Melody Maker, February 6, 1993: Difference between revisions
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''"The faint embrace of gravity is causing my delay / Yes, cancel my departure / Looks like I'm here to stay"'' | ''"The faint embrace of gravity is causing my delay / Yes, cancel my departure / Looks like I'm here to stay"'' | ||
But. Here's the fun bit. It doesn't happen like that, because you are Wendy James, 27, of Ladbroke Grove, and sticking to the script has never been your strong point. So when you do break cover following the decline and fall of your tinsel empire, you do it with rather more panache than most would have expected and many would have hoped. You've signed, solo, to MCA worldwide and to the unstoppable Geffen in the States. In your | But. Here's the fun bit. It doesn't happen like that, because you are Wendy James, 27, of Ladbroke Grove, and sticking to the script has never been your strong point. So when you do break cover following the decline and fall of your tinsel empire, you do it with rather more panache than most would have expected and many would have hoped. You've signed, solo, to MCA worldwide and to the unstoppable Geffen in the States. In your David Bailey press shots, you look fantastically sulky and interestingly aloof. | ||
Oh, and your actual album, the heroically titled ''[[Wendy James: Now Ain't The Time For Your Tears|Now Ain't The Time For Your Tears]]'', comprises 10 new songs written just for you — and, to a large extent, apparently about you — by a certain Elvis Costello. You've, uh, kind of landed on your feet, Wendy. It's a pretty unlikely story. | |||
"No," she corrects me, looking up from her coffee. "It's a magical story." | "No," she corrects me, looking up from her coffee. "It's a magical story." | ||
''"Hey, little puppet girl / Now it's time to dance and sing / We built your reputation to fade away the very day / You cut cut cut cut cut your string"'' | ''"Hey, little puppet girl / Now it's time to dance and sing / We built your reputation to fade away the very day / You cut cut cut cut cut your string"'' | ||
Towards the end of 1991, as Wendy trekked across America on Transvision Vamp's valedictory tour, she bumped into | Towards the end of 1991, as Wendy trekked across America on Transvision Vamp's valedictory tour, she bumped into Pete Thomas, former drummer with Elvis Costello's mighty Attractions, in some drinking establishment or other somewhere on the West Coast. Wendy, already contemplating a future alone, asked, on the spur of the moment, if he thought Costello — whose work she had admired for years, but whom she had never met — could conceivably see his way clear to dashing off a song or so for her. Thomas shrugged. "You don't ask, you don't get," he said. | ||
A bit over a year later, Wendy's husky whisper takes up the story in wine bar in Holland Park. | A bit over a year later, Wendy's husky whisper takes up the story in wine bar in Holland Park. | ||
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A fair enough thing to think, really. | A fair enough thing to think, really. | ||
"I didn't hear anything for a while. Then I got a phone call from Pete Thomas, saying you'll-never-guess-what-but-I-can't-tell-you… and that put a smile on my face. And then Elvis's publisher rang up and said | "I didn't hear anything for a while. Then I got a phone call from Pete Thomas, saying you'll-never-guess-what-but-I-can't-tell-you… and that put a smile on my face. And then Elvis's publisher rang up and said 'Well, he's written you an entire album, and if you like it, it's yours.'" | ||
Just like that. | Just like that. | ||
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"I was astounded. It's like, if I say to you, imagine if your favourite artist or performer of all time has just written you, personally you, your very own album." | "I was astounded. It's like, if I say to you, imagine if your favourite artist or performer of all time has just written you, personally you, your very own album." | ||
All that arrived on the messenger's motorbike that day was tape of bare demo versions of the songs | All that arrived on the messenger's motorbike that day was tape of bare demo versions of the songs — which Wendy will be able to bootleg for thousands if all else fails — and a lyric sheet. The only time she met Costello, at a party after U2's Earl's Court concert, all she said was "Thank you." All he said was "Have fun." | ||
Weird. | Weird. | ||
''"London's dismal and divine / And I know one day, one day / It's gonna be mine"'' | ''"London's dismal and divine / And I know one day, one day / It's gonna be mine"'' | ||
