Pittsburgh Post-Gazette index: Difference between revisions
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| <span style="font-size:92%">'''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette''' [[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette index|{{n}}]]</span> | | <span style="font-size:92%">'''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette''' [[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette index|{{n}}]]</span> | ||
[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 21, 1978|1978 February 21]] | *[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 21, 1978|1978 February 21]] | ||
[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 7, 1986|1986 November 7]] | *[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 13, 1981|1981 February 13]] | ||
[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 6, 1989|1989 April 6]] | *[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 18, 1982|1982 August 18]] | ||
[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 14, 1989|1989 August 14]] | *[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 7, 1986|1986 November 7]] | ||
[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 13, 2002|2002 June 13]] | *[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 24, 1989|1989 March 24]] | ||
[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 18, 2002|2002 October 18]] | *[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 6, 1989|1989 April 6]] | ||
[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 21, 2002|2002 October 21]] | *[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 14, 1989|1989 August 14]] | ||
[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 21, 2005|2005 July 21]] | *[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 29, 1993|1993 January 29]] | ||
[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 26, 2005|2005 July 26]] | *[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 25, 1994|1994 March 25]] | ||
[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, | *[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 17, 1997|1997 January 17]] | ||
[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, | *[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 13, 2002|2002 June 13]] | ||
[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, | *[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 18, 2002|2002 October 18]] | ||
[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 17, 2011|2011 June 17]][http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/music/2011/06/17/elvis-costello-s-stop-along-spinning-songbook-tour-is-a-win-win/201106170199 {{ | *[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 21, 2002|2002 October 21]] | ||
[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 24, 2016|2016 January 24]][http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/books/2016/01/24/Unfaithful-Music-Disappearing-Ink-Elvis-Costello-pens-his-musical-journey/stories/201601240019 {{ | *[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, December 13, 2002|2002 December 13]] | ||
*[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, December 27, 2002|2002 December 27]] | |||
*[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 21, 2005|2005 July 21]] | |||
*[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 26, 2005|2005 July 26]] | |||
*[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 6, 2005|2005 August 6]][http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=FIdIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8XADAAAAIBAJ&pg=6634%2C1626481 {{t}}] | |||
*[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, December 29, 2005|2005 December 29]] | |||
*[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 11, 2007|2007 October 11]][http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/music/2007/10/11/Rolling-like-a-stone-At-66-Bob-Dylan-isn-t-gathering-any-moss/stories/200710110533 {{t}}] | |||
*[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 12, 2007|2007 October 12]] | |||
*[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 24, 2008|2008 July 24]] | |||
*[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 30, 2008|2008 July 30]] | |||
*[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 4, 2010|2010 November 4]] | |||
*[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 17, 2011|2011 June 17]][http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/music/2011/06/17/elvis-costello-s-stop-along-spinning-songbook-tour-is-a-win-win/201106170199 {{t}}] | |||
*[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 24, 2016|2016 January 24]][http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/books/2016/01/24/Unfaithful-Music-Disappearing-Ink-Elvis-Costello-pens-his-musical-journey/stories/201601240019 {{t}}] | |||
*[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 7, 2017|2017 June 7]] | |||
*[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 14, 2017|2017 June 14]] | |||
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Notes: | Notes: | ||
January 29, 1993 | |||
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/89977058/ | |||
August 6, 2005 | |||
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/96579203/ | |||
October 11, 2007 | |||
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/96675016/ | |||
