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| {{Bibliography header}} | | {{1994-04-30 Melody Maker image browser}} |
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| <center><h3> Get this!! </h3></center>
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| <center>''' Elvis Costello & the Attractions ''' / Get Happy!! </center>
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| <center> Jim Arundel </center>
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| Just the other day, over "lunch," a bunch of us were chewing the quorn about the new Blur album and I chipped in that, while "Girls And Boys" was excellent, ''Parklife'' as a whole suffered from a surfeit of pastiche. "The lyrics go nowhere and it all sounds like an exercise in recreation rather than creation," I announced.
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| Later that afternoon, I gleefully took delivery of this re-issue and it struck me that what I'd said could equally be levelled at ''Get Happy!!'', which I adored when it first appeared. It's the sources, I suppose. ''Get Happy!!'' plunders Stax and Motown influences, infinitely more appealing to your reporter than Blur's jerky, English, Kinks-and-cockernee grab-bag. Coming after the slick ''Armed Forces'' album, its cool, if nervy, set of two-minute nuggets was a neat two fingers at anyone who expected Costello to run out of ideas. The ruse of making it a 20-tracker, apeing the popular 20 Golden Greats albums of the time, and concentrating on black American styles during the height of the power pop boom was a splendidly audacious way of pre-empting the expected backlash and answering American critics still fuming after the unfortunate "Ray Charles incident" (It's a long story. Ask yer dad).
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| It flopped like a bastard.
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| But it's fascinating that all the vices that spoil Costello's ''oeuvre'' - too little editing, spewing out puns and aphorisms, self-conscious fandom - are all present in bucketloads and yet, for me — unlike any other Costello album — it works perfectly. One factor in its favour is that The Attractions were outrageously good by this time — facilitative, tough and tight — and would never sound as supple again. The production is sparse and spontaneous but warm and full of a sense of place, just like the Stax tracks it aspired to. Highlights are the croonsome "Secondary Modern," the yearning "Clowntime Is Over," the look-at-us-we-can-do-the-MGs "Temptation" and the blazing "Can't Stand Up For Falling Down." Each track has something to recommend it. And, if you don't like one, there'll be another along in a minute.
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| For your further listening pleasure, Demon have tacked on another 11 tracks (including an unlisted demo at the end), most of which have seen service in the past on B-sides and compilations. Of particular note are the slow version of "Clowntime," the similarly goose-pimply "Just A Memory," the caffeine-injected version of "Getting Mighty Crowded," and the marimba-spooked "Ghost Train." All very fine tunes, but this extra batch of songs weakens the taut power of the original album.
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| Proof you can have too much of a good thing.
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| {{cx}}<!-- Demon DPAMS 31 tks/17 mins/FP/CD only -->
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| {{Bibliography notes header}}
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| {{Bibliography notes}}
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| {{Bibliography next
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| |prev = Melody Maker, April 9, 1994
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| |next = Melody Maker, July 9, 1994
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| '''Melody Maker, April 30, 1994
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| [[Jim Arundel]] reviews the Rykodisc reissue of ''[[Get Happy!!]]''.
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| {{Bibliography images}}
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| [[image:1994-04-30 Melody Maker page 36 clipping 01.jpg|380px]]
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| <br><small>Clipping.</small>
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| <small>Photo by [[Gus Stewart]].</small><br>
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| [[image:1994-04-30 Melody Maker photo 01 gs.jpg|380px|border]]
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| <small>Cover and page scan.</small><br>
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| [[image:1994-04-30 Melody Maker cover.jpg|x120px|border]]
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| [[image:1994-04-30 Melody Maker page 36.jpg|x120px|border]]
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| {{Bibliography notes footer}}
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| {{Bibliography footer}}
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| ==External links==
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| *[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melody_Maker Wikipedia: Melody Maker]
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| {{DEFAULTSORT:Melody Maker 1994-04-30}}
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| [[Category:Bibliography]] | |
| [[Category:Bibliography 1994]]
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| [[Category:Melody Maker| Melody Maker 1994-04-30]]
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| [[Category:Magazine articles]] | |
| [[Category:Album reviews]] | |
| [[Category:Get Happy!! reviews]]
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