New Musical Express, August 21, 1982: Difference between revisions
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{{:Bibliography index}} | {{:Bibliography index}} | ||
{{:NME index}} | {{:NME index}} | ||
{{Bibliography article header}} | {{Bibliography article header}} | ||
<center><h3> Talking | <center><h3> Talking in the dark </h3></center> | ||
<center>''' Elvis opens the doors to his Imperial Bedroom </center> | <center>''' Elvis opens the doors to his Imperial Bedroom </center> | ||
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<center> Nick Kent </center> | <center> Nick Kent </center> | ||
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''As EC sets off to reconquer America, Nick Kent eavesdrops on | '''As EC sets off to reconquer America, Nick Kent eavesdrops on ''A Conversation with Elvis Costello'', the promotional album of the album. | ||
{{Bibliography text}} | {{Bibliography text}} | ||
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"Then one day I thought up ''Imperial Bedroom'' and it was automatic, y'know: Ah perfect. Because the two words achieve just the right combination of 'faded splendour' and 'sleaze' to fit all the tracks on the album. It's 'Imperial Bedroom' music. That title evokes for me the perfect definition... I mean, I can just see the 'Imperial Bedroom' itself." | "Then one day I thought up ''Imperial Bedroom'' and it was automatic, y'know: Ah perfect. Because the two words achieve just the right combination of 'faded splendour' and 'sleaze' to fit all the tracks on the album. It's 'Imperial Bedroom' music. That title evokes for me the perfect definition... I mean, I can just see the 'Imperial Bedroom' itself." | ||
"Recorded just before Christmas | "Recorded just before Christmas, it turned out to be the longest album to make, mostly because, as co-producer I had to keep running from the control room to the studio in order to hear the take we'd just completed. Geoff Emerick took care of ''all'' the sound and mixing whilst my side of things really involved y'know, "Is it a good take"? As a result of my being more directly involved in production, there was a part in the band to treat each track individually as opposed to going for an overall production 'feel' which had always been the case before. Like on ''Get Happy'' there was the 'soul' idea so that every song conformed to that concept. | ||
"Geoff Emerick (best known for being George Martin's lay engineer and thus having worked on most Beatles' cuts, not to mention a plethora of the most diverse recordings) was the perfect man for the job of producer. possessing as he does endles patience, great ideas, vast experience and — something we both share — a healthy suspicion with regard to some of the more dubious 'trends' in modern production. Like, I didn't want to make a '60s-sounding record but there are certain elements to the '60s production thing that have gradually been eroded. For example, the bass drum has got louder and louder to this ludicrous state where it drums out the whole rest of the kit, whilst voices have got quieter and quieter with more and more effects that are almost too subtle. I've always believed that an effect should be used solely to leap out and grab you, plus I wanted my voice mixed up loud so you can hear the words. | "Geoff Emerick (best known for being George Martin's lay engineer and thus having worked on most Beatles' cuts, not to mention a plethora of the most diverse recordings) was the perfect man for the job of producer. possessing as he does endles patience, great ideas, vast experience and — something we both share — a healthy suspicion with regard to some of the more dubious 'trends' in modern production. Like, I didn't want to make a '60s-sounding record but there are certain elements to the '60s production thing that have gradually been eroded. For example, the bass drum has got louder and louder to this ludicrous state where it drums out the whole rest of the kit, whilst voices have got quieter and quieter with more and more effects that are almost too subtle. I've always believed that an effect should be used solely to leap out and grab you, plus I wanted my voice mixed up loud so you can hear the words. | ||
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'Almost Blue' "was an attempt to write in the classic mode. Its lyric style is more akin to the '40s era although "nostalgia's the last thing I wanted to suggest. That's why there's not more of an arrangement." Inspired by Chet Baker — Costello's favourite singer alongside Frank Sinatra — 'Almost Blue' itself is "my most sincerely sung ballad." | 'Almost Blue' "was an attempt to write in the classic mode. Its lyric style is more akin to the '40s era although "nostalgia's the last thing I wanted to suggest. That's why there's not more of an arrangement." Inspired by Chet Baker — Costello's favourite singer alongside Frank Sinatra — 'Almost Blue' itself is "my most sincerely sung ballad." | ||
