Popdose, September 13, 2013: Difference between revisions

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{{Bibliography article header}}
<center><h3>Album Review: Elvis Costello and the Roots, “Wise Up Ghost” </h3></center>
<center><h3> Wise Up Ghost </h3></center>
<center>''' Elvis Costello and the Roots </center>
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<center> {{m}} </center>
<center> Matt Springer </center>
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{{Bibliography text}}
{{Bibliography text}}
''“Now we’re in a hall of mirrors<br>
<span style="font-size:92%"> {{n}}''"Now we're in a hall of mirrors <br> {{n}} With my secret fears and terrors"'' <br>
''With my secret fears and terrors”''
{{mm}} — "Come The Meantimes" by Elvis Costello and the Roots </span>


–from “Come The Meantimes” by Elvis Costello and the Roots
''Wise Up Ghost'' may be the most bleak album Elvis Costello has ever released.


''Wise Up Ghost'' may be the most bleak album Elvis Costello has ever released.
It's amazing, and the Roots are ideal collaborators, intertwining their sound with the melodic bile Costello spits into the mic. It's got grooves to spare. But it is dark, and unrelenting.


It’s amazing, and the Roots are ideal collaborators, intertwining their sound with the melodic bile Costello spits into the mic. It’s got grooves to spare. But it is dark, and unrelenting.
We live in dark and unrelenting times. Every day brings new revelations about the NSA's warrantless access into our digital lives. The threat of chemical weapons in Syria has politicians raising war flags and citizens issuing a mildly annoyed shrug. In spite of the near-collapse of our economy and the best efforts of the Occupy movement, the rich still get richer and the poor get… children.


We live in dark and unrelenting times. Every day brings new revelations about the NSA’s warrantless access into our digital lives. The threat of chemical weapons in Syria has politicians raising war flags and citizens issuing a mildly annoyed shrug. In spite of the near-collapse of our economy and the best efforts of the Occupy movement, the rich still get richer and the poor get…children.
Much of that wasn't in the cultural landscape as this record was being made, but does it matter? Illegal wiretapping, the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, greed running rampant over the American landscape… all of this has happened before. All of this will happen again.


Much of that wasn’t in the cultural landscape as this record was being made, but does it matter? Illegal wiretapping, the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, greed running rampant over the American landscape…all of this has happened before. All of this will happen again.
The pre-press for ''Wise Up Ghost'' indicates it began as a covers project, which is one explanation for the fact that most of these songs are constructed from bits and pieces of Costello's past — an audio sample may inform the tune, or a new composition may emerge with the lyrics of an old song, or even cut-up reconstructions of words from several tunes.


The pre-press for ''Wise Up Ghost'' indicates it began as a covers project, which is one explanation for the fact that most of these songs are constructed from bits and pieces of Costello’s past–an audio sample may inform the tune, or a new composition may emerge with the lyrics of an old song, or even cut-up reconstructions of words from several tunes.
These songs feel fresh. They were written yesterday; they could have been written ten minutes ago. They may be written again tomorrow: "Pills and Soap," a vicious attack on the Thatcher era's dismissal of the poor; "Invasion Hit Parade," released in the thick of Bush Sr.'s fetishistic Desert Storm; "National Ransom," a howl into the roaring wind of unquenchable greed that blows down the middle of Wall Street and Canary Wharf just the same.


These songs feel fresh. They were written yesterday; they could have been written ten minutes ago. They may be written again tomorrow: “Pills and Soap,” a vicious attack on the Thatcher era’s dismissal of the poor; “Invasion Hit Parade,” released in the thick of Bush Sr.’s fetishistic Desert Storm; “National Ransom,” a howl into the roaring wind of unquenchable greed that blows down the middle of Wall Street and Canary Wharf just the same.
Hammer them into new machines around the sinister beats of Questlove and the brittle riffs of Captain Kirk, and they may sound more contemporary, but they speak to the darkest corners of our past, present, and inevitable future. This is soul music as poison pill. The tools of inspiration, of the gospel dragged from the church to the roadhouse — horns, strings, that groove — are weaponized. As vicious as Costello is with his words, the Roots match his mood with their music, two musical chameleons disappearing into a common goal. Co-producer Steven Mandel enters the scene like a mad scientist, pouring spooky beakers filled with evil sounds into the cauldron, mixing the concoction just right for maximum devastation.


