Melody Maker, April 28, 1984

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 Melody Maker   1974 April 20 1975 November 1 1976 August 14 1977 March 26 1977 June 4 1977 June 25 1977 July 23 1977 August 6 1977 August 13 1977 August 20 1977 September 3 1977 September 17 1977 October 1 1977 October 8 1977 October 15 1977 October 22 1977 November 5 1977 November 12 1977 December 17 1977 December 24 1977 December 31 1978 February 18 1978 February 25 1978 March 4 1978 March 11 1978 March 25 1978 April 15 1978 April 22 1978 April 29 1978 May 6 1978 May 13 1978 May 20 1978 September 30 1978 October 21 1978 October 28 1978 November 11 1978 November 25 1978 December 9 1978 December 23 1978 December 30 1979 January 6 1979 January 13 1979 January 20 1979 February 3 1979 February 10 1979 April 14 1979 May 12 1979 June 2 1979 September 29 1980 January 5 1980 January 19 1980 January 26 1980 February 2 1980 February 23 1980 March 8 1980 March 29 1980 April 5 1980 July 19 1980 August 23 1980 September 6 1980 October 4 1980 October 11 1980 November 22 1980 December 6 1981 January 3 1981 January 17 1981 January 24 1981 February 7 1981 February 14 1981 February 28 1981 March 7 1981 April 4 1981 May 30 1981 July 11 1981 September 5 1981 October 17 1981 October 24 1981 October 31 1981 December 19 1982 January 2 1982 January 9 1982 January 16 1982 March 13 1982 May 15 1982 May 29 1982 June 12 1982 June 26 1982 July 3 1982 July 31 1982 September 18 1983 January 8 1983 May 28 1983 June 4 1983 June 11 1983 July 2 1983 July 9 1983 July 30 1983 August 20 1983 September 10 1983 October 15 1983 October 29 1984 January 7 1984 April 14 1984 April 21 1984 April 28 1984 June 2 1984 June 9 1984 July 28 1984 August 11 1984 August 18 1984 September 1 1984 October 13 1984 October 20 1984 November 17 1984 December 15 1985 March 16 1985 April 13 1985 May 4 1985 June 1 1985 June 8 1985 July 13 1985 July 20 1985 July 27 1986 February 22 1986 March 1 1986 March 22 1986 May 24 1986 July 5 1986 July 12 1986 September 13 1986 November 15 1986 November 22 1986 December 6 1986 December 20 1987 January 31 1987 February 7 1987 May 2 1987 June 27 1987 November 28 1987 December 19 1988 February 20 1988 February 27 1988 May 14 1989 January 28 1989 February 4 1989 February 11 1989 February 18 1989 February 25 1989 May 6 1989 May 13 1989 May 20 1989 June 24 1989 July 15  1989 October 21 1991 April 13 1991 April 27 1991 May 18 1991 June 22 1991 July 13 1991 October 12 1991 October 26 1992 April 18 1992 May 30 1993 January 23 1993 February 6 1993 March 6 1993 August 21 1993 October 9 1994 February 5 1994 February 12 1994 February 19 1994 February 26 1994 April 9 1994 April 23 1994 April 30 1994 July 2 1994 July 9 1994 July 16 1994 November 12 1994 November 19 1995 April 1 1995 April 8 1995 May 27 1995 June 3 1995 June 10 1996 May 18 1996 July 20 1996 August 31 — Souls alone David Fricke Elvis Costello / T Bone Burnett Avery Fisher Hall, New York City In another time, another place — like downtown in Greenwich Village 20 years ago — this would have seemed more like a conversation between friends, earnest folkies testing the mettle of their tunes and poetic confessions of an audience that seemed like family. But in the stately calm of New York's Avery Fisher Hall, the stage bare except for a solitary microphone and a solemn backfield of stand-by guitars, this acoustic showcase is dedicated to the Song as Art, intimate intentions threatened by the formal surroundings and unabashedly worshipful tenor of the crowd. That the solo Elvis and equally solo T Bone could each light roaring emotional bonfires with only six strings and a song shows that tonight is really about the singer as well as his song. Consider Burnett, a Texas beanpole who shares Costello's love of booby-trap wordplay and strums his acoustic guitar with dramatic vigour. There's something familiarly Dylanesque in his drawling cowboy whine, but when he sings even something as poignant as "Fatally Beautiful" or as wistful as "I Wish You Could Have Seen Her Dance," he does it with a hearty fullness so contagious he breaks out in these crazy little mock Elvis (as in Presley) dances. Yet more importantly, the intimate details of a good song can come alive in such an honest elemental setting. For Burnett, it is "Fatally Beautiful" (from his outstanding '83 LP Proof Through The Night) and a new number called "My Life And The Women Who Lived It," a strange droning meditation over a bassy funka-thunka rhythm like a dark blues. For Costello, it starts immediately with "Accidents Will Happen," its quietly bitter tone heightened by his stark picking and softly tortured vocal. Without the Attractions nipping frantically at his heels, Costello tends to concentrate on moody ballads ("Almost Blue," "Stranger In The House") and intimate chamber-pop numbers ("New Amsterdam," a hushed but pointed reading of "Green Shirt") which gives the show a slight down-tempo flavour. But his voice is full and confident, even reaching for soul catharsis in "Alison" when he dares to testify Otis Redding-style at the climax. Yet he sounds most convincing on the new material — most of it already recorded with the band for the next album — because he has most to gain and lost in such a naked setting. And he sings as if he has all his stakes riding on each verse. "Worthless Thing" is practically corrosive in its subtle twisting of hoary music business clichés. In contrast, "The Only Flame In Town" glows with romantic harmonic chord jumps and a brazen confessional lyric. As if to acknowledge the root of his art, Costello encores with a torrid version of Dylan's "I Threw It All Away," and then takes on his own masters of war with a spooky "Shipbuilding" on the electric piano and finally closes with his new "Imposter" single, "Peace In Our Time." He gets the right cheers when he mentions that "spaceman in the White House." But what really cuts to the bone is the defiant tone and anxious pleading at the heart of the song. Costello's songs have always cut that way. But there were times tonight when you never knew they cut so deep. Tags: Avery Fisher Hall  •  New York  •  Accidents Will Happen  •  Almost Blue  •  Stranger In The House  •  New Amsterdam  •  Green Shirt  •  Alison  •  Otis Redding  •  Worthless Thing  •  The Only Flame In Town  •  I Threw It All Away  •  Bob Dylan  •  Shipbuilding  •  The Imposter  •  Peace In Our Time (single)  •  Peace In Our Time  •  T Bone Burnett  •  Elvis Presley  •  The Attractions << >> Melody Maker, April 28, 1984 David Fricke reviews Elvis Costello and opening act T Bone Burnett, Sunday, April 15, 1984, Avery Fisher Hall, New York. Images Clipping. Cover.

External links

• Wikipedia: Melody Maker