Music & Video, May 1980: Difference between revisions
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The song is a brilliant exercise in tension: spiky organ and spooky guitar travelling over a stomach-pummelling reggae bassline. Lyrically it's a masterful piece of double-take. The narrator, Elvis, is the observer once more, but things are given an extra twist by the fact that the girl in the song is an observer too, watching the TV private eyes. Like much of EC's later work, its lyrical impact relies on a series of potent fragments: the girl's "illegal legs," the repeated ''"They beat him up until the teardrops start / But he can't be wounded when he's got no heart,"'' the brilliant couplet, ''"I don't know how much of this I can take / She's filing her nails while they're dragging the lake,"'' through to the crunch closer: ''"It nearly took a miracle to get you to stay / But it'll only take my little finger to blow you away."'' Throughout it's never quite clear how much of the "action" takes place on TV and how much in the viewer's room. Like the title implies, it's very much a mystery, and quite brilliant for it. Its follow-up was "(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea," with the reggae influence taken a step further, and a lyric that was miles away from "Detectives" territory. It was a trailer for Elvis Costello & The Attractions' first album together, and — deservedly — another hit. | The song is a brilliant exercise in tension: spiky organ and spooky guitar travelling over a stomach-pummelling reggae bassline. Lyrically it's a masterful piece of double-take. The narrator, Elvis, is the observer once more, but things are given an extra twist by the fact that the girl in the song is an observer too, watching the TV private eyes. Like much of EC's later work, its lyrical impact relies on a series of potent fragments: the girl's "illegal legs," the repeated ''"They beat him up until the teardrops start / But he can't be wounded when he's got no heart,"'' the brilliant couplet, ''"I don't know how much of this I can take / She's filing her nails while they're dragging the lake,"'' through to the crunch closer: ''"It nearly took a miracle to get you to stay / But it'll only take my little finger to blow you away."'' Throughout it's never quite clear how much of the "action" takes place on TV and how much in the viewer's room. Like the title implies, it's very much a mystery, and quite brilliant for it. Its follow-up was "(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea," with the reggae influence taken a step further, and a lyric that was miles away from "Detectives" territory. It was a trailer for Elvis Costello & The Attractions' first album together, and — deservedly — another hit. | ||
{{n}}''Don't say you love me when it's just a rumour. | {{n}}''Don't say you love me when it's just a rumour. <br> | ||
{{n}}''Don't say a word if there's any doubt. | {{n}}''Don't say a word if there's any doubt. <br> | ||
{{n}}''Sometimes I think that love is just a tumour. <br> | {{n}}''Sometimes I think that love is just a tumour. <br> | ||
{{n}}''You've got to cut it out... <br> | {{n}}''You've got to cut it out... <br> | ||
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Conclusion-jumpers have assumed "Lipstick Vogue" to belong to the same category as "This Year's Girl," some gone so far as to label it misogynist. In fact, as with "Watching The Detectives" it's another example of a dialogue that leaves us unsure as to who's talking when. It could just as easily be the woman or the man who's reduced to the status of an unfeeling slot machine. | Conclusion-jumpers have assumed "Lipstick Vogue" to belong to the same category as "This Year's Girl," some gone so far as to label it misogynist. In fact, as with "Watching The Detectives" it's another example of a dialogue that leaves us unsure as to who's talking when. It could just as easily be the woman or the man who's reduced to the status of an unfeeling slot machine. | ||
"Pump It Up" was apparently written in reaction to some extremist behaviour on the part of some of Costello's fellow travellers on the Stiff tour. Self-abuse as another way to facelessness: ''"Pump it up — until you can | "Pump It Up" was apparently written in reaction to some extremist behaviour on the part of some of Costello's fellow travellers on the Stiff tour. Self-abuse as another way to facelessness: ''"Pump it up — until you can feel it."'' | ||