Hammer them into new machines around the sinister beats of ?uestlove and the brittle riffs of Captain Kirk, and they may sound more contemporary, but they speak to the darkest corners of our past, present, and inevitable future. This is soul music as poison pill. The tools of inspiration, of the gospel dragged from the church to the roadhouse–horns, strings, that groove–are weaponized. As vicious as Costello is with his words, the Roots match his mood with their music, two musical chameleons disappearing into a common goal. Co-producer Steven Mandel enters the scene like a mad scientist, pouring spooky beakers filled with evil sounds into the cauldron, mixing the concoction just right for maximum devastation.
On his recent records, Costello has tempered his most cutting observations with the occasional softening moment. 2008's ''Momofuku'' opened with a blistering one-two punch, "No Hiding Place" and "American Gangster Time" (''"It's a drag / Saluting that starry rag"''), but later revealed "Flutter & Wow," a tender mid-tempo love song; and "My Three Sons," a downright sweet tune about the singer's young twins with wife Diana Krall and his adult son from his first marriage, as direct and autobiographical as Costello has ever been.


On his recent records, Costello has tempered his most cutting observations with the occasional softening moment. 2008’s ''Momofuku'' opened with a blistering one-two punch, “No Hiding Place” and “American Gangster Time” (“It’s a drag/Saluting that starry rag”), but later revealed “Flutter & Wow,” a tender mid-tempo love song; and “My Three Sons,” a downright sweet tune about the singer’s young twins with wife Diana Krall and his adult son from his first marriage, as direct and autobiographical as Costello has ever been.
On ''Wise Up Ghost'', beauty is just another distortion of fear. "Tripwire" takes a delicate glockenspiel opening from 1989's "Satellite" (off Costello's hit album ''Spike'', which also featured "Veronica") and spins out an aching ballad of terror.


On ''Wise Up Ghost'', beauty is just another distortion of fear. “Tripwire” takes a delicate glockenspiel opening from 1989’s “Satellite” (off Costello’s hit album ''Spike'', which also featured “Veronica”) and spins out an aching ballad of terror.
{{n}}''"Don't open the door cause they're coming <br>
{{n}}''Don't open the door cause they're here <br>
{{n}}''Above there's an ominous humming <br>
{{n}}''Below there's a murmur of prayer"''


''“Don’t open the door cause they’re coming<br>
Costello leans close into the mic and whispers the words straight into your ears, intimate and violating at the same time. If you're not afraid, you should be.
''Don’t open the door cause they’re here<br>
''Above there’s an ominous humming<br>
''Below there’s a murmur of prayer”''


Costello leans close into the mic and whispers the words straight into your ears, intimate and violating at the same time. If you’re not afraid, you should be.
Even ''Mighty Like A Rose'', the 1991 record from which "Invasion Hit Parade" and "Hurry Down Doomsday (The Bugs Are Taking Over)" originate, concluded with "Couldn't Call It Unexpected," in which Costello sings over a ticky-tack piano like a broken music box, ''"Please don't let me fear anything I cannot explain / I can't believe / I'll never believe / In anything again."''


Even ''Mighty Like A Rose'', the 1991 record from which “Invasion Hit Parade” and “Hurry Down Doomsday (The Bugs Are Taking Over)” originate, concluded with “Couldn’t Call It Unexpected,” in which Costello sings over a ticky-tack piano like a broken music box, ''“Please don’t let me fear anything I cannot explain/I can’t believe/I’ll never believe/In anything again.”''
Fast-forward to 2013, and ''Wise Up Ghost'' concludes with "If I Could Believe," a piano-driven ballad of heartbreak that also sums up the bitter, enraged, resigned mood of a singer in trouble times — ''"Lost in my insolence and sneers / That might sound like prayers / If I could believe."'' Hope has flown the coop; the angry young man has only grown older and angrier, leaving nothing but beautiful noise in his wake. When you've given the world revenge and guilt, and nothing has changed for the better, what else is left but resignation and regret?