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https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/90302431/ cover | |||
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/90302461/ pages 22-23 | |||
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/90302642/ page 38 | |||
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette October 18, 2002 | |||
October 18, 2002 | |||
page 23 | |||
PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE | |||
WEEKEND MAG | |||
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2002 | |||
nnvERSTniiY r. | |||
THE BEST OF - Costello | |||
found his way back to 'rowdy rhythm' with 'When I Was Cruel' | |||
er's Army," he writes the most inflammatory ABBA hit you've ever heard, while "Party Girl" finds Elvis in an oddly em-pathetic mood for an artist who famously Wj i i flan if J from Ringo Starr) to "Pump It Up" and "(I Don't Want to Go To) Chelsea," "This Year's Model-rocks with the intensity of all the greatest punk. Pete Thomas nails the beat with style and force, Bruce Thomas picks up where McCartney left off in the Beatles and there are no words but genius to describe what Steve Nieve is doing to those trash-rock keyboards. Even with the greatest band a guy could hope for at his back, though, it's the lyrics here that ultimately separate Costello from the pack. He does for love what the Sex Pistols did for the Queen in valentines as barbed as "No, don't ask me to apologizeI won't ask you to forgive meIf I'm gonna go downYou're gonna come with me." 4 My Aim is True (1977): The album that threatened to make him a star, it's got his saddest love song, "Alison," and some of his funnier lyrics, from the sexual fumbling of "Mystery By JIM FARBER New York Daily News Ms Costello isn't sure how he'd like you to refer to his latest album, "When I Was Cruel." He isn't comfortable calling it his first "rock" 12 reasons why the British punkballadeer should go right into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Get Happy (1980): With New Wave getting J old, Costello looks to '60s soul for inspira-I tion on a single album packed with 20 songs in a head-on collision of brevity, soul and wit. How punk is that? "Temptation" takes its cue from "Time Is Tight" while "Love For Tender" proves you can too hurry love as the Attractions rhythm section bassist Bruce V J ( 'I claimed his only motivations were revenge and guilt A number of the songs use military images, including Hitler, as a metaphor for love gone wrong (while others are merely political). It should sound dated, what with all the quirky New Wave touches, but it doesn't 7 Trust (1981): The least cohesive of his early records, "Trust" abandons the genre-specific approach of "Get Happy" in favor of opening up the possibilities of sound to everything from screaming psycho-bilty ("Luxembourg") to hardcore country ("Different Finger"), from the Johnny Otis Show approach of "Lover's Walk" to the detective-watching drama !tnni'rsTW''wrw'rn'w-!w' Dance" to the pwpa i nomas ana sLw'.J drummer Pete ' k I f record in a long time, though many pundits already have done so, since it's his first in eight years fired by fat guitars, crashing drums and a driving beat "I never liked the term "rock,' " Costello carps. "Back when rock lost the 'roll' part of it, all the sex and swing went out of iL" He's just as fidgety about referring to the album as his first "proper" record in a long time, though, in fact, it is the first in six years to bear only his name. "That makes it seem like all those collaborations I've been doing were less important," Costello says, referring to his joint efforts with everyone from lounge king By ED MASLEY Post-Gazette Pop Music Critic f" ' 1 he most inspired artist of a most part in "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes' where the man who never met a phrase he couldn't turn disarms you with the Thomas makes the most of every stolen groove. Despite the upbeat party feel and all that happy organ Steve Urn 'Wx III ,:m n n IH&LMIGU yuiiciauuii, uig iun twiner geek who would be King emerged at the height of the punk revolution as the thinking-person's miscreant, a newer-than-average Dylan insisting "I'm not angry anymore" in an in ',, ;..! U-iwUk..' of "Shot With His Own Gun." Glenn Tilbrook takes a holiday from Squeeze to share a vocal, and it ends with a spooky Jamaican dub vibe (and the backward accordion that concert Nieve insists on bringing to the soul-revival tent, Costello hasn't really gotten happy. As he sings on "The Imposter" (while the band runs away i I . with the groove), "It's only gonna end in tears." And it does on such heartbreaking ballads as "Riot Act," "downtime is Over" and the country-flavored "Motel Matches." Every song is a classic, including the covers (hopped-up Sam & Dave and a tune by those titans of soul, the Merseybeats). punchline, i said, 'I'm so happy I could die'She said, 'Drop dead,' then left with another guy." The playing got a whole tot better on the second record, once he'd signed on the Attractions, but there's no mistaking what it was that had the critics foaming at the mouth when this one hit the streets. 5 Imperial Bettroom (1982): Elvis goes baroque in this, his most Beatlesque masterpiece. George Martin's shop assistant, Geoff Emerick, is in tor Wick Lowe as producer, but it's Steve Nieve who ends up charting all Burt Bacharach to mezzo-soprano Anne Sophie von Otter. "Maybe you should just call this my first loud record in however many years," Costello says with a laugh. Wait. That doesn't work | |||