'And In Every Home' meanwhile started life as a rocker, believe it or not; "another 'Pump It Up' but too many chords and the story was too delicate to be sledgehammered to oblivion." The story "suggested a performance | 'And In Every Home' meanwhile started life as a rocker, believe it or not; "another 'Pump It Up' but too many chords and the story was too delicate to be sledgehammered to oblivion." The story "suggested a performance with more innuendo in it. It's a song about being out of work quite simply. Most songs on the subject always take a grim, realistic point of view. Certainly it's not a situation to boast proudly about but instead of aggrandizing it, I just wanted to state that ultimately a person is of more worth than a job." | ||
By the commencement of the album's second side, the Elvoid is in expansive state. Most surprising is this statement: | |||
"The idea stated in 'The Loved Ones' is basically To hell with posterity you know... it's better to live than to die young in what foolish people assume to be a romantic way. | |||
"For every junkie musician or alcoholic writer who dies in what are twistedly regarded as romantic conditions — this supposed blaze of phoney glory — there's a mum or dad or a sister somewhere just crying their eyes out over it all. I mean, ''they're'' the ones who've got to bury the sod. This cheerful tune underscores an utterly morbid concept. Actually, it's not morbid, it's simply about wanting to live and not die. That's why there's the 'PS I Love You' at the end, the voice beyond the grave." | |||
Costello defines his moral concerns with an endearingly erudite candour when talking about three of <i>Bedroom</i>'s more initially evasive songs. "Little Savage," for example, "is a sort of love song. Most love songs are written on this very firm conviction of love found or love lost. There aren't nearly as many about people in the middle, and there are a lot of those people they're the ones who don't know if they're Mr Average or Little Savage, right? | |||
"'Pidgin English' is a political song, yes, because I think it's pretty disgusting the way the English language is being taken to pieces, particularly by certain newspapers. The way the ''Star'' and the ''Sun'' are trying to turn everyone into morons, people actually won't be able to talk properly in 50 years time. The English language is very expressive when used properly but everything's being turned into jargon. | |||
"There's nothing wrong with slang as shorthand to put over ideas so that other people can latch on immediately. Fashion's a good idea because it can give you this special sense of pride. But when it becomes just this degeneration of intelligence then it's dangerous because you end up being manipulated by people who've taken away your ability to say anything different. The whole reason for me writing a pop song about that issue is that it's become a popular disease, it's pretty serious. | |||
"'You Little Fool' is about a young girl who's worth a lot more than she's getting. This fellow — a real creep — is taking advantage of her and she doesn't know quite enough to say 'Leggo'. Thus the split personality vocals: the guy singing the chorus sounds horribly slimey, I wouldn't want to meet him. | |||
"The central theme is one step up from 'Mother's Little Helper' by the Rolling Stones — when they were still like a group — the girl keeps getting this useless advice from her mother, who thinks she's being liberal but who is giving her daughter no help whatsoever. That goes on a lot. | |||
"Like Adam Ant says, you don't have to lose your virginity at 15. You're your own master. | |||
"A lot of people have been saying for 20 years now that kids are too permissive, but it's more the mothers reading ''Cosmopolitan'' feeding them this kind of garbage. The kids themselves usually know what's going on. They don't need to read ''The Sensuous Woman''. What a load of bollocks that is." | |||
Finally, with a swift nod to "Town Cryer" ("The key line is <i>'I'm never going to cry again'</i> — on ''Almost Blue'' — people had enough of me wingeing on"), one quote lingers as a perfect reason for Costello's supremacy as pop writer and the perfect reason for the general public, choosing to keep on ignoring him. | |||
"Most people, I think, are confused regarding their identities, or how they feel, particularly about love. They're confused because they're not given a voice, they don't have many songs written for or about them. On the one hand there's <i>'I love you, the sky is blue</i>,' or total desolation, and ''inbetween'' there's this lack of anything. And it's never that clear-cut. There's a dishonesty in so much pop — written, possibly, with an honest intent — all that starry eyed stuff. | |||
{{ | "I believe I fulfill the role of writing songs that aren't starry-eyed all the time." | ||
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{{Bibliography notes header}} | {{Bibliography notes header}} | ||
