Mojo, November 2018: Difference between revisions
(+text part 5) |
(+text part 6 +text box 3) |
||
Line 110: | Line 110: | ||
'The Singer' holds, however, that not until ''Look Now'' has the power and musicality of The Imposters been fully captured in the studio. The others say there might be a good reason for that. In much the same urgent, production-be-damned manner shared by Bob Dylan and Neil Young, Costello often switches the red "recording" light on as quickly as possible, trying to capture lightning in a bottle. Even if that bottle ends up getting cracked in the process. | 'The Singer' holds, however, that not until ''Look Now'' has the power and musicality of The Imposters been fully captured in the studio. The others say there might be a good reason for that. In much the same urgent, production-be-damned manner shared by Bob Dylan and Neil Young, Costello often switches the red "recording" light on as quickly as possible, trying to capture lightning in a bottle. Even if that bottle ends up getting cracked in the process. | ||
"Elvis is not the world's most patient person," says Thomas. "If we're in the studio and we're all set up, like we were for '' | "Elvis is not the world's most patient person," says Thomas. "If we're in the studio and we're all set up, like we were for ''Momofuku'' or even ''The Delivery Man'', if he's got his mic and he's got his guitar on, then he wants to get going. It's like, 'Follow me, come on.' It's fantastic, y'know, but it doesn't give you a lot of time to hone your parts. If he feels he's got the vocal, then that's the take." | ||
[[image:2018-11-00 Mojo page 60.jpg|120px|right|border|Page 60.]] | |||
"There's something to be said for that," adds Faragher. "But then there's always compromises. It has a certain something and you can't deny it. But then the bridge is fucked up or something (''laughs'')." | |||
Keeping the band — and himself — on their toes was a theme Costello revived on the 2011-13 world tour, a reprise of his 1986 Spectacular Spinning Songbook show, with its wheel of fortune rotated by lucky audience members, randomly selecting tunes from a pool of 150. | |||
"It was a bit challenging," Faragher admits. "Some of the songs wouldn't come up for three weeks and you're like, Oh shit. It's not like his songs are simple either." | |||
"The musical side of it was very erratic," says Costello, "because we didn't know what we were gonna get. Some nights we'd get four finale numbers first. Other nights we'd get four ballads." | |||
Far more demanding were Costello and The Imposters' shows in Europe this summer, after their leader's too-swift post-surgery return to the stage. The June 21 gig at Madrid's outdoor Real Jardín Botánico Alfonso XIII proved particularly problematic, and dramatic, when the singer chose to tackle his brilliant but lung-busting '96 Bacharach co-write, the all-too-fittingly-titled "God Give Me Strength." | |||
"We're playing in a botanical garden," Costello says, "so in addition to everything else that was going on, there were these heavily-scented blossoms in there. It totally shut my voice down, like an allergic reaction, y'know. I have slight asthma and just certain types of pollen trigger it." | |||
"Pollen?" laughs Thomas. "What a load of bollocks. I mean, there might have been a bit of pollen. But about halfway through, I think he almost fainted. He actually had a bit of an episode. But he kept going and there's people in the audience going, 'Come on man! You can do it!'" | |||
"Pete said, 'You looked really weird,'" grins Costello. | |||
"I went for this note and heaven knows what note I hit. No wonder the audience reacted, 'cos the last time they saw somebody do something like that, they were producing a sword from behind a cape (''laughs''). I plunged it into the neck of a song." | |||
"But that's who he is," Thomas adds. "He's not just gonna walk off and go, 'Fuck this, I'm going home.' He will see it through if it kills him. He would rather drop dead than screw up 'Pump It Up.' He will motor on until all the wheels have fallen off." | |||