ELVIS COSTELLO AND THE IMPOSTERS | |||
WITH: Laura Cantrell. | |||
WHERE: A.J. Palumbo Theatre, Uptown. | |||
WHEN: 7:30 am Saturday. Tickets: $22.50-$47.50; 412.323-1919. | |||
entails if you're Costello, anyway). Most numbers, though, find Elvis well along the road to "Imperial Bedroom," but rocking you through the sophistication, from the cocktail-pop of "Clubland" to the sparse and soulful "New Lace Sleeves," which features the immortal line, "Good manners and bad breath will get you nowhere 8 When I Was Cruel (2O0Z): This album rocks, with two Attractions the two you'd imagine, not Bruce Thomas joining Elvis in a bid to recapture the rage and glory of a misspent brutal youth while resigning himself to the fact that it was "so much easier when I was cruel." Costello's guitar rages al M'T'-v "i mose sol VyU Penner-wor- 2 Blood & Chocolate (1986): "I Want You" is his finest hour as a lyricist, a vocalist, a really creepy date. It's a sinister ballad in which he essentially stalks It! | |||
m ,fi;: ,' v U' f ,i h & jtiii-ft $ i ' | |||
Ihy orchestrations, every detail just the thing to underscore the most successful sophisticated set of songs in the Costello tensely angry song that found him listening to his former lover making love to someone new. The image worked so well that to the casual music fan, Elvis Costello will always be frozen in time as the pigeon-toed geek in Buddy Holly glasses on the cover of "My Aim Is True" unless you count the fluke success of "Everyday I Write the Book," his only U.S. hit (from "Punch the Clock," an underrated gem from 1983). But as the casual listener grew increasingly indifferent and the critics learned to approach him with open hostility to the extent that a review of his latest release in Village Voice began with "Elvis Costello is such an expletive" Elvis quietly amassed a catalog of classic albums fit to hold its own against the greatest artists in the history of rock 'n' roll, a catalog of urgency, ambition, depth and caustic humor, with an attitude as punk as Johnny Rotten on a bad day. And he did it all while constantly evolving, from the punk assault of "This Year's Model" through the soul revival of "Get Happy" to loftier projects that found him working with a string quartet, an opera singer, jazz guitarist Bill Fris-sell, Burt Bacharach and the Mingus Big Band. It's hard to imagine a rock 'n' roll artist more willing to change, to try new sounds. And Elvis rarely found a sound he couldn't make his own. He's never turned his back on rock 'n' roll for long, though. Earlier this year, "When I Was Cruel" was released to the clamor of ads that shouted "FIRST LOUD ALBUM SINCE 199?" And while that may be true, it could be argued that it oversimplifies the pleasures of his most exciting album in nearly a decade. From the sigh of "It was so much easier when I was cruel" to other lines that make you think it still comes pretty easily, his latest effort is essential Elvis, only strengthening his claim on what The Trouser Press Guide hails as "modern pop's greatest single-artist oeuvre, second only to Bob Dylan's." If you don't believe the hype, then chances are, you haven't heard these albums. most as much as his vocals on cuts as explosive as "Tear, Off Your Own Head (It's a Doll Revolution) and "Dissolve." And even when he Dumos It the girl who broke his heart, his anger growing more intense with each new sordid detail until finally, he explodes in a menacing two-note guitar solo tortured genius in its purest form. The other songs are nearly every bit as brilliant andor hurtful, from the raucous stomp with which he kicks the album into gear ("Uncomplicated") to the poppier moments that can't mask the pain or the anger. In "I Hope You're Happy Now," he ridicules her with "He's got all the things you need and some that you will neverBut you make him sound like frozen foodHis love will last forever." ' ... ' canon. "Human Hands" is as close to romantic as Elvis had gotten at that point; "Almost Blue" is the best of his early attempts at recasting himself as the last of the great white Tin Pin Alley torch-song writers; with "Tears Before Bedtime" and "Kid About It,' he soulf ul!y bridges trie gap between this album and "Get .Happy;" and "Beyond Belief" is just that as a set ol lyrics, spilling down the stream of consciousness like Dylan in his prime. The overall effect is Elvis at his most emotionally tortured and surprisingly direct. either. "Any record can be loud if you turn the volume high enough," he jokes. So, OK Clearly, Costello isn't a guy who's terribly chummy with categorizations. J lis recent resume shows he has been wwkiig overtime to defy any and all mufsical definitions. He has sung jazz pieces with tim Miiwis Orchestra, duetted on country nntiga wiiJi Lucinda Williams, performs! fH harmonies with the Fairfield Mmr, v ami with the Brodsky String Quartet, rwtwJ Charles Aznavour ballads for n twAe nnuid track and written a musicul Ihimm fur a British TV series. Last year, In; ttvtn wailed an offer from an Italian quim mhimi to write a full score for a 60 imv. wiwbUu, for which he had no preparation wli&lver. "It's not that different from wojVjj) will) a band," Costello says blithely. "I stiiM M with four guys. Now it's up to W, Ym just have to make sure the flute doesn't id up sounding like a guitar. I read a Utthmd manual and felt my way through il." Such creative pluck has mad; Costelto's career one of the most far-reaching and respected if also one of the most U v to follow in pop history. ' | |||