The real key is left for last. "Night Rally" is the only blatantly "political" song on the album. But it's a small step from being told what to wear by fashion designers to being told what to think: ''"Everyone gets | The real key is left for last. "Night Rally" is the only blatantly "political" song on the album. But it's a small step from being told what to wear by fashion designers to being told what to think: ''"Everyone gets armbands and 3-D glasses / Some are in the back row / And they're taking those... night classes."'' | ||
It's a cruel place to put a joke, but it works. Costello's said repeatedly that he doesn't see any point in sloganeering. When he does write a | It's a cruel place to put a joke, but it works. Costello's said repeatedly that he doesn't see any point in sloganeering. When he does write a "political" piece, however, he's dead on target. ''"You think they're so dumb / You think they're so funny / Wait until they got you running to their night rally."'' In this context the mention of souvenirs is positively horrifying. | ||
1978 was a year of consolidation and expansion. Meaning more gigs in America, | 1978 was a year of consolidation and expansion. Meaning more gigs in America, for a start. "You can make the mistake of thinking you've got it made," he told London's ''Evening News''. "Like we sell out New York and we can sell out Los Angeles in three hours. But we had tickets on sale in Mobile, Alabama, for a week and didn't sell one." | ||
{{ | Despite the chart success of ''This Year's Model'' Costello continued to play small venues, both here and in the States and, a further expansion toward the end of the year, in Japan. He also found time to make his film debut alongside Carlene Carter and Meatloaf in the as yet unseen ''Americathon'', during which he performs "Crawling To The USA," as well as recording a third album. | ||
{{ | |||
Before that there was "Radio, Radio," an unavoidably catchy little chunk of pop subversion that pointed out that ''"radio is in the hands of such a lot of fools"'' and allowed Costello the delicious joy of being introduced on ''Top Of The Pops'' by Tony Blackburn. | |||
{{n}}''Busy bodies <br> | |||
{{n}}''Really busy <br> | |||
{{n}}''Getting nowhere...<br> | |||
{{mm}}Busy Bodies | |||
For someone who projects such a tough, disdainful exterior both on and off-stage, Elvis Costello would appear to be quite extraordinarily sensitive to the way his work's interpreted. | |||
Taking the "development" of his songwriting in strictly chronological line (a dangerous sport at the best of times), his reaction to the general definitions of him arrived at as a result of ''My Aim Is True'' was to attempt to expand his vocabulary on the second LP. He did this both in terms of reaching outwards for new subjects and, when remaining in the sexual jungle mapped out over most of the first LP, to expand the contexts of his observations, shifting relations from direct subject/object songs ("Alison" etc.) to the more ambitious word-scapes generated from "Watching The Detectives" onward, perhaps peaking with the several, inseparable viewpoints offered on "Lipstick Vogue." | |||
On ''Armed Forces'' there's a sometimes irritating tendency to disguise what's really being said in a welter of puns and only temporarily arresting plays on language. Coupled with this, however, there's an even stronger band identity than on the previous LP, something emphasised by a production mix that frequently obscures entire passages of singing. This is an old trick, of course, and can be both tantalising and repellent. | |||
Happily, there are so many strong tunes and individual playing contributions — Steve Naive's particularly worthy of praise here — to make the shift of emphasis by no means an unpleasant one. For those of us who like our Costello concise and to the point, the trio of songs at the start of the album's second side probably work best. "Goon Squad" is another sharp indictment of Fascism, this time from the inside out, "Busy Bodies" deftly dissects the permissiveness-for-points crowd. "Sunday's Best" is a more oblique number altogether, its simple structure and "jolly" tune allowing for a dry look at a whole series of typically British occupations, and leading to an unsettling conclusion: ''"Put them all in boots and Khaki / Blame it all upon the darkies."'' | |||
Elsewhere it's individual lines or sections that work best: the picture of the newscaster at the start of "Green Shirt," the soaring line in "Oliver's Army" that puts the listener at battle stations alongside ''"the boys from the Mersey and the Thames and the Tyne,"'' and "Two Little Hitlers" with its ''"You flick a switch and the world goes out / I would've thought you'd had enough by now."'' | |||
