Orange County Register, March 4, 1994: Difference between revisions
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{{cx}}<!-- --><!-- Caption: FAST NOTES: Prolific Elvis Costello has written more than 300 songs, including an album's worth in one weekend last year. --> | {{cx}}<!-- --><!-- Caption: FAST NOTES: Prolific Elvis Costello has written more than 300 songs, including an album's worth in one weekend last year. --> | ||
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'''The Orange County Register, March 4, 1994 | '''The Orange County Register, March 4, 1994 | ||
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[[Mark Brown]] interviews Elvis Costello | [[Mark Brown]] interviews Elvis Costello and reviews ''[[Brutal Youth]]''. | ||
{{Mark Brown 1994-03-04 Orange County Register}} | {{Mark Brown 1994-03-04 Orange County Register}} | ||
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{{Bibliography images}} | {{Bibliography images}} | ||
[[image:1994-03-04 Orange County Register, Show page 01 clipping 01.jpg| | [[image:1994-03-04 Orange County Register, Show page 01 clipping 01.jpg|x310px]]{{t}} | ||
<br><small> | [[image:1994-03-04 Orange County Register, Show page 38 clipping 01.jpg|x310px]] | ||
<br><small>Clippings.</small> | |||
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<center><h3>'Brutal Youth' blends best of Costello's{{nb}}brainchilds </h3></center> | |||
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<center> Mark Brown </center> | |||
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[[image:1994-03-04 Orange County Register, Show page 38 clipping 02.jpg|90px|right]] | |||
''The Juliet Letters'' was an interesting classical turn. ''Spike'' had more than a handful of truly brilliant songs. | |||
But this is what Elvis Costello does best: tight pop songs, tricky and literate wordplay, catchy hooks and a texture that is shaded with darkness and light to highlight the finest details of the superb melodies. | |||
It's as though Costello has gone back to some of the finest touches of his career and melded them in an updated version of his early aggressive style. ''Brutal Youth'' encompasses the elegance of ''Imperial Bedroom'', the pop sensibilities of ''Armed Forces'', the lyrical and musical intensity of ''Blood & Chocolate'' and the strong songwriting of ''King of America''. | |||
It's not all brilliance. The opening cut, <!-- "Pony Street," --> "Pony St.," feels almost like generic Costello. And "Still Too Soon to Know" strives to be an emotional ballad in the vein of "Almost Blue" or "Baby Plays Around" but comes off as merely an overly emoted string of cliches. | |||
Those are the rare exceptions; you get stretches of five or six songs at a time that are peak Costello — vintage brilliance with a modern twist. | |||
"20% Amnesia" finds Costello pushing his voice to its limits, a near-shouted vocal over a bass-heavy groove. Two songs later there's the other extreme, with the delicate instrumentation and warm, gentle vocals of the beautiful "London's Brilliant Parade." | |||
"This is Hell" pulls off a distinctly British bit of soap opera, echoing bits of his classic "Man Out of Time" and pulling together some of Costello's most biting, ironic lyrics in years. | |||
The loopy "My Science Fiction Twin" finds Costello, singing over a quirky bed of pure Attractions music, taking a look at a parallel life he could have led. "Just About Glad" simultaneously celebrates and laments an affair that never happened, an interesting ode to restraint in an era that requires it. | |||
''Brutal Youth'' is a return to form for an artist who never really left that form. And it could have the added benefit of bringing him the huge sales that should have been his with the release of his first album 17 years ago. | |||
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[[Category:Orange County Register| Orange County Register 1994-03-04]] | [[Category:Orange County Register| Orange County Register 1994-03-04]] | ||
[[Category:Newspaper articles]] | [[Category:Newspaper articles]] | ||
[[Category:Interviews]] | |||
[[Category:1994 interviews]] | |||
[[Category:Album reviews]] | |||
[[Category:Brutal Youth reviews]] | |||
Revision as of 22:41, 14 January 2021
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