It would seem, then, that we are to be left to guess as to Costello's motives. The amateur psychologist will contemplate the self-conscious cleverness of '' | It would seem, then, that we are to be left to guess as to Costello's motives. The amateur psychologist will contemplate the self-conscious cleverness of ''Spike'', the ornate overcooking of ''Mighty Like A Rose'' and the astonishing ''Juliet Letters'', and conclude that Costello, while maintaining his knack for writing splendid pop, feels too old or embarrassed to sing it anymore. Certainly, he'd have been hard pressed to find a better voice for the brace of venom-laced fizzbombs assembled here — while Wendy is unlikely as ever to take Callas to five sets, she's got a great punky yelp, and her breathy purr on the slow ones strikes its usual balance of gush and gauche. | ||
And what a story he'd got to tell. | And what a story he'd got to tell. | ||
The rise and demise of Transvision Vamp and their wilful frontwoman, a tale of ambition soured and hope betrayed, in two sides. I would like, if I may, to be the first of thousands to suggest that it reasonably approximates a rampant hybrid of '' | The rise and demise of Transvision Vamp and their wilful frontwoman, a tale of ambition soured and hope betrayed, in two sides. I would like, if I may, to be the first of thousands to suggest that it reasonably approximates a rampant hybrid of ''This Year's Model'' and ''Evita''. | ||
"There are," admits Wendy, "some lyrics that I take absolutely personally, and some that are more hypothetical. But the tracks do have a certain order to them, yes, and it does historically count ups and downs of rejection and success and failure and having to grow up. More times than not, I am singing from a completely personal point of view." | "There are," admits Wendy, "some lyrics that I take absolutely personally, and some that are more hypothetical. But the tracks do have a certain order to them, yes, and it does historically count ups and downs of rejection and success and failure and having to grow up. More times than not, I am singing from a completely personal point of view." | ||
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''"Incorruptible / Unattainable / Unacceptable / Unforgiveable / Unforgettable"'' | ''"Incorruptible / Unattainable / Unacceptable / Unforgiveable / Unforgettable"'' | ||
The last time Wendy James spoke to Melody Maker, just less than two years ago, she made the infamous predictions that she would one day win Oscars, that before she died, ''the whole world would know her name''. It was a spectacular performance, exactly what we used to pay her for. | The last time Wendy James spoke to ''Melody Maker'', just less than two years ago, she made the infamous predictions that she would one day win Oscars, that before she died, ''the whole world would know her name''. It was a spectacular performance, exactly what we used to pay her for. | ||
When this is brought up today, it elicits a guilty-though-unrepentant smile of the kind people make when recalling some Christmas party indiscretion and the | When this is brought up today, it elicits a guilty-though-unrepentant smile of the kind people make when recalling some Christmas party indiscretion and the — understandable, if nonetheless disappointing — assurance that "that's all history." All Wendy James today appears to have in common with the Wendy James of Transvision Vamp is the same well-judged showing of black-root-hair and the same unrelenting, unblinking, and frequently unnerving blue-eyed glare. | ||
"Look, without wishing to sound like a cliché, I just want to feel proud. My appetite for pop stardom has… lessened. I don't want to be that anymore. There are other things that are more important to me now." | "Look, without wishing to sound like a cliché, I just want to feel proud. My appetite for pop stardom has… lessened. I don't want to be that anymore. There are other things that are more important to me now." | ||
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''"We can make this easy on you or we can make it rough / By the way I have to say you didn't love me enough" | ''"We can make this easy on you or we can make it rough / By the way I have to say you didn't love me enough" | ||
On February 8, ''Now Ain't The Time For Your Tears'' | On February 8, ''Now Ain't The Time For Your Tears'' — the title is Wendy's own work, which is to say she nicked it from Dylan herself — will be officially heralded by the release of a single, "The Nameless One," a funky wah-wah-drenched free-association of names, slogans and puns. The album follows a month later, and it'll do fine. With a glee and a verve not heard since ''Armed Forces'' and ''Get Happy!!'', Costello has let his trash instincts run riot. Songs like "London's Brilliant," "Fill In The Blanks" and "We Despise You" are purest New Wave froth. | ||