It's a very playable, fluent, highly enjoyable, clever record. Sometimes, though, one can't help avoiding the feeling that Costello's overdone the camouflage somewhat. And that the results of this, as they would be on a real little soldier, are somewhat distractingly absurd. | |||
Elvis Costello had a busy year between the release of ''Armed Forces'' and ''Get Happy!!'', his entry into the new decade. Some of it didn't exactly do the legend much good, i.e. the widely reported "racist" comments he made in a U.S. bar brawl, the protracted legal wranglings following the demise of Radar Records, with Costello and co's abortive attempts at escaping the clutches of the WEA organisation. | |||
On the positive side, Dave Edmunds had a big hit with Costello's "Girls Talk," and Elvis bowed in as a producer with the Specials' chart-thrashing album debut. | |||
Elvis Costello & The Attractions' star status was underlined by frequent appearances in the bootlegger's catalogues. Live At El Mocambo, an 'official' bootleg issued by Columbia in Canada went into unofficial pressings just like predecessors by Nils Lofgren and Tom Petty before it; 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong was a double-album set including a handful of demos alongside U.S. live recordings. | |||
Both are excellent of their kind (and far superior to a badly-recorded UK tour bootleg issued early in '79), and prove, in addition to the fact that Costello's entered the bootleggable elite, that Elvis Costello & The Attractions could produce a killer "live" LP, should the desire ever arise. | |||
Elvis Costello & The Attractions ''Get Happy!!'', to give the new album its full title, is just what its name suggests — Elvis' party album. Despite sometime rumours to the contrary, Nick Lowe returned to the production chair — in Amsterdam and not Australia as originally announced — and did his usual excellent job. | |||
The story goes that the prolific Costello had so many new songs that the ''Get Happy!!'' sessions could easily have produced twice their volume of material. Instead, the band would run through each new song a couple of times and if they didn't get it right straight away they'd simply do another. | |||
The result is very immediate, mostly extremely 'live' sound, one that's far removed from the high-gloss finish on ''Armed Forces''. Where the earlier LP had suggested 1968 as a main point of inspiration, ''Get Happy!!'', from its pre-worn cover art inwards, takes its cues from earlier on in the decade. At a time when Soul and Ska are enjoying huge revivals, Costello's stayed topical by looking backwards; hence a revamped Sam & Dave flipside for his new single, Motown lifts for the musics of "Secondary Modern," "Love For Tender" and others, a second cover with "I Stand Accused" (Jerry Butler, Vee-Jay, 1964), and the convincing Bluebeat of "Human Touch": ''"I don't wanna know much about much / I need... I need... I need / The human touch."'' | |||
Verbally, Costello's still fragmenting like crazy, and a lot of the songs are all but indecipherable in terms of straight ahead logic. Alternatively, there's a continuation of the free for all punning of ''Armed Forces''; "Beaten To The Punch" manages to include every boxing cliche imaginable, the narrator of "New Amsterdam" wonders ''"Do I step on the brake to get out of her clutches?"'' and so on. | |||
There are a few familiar non-going sexual situations, of course, (''"I see you lying there still wide awake / After I've given all you can take / So, for heaven's sake, give me temptation"''; ''"Meanwhile back in some secluded spot / He says 'Will you please...' / And she says 'Stop!'"'') but the album's overall tone is one of innocent exuberance, portrayed via endless powerful hooks and matching performances for all concerned. | |||
Costello's words and music continue to be the product of an unimaginable frustration, even if this time around he's not been so obvious about it. He's chosen not to wear his heart on his sleeve and the energy's gone principally into his music where it might earlier have surfaced in the content of his songs. The last time he was asked about the spoiling effects of success, Costello replied, "It may be detrimental to my abilities, and also my ability to see what to do, rather than just living up to people's expectations." With ''Get Happy!!'', he's continued to make great British pop that's anything but obvious, anything but soft: | |||