SEE COSTELLO, PACE 38 | |||
down on "Tart" and "Alibi" to show you what a 6 Armed Forces (1S7S): Rising to the New Wave challenge with some of the quirkiest songs he'd ever written ("Moods For Mod 3 ( master of the modern ballad he s become, his voice is fueled by an intensity he hasnl shown in years. But just wften you're leeling nostalgic, this year's model works a modem street, trom "Spooky Gi'ttnend," with its jszz-noir ambience, to a title cut thai loops a sampled Italian pop recording from the 'GOs only to sound, in the end, like s cross between fie tned-and-true spaghetti western vibe of "Watching fie Detectives" and "1 Want You 5F.E BEST Of HYtS, | |||
PAGE 33 | |||
3 This Year's Model (1978): From the Who-like bombast of "No Action" to the vitriolic charm of "This Year's Girl" (a tune that lifts its beat erns," "Senior Service"), Elvis delivers his catchiest, most accessible album yet, from fie opening splend'jr of "Accidents Will Happen" to tie album-closing definitive treatment of pn ,ducer Nick Lowe's "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?" With "Oliv- i | |||
PITTSBURGH POST-GAZEfTE VVEEKEND MAG ' FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1 6. 002 ' cover;. -page if COSTELLO FROM PAGE 23 subjects, including memory, fetishes, history, biography, style, corporate revolt, musical rebellion and the wages of fame. It just re-proves the old theory that the best pop singles tackle the most ground in the shortest space. Unsurprisingly, Costello considers himself something of a singles obsessive, not to mention a record junkie. "It's my one extravagance? I'm not much of a fashion plate. I ' i- don't care what shoes I wear. But I love to buy records. I much prefer that to getting them for free. Queuing up I in a store is part of it" Costello isn't inspired only by music but also by the machinations of the music business. On the new song "Spooky Girlfriend," Costello sings about a pliant female singer and her creepy manager. "There's something fascinating about the acquiescence of a pop creation, just as there is a morbid fascination with the Svengali figure," he explains. In another track, "Doll Revolution," Costello reverses his focus and writes about musicians revolting against the business, like the pioneers of grunge (or punk). The song might even be seen as a harbinger of what's to come next in music. "I'm always hopeful for the next big thing," he says. "No matter what it is." term being applied to them. He hates the label "crossover," which has been used for his classical-leaning efforts. "It's insulting because it implies that you're trying to ingratiate yourself with an audience who otherwise wouldn't like you," he says. "With Anne Sophie, if we wanted to ingratiate ourselves we would have made a very different record. We did the songs that she enjoyed and she sang them exactly the way she wanted." Better for all his songwriting output, Costello's cleverness as a lyric writer and flair for melodic hooks hasn't waned after more than 25 years at the game. "When I Was Cruel" is another example of his verbal derring-do. In subject matter, word choice and point of view, there isn't a cliched moment on the disc. Take the opening cut. The title, "45," refers to both the peak year of the baby boom and the antique term for vinyl singles. As an added joke, the song lasts precisely three minutes and 33 seconds (suggesting the playing speed of an old LP). At first, Costello swears the running time was an accident, then playfully adds, "We could be tying about the length, anyway. Has anyone actually timed it?" Regardless of its brevity, the song covers an amazing range of He has become so chameleon-like, he makes Madonna look like a creature of habit. Who else, after all, has the range, imagination and chutzpah to command two separate recording contracts at the same time? Currently, the 47-year-old artist filters his music through a twin-headed corporate hydra: the pop division of IslandDef Jam, which is releasing his new album, and the more specialized imprints of Universal Classics, which release such projects as his collaboration with von Otter and the aforementioned ballet score. The split ultimately reveals a more prosaic reason why Costello hasn't released what he sometimes likes to call "a rowdy rhythm record" in years. He admits he didn't want to fork over any pop-oriented music to Island until the company got through its wrenching reorganization. ' - "I wasn't about to give them a record when I wasn't sure who was in charge," he says, sounding slightly soiled by even having to consider such matters. While Costello says he certainly does want his albums to sell, he isn't happy with any marketing "fey, what's aplomb from one complex project to the next. His packed schedule has led some observers to label him a workaholic which, characteristically, makes him blanch. "The term suggests an unhealthy compulsion," he says. "But I really can't tell you a week when I've regretted it." To be in New York on Sept. 20, in that moment in the city, and record the horns for this record, and then go to L.A. to sing with the Mingus Orchestra for two of the