Throughout all of this, there is a strong feeling that — for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer — The Imposters have got each other's backs. "The thing that really impressed me," says ''Look Now'' producer Sebastian Krys, "was just how supportive they were of each other in the studio. If something wasn't going well, if somebody was getting a little bit discouraged about something going on, another member would just sorta go, 'No, let's just keep going on, we'll get this.' It really amazed me just how much they trust each other and each other's sensibility." | |||
"Three of us have shared a good part of the last 40 years," emphasises Costello. "And we're not in the slightest bit sentimental. But things start to happen. You start to go through big transitions, and inevitably you start to really appreciate the friendship, as well as the musical collaboration." | |||
"I mean, I look at Elvis and Steve, and Davey," says Thomas, "and they're my friends. When we play together now and we're in our sixties, it's a fantastic feeling. It's not nostalgia, or if it is, it's absolutely fine. But there's ''all'' this history there." | |||
It's perhaps venturing into dodgy territory to ask Pete Thomas and Steve Nieve what they believe age and wisdom have brought to Costello: notorious for flashes of belligerence in his early career. But here we go. | |||
"He's a lot more kind of approachable now," reckons the drummer. "I think for a long while he was 'Elvis Costello'. Not exactly Mr Angry, but he had this ''thing'', and sometimes it was hard to get through to him." | |||
"Age has brought to Elvis a kindness," explains the keyboardist. "His three sons, I think, bring him a different kind of complexity that I really like. Elvis was always a very wise man. But now he's more fluid and he has more branches to his tree when he writes his songs. His songs have become more and more deep and more and more surprising." | |||
Ask Costello himself the same age/wisdom question and he laughs as he compares himself — less than three weeks before his 64th birthday — to Archie Rice, the struggling music hall performer played by Laurence Olivier in Tony Richardson's 1960 film ''The Entertainer''. | |||
"That's my role model," he offers, a mischievous glint in his eyes detectable through those aviator sunglasses. "Seedy sort of fading glory down the seaside. They asked me recently would I contribute to the campaign to save Hastings Pier? I said, 'Well, I didn't save it the night I played there...'" | |||
But seriously, folks. There has been in latter years, Costello admits, a slow and gradual coming to terms with his past. "It's coming around to feeling it's OK if people want to hear your 40-year-old songs," he concludes. "In fact, it's an actual compliment. But what you don't want to do is stop at that and become self-satisfied. You've got to push on." | |||
In <!-- others --> other words, there's plenty left to achieve. Not least that star bearing the name "Elvis Costello" on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. | |||
{{cx}} | {{cx}} | ||
{{tags}}[[Look Now]] {{-}} [[The Imposters]] {{-}} [[ | {{tags}}[[Look Now]] {{-}} [[Burt Bacharach]] {{-}} [[Carole King]] {{-}} [[Sebastian Krys]] {{-}} [[The Imposters]] {{-}} [[Steve Nieve]] {{-}} [[Pete Thomas]] {{-}} [[Davey Faragher]] {{-}} [[Don't Look Now]] {{-}} [[Photographs Can Lie]] {{-}} [[He's Given Me Things]] {{-}} [[I Let The Sun Go Down]] {{-}} [[Under Lime]] {{-}} [[Suspect My Tears]] {{-}} [[Burnt Sugar Is So Bitter]] {{-}} [[The Attractions]] {{-}} [[This Year's Model]] {{-}} [[Painted From Memory]] {{-}} [[Brill Building]] {{-}} [[Hal David]] {{-}} [[Ross MacManus]] {{-}} [[Tin Pan Alley]] {{-}} [[Jimmy Durante]] {{-}} [[:Category:1st US Tour|1st US Tour]] {{-}} [[Linda Ronstadt]] {{-}} [[Linda Ronstadt: Living In The USA|Living In The USA]] {{-}} [[Alison]] {{-}} [[Talking Heads]] {{-}} [[Concert 1978-02-10 Seattle|Seattle]] {{-}} [[Jimi Hendrix]] {{-}} [[The Beach Boys]] {{-}} [[Vanity Fair, November 2000#The Beach Boys|Pet Sounds]] {{-}} [[Stevie Wonder]] {{-}} [[David Bowie]] {{-}} [[John Lennon]] {{-}} [[Under Lime]] {{-}} [[National