Orange County Register, September 21, 2013: Difference between revisions
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<center><h3> Elton John & Elvis Costello: old dogs, new tricks </h3></center> | <center><h3> Elton John & Elvis Costello: old dogs, new tricks </h3></center> | ||
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<center> Ben Wener </center> | <center> Ben Wener </center> | ||
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'''Remarkable works find both masters pushing forward. Will their audiences follow{{nb}}along? | |||
{{Bibliography text}} | {{Bibliography text}} | ||
Elton John, perhaps more than anyone else from rock's greatest generation still alive and active, hasn't forgotten how to make a grand entrance. | Elton John, perhaps more than anyone else from rock's greatest generation still alive and active, hasn't forgotten how to make a grand entrance. | ||
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Such fanciful are days are long gone – he didn't come marching into USC's Bovard Auditorium Monday night for an intimate showcase and interview decked out in Trojan finery. Yet his style is never without sparkle, and there's more elegance to how Elton at 66 reasserts himself in the public eye, as he is once again with the release next week of his impressive (if sometimes patience-demanding) 31st studio album, ''The Diving Board''. | Such fanciful are days are long gone – he didn't come marching into USC's Bovard Auditorium Monday night for an intimate showcase and interview decked out in Trojan finery. Yet his style is never without sparkle, and there's more elegance to how Elton at 66 reasserts himself in the public eye, as he is once again with the release next week of his impressive (if sometimes patience-demanding) 31st studio album, ''The Diving Board''. | ||
His sobered approach has been in place more or less since his once-rocky career rebounded in the '80s with hits like "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues" and "I'm Still Standing" and that classy look-back live album with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. What followed is an ongoing second act filled with peaks: a Tony and an Oscar for The Lion King to add to six Grammys, Hall of Fame membership, untold millions from ceaseless touring and an intermittent but always sold-out Las Vegas residency. | His sobered approach has been in place more or less since his once-rocky career rebounded in the '80s with hits like "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues" and "I'm Still Standing" and that classy look-back live album with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. What followed is an ongoing second act filled with peaks: a Tony and an Oscar for ''The Lion King'' to add to six Grammys, Hall of Fame membership, untold millions from ceaseless touring and an intermittent but always sold-out Las Vegas residency. | ||
But what has proved elusive amid those highlights is satisfying success for new material, the same pursuit that vexes virtually all of his peers. | But what has proved elusive amid those highlights is satisfying success for new material, the same pursuit that vexes virtually all of his peers. | ||
It hasn't been for lack of trying. Five Elton John records have emerged in the past dozen years, from 2001's comeback-initializing Songs from the West Coast to this new ''Diving Board'', the best he's made since then. Each one, including 2010's memorable Leon Russell collaboration The Union, has been ushered in as a special event, hyped to varying degrees as a return to basics like never before. | It hasn't been for lack of trying. Five Elton John records have emerged in the past dozen years, from 2001's comeback-initializing Songs from the West Coast to this new ''Diving Board'', the best he's made since then. Each one, including 2010's memorable Leon Russell collaboration ''The Union'', has been ushered in as a special event, hyped to varying degrees as a return to basics like never before. | ||
Those expectations haven't always been met, despite the music being consistently superior to most anything he's cut since the late '70s. He pushed too hard to put across the Southern-fried Peachtree Road in 2004, for instance, going so far as to open a leg of arena shows by playing almost all of it before delving into the classic stuff. It was a brave but ill-advised move that left audiences baffled or, worse, vocally upset. | Those expectations haven't always been met, despite the music being consistently superior to most anything he's cut since the late '70s. He pushed too hard to put across the Southern-fried ''Peachtree Road'' in 2004, for instance, going so far as to open a leg of arena shows by playing almost all of it before delving into the classic stuff. It was a brave but ill-advised move that left audiences baffled or, worse, vocally upset. | ||
Two years later, he issued The Captain & the Kid, a sequel to one of his biggest-selling works, 1975's Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. It looked like a can't-miss winner on paper, and got big talk from its composer, who boasted (not entirely incorrectly) that it was among his and longtime lyricist Bernie Taupin's greatest achievements. It stiffed, his label all but abandoned it, and Elton grew deeply despondent. | Two years later, he issued The Captain & the Kid, a sequel to one of his biggest-selling works, 1975's Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. It looked like a can't-miss winner on paper, and got big talk from its composer, who boasted (not entirely incorrectly) that it was among his and longtime lyricist Bernie Taupin's greatest achievements. It stiffed, his label all but abandoned it, and Elton grew deeply despondent. | ||
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Like Elton, who raves about New Zealand newcomer Lorde and recently worked with heavy rock band Queens of the Stone Age, Elvis is another champion of the younger breed – among his collaborators in the past decade have been emo-rock outfit Fall Out Boy and indie queen Jenny Lewis. And he just issued one of his boldest experiments yet, teaming with the extraordinarily versatile group the Roots (principally its drummer and de facto leader, Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson) for the remarkable collection ''Wise Up Ghost''. | Like Elton, who raves about New Zealand newcomer Lorde and recently worked with heavy rock band Queens of the Stone Age, Elvis is another champion of the younger breed – among his collaborators in the past decade have been emo-rock outfit Fall Out Boy and indie queen Jenny Lewis. And he just issued one of his boldest experiments yet, teaming with the extraordinarily versatile group the Roots (principally its drummer and de facto leader, Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson) for the remarkable collection ''Wise Up Ghost''. | ||
