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The reference was to All My Children.
We ran into Elvis Costello in the lobby of a radio station a year ago and asked him the important question of the time: "Do you think Jenny [Gardner-Nelson] is going to die?" Laughing, Costello said, "I dunno. I 'aven't really been watchin' lately with the tour and all."
With mock disappointment we warned him, "You have to be aware, man, stay in touch."
He hasn't.
The man — the genius — who has put out at least one album every year since 1977 hasn't been heard from since Goodbye Cruel World added "torch singer" to his resume in early 1984.
Apparently, Mr. Prolific-Terrific — the guy who crammed 20 killer cuts on Get Happy, the always-ready epithet-poet who has never recorded a bad song (except maybe "Big Sister's Clothes," which we happen to like) — has run out of nerve gas. (According to his record company, Costello is in the studio working on an album for release in mid-1986.)
He may be gone, he may be on holiday, he may be slowing down now that he's over 30, but Columbia Records won't let him be forgotten. To assuage those who have come to expect a new Elvis LP on schedule, who expect him to punch the clock, the majorest of major labels has released The Best of Elvis Costello and the Attractions (FC 40101).
There's nothing new here, but the 16 songs included are a fair representation of Costello's 10-album repertoire. Elvis fanatics (he doesn't have fans, only fanatics) probably had this record long before it was released. If you have a cassette recorder and all Costello's albums, this is probably the way you've already abridged his work on tape.
Costello has said he can no longer stand to be in the same room where his third and most vital LP, Armed Forces, is playing. Yet Side 1, the fast side, of the new LP is where we wish Elvis were still at.
It begins with the song that many fell in love with Elvis to, "Alison." It's a plaintive love cry to a marriage victim with this main point: "Alison, I know this world is killing you / Oh, Alison, my aim is true." It's not his best entendre, but the song proved from the start that Costello's heart was in the right place even if his mouth always wasn't.
For example, the second cut, "Watching the Detectives," includes lines such as "She's filing her nails while they're dragging the lake." Costello sounded removed from the bitterness of his lyrics, but his insights still shocked some sensibilities. "Detectives," also from the first album, was structured around an unnerving bass line and unusual phrasing. It confirmed that the nerdy-looking ex-computer programmer was among our most important songwriters.
Costello didn't write the third cut, "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding." It was penned by Nick Lowe, who produced most of Costello's albums, including all the songs on Side 1 of The Best Of.... If Lowe had recorded the song, it probably would have been typically humorous, but Costello turns it into an anthem, demanding an answer to a rhetorical question.
Side 1 also includes the very British "Oliver's Army," from Armed Forces; keyboardist Steve Nieve's big moment, "Pump It Up"; the song Costello used to open most of his concerts with, "Accidents Will Happen"; an attack on the banality of rock radio, "Radio, Radio"; and the cover version "I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down."
Costello wrote his first album after listening to The Clash's debut record for 24 hours straight. He has also said that a musician has a lifetime to record his first record, six months to record the second.
It was about mid-point in his career when Costello started going off the path he beat. His most shocking release was Almost Blue, which was Elvis' entry into the type of music he listens to most, country-and-western. The title cut opens Side 2 of the new record.
Moanful and mournful, "Almost Blue" will either have you crying in your beer or dozing off, depending on your present mood. In case of the latter, just keep listening because "Beyond Belief" and "Clubland," the next two cuts, will smack you right upside your sleepy head.
"Clubland" and the next cut, "Watch Your Step," are from the LP Trust, which was Costello's reassurance to his fans that he had not forgotten the anger and intensity of his early work. After American audiences pretty much ignored his first three LPs, Costello tried an off-handed approach with the accurately titled Taking Liberties album and the anything-goes Get Happy (both 1980). Trust was a return-to-roots masterpiece.
But by the time he recorded Imperial Bedroom, which included "Beyond Belief," Elvis was on another kick. This time he revealed the influence of swing and pre-rock pop, mixing his burn-it-alive technique with more complex and lush constructions.
He continued that trend, softening his sound and broadening his melodic structures, on Punch the Clock (1983) and Goodbye Cruel World.
The insightful ballad about the economics of war, "Shipbuilding," and the song that seemed it would be the big breakthrough to Americans, "Everyday I Write the Book," represent Punch on The Best of...
The tacky "I Wanna Be Loved" and the MOR "The Only Flame in Town" were selected from Goodbye. These are accessible songs that someone thought would be major hits. However, they aren't the best songs on Goodbye. (We would have selected "Peace in Our Time" because it's one of Costello's best lyrical efforts and a song that needs to be heard for its theme.)
Then again, this new album is insignificant to those who have Costello's other albums. It's fine for initiates and completist collectors.
By the way, Jenny did die on All My Children. Let's hope The Best of... isn't Elvis Costello's epitaph.
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