Mojo, February 2022: Difference between revisions
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The narrative curve continues with ''The Boy Named If''. Costello and co-producer Sebastian Krys have had reason to revisit the singer's late-'70s past in recent years remixing "This Year's Girl" from the original tapes for the title song of David Simon's ''The Deuce''; reworking the whole of 1978's ''This Year's Model'' with guest Hispanic singers as last autumn's ''Spanish Model''. | The narrative curve continues with ''The Boy Named If''. Costello and co-producer Sebastian Krys have had reason to revisit the singer's late-'70s past in recent years remixing "This Year's Girl" from the original tapes for the title song of David Simon's ''The Deuce''; reworking the whole of 1978's ''This Year's Model'' with guest Hispanic singers as last autumn's ''Spanish Model''. | ||
All of the above sets the tone for the most energised performances Costello has committed to record in a long time and | All of the above sets the tone for the most energised performances Costello has committed to record in a long time and — despite his protestations that The Imposters are an ''entirely'' different band (bassist Davey Faragher replaced the defrocked Bruce Thomas back in 2001) — his most classic Attractions-like album since 1994's ''Brutal Youth''. Steve Nieve's Vox Continental organ gets heavy use, and the sexagenarian Pete Thomas is drumming with crackling energy. "Farewell, OK" is a thumping Merseybeat curtain-raiser than comes over like The Beatles playing "Hippy Hippy Shake" at the Star-Club. Meanwhile, the bandleader intensely attacks his trademark Fender Jazzmaster guitar in the riff and (rare) solo of the thrilling, '60s-soulful "What If I Can't Give You Anything But Love?," one of those Costello songs that you can't quite believe isn't somehow a cover version. | ||
In many of the lyrics here, murky emotions are wrapped in rich, often second-or third-person characterisations, although the storylines are typically open ended. Often, these wholly unreliable narrators are either toxic males or women tangled up with them; the café table voyeur in "My Most Beautiful Mistake" might even be trying to lure a waitress into porn (''"You'll be up on that screen for eternity"''). Elsewhere the male protagonist of achingly beautiful country soul ballad "Paint The Red Rose Blue" is involved in a different kind of degradation: a slow eroding of his wife's spirit until only sadness remains. | In many of the lyrics here, murky emotions are wrapped in rich, often second- or third-person characterisations, although the storylines are typically open ended. Often, these wholly unreliable narrators are either toxic males or women tangled up with them; the café table voyeur in "My Most Beautiful Mistake" might even be trying to lure a waitress into porn (''"You'll be up on that screen for eternity"''). Elsewhere the male protagonist of achingly beautiful country soul ballad "Paint The Red Rose Blue" is involved in a different kind of degradation: a slow eroding of his wife's spirit until only sadness remains. | ||
Costello says the title track refers to "your imaginary friend … the one you blame for the hearts you break, including your own." He's played with alter ego before, not least in ''Brutal Youth'''s "My Science Fiction Twin," but the secret self in this song is both elusive and mischievous. All the same, amid the twisty, ''Imperial Bedroom''-ish arrangement, the singer is keen to summon him: ''"Imagine me / And I'll imagine you, too,"'' he belts out with real gusto. | Costello says the title track refers to "your imaginary friend … the one you blame for the hearts you break, including your own." He's played with alter ego before, not least in ''Brutal Youth'''s "My Science Fiction Twin," but the secret self in this song is both elusive and mischievous. All the same, amid the twisty, ''Imperial Bedroom''-ish arrangement, the singer is keen to summon him: ''"Imagine me / And I'll imagine you, too,"'' he belts out with real gusto. | ||
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{{tags}}[[The Boy Named If]] {{-}} [[The Imposters]] {{-}} [[The Costello Show]] {{-}} [[Look Now]] {{-}} [[Burt Bacharach]] {{-}} [[Hey Clockface]] {{-}} [[Helsinki]] {{-}} [[Sebastian Krys]] {{-}} [[This Year's Girl]] {{-}} [[This Year's Model]] {{-}} [[Spanish Model]] {{-}} [[Davey Faragher]] {{-}} [[Bruce Thomas]] {{-}} [[The Attractions]] {{-}} [[Brutal Youth]] {{-}} [[Steve Nieve]] {{-}} [[Pete Thomas]] {{-}} [[Farewell, OK]] {{-}} [[The Beatles]] {{-}} [[What If I Can't Give You Anything But Love?]] {{-}} [[My Most Beautiful Mistake]] {{-}} [[Paint The Red Rose Blue]] {{-}} [[Brutal Youth]] {{-}} [[My Science Fiction Twin]] {{-}} [[Imperial Bedroom]] | {{tags}}[[The Boy Named If]] {{-}} [[The Imposters]] {{-}} [[The Costello Show]] {{-}} [[Look Now]] {{-}} [[Burt Bacharach]] {{-}} [[Hey Clockface]] {{-}} [[Helsinki]] {{-}} [[Sebastian Krys]] {{-}} [[This Year's Girl]] {{-}} [[This Year's Model]] {{-}} [[Spanish Model]] {{-}} [[Davey Faragher]] {{-}} [[Bruce Thomas]] {{-}} [[The Attractions]] {{-}} [[Brutal Youth]] {{-}} [[Steve Nieve]] {{-}} [[Pete Thomas]] {{-}} [[Farewell, OK]] {{-}} [[The Beatles]] {{-}} [[What If I Can't Give You Anything But Love?]] {{-}} [[My Most Beautiful Mistake]] {{-}} [[Paint The Red Rose Blue]] {{-}} [[Brutal Youth]] {{-}} [[My Science Fiction Twin]] {{-}} [[Imperial Bedroom]] {{-}} [[David Simon]] {{-}} [[The Deuce]] | ||
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Latest revision as of 21:32, 11 February 2022
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