviewmagazine.com/ InterviewMagazine.com] | ||
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interview_(magazine) Wikipedia: Interview magazine] | *[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interview_(magazine) Wikipedia: Interview magazine] | ||
*[http://greilmarcus.net/2014/08/14/days-between-stations-elvis-costellos-brutal-youth-0594/ GreilMarcus.net] | |||
*[http://www.elviscostello.info/articles/h-l/interview.940501a.txt elviscostello.info] | *[http://www.elviscostello.info/articles/h-l/interview.940501a.txt elviscostello.info] | ||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Interview magazine 1994-05-00}} | |||
[[Category:Bibliography 1994 | [[Category:Bibliography]] | ||
[[Category:Bibliography 1994]] | |||
[[Category:Interview magazine| Interview magazine 1994-05-00]] | [[Category:Interview magazine| Interview magazine 1994-05-00]] | ||
[[Category:Magazine articles | [[Category:Magazine articles]] | ||
[[Category:Album reviews | [[Category:Album reviews]] | ||
[[Category:Brutal Youth reviews | [[Category:Brutal Youth reviews]] |
Revision as of 00:22, 5 November 2014
|