New Musical Express, October 24, 1981: Difference between revisions
(fix scan error) |
(+emphasis) |
||
Line 20: | Line 20: | ||
There's no perversion of the songs' intentions, either. It might be the sophisticated view that country is trite, and maudlin and sentimental. But Elvis still plays it straight. The easy option of exploiting the coy, camp and kitsch angles — which would overcome most English rock artists — isn't entertained for a moment. Costello and company cut through the layers of smart prejudice to find the music's enduring values: its sly humour, its lyrical craftsmanship (more echoes of EC's own approach), its melancholy dignity. | There's no perversion of the songs' intentions, either. It might be the sophisticated view that country is trite, and maudlin and sentimental. But Elvis still plays it straight. The easy option of exploiting the coy, camp and kitsch angles — which would overcome most English rock artists — isn't entertained for a moment. Costello and company cut through the layers of smart prejudice to find the music's enduring values: its sly humour, its lyrical craftsmanship (more echoes of EC's own approach), its melancholy dignity. | ||
Down to detail. Side one opens with a brash rock work-out, in the Rockpile vein, "Why Don't You Love Me (Like You Used To Do)?": it's the noise of a group enjoying itself, and not to the exclusion of our enjoyment | Down to detail. Side one opens with a brash rock work-out, in the Rockpile vein, "Why Don't You Love Me (Like You Used To Do)?": it's the noise of a group enjoying itself, and not to the exclusion of ''our'' enjoyment. The remainder of the side is calmer — like "Success" (''“has made a failure of our home”''), Merle Haggard's "Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down", and the beautiful "Brown To Blue", all about the divorce that ''"changed your name from Brown to Jones / And mine from Brown to Blue..."''. If you've just opened a beer, stand by to cry into it. | ||
Flip across and there's the year's best-deserved hit, "Good Year For The Roses," a poignant George Jones lip-trembler. The easy-rocking "Sittin' And Thinkin'," "Colour Of The Blues" (yep, ''that'' colour again) and Billy Sherrill's "Too Far Gone" lead up to the pumping beat of the Jerry Lee/Joe Turner number "Honey Hush," then finally, "How Much I Lied" — more of that grief inhibited by the stern necessity for manly appearances. | Flip across and there's the year's best-deserved hit, "Good Year For The Roses," a poignant George Jones lip-trembler. The easy-rocking "Sittin' And Thinkin'," "Colour Of The Blues" (yep, ''that'' colour again) and Billy Sherrill's "Too Far Gone" lead up to the pumping beat of the Jerry Lee/Joe Turner number "Honey Hush," then finally, "How Much I Lied" — more of that grief inhibited by the stern necessity for manly appearances. |
Revision as of 12:48, 18 April 2019
|