best snows I've ever been involved in, then come back to Nashville and play with Lucinda Williams for a three-hour taping for Country Music Television . . . why wouldn't I want to do that? My job is to play music." But does this schedule leave Costello time for anything outside the world of song? He says he enjoys watching soccer, "though that usually involves some singing." And he likes to travel, though not to the usual places. His favorite trip was to an island near the South Pole. "To get bundled up and be surrounded by 70,000 curious penguins, that's better than drugs," he says. Music remains his most reliable high. "And the least dangerous," he says, having given up alcohol. "I lost the taste one day the same with meat. I think everybody has a certain allotment in their life and I met it Besides, when you get older it slows you down and makes you blue and I'm melancholic enough." Costello clearly still relishes his position as a maverick. "I never think about the audience. That would be patronizing. ... The main thing is just to make the records. They exist! They're there to be discovered or rediscovered." Together, these two songs show the breadth of Costello's point of view. He says he witnessed both sides of the music biz at this year's Grammy Awards, at which he served as a presenter. "It's like a trip to the fair," he says. "You either come away with a big teddy bear or you eat too much cotton candy and feel sick. This time, you had Ralph Stanley singing '0 Death.' So there was this shock of recognition that something real was actually being allowed to break through, in the midst of these really contrived things. But the contrived things are interesting, too. There's no right or wrong here. To me, it's good that it's all represented." Costello makes his open-minded attitude more personal in his album's title track, "When I Was Cruel." It finds Costello nostalgic for his youthful arrogance, when he could indulge the simple pleasure of writing people off without a thought "When you're older you see the humanity, even in people you despise," he explains. "You'll see an awful world leader, but then you notice the gravy stain on their tie or their bad toupee and there's this terrible moment where you feel pity before you get back to hating them again." Costello sustains his empathy further in "15 Petals," one of his few unguarded love songs to his wife, Cait O'Riordan. "I was never too good at the straight love song," Costello says. "I always felt the need to find a twist But in this, there isn't any getting out." Costello's lyrical dexterity is mirrored in the way he has moved with of the Week? rr this Sunday's Perk X' the bridge of "Clown Strike." 11. Almost Blue (1981): Elvis as a Nashville karaoke Bend, produced by Billy Sherrill and leaving his mark on songs made famous by the likes of Patsy Cline, George Jones and the Flying Burrito Brothers. The Attractions kick it off in raucous fashion with a rockabilly treatment of Hank Williams' great "Why Don't You Love Me (Like You Used to Do)" and take a detour through the swamp with the Rock and Roll Trio's "Honey Hush," but there are far more ballads here than rockers, and Costello does them all with style and passion. 12. Live at the El Mocambo (1978): Captured live with the Attractions at their hungriest, this widely-bootlegged, promotional-only Canadian album with horrible sound was recorded for radio broadcast at a packed club in Toronto shortly before the release of "This Year's Model." A ferocious explosion of sound, it features impassioned if trashy performances of "(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea," "You Belong to Me" and other "This Year's Model" classics while offering fans a taste of what the first one would have sounded like with the Attractions in for Clover, i ".in. -iaj Ed MoscVbtm he' nathMh' i: Get ready for another great perk from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Look for your PG Perks entry form in this Sunday's paper and thanks for being a loyal reader of the Post-Gazette. | |||
BEST Of ELVIS FROM PAGE 23 | |||
9. King of America (1986): Elvis joins the roots-rock revolution, with David Hidalgo of Los Lobos chiming in on "Loveable" and some ringers whose previous gigs included working with another Elvis (Jerry Scheff, James Burton) at his back. Produced by the man who eventually gave you American Music for Dummies also known as "O Brother Where Art Thou" you could say it rocks in places ("Glitter Gulch," in particular), but this is Elvis at his most adult-alternative. Not that there's anything wrong with that Not always, anyway. | |||
10. Brutal Youth (1994): In writing the liner notes to the recent reissue on Rhino, Elvis goes to great lengths to dismiss the Attractions reunion hype that surrounded the album's release. But I say trust the art. With Nick Lowe's presence adding to the back to-basics hype, it sounds like an Attractions album, fueled by what was easily the most inspired playing to have graced a Costello recording in years, from cuts that rock with the infectious charge of "Pony St." or "13 Steps Lead Down" to tender turns that wouldn't even think of rocking. That's what; made it so exciting at the time; Well, thai and the writing. ofcoujscVnmthdbcWddedrip,:, chanris" of 'Th'lsk IWiT.w fa qut of nowhere soul fals'ettd that lifLS | |||
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