Juke, March 18, 1989

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 Juke   1978 January 21 1978 December 9 1978 December 16 1980 March 15 1981 March 7 1981 December 12 1982 May 15 1982 June 12 1982 September 11 1983 September 17 1984 June 2 1985 June 1 1985 June 8 1986 March 15 1986 May 3 1987 October 31 1988 January 2 1989 February 25 1989 March 18 1991 July 20 1991 September 21 1991 October 5 Australia publications  Newspapers Adelaide Advertiser The Australian Brisbane Courier-Mail Canberra Times Lismore Northern Star Melbourne Age Melbourne Herald Sun Melbourne Observer Nation Review Newcastle Herald Queensland Times Sydney Daily Mirror Sydney Daily Telegraph Sydney Morning Herald Sydney Sun-Herald Victor Harbor Times West Australian West Australian Sunday Times Magazines ABC Radio 24 Hours Adelaide Review Audio Technology Australian Musician Australian Nat. Univ. Woroni Australian Women's Weekly Black+White BMA Magazine The Bulletin Countdown Crowd DB Magazine Drum Media EON Extra Follow Me Gentlemen Inpress Juice Juke Melbourne Beat Men's Style Australia Mint Magazine The Music On The Street Rage Reverb Magazine RAM Reader's Digest Revolver Rhythms Rip It Up Roadrunner Rolling Stone Semper Street Fever Sydney Star Observer Time Off UNSW Tharunka Who Online publications AU Review Australian Stage Music Feeds Scenestr Tone Deaf — Elvis Costello Sean O'Hagan The consummate songwriter dresses himself in spikes for his latest masterpiece. Sean O'Hagan spoke to him in London, while Tony Mott snapped him when he was shooing a video in Australia. The Big Picture "All over the world at the very same time people sharing the same sorrow / As the satellite looks down her darkest hour is somebody else's bright tomorrows." The very week that Rupert Murdoch's Sky channel beams us all into the age of tabloid TV, Elvis Costello unveils his "Satellite," one of 14 new songs collectively entitled Spike. Perfect timing. "...A woman goes into a photo booth which is really a blue screen where she can be superimposed onto any TV special of her own choice. Perfect fantasy come true. But, in order to have this moment of glory there's a big catch. She's gotta be in a peep show. "A techno peep show where the lights peer right through her dress and she's revealed to this slimey, slobbering guy who's watching her on TV. And he's on TV too being watched by a host of other voyeurs who haven't got the courage of his lust. They’re afraid of the germs... It's very Philip K. Dick." It is? I mean, yeah, it is! (Help). He smiles in satisfaction. I smile back in bemusement. Maybe, I venture, explanatory footnotes are advisable for us mere mortals who don't share the same multi-layered psyche of the Dicks and Elvises of this world? "Yeah. These are they." Oh, good. Today, dear reader, I am your bridge to the weird and frightening world of Elvis Costello aka "Spike" aka "The Beloved Entertainer." Neither the artist nor his complicit go-between are too certain of the wisdom of such a pact but, then again, songs as... as labyrinthine as "Satellite" might need some explaining. They are, to quote the man himself, "Big" songs. Too "BIG" too fully succeed perhaps? << >> Juke, No. 725, March 18, 1989 Sean O'Hagan interviews Elvis Costello about Spike. (From NME, Feb. 18, 1989.) Images   Cover and page scan. Photo by Tony Mott.

External links

• Wikipedia: Juke Magazine