Where Elton's latest is stately and wistful, Elvis' new assortment is caustic, barbed, profoundly funky in both word and groove. An occasionally harrowing state-of-the-world address more than one pundit has shakily compared to Sly & the Family Stone's cracked masterpiece There's a Riot Goin' On, it's one of Costello's most trenchant works, biting venomously like he has only sporadically in the past 20 years. | Where Elton's latest is stately and wistful, Elvis' new assortment is caustic, barbed, profoundly funky in both word and groove. An occasionally harrowing state-of-the-world address more than one pundit has shakily compared to Sly & the Family Stone's cracked masterpiece ''There's a Riot Goin' On'', it's one of Costello's most trenchant works, biting venomously like he has only sporadically in the past 20 years. | ||
Taken as a Roots record, albeit with a major guest star, it's among their most satisfying efforts, traditional yet innovative. Girded by Quest's in-your-chest syncopations, it's an impressionistic canvas like D'Angelo's gems from a decade ago, allowing filigree like horn punctuation and unnerving guitar effects to be lightly applied around confrontational beats and wisdom. Unintended though this outcome may be, ''Wise Up Ghost'' comes off like a darker, disillusioned counterpart to the group's more optimistic conscious party with John Legend in 2010, Wake Up!, right down to the yin-and-yang sentiments of those titles. | Taken as a Roots record, albeit with a major guest star, it's among their most satisfying efforts, traditional yet innovative. Girded by Quest's in-your-chest syncopations, it's an impressionistic canvas like D'Angelo's gems from a decade ago, allowing filigree like horn punctuation and unnerving guitar effects to be lightly applied around confrontational beats and wisdom. Unintended though this outcome may be, ''Wise Up Ghost'' comes off like a darker, disillusioned counterpart to the group's more optimistic conscious party with John Legend in 2010, ''Wake Up!'', right down to the yin-and-yang sentiments of those titles. | ||
But what Costello's unexpectedly well-suited detour has in common with Elton's more characteristic collection is restless spirit. | But what Costello's unexpectedly well-suited detour has in common with Elton's more characteristic collection is restless spirit. | ||
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Costello is no stranger to reinventing his songbook; Spotify the bipolar versions of "Clowntime Is Over" or the different shades of rue in his renditions of "Blue Chair" for proof. The overhauling throughout ''Wise Up Ghost'', though, is almost unprecedented. The totalitarian menace of "Pills and Soap," for instance – one of his grimmest but most compelling pieces from the Thatcher years – is here reborn with choke-down-the-evil relevance as "Stick Out Your Tongue," creeping like a phantom GTO cruising the apocalypse. | Costello is no stranger to reinventing his songbook; Spotify the bipolar versions of "Clowntime Is Over" or the different shades of rue in his renditions of "Blue Chair" for proof. The overhauling throughout ''Wise Up Ghost'', though, is almost unprecedented. The totalitarian menace of "Pills and Soap," for instance – one of his grimmest but most compelling pieces from the Thatcher years – is here reborn with choke-down-the-evil relevance as "Stick Out Your Tongue," creeping like a phantom GTO cruising the apocalypse. | ||
Much of the disc's material is original, the wordsmith challenged to twist his timing and meter to fit musical forms he's only dabbled in when backed by the Attractions or the Imposters. Yet for Costellophiles, it's also a self-referencing feast, as quotable passages from neglected but tellingly titled tracks like "Invasion Hit Parade" and "Bedlam," among others, gain radicalized resonance in this Ghost-ly context. | Much of the disc's material is original, the wordsmith challenged to twist his timing and meter to fit musical forms he's only dabbled in when backed by the Attractions or the Imposters. Yet for Costellophiles, it's also a self-referencing feast, as quotable passages from neglected but tellingly titled tracks like "Invasion Hit Parade" and "Bedlam," among others, gain radicalized resonance in this ''Ghost''-ly context. | ||
That, like Elton's scaled-down grandeur, should be enough of an old-is-new trick to suck in longtime fans while quenching both artists' desire to hurtle forward, not stagnate. "You have to push the boundaries," Elton exhorted his collegiate crowd Monday night. "Coasting is dangerous." | That, like Elton's scaled-down grandeur, should be enough of an old-is-new trick to suck in longtime fans while quenching both artists' desire to hurtle forward, not stagnate. "You have to push the boundaries," Elton exhorted his collegiate crowd Monday night. "Coasting is dangerous." | ||
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[[Ben Wener]] reviews ''[[Wise Up Ghost]]'' and [[Elton John]]'s ''The Diving Board''. | [[Ben Wener]] reviews ''[[Wise Up Ghost]]'' and [[Elton John]]'s ''The Diving Board''. | ||
{{Bibliography | {{Bibliography images}} | ||
[[image:2013-09-21 Orange County Register photo 01.jpg|360px]] | |||
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<br><small>Photos.</small> | |||
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==External links== | ==External links== | ||
*[http://www.ocregister.com/soundcheck/elton-527330-one-yet.html OCRegister.com] | *[http://www.ocregister.com/soundcheck/elton-527330-one-yet.html OCRegister.com{{t}}][http://www.ocregister.com/soundcheck/elton-527330-one-yet.html?page=2 {{t}}] | ||
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Orange_County_Register Wikipedia: Orange County Register] | *[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Orange_County_Register Wikipedia: Orange County Register] | ||
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[[Category:Bibliography 2013 | [[Category:Bibliography]] | ||
[[Category:Bibliography 2013]] | |||
[[Category:Orange County Register| Orange County Register 2013-09-21]] | [[Category:Orange County Register| Orange County Register 2013-09-21]] | ||
[[Category:Newspaper articles | [[Category:Newspaper articles]] | ||
[[Category:Album reviews | [[Category:Album reviews]] | ||
[[Category:Wise Up Ghost reviews | [[Category:Wise Up Ghost reviews]] |
Latest revision as of 07:13, 23 June 2019
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