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{{Bibliography notes}} | {{Bibliography notes}} | ||
{{Bibliography next | {{Bibliography next | ||
|prev = New Musical Express, July | |prev = New Musical Express, July 31, 1982 | ||
|next = New Musical Express, September 18, 1982 | |next = New Musical Express, September 18, 1982 | ||
}} | }} | ||
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[[Nick Kent]] writes about Elvis Costello and ''[[Imperial Bedroom]]'', quoting heavily from the ''[[A Conversation With Elvis Costello|Conversation With Elvis Costello]]'' promo. | [[Nick Kent]] writes about Elvis Costello and ''[[Imperial Bedroom]]'', quoting heavily from the ''[[A Conversation With Elvis Costello|Conversation With Elvis Costello]]'' promo. | ||
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Paul Tickell reviews the ''Gram Parsons'' compilation, | Paul Tickell reviews the ''Gram Parsons'' compilation, which features [[Gram Parsons (1982) liner notes|liner notes]] by EC. | ||
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Also includes an ad for the [[:Category:Bedrooms Of Britain Tour|Bedrooms Of Britain Tour]]. | Also includes an [[:image:1982-08-21 New Musical Express advertisement.jpg|ad]] for the [[:Category:Bedrooms Of Britain Tour|Bedrooms Of Britain Tour]]. | ||
{{Bibliography images}} | {{Bibliography images}} | ||
[[image:1982-08-21 New Musical Express page 08.jpg| | [[image:1982-08-21 New Musical Express page 08.jpg|380px|border]] | ||
<br><small>Page scan.</small> | <br><small>Page scan.</small> | ||
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{{Bibliography text}} | {{Bibliography text}} | ||
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Elvis Costello understands country music, the moods which it lyricises and the spirit which it keeps up. This didn't stop ''Almost Blue'', his Nashville album, from being an execrable affair, with The Attractions thinking that playing at being a country bar-room band meant forsaking delicacy and Elvis himself mis-reading the emotiveness of the music as simple bluesy crooning. | |||
Hell, though, Costello is already making up for this little venture with his selection of the best material from Gram Parsons' early '70s solo albums ''GP'' and ''Grievous Angel''. The gist of Elvis' sleeve notes is that Parsons, but for his squalid junkie death, would've been up there with Hank Williams — in fact listening to cuts like "Hearts On Fire," "Hickory Wind" and "In My Hour Of Darkness," he probably already is. It was Emmylou Harris who helped him get there: her own solo work may be something of a turn-off, but there's little that's more sublime than her duets with Parsons — listen to "Love Hurts." | |||
Although Parsons never enjoyed big success in his own lifetime, he managed to shake up country music and give edge to its melancholy — much more so than thinking outlaw types like Wayion Jennings and Willie Nelson. Unlike them he didn't resort to macho posturing to compensate for any sensitivity: he let that vulnerable voice stand up for itself. | |||
Parsons' background was partly a rock one, with spells in The Burrito Brothers and Byrds, a fact which Costello is very dismissive about. Wrongly, I think, because a song like "$1000 Wedding" would be less great without its uptempo middle, where the style is rocking rather than the shit-kicking barn-dance one of "Las Vegas" and "Cash On The Barrelhead." Don't let's split hairs, though: Elvis has chosen well, and what he says about Harris and Parsons singing in unison can be applied to all of this album. "If it should fail to move you — then you have a big problem." | |||
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[[image:1982-08-21 New Musical Express clipping | [[image:1982-08-21 New Musical Express page 10 clipping.jpg|380px|border]] | ||
<br><small>Clipping.</small> | <br><small>Clipping.</small> | ||
[[image:1982-08-21 New Musical Express advertisement.jpg| | <small>Advertisement.</small><br> | ||
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[[image:1982-08-21 New Musical Express cover | <small>Cover.</small><br> | ||
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{{Bibliography notes footer}} | {{Bibliography notes footer}} | ||
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*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NME Wikipedia: NME] | *[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NME Wikipedia: NME] | ||
*[http://www.flickr.com/search?safe_search=3&sort=date-posted-desc&text=N.M.E.%2021%3A08%3A1982 Flickr: littletriggers] | *[http://www.flickr.com/search?safe_search=3&sort=date-posted-desc&text=N.M.E.%2021%3A08%3A1982 Flickr: littletriggers] | ||
*[https://twitter.com/nothingelseon/status/1151050045615218688 Twitter: nothingelseon] | |||
{{DEFAULTSORT:New Musical Express 1982-08-21}} | {{DEFAULTSORT:New Musical Express 1982-08-21}} |
Revision as of 11:13, 18 July 2019
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