New Musical Express, November 29, 1986: Difference between revisions
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And halfway through the Big Jollies, we have "I Want You," Costello's variantette of Lennon's edgy tribute to Yoko Ono and a similar unravelling of lust and love. Costello builds up the song with the old sneer, climaxes in his patented screams of despair, and ends, incredibly, in the tiniest voice: ''"I want you. Want you. Want you."'' Hands folded, alone on the stage, asking. Elvis Costello as the humble suitor — gone are the old revenge songs, gone the nit-pickingly detailed songs of ordinary life in which Costello seemed to be writing about romance because that's what he gets paid for, and all that's left is this tiny voice in the dark. | And halfway through the Big Jollies, we have "I Want You," Costello's variantette of Lennon's edgy tribute to Yoko Ono and a similar unravelling of lust and love. Costello builds up the song with the old sneer, climaxes in his patented screams of despair, and ends, incredibly, in the tiniest voice: ''"I want you. Want you. Want you."'' Hands folded, alone on the stage, asking. Elvis Costello as the humble suitor — gone are the old revenge songs, gone the nit-pickingly detailed songs of ordinary life in which Costello seemed to be writing about romance because that's what he gets paid for, and all that's left is this tiny voice in the dark. | ||
''Alors'', not ''all'' as such. There's a lovely "Battered Old Bird, | ''Alors'', not ''all'' as such. There's a lovely "Battered Old Bird," with an intro of "This is about a house I used to live in"; there's some wild R'n'B and all your favourite hits wherein Costello and the Attractions assume their Buddy Holly and Stooges Very Loud personas. And finally, as a definitive encore, there was the remarkably odd "Poor Napoleon." Performed in virtual pitch-darkness with the invisible figure of Cait O'Riordan on a very loud guitar and a very quiet speaking voice. The song offered up Costello's favourite screwed-up misogynist lyric — ''"I bet she isn't all that's advertised / I bet that isn't all she fakes"'' — and appears to beat it up. Towards the end, huge strobe lights come on and blind us while the song gets louder and more relentless and Costello begins to shout the refrain from "Instant Karma" — ''"What in the world are you thinking of? / Laughing in the face of love".'' A question surely addressed to himself and all his past variants, made into a kind of Exploding Plastic Inevitable Significant EST Therapy course by strobes and noise and Cait's spoken refrain. The effect on us, incidentally, is akin to being machine-gunned at a party; but what a way to go. The loud return of Elvis Costello is a welcome thing. The quiet return of Elvis Costello is even more welcome. | ||
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Revision as of 05:58, 9 June 2020
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