Musician, August 1984: Difference between revisions
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Before you sink into Elvis Costello's latest, brilliant slough of despond, make sure you keep your copy of the lyrics (printed on the album sleeve). Without such help, Elvis' mumbles, lisps, slides and vocal serrations will be buried. With it, ''Goodbye Cruel World'' becomes a coherent if dense assemblage of global and sexual politics. Still, if this album were a few degrees more "mature," it would be inaccessible. | Before you sink into Elvis Costello's latest, brilliant slough of despond, make sure you keep your copy of the lyrics (printed on the album sleeve). Without such help, Elvis' mumbles, lisps, slides and vocal serrations will be buried. With it, ''Goodbye Cruel World'' becomes a coherent if dense assemblage of global and sexual politics. Still, if this album were a few degrees more "mature," it would be inaccessible. | ||
When Elvis began tearing into modern manners seven years ago, he used a big beat and snarled his message in often elemental lyrics; even a song like "Watching The Detectives" ripped off skillful metaphors in an angry frenzy. Now his sedulous delivery masks a darker and angrier vision. Costello has become like Cary Grant in Notorious, suave and a bit removed while the Nazis and temptresses swirl around him. | When Elvis began tearing into modern manners seven years ago, he used a big beat and snarled his message in often elemental lyrics; even a song like "Watching The Detectives" ripped off skillful metaphors in an angry frenzy. Now his sedulous delivery masks a darker and angrier vision. Costello has become like Cary Grant in ''Notorious'', suave and a bit removed while the Nazis and temptresses swirl around him. | ||
"The Only Flame In Town" kicks off the album with a pealing, anachronistically stylized sax. ''"He struck a match and it lit up her face,"'' sings Elvis, dollying in, ''"We should have struck a match girl / To burn down the whole place."'' | "The Only Flame In Town" kicks off the album with a pealing, anachronistically stylized sax. ''"He struck a match and it lit up her face,"'' sings Elvis, dollying in, ''"We should have struck a match girl / To burn down the whole place."'' | ||
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This is not a record made for hits — not what the B.B.C. used to call Light Entertainment. As we suspected from the very start, Costello has found his fecundity, and his ornery power, in dealing with the squandering of love and trust — whether by young lovers or old empires. Though this LP is bristly with subtle invention, he's not making major changes in style. There's no reason the magpie, working this close to the top of his form, has to turn into a chameleon. | This is not a record made for hits — not what the B.B.C. used to call Light Entertainment. As we suspected from the very start, Costello has found his fecundity, and his ornery power, in dealing with the squandering of love and trust — whether by young lovers or old empires. Though this LP is bristly with subtle invention, he's not making major changes in style. There's no reason the magpie, working this close to the top of his form, has to turn into a chameleon. | ||
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{{tags}}[[Goodbye Cruel World]] {{-}} [[Watching The Detectives]] {{-}} [[The Only Flame In Town]] {{-}} [[Home Truth]] {{-}} [[Steve Nieve]] {{-}} [[Room With No Number]] {{-}} [[Worthless Thing]] {{-}} [[Memphis, Tennessee]] {{-}} [[Joe Porterhouse]] {{-}} [[The Great Unknown]] {{-}} [[The Deportees Club]] {{-}} [[Frank Sinatra]] {{-}} [[Peace In Our Time]] {{-}} [[Margaret Thatcher]] {{-}} [[BBC]] {{-}} [[Fred Schruers]] | |||
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<small>Cover and page scans.</small><br> | |||
[[image:1984-08-00 Musician cover.jpg|x120px|border]] | [[image:1984-08-00 Musician cover.jpg|x120px|border]] | ||
[[image:1984-08-00 Musician page 20.jpg|x120px|border]] | [[image:1984-08-00 Musician page 20.jpg|x120px|border]] | ||
[[image:1984-08-00 Musician page 92.jpg|x120px|border]] | [[image:1984-08-00 Musician page 92.jpg|x120px|border]] | ||
{{Bibliography notes footer}} | {{Bibliography notes footer}} |
Latest revision as of 02:44, 2 August 2019
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