Newsweek, August 9, 1982: Difference between revisions
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Costello treats his fiery image as a kind of unfortunate accident, kindled by a handful of songs, sparked by his audience and fanned by the press. "Sometimes I found the audience irritating," he says. "I was torn between finding Californians amazingly glib in the way that they tried to grasp passing fashions in England and modify them to their own environment, expecting us to pat them on the back because they had some funny clothes on, and playing in the Midwest where everybody was Quaaluded out and it was like banging your head against a brick wall. For a lot of people, it was a freak show — a diversion to their normal torpor. And I found myself playing up to that, because of my annoyance. They'd bait you into being aggressive. But if that was all that I could get over — then it was a failure on my part, too." | Costello treats his fiery image as a kind of unfortunate accident, kindled by a handful of songs, sparked by his audience and fanned by the press. "Sometimes I found the audience irritating," he says. "I was torn between finding Californians amazingly glib in the way that they tried to grasp passing fashions in England and modify them to their own environment, expecting us to pat them on the back because they had some funny clothes on, and playing in the Midwest where everybody was Quaaluded out and it was like banging your head against a brick wall. For a lot of people, it was a freak show — a diversion to their normal torpor. And I found myself playing up to that, because of my annoyance. They'd bait you into being aggressive. But if that was all that I could get over — then it was a failure on my part, too." | ||
It's a failure that Costello tries to rectify on ''Imperial Bedroom'' (Columbia) by softening the beat and stressing his lyrics. The sound is crisp, dense with detail, smartly crafted, very poppy, terribly studied: we hear "Breakfast at Tiffany's" treacle, a torch song, a brace of intricate midtempo rock ballads and one thumping anthem, called "Man Out of Time," done in the style of Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone." It's music to get lost in, a wily labyrinth — not a record for easy listening. The vinegar of Costello's voice makes the sweetest lines turn sour, and that's only fitting: the lyrics are a barbed valentine. At first, only a few lines stand out: "Tears before bedtime," "I feel like a boy with a problem," "There are 10 commandments of love." Slowly it becomes clear that these 15 songs constitute an oblique sort of musical exorcism. The running characters, a husband and wife, make "love tooth and nail," bicker, brood, drink, despair, | It's a failure that Costello tries to rectify on ''Imperial Bedroom'' (Columbia) by softening the beat and stressing his lyrics. The sound is crisp, dense with detail, smartly crafted, very poppy, terribly studied: we hear "Breakfast at Tiffany's" treacle, a torch song, a brace of intricate midtempo rock ballads and one thumping anthem, called "Man Out of Time," done in the style of Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone." It's music to get lost in, a wily labyrinth — not a record for easy listening. The vinegar of Costello's voice makes the sweetest lines turn sour, and that's only fitting: the lyrics are a barbed valentine. At first, only a few lines stand out: "Tears before bedtime," "I feel like a boy with a problem," "There are 10 commandments of love." Slowly it becomes clear that these 15 songs constitute an oblique sort of musical exorcism. The running characters, a husband and wife, make "love tooth and nail," bicker, brood, drink, despair, lie, cheat, show remorse and, above all, ''suffer'', their besotted marriage saved only by the bleak conviction that "love and unhappiness" must "go arm in arm." "Blame it on Cain. Don't blame it on me," sang Elvis Costello on ''My Aim Is True,'' his first album. He doesn't sound so cocksure anymore. | ||
'''Jackhammer Beat:''' These are remarkably raw sentiments to find exposed in a piece of "popular music." Perhaps that's why Costello's new material seemed to sail right past the restive young crowd at a recent [[Concert 1982-07-24 San Diego|concert]] in San Diego. During his two-hour set, he sang seven songs from ''Imperial Bedroom'' and a clutch of interesting oldies: "[[Wondering]]," the country song made famous by Webb Pierce; "[[I Got You (I Feel Good)]]," James Brown's funk classic; "[[Little Sister]]," the Elvis Presley hit, and a very pure (and very obscure) Smokey Robinson song called "[[From Head To Toe|From Head to Toe]]." What grabbed the fans, though, wasn't this homage to a tradition or the subtle new ballads. It was the jackhammer beat of "[[Pump It Up]]" — one of those angry songs out of Costello's past. | '''Jackhammer Beat:''' These are remarkably raw sentiments to find exposed in a piece of "popular music." Perhaps that's why Costello's new material seemed to sail right past the restive young crowd at a recent [[Concert 1982-07-24 San Diego|concert]] in San Diego. During his two-hour set, he sang seven songs from ''Imperial Bedroom'' and a clutch of interesting oldies: "[[Wondering]]," the country song made famous by Webb Pierce; "[[I Got You (I Feel Good)]]," James Brown's funk classic; "[[Little Sister]]," the Elvis Presley hit, and a very pure (and very obscure) Smokey Robinson song called "[[From Head To Toe|From Head to Toe]]." What grabbed the fans, though, wasn't this homage to a tradition or the subtle new ballads. It was the jackhammer beat of "[[Pump It Up]]" — one of those angry songs out of Costello's past. |
Revision as of 15:38, 8 July 2018
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