Ransom]] {{-}} [[Dusty Springfield]] {{-}} [[Dusty In Memphis (2002) liner notes|Dusty In Memphis]] {{-}} [[Imperial Bedroom]] {{-}} [[:Category:Imperial Bedroom & Other Chambers Tour|Imperial Bedroom & Other Chambers Tour]] {{-}} [[Armed Forces]] {{-}} [[Get Happy!!]] {{-}} [[Almost Blue]] {{-}} [[AIR Studios]] {{-}} [[Geoff Emerick]] {{-}} [[The Beatles]] {{-}} [[Vanity Fair, November 2000#The Beatles|Revolver]] {{-}} [[Beyond Belief]] {{-}} [[Paul McCartney]] {{-}} [[Ringo Starr]] {{-}} [[Joni Mitchell]] {{-}} [[The Long Honeymoon]] {{-}} [[...And In Every Home|And In Every Home]] {{-}} [[Concert 1982-08-21 Philadelphia|JFK Stadium]] {{-}} [[Vanity Fair, November 2000#The Beatles|Sgt. Pepper]] {{-}} [[Almost Blue (song)|Almost Blue]] {{-}} [[Man Out Of Time]] {{-}} [[Concert 1987-06-20 Pilton|Glastonbury 1987]] {{-}} [[Bruce Thomas]] {{-}} [[The Big Wheel]] {{-}} [[Brutal Youth]] {{-}} [[All This Useless Beauty]] {{-}} [[The Rolling Stones]] {{-}} [[When I Was Cruel]] {{-}} [[Spooky Girlfriend]] {{-}} [[When I Was Cruel No. 2]] {{-}} [[The Delivery Man]] {{-}} [[Allen Toussaint]] {{-}} [[The River In Reverse]] {{-}} [[Momofuku]] {{-}} [[National Ransom]] {{-}} [[Bob Dylan]] {{-}} [[Neil Young]] {{-}} [[:Category:The Revolver Tour|The Revolver Tour]] {{-}} [[:Category:Costello Sings Again Tour|Spectacular Spinning Songbook]] {{-}} [[Concert 2018-06-21 Madrid|Madrid 2018]] {{-}} [[God Give Me Strength]] {{-}} [[Pump It Up]] {{-}} [[Matt MacManus]] {{-}} [[Concert 1980-03-04 Hastings|Hastings Pier]] {{-}} [[The Roots]] {{-}} [[Wise Up Ghost]] | ||
{{cx}} | {{cx}} | ||
Line 131: | Line 170: | ||
---- | ---- | ||
[[Mat Snow]] reviews ''[[Look Now]]''. | [[Mat Snow]] reviews ''[[Look Now]]''. | ||
---- | |||
[[Tom Doyle]] reviews each [[The Attractions|Attractions]] and [[The Imposters|Imposters]] album since 1978. | |||
{{Bibliography images}} | {{Bibliography images}} | ||
Line 174: | Line 215: | ||
[[image:2018-11-00 Mojo page 86.jpg|x270px|border|Page 86.]] | [[image:2018-11-00 Mojo page 86.jpg|x270px|border|Page 86.]] | ||
<br><small>Page scans.</small> | <br><small>Page scans.</small> | ||
<br> | |||
{{Bibliography box}} | |||
<center><h3> Band substance </h3></center> | |||
---- | |||
<center> Tom Doyle </center> | |||
---- | |||
'''The Attractions / Imposters: <br>Making Elvis Costello better since 1978. | |||
{{Bibliography text}} | |||
This Year's Model <br> | |||
{{5of5stars}}<br> | |||
Clover made a decent fist of ''My Aim Is True'', but as The Attractions crash in like a sulphate-incensed '60s beat combo on "No Action," we're in a different class. There's adaptability: the sharp angles of "This Year's Girl"; Pete Thomas's drum intro to "(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea" suggesting four possible songs to come. | |||
Armed Forces <br> | |||
{{4of5stars}} <br> | |||
Steve Nieve really starts to shine: his cribbing of the piano frills from ABBA's "Dancing Queen" helping lift "Oliver's Army" to Number 2. Costello's songwriting concision sparkles too: has there ever been a shorter and more effective bridge (''"And it's the damage that we do..."'') than in "Accidents Will Happen"? | |||
Get Happy!! <br> | |||
{{5of5stars}} <br> | |||
R&B chops to the fore on this 19-tracker (topped up to 20 with the solo-recorded "New Amsterdam"), ''Get Happy!!'' is effectively Elvis Costello and The M.G.'s. Recorded in Holland while generally tanked-up, The Attractions are loose but never sloppy — and particularly nifty when throwing the Northern soul shapes of "High Fidelity." | |||
{{cx}} | |||
{{rttc}} | |||
{{tags}}[[The Attractions]] {{-}} [[Clover]] {{-}} [[My Aim Is True]] {{-}} [[No Action]] {{-}} [[This Year's Model]] {{-}} [[This Year's Girl]] {{-}} [[(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea]] {{-}} [[Pete Thomas]] {{-}} [[Steve Nieve]] {{-}} [[Armed Forces]] {{-}} [[Oliver's Army]] {{-}} [[Dancing Queen]] {{-}} [[ABBA]] {{-}} [[Accidents Will Happen]] {{-}} [[Get Happy!!]] {{-}} [[New Amsterdam]] {{-}} [[Booker T. & the M.G.'s]] {{-}} [[High Fidelity]] | |||
{{cx}} | |||
{{cx}} | |||
Latest revision as of 19:59, 6 April 2024
|