Elsewhere, on the jewellery-rattling ballads (" | Elsewhere, on the jewellery-rattling ballads ("Basement Kiss," "Do You Know What I'm Saying," the grand finale "Stand Forever," which will have them thumping the seat-backs in theatres up and down the land), you'll be reminded of the delectable, ornate fripperies of ''Imperial Bedroom''. | ||
Wendy would like it stressed | Wendy would like it stressed — when Wendy says she would like something stressed, you don't argue — that the actual sound of the thing has more to do with her own efforts and those of former Rolling Stones producer Chris Kimsey than any help from her bespectacled auteur. Live in the studio, she says, her and her hand (Pete Thomas on drums, former Terence Trent D'Arby bassist Cas Lewis and occasional Van Morrison/Bob Dylan sideman Neil Taylor on guitar) all together, every take. | ||
"We recorded the album in June of 1992, and I'd lived with the cassette since December. So by that point, all the songs had my interpretation on them, and by that point, as far as the album was concerned, they might as well have been written by me. By that point, they were my songs. " | "We recorded the album in June of 1992, and I'd lived with the cassette since December. So by that point, all the songs had my interpretation on them, and by that point, as far as the album was concerned, they might as well have been written by me. By that point, they were my songs. " | ||
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Not even a bit? | Not even a bit? | ||
"Well, I always liked Denis the Menace, anyway. But it isn't that literal, Andrew, it's a story. But yes, that one is all about that West London let's-form-a-band-and-be-just-like- | "Well, I always liked Denis the Menace, anyway. But it isn't that literal, Andrew, it's a story. But yes, that one is all about that West London let's-form-a-band-and-be-just-like-The-Clash, which is what Transvision Vamp were all about. Wholeheartedly." | ||
The only way to do anything silly. | The only way to do anything silly. | ||
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Eventually, Wendy decides that her shiny new pop-fable does have a moral, of sorts. | Eventually, Wendy decides that her shiny new pop-fable does have a moral, of sorts. | ||
"It's... the pomposity of the music business, the pomposity of the stars within that business, how brilliant | "It's... the pomposity of the music business, the pomposity of the stars within that business, how brilliant — in quotation marks — London is… these are all things that are, at the end of the day, bullshit. And it's a healthy thing to be reminded of the bullshit factor on a regular basis. Otherwise, before you know it, you're believing in it, subscribing to it, and becoming it." | ||
Is this observation or experience? | Is this observation or experience? | ||
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"But it doesn't work. And I did, eventually, have to face that fact. But I think there were moments when I did say some constructive things about women, and power to women, and how misogyny attempts to hold them back. But it wasn't taken seriously, because I was looking like an object, rather than a person." | "But it doesn't work. And I did, eventually, have to face that fact. But I think there were moments when I did say some constructive things about women, and power to women, and how misogyny attempts to hold them back. But it wasn't taken seriously, because I was looking like an object, rather than a person." | ||
There are those | There are those — on the side of the tediously right-on as well as with the yob squad — who will regard this last sentence as a victory. They shouldn't. | ||
''"It might be a dream but it's my dream / A fantastic, disastrous affair" | ''"It might be a dream but it's my dream / A fantastic, disastrous affair" | ||
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{{Bibliography images}} | {{Bibliography images}} | ||
[[image:1993-02-06 Melody Maker page 24.jpg| | [[image:1993-02-06 Melody Maker page 24.jpg|x264px]][[image:1993-02-06 Melody Maker page 25.jpg|x264px]] | ||
<br> | <br><small>Photo by [[David Bailey]].</small> | ||
<small>Photo by [[David Bailey]].</small> | |||
<br><br> | <br><br> | ||
{{Bibliography box | {{Bibliography box}} | ||
<center><h3> The Nameless One </h3></center> | <center><h3> The Nameless One </h3></center> | ||
<center>''' Wendy James </center> | <center>''' Wendy James </center> | ||
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[[image:1993-02-06 Melody Maker cover.jpg|x120px|border]] | [[image:1993-02-06 Melody Maker cover.jpg|x120px|border]] | ||
[[image:1993-02-06 Melody Maker page 25 clipping.jpg|x120px|border]] | [[image:1993-02-06 Melody Maker page 25 clipping.jpg|x120px|border]] | ||
<br><small>Cover and | <br><small>Cover and clipping.</small> | ||
{{Bibliography notes footer}} | {{Bibliography notes footer}} |
Latest revision as of 09:14, 2 September 2020
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