{{n}}'' The chairman of this boredom is a compliment collector <br> | |||
{{n}}''I'd like to be his funeral director <br> | |||
{{mm}}Opportunity | |||
{{cx}} | |||
{{tags}}[[Stiff Records]] {{-}} [[Jake Riviera]] {{-}} [[Dave Robinson]] {{-}} [[Nick Lowe]] {{-}} [[My Aim Is True]] {{-}} [[Less Than Zero]] {{-}} [[Radio Sweetheart]] {{-}} [[Mystery Dance]] {{-}} [[Welcome To The Working Week]] {{-}} [[I'm Not Angry]] {{-}} [[No Dancing]] {{-}} [[(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes ]] {{-}} [[Declan MacManus]] {{-}} [[Alison]] {{-}} [[Miracle Man]] {{-}} [[Elvis Is King]] {{-}} [[Clover]] {{-}} [[ZigZag, August 1976|ZigZag]] {{-}} [[Chilli Willi & the Red Hot Peppers]] {{-}} [[Dr. Feelgood]] {{-}} [[Hope And Anchor]] {{-}} [[Graham Parker]] {{-}} [[The Rumour]] {{-}} [[Sun Records]] {{-}} [[The Beatles]] {{-}} [[John Peel]] {{-}} [[The Sex Pistols]] {{-}} [[Johnny Rotten]] {{-}} [[Trouser Press, December 1977|Trouser Press]] {{-}} [[The Clash]] {{-}} [[Richard Hell]] {{-}} [[Dusty Springfield]] {{-}} [[George Jones]] {{-}} [[Pete Thomas]] {{-}} [[John Stewart]] {{-}} [[Bruce Thomas]] {{-}} [[Sutherland Brothers And Quiver]] {{-}} [[Moonrider]] {{-}} [[Dr. Feelgood]] {{-}} [[Steve Nieve|Steve Naive]] {{-}} [[:Category:Stiff's Greatest Stiffs Live|Stiff's Greatest Stiffs Live]] {{-}} [[Ian Dury]] {{-}} [[Concert 1977-07-26 CBS|1977 CBS Convention]] {{-}} [[The Attractions]] {{-}} [[Radar Records]] {{-}} [[Andrew Lauder]] {{-}} [[Watching The Detectives]] {{-}} [[(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea]] {{-}} [[Lipstick Vogue]] {{-}} [[This Year's Model]] {{-}} [[No Action]] {{-}} [[The Beat]] {{-}} [[You Belong To Me]] {{-}} [[Living In Paradise]] {{-}} [[This Year's Girl]] {{-}} [[Pump It Up]] {{-}} [[Night Rally]] | {{tags}}[[Stiff Records]] {{-}} [[Jake Riviera]] {{-}} [[Dave Robinson]] {{-}} [[Nick Lowe]] {{-}} [[My Aim Is True]] {{-}} [[Less Than Zero]] {{-}} [[Radio Sweetheart]] {{-}} [[Mystery Dance]] {{-}} [[Welcome To The Working Week]] {{-}} [[I'm Not Angry]] {{-}} [[No Dancing]] {{-}} [[(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes ]] {{-}} [[Declan MacManus]] {{-}} [[Alison]] {{-}} [[Miracle Man]] {{-}} [[Elvis Is King]] {{-}} [[Clover]] {{-}} [[ZigZag, August 1976|ZigZag]] {{-}} [[Chilli Willi & the Red Hot Peppers]] {{-}} [[Dr. Feelgood]] {{-}} [[Hope And Anchor]] {{-}} [[Graham Parker]] {{-}} [[The Rumour]] {{-}} [[Sun Records]] {{-}} [[The Beatles]] {{-}} [[John Peel]] {{-}} [[The Sex Pistols]] {{-}} [[Johnny Rotten]] {{-}} [[Trouser Press, December 1977|Trouser Press]] {{-}} [[The Clash]] {{-}} [[Richard Hell]] {{-}} [[Dusty Springfield]] {{-}} [[George Jones]] {{-}} [[Pete Thomas]] {{-}} [[John Stewart]] {{-}} [[Bruce Thomas]] {{-}} [[Sutherland Brothers And Quiver]] {{-}} [[Moonrider]] {{-}} [[Dr. Feelgood]] {{-}} [[Steve Nieve|Steve Naive]] {{-}} [[:Category:Stiff's Greatest Stiffs Live|Stiff's Greatest Stiffs Live]] {{-}} [[Ian Dury]] {{-}} [[Concert 1977-07-26 CBS|1977 CBS Convention]] {{-}} [[The Attractions]] {{-}} [[Radar Records]] {{-}} [[Andrew Lauder]] {{-}} [[Watching The Detectives]] {{-}} [[(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea]] {{-}} [[Lipstick Vogue]] {{-}} [[This Year's Model]] {{-}} [[No Action]] {{-}} [[The Beat]] {{-}} [[You Belong To Me]] {{-}} [[Living In Paradise]] {{-}} [[This Year's Girl]] {{-}} [[Pump It Up]] {{-}} [[Night Rally]] {{-}} [[AL|Mobile, Alabama]] {{-}} [[Carlene Carter]] {{-}} [[Americathon]] {{-}} [[Crawling To The USA]] {{-}} [[Radio, Radio]] {{-}} [[TV 1978-10-26 Top Of The Pops|Top Of The Pops]] {{-}} [[Tony Blackburn]] {{-}} [[Busy Bodies]] {{-}} [[Armed Forces]] {{-}} [[Goon Squad]] {{-}} [[Sunday's Best]] {{-}} [[Green Shirt]] {{-}} [[Oliver's Army]] {{-}} [[Two Little Hitlers]] {{-}} [[Get Happy!!]] {{-}} [[Dave Edmunds]] {{-}} [[Girls Talk]] {{-}} [[The Specials]] {{-}} [[Live At The El Mocambo|Live At El Mocambo]] {{-}} [[Nils Lofgren]] {{-}} [[Tom Petty]] {{-}} [[Bootleg: 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong|50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong]] {{-}} [[Sam & Dave]] {{-}} [[Motown]] {{-}} [[Secondary Modern]] {{-}} [[Love For Tender]] {{-}} [[I Stand Accused]] {{-}} [[Human Touch]] {{-}} [[Beaten To The Punch]] {{-}} [[New Amsterdam]] {{-}} [[Temptation]] {{-}} [[King Horse]] {{-}} [[Opportunity]] | ||
{{cx}} | {{cx}} | ||
Revision as of 01:46, 14 September 2023
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