Paterson News, February 3, 1979

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Elvis Costello sings of brotherhood


Stuart Margulies

What's so funny 'bout Elvis Costello?

Here's a guy who is bedeviled by his past. He has spent the better part of his three albums bemoaning his relationships with women and how he has been mistreated and misunderstood by those around him.

Costello is misunderstood. Some of his old themes are appearing on his new album, Armed Forces (Columbia), and I'm sure many of the minions out there will continue to cast him aside as a troubled shnook.

Ah, but some of us know better.

That the British' new wave star has chosen to cover "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding," a song written by Costello's producer, Nick Lowe, when Lowe was in Brinsley Schwarz, demonstrates Elvis' emotional depths.

With guitar bellowing (the only time on the album his guitar is clearly the lead instrument), Costello sings in his most sincere, deep voice a most non-punk ode to brotherhood and caring. And it's not only him that's troubled here. It's really all mankind.

"Where is the harmony, sweet harmony?", he asks. "Cause each time I feel it's slipping away, it just makes me want to cry."

It's a touching way to end his most musical, most diverse, most image-filled and best album. Where My Aim is True was understated and sensitive and This Year's Model was bouyant and angry, Armed Forces sneakily combines all those facets and more. But, at last for me, it takes a number of listenings to see that.

Costello must be taken seriously as a musical artist. Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel hold nothing over him.

As with any rock act, there are two ways to appreciate performance — music and lyrics. Costello's lyrics and messages have always been widely analyzed as important and meaningful. But, lest we forget, he has become most masterful at composing and arranging short, melodic bursts of rock and pop that are the backbone of any meaningful message.

Costello's band, the Attractions, is a tight unit that is well-produced by Lowe, the master of pure pop. Costello's lead guitar functions more as a rhythmic instrument, allowing keyboards to dominate his melodies. Who needs guitar solos that would invade the texture of the tunes?

Instead, Costello hits you over the head with his bitterness and remorse at past emotional scars. Only this time some of it is veiled in a military motif (thus the armed forces). Actually, he had intended the album's title to be Emotional Fascism, a horrible state of mind in which to be, but he apparently realized that the public might not take kindly to that phrase.

Phraseology is something at which Elvis C. is adept. For instance, in "Senior Service," he says, "It's a breath you took too late, It's a death that's worse than fate." Or in "Moods for Moderns" when he says, "I get hit looking for a miss, I never thought that it would come to this."

It is the military imagery that is so interesting here.

"Green Shirt," presumably the color of army gear, is worn by the woman with whom he is having his typical difficulties in love and attention. "Better cut off all identifying labels, before they put you on the torture table," he sings.

"Goon Squad," driven by a frightened fervor, uses the military mode to portray Costello's growing up. His sentence: being placed in the "good squad." He realizes it's not a good place to be: "Thinking of the alibis that everyone's forgotten, Just another mother's boy gone too rotten."

"Oliver's Army" is a cute song, complete with a Shirelles type piano and a Springsteen "Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh" ending, about Britain's history of domination. Costello an unwilling soldier in Her Majesty's Army, is told "There's no danger, It's a professional career, Though it could be arranged, Just a word in Mr. Churchill's ear."

For combination laughs/cries, there's "Two Little Hitlers," two strong-willed, stubborn, dominant persons fighting it out. Here is an example of how Costello uses others' music so well, as David Bowie's "Rebel, Rebel" musical chorus is played in the chorus of this song.

Costello does that elsewhere. He sees the "Party Girls," whom he idolizes, but apparently cannot get near. "I could give you everything but time," he tells them. They give him nothing. But the song ends to the strains of the Beatles "You Never Give Me Your Money."

"Busy Bodies" may sound a bit like Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman," and that could be an omen. The world is full of busy bodies, who are so busy they are "getting nowhere." Says the tough-luck Costello, "You watch and worship, You want to dress her, You want to kiss her, but she's busy with her makeup."

Elvis has plenty to say, so much, in fact, that his first utterance on Armed Forces is "Oh, I just don't know where to begin." But he realizes he is better off verbalizing his anxieties, his frustrations, his anger and his general feelings. For, he says, "It's the words that we don't say that scare me so."

Keep verbalizing, Elvis. There aren't many like you left.

Seriously, folks, what's so funny 'bout Elvis Costello?


NEWS TO NOTE:

The future will also bring some top new wave acts to the area. The Clash, surely one of Britain's most famous "punk" bands, will make its American debut at the Palladium Theater on February 17. Ultravox, who, like the Clash was discussed in this column in past weeks, will make a rare American tour. The British band will be at Hurrah, a New York club, February 27 and 28 and March 1. Mr. Costello will appear at the Capitol Theater March 30 and at the Palladium the following night. The Palladium shows, both early and late, are sold out.


Tags: Armed ForcesThe AttractionsColumbia(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding?Nick LoweBrinsley SchwarzMy Aim Is TrueThis Year's ModelBruce SpringsteenEmotional FascismSenior ServiceMoods For ModernsGreen ShirtGoon SquadOliver's ArmyTwo Little HitlersDavid BowieParty GirlThe BeatlesBusy BodiesRoy OrbisonAsbury ParkThe ClashCapitol TheatrePassaicPalladium

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The News, February 3, 1979


Stuart Margulies reviews Armed Forces.

Images

1979-02-03 Paterson News pages 22, 31.jpg
Page scans.

Photo by Roberta Bayley.
1979-02-03 Paterson News photo 01 rb.jpg

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