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He looks like Buddy Holly, sings like Mick Jagger, writes lyrics like Bob Dylan and plays guitar like John Lennon. He is the greatest musician to emerge out of the 1970's and he will perform at the Forum in Harrisburg on Wed., March 21.
His name is Elvis Costello and if you haven't heard him on your radio it's no surprise to him. As he says in his song "Radio, Radio": "The radio's in the hands / of such a lot of fools / Trying to anesthetize the way that you feel." Of other more popular groups such as Boston, Costello says, "They may sell 9 million records, but they're about as exciting as a plate of tripe. Rock 'n' roll is about sex and they might as well be eunuchs. They're just a wet dream for an accountant." His heroes range from Joni Mitchell to David Bowie because of their willingness to take chances with their music.
Elvis is strange. Who else would say Chicago is his favorite American city because the people were rude and who hates the West Coast because people were so friendly. "If one more person said 'have a nice day' I thought I might kill him" Costello said.
But though one cannot deny the bizarreness of Costello, one also cannot deny his colossal talent. He has been hailed by everyone from Bob Dylan to the New York Times as one of rock's greatest new musicians.
Costello has three albums to his credit. His first, My Aim Is True is full of songs about love and frustration. The song from which the title line is taken, "Alison" has been recorded as a soft-rock ballad by Linda Ronstadt. When sung by Costello however, the lyrics merge with his staccato voice and form a sharp, bitter edge on such lines as: "Well I've hear you've got a husband now / and you've left your sticky fingers lying in the wedding cake. / You used to hold him right in your hand / but he took all he could take."
Other songs on the first album concern the drudgery of working: "Welcome to the working week. / Oh, I know it don't thrill you / I hope it don't kill you" and sexual frustration: "Don't you know that I've tried and I've tried and I'm still mystified. / I can't do it anymore and I'm not satisfied." The music encapsulating these lyrics is hard and basic rock 'n' roll reminiscent of the early Rolling Stones hit "Get Off of My Cloud."
On Costello's second album, his band added an organ which acts as a fog clouding and distorting the driving rock 'n' roll beat. As good as the first album is, the second album is better. The album, This Year's Model, continues to include songs about sexual frustration and the social conditions of the world. Lines such as "I don't want to be your lover / I just want to be your victim."
Stark sexual imagery, usually of masturbation as symbol of sexual frustration is also evident as in the song "Pump it Up" ("Pump it up / until you can feel it, / Pump it up when you don't really need it"), the song "The Beat" ("Have you been a good boy / Never played with your toy / Such a pleasure to employ") and "Lip Service" ("Lip service is all you ever get from me.")
Costello's third album was just released with the first 200,000 copies containing a bonus LP of Elvis live at Hollywood High. The album — originally entitled Emotion Fascism but changed due to record company pressure to Armed Forces — is much more complex than the first two. Costello's voice and lyrics carry the same punch as before but the music is arranged more abstractly. Elvis wrote all the songs on the album but one, "What's so Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding," which was written by his friend and producer Nick Lowe. As in the previous records, none of the songs are longer than three minutes and the songs again are about the frustrations of being human, "Accidents will happen / we're all just hit and run."
Though musically the album is different from the first two, the energy is still there. I'd advise anyone who is into rock 'n' roll to purchase all three and learn what rock's about. If one is into rock 'n' roll, it is a good sound investment.
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