Melbourne Age, November 27, 2004: Difference between revisions
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<center><h3> A true aim creating useful beauty </h3></center> | <center><h3> A true aim creating useful beauty </h3></center> | ||
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<center> Shaun Carney </center> | <center> Shaun Carney </center> | ||
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'''You cannot encounter Elvis Costello, either through his records or his stage performances or in person, and go away believing this is a man gripped by indecision or indifference, writes Shaun Carney. | |||
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Here is a story that seems to sum up the creative energy, restless curiosity and single-mindedness of Elvis Costello, the 50-year-old, British-born musician who played the Palais on [[Concert 2004-11-23 Melbourne|Tuesday]] and will perform at a big outdoor show at a Yarra Valley winery tonight. In 1996, Costello had reconciled with his long-time backing band, the Attractions, and released a diverse, elegant album, ''All This Useless Beauty''. | Here is a story that seems to sum up the creative energy, restless curiosity and single-mindedness of Elvis Costello, the 50-year-old, British-born musician who played the Palais on [[Concert 2004-11-23 Melbourne|Tuesday]] and will perform at a big outdoor show at a Yarra Valley winery tonight. In 1996, Costello had reconciled with his long-time backing band, the Attractions, and released a diverse, elegant album, ''All This Useless Beauty''. | ||
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As for pop music and his place in it, Costello is unfussed. He doesn't pay much attention to the charts and the last hit he liked, after happening upon it by chance, was Milkshake by Kelis. | As for pop music and his place in it, Costello is unfussed. He doesn't pay much attention to the charts and the last hit he liked, after happening upon it by chance, was Milkshake by Kelis. | ||
This week's Australian Idol mania had also passed him by. "I always think, 'When are they going to let the alligators loose?' whenever I hear about those programs. It just seems like the Roman games to me . . . It's a continuation of vaudeville. It has all the tragedy of it, all of the cruelty that ever existed in it. | This week's ''Australian Idol'' mania had also passed him by. "I always think, 'When are they going to let the alligators loose?' whenever I hear about those programs. It just seems like the Roman games to me... It's a continuation of vaudeville. It has all the tragedy of it, all of the cruelty that ever existed in it. | ||
"I interviewed Joni Mitchell recently for Vanity Fair for 6½ hours. If you think I'm irascible about popular music, you want to talk to her. But if you were her, you'd understand that. She says, 'They play me these records and it's the first three chords you learn on the guitar, there's no depth, no metaphor, there's nothing. And that's most songs.' " | "I interviewed Joni Mitchell recently for ''Vanity Fair'' for 6½ hours. If you think I'm irascible about popular music, you want to talk to her. But if you were her, you'd understand that. She says, 'They play me these records and it's the first three chords you learn on the guitar, there's no depth, no metaphor, there's nothing. And that's most songs.' " | ||
Costello understands and appreciates his good fortune in being able to continue to make new music and to be able to attract substantial audiences to his shows that are willing to listen to it. "If you look at my generation, the class of '77, how many of those guys are recording? Me, Sting, Chrissie (Hynde), that's about it. Joe Jackson is still doing some stuff. There's a lot of people from the '80s who are sort of on the nostalgia circuit." | Costello understands and appreciates his good fortune in being able to continue to make new music and to be able to attract substantial audiences to his shows that are willing to listen to it. "If you look at my generation, the class of '77, how many of those guys are recording? Me, Sting, Chrissie (Hynde), that's about it. Joe Jackson is still doing some stuff. There's a lot of people from the '80s who are sort of on the nostalgia circuit." | ||
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What Costello does when he performs — and this almost certainly explains his unusual artistic and commercial longevity — is make his live shows a continuation of the creative process. Live shows, he says, provide "the opportunity to remake it night to night. And the cumulative story of all of the songs. I mean, what you find is that songs you have written 25 years apart talk to each other on stage in a way that you can never do on record. | What Costello does when he performs — and this almost certainly explains his unusual artistic and commercial longevity — is make his live shows a continuation of the creative process. Live shows, he says, provide "the opportunity to remake it night to night. And the cumulative story of all of the songs. I mean, what you find is that songs you have written 25 years apart talk to each other on stage in a way that you can never do on record. | ||
"I could never be an actor. I could never say the same lines night after night. I'd want to change it … I think I'm tremendously lucky to do the things I do. The idea that I'm doing them to make myself look clever is so silly. For one thing, it's way too much work. People say, 'What's your act?' I don't have an act. This is really what I'm thinking about. I'm not | "I could never be an actor. I could never say the same lines night after night. I'd want to change it … I think I'm tremendously lucky to do the things I do. The idea that I'm doing them to make myself look clever is so silly. For one thing, it's way too much work. People say, 'What's your act?' I don't have an act. This is really what I'm thinking about. I'm not fucking about." | ||
At last, a glimpse of that old post-punk attitude. It's as close to the nostalgia circuit as Costello will ever get. | At last, a glimpse of that old post-punk attitude. It's as close to the nostalgia circuit as Costello will ever get. | ||
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{{Bibliography notes}} | {{Bibliography notes}} | ||
{{Bibliography next | |||
|prev = Melbourne Age, November 26, 2004 | |||
|next = Melbourne Age, January 6, 2006 | |||
}} | |||
'''The Age, November 27, 2004 | '''The Age, November 27, 2004 | ||
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{{Bibliography images}} | {{Bibliography images}} | ||
[[image:2004-11-27 | [[image:2004-11-27 Melbourne Age photo 01 so.jpg|360px]] | ||
<br><small>Photo by [[Simon O'Dwyer]]</small> | <br><small>Photo by [[Simon O'Dwyer]]</small> | ||
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==External links== | ==External links== | ||
*[http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/11/26/1101219741015.html TheAge.com.au] | *[http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/11/26/1101219741015.html TheAge.com.au] | ||
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ | *[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melbourne_Age Wikipedia: Melbourne Age] | ||
*[http://www.elviscostello.info/articles/a-c/age.041127.php elviscostello.info] | |||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Age 2004-11-27}} | {{DEFAULTSORT:Melbourne Age 2004-11-27}} | ||
[[Category:Bibliography]] | [[Category:Bibliography]] | ||
[[Category:Bibliography 2004]] | [[Category:Bibliography 2004]] | ||
[[Category: | [[Category:Melbourne Age| Melbourne Age 2004-11-27]] | ||
[[Category:Newspaper articles]] | [[Category:Newspaper articles]] | ||
[[Category:Interviews]] | [[Category:Interviews]] | ||
[[Category:2004 interviews]] | [[Category:2004 interviews]] |
Latest revision as of 18:07, 30 March 2021
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