Fast-forward to 2013, and ''Wise Up Ghost'' concludes with “If I Could Believe,” a piano-driven ballad of heartbreak that also sums up the bitter, enraged, resigned mood of a singer in trouble times–“Lost in my insolence and sneers/That might sound like prayers/If I could believe.” Hope has flown the coop; the angry young man has only grown older and angrier, leaving nothing but beautiful noise in his wake. When you’ve given the world revenge and guilt, and nothing has changed for the better, what else is left but resignation and regret?
{{cx}}
{{cx}}
{{tags}}[[The Roots]] {{-}} [[Wise Up Ghost]] {{-}} [[Come The Meantimes]] {{-}} [[Pills And Soap]] {{-}} [[Invasion Hit Parade]] {{-}} [[National Ransom (song)|National Ransom]] {{-}} [[Questlove|?uestlove]] {{-}} [[Captain Kirk Douglas]] {{-}} [[Steven Mandel]] {{-}} [[Momofuku]] {{-}} [[No Hiding Place]] {{-}} [[American Gangster Time]] {{-}} [[Flutter & Wow]] {{-}} [[My Three Sons]] {{-}} [[Diana Krall]] {{-}} [[Tripwire]] {{-}} [[Satellite]] {{-}} [[Spike]] {{-}} [[Veronica]] {{-}} [[Mighty Like A Rose]] {{-}} [[Hurry Down Doomsday (The Bugs Are Taking Over)]] {{-}} [[Couldn't Call It Unexpected No. 4]] {{-}} [[If I Could Believe]]
 
{{tags}}[[Wise Up Ghost]] {{-}} [[The Roots]] {{-}} [[Questlove]] {{-}} [[Steven Mandel]] {{-}} [[Captain Kirk Douglas]] {{-}} [[Come The Meantimes]] {{-}} [[If I Could Believe]] {{-}} [[Pills And Soap]] {{-}} [[Invasion Hit Parade]] {{-}} [[National Ransom (song)|National Ransom]] {{-}} [[Momofuku]] {{-}} [[No Hiding Place]] {{-}} [[American Gangster Time]] {{-}} [[Flutter & Wow]] {{-}} [[My Three Sons]] {{-}} [[Diana Krall]] {{-}} [[Tripwire]] {{-}} [[Satellite]] {{-}} [[Spike]] {{-}} [[Veronica]] {{-}} [[Mighty Like A Rose]] {{-}} [[Hurry Down Doomsday (The Bugs Are Taking Over)]] {{-}} [[Couldn't Call It Unexpected No. 4]]
{{cx}}
{{cx}}


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'''Popdose, September 13, 2013
'''Popdose, September 13, 2013
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Popdose reviews ''Wise Up Ghost''.
[[Matt Springer]] reviews ''[[Wise Up Ghost]]''.


{{Bibliography images}}
{{Bibliography images}}


[[image:2013-09-13 Adresseavisen Photo 01 dc.jpg|360px|border]]
[[image:Wise Up Ghost album cover.jpg|180px|link=Wise Up Ghost]]
<br><small>Photo credit: [[Danny Clinch]].</small>


{{Bibliography notes footer}}
{{Bibliography notes footer}}
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==External links==
==External links==
*[https://popdose.com/album-review-elvis-costello-and-the-roots-wise-up-ghost/ popdose.com]
*[https://popdose.com/album-review-elvis-costello-and-the-roots-wise-up-ghost/ Popdose.com]


{{DEFAULTSORT:Popdose 2013-09-13}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Popdose 2013-09-13}}

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Wise Up Ghost

Elvis Costello and the Roots
Matt Springer

 "Now we're in a hall of mirrors
  With my secret fears and terrors"
   — "Come The Meantimes" by Elvis Costello and the Roots

Wise Up Ghost may be the most bleak album Elvis Costello has ever released.

It's amazing, and the Roots are ideal collaborators, intertwining their sound with the melodic bile Costello spits into the mic. It's got grooves to spare. But it is dark, and unrelenting.

We live in dark and unrelenting times. Every day brings new revelations about the NSA's warrantless access into our digital lives. The threat of chemical weapons in Syria has politicians raising war flags and citizens issuing a mildly annoyed shrug. In spite of the near-collapse of our economy and the best efforts of the Occupy movement, the rich still get richer and the poor get… children.

Much of that wasn't in the cultural landscape as this record was being made, but does it matter? Illegal wiretapping, the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, greed running rampant over the American landscape… all of this has happened before. All of this will happen again.

The pre-press for Wise Up Ghost indicates it began as a covers project, which is one explanation for the fact that most of these songs are constructed from bits and pieces of Costello's past — an audio sample may inform the tune, or a new composition may emerge with the lyrics of an old song, or even cut-up reconstructions of words from several tunes.

These songs feel fresh. They were written yesterday; they could have been written ten minutes ago. They may be written again tomorrow: "Pills and Soap," a vicious attack on the Thatcher era's dismissal of the poor; "Invasion Hit Parade," released in the thick of Bush Sr.'s fetishistic Desert Storm; "National Ransom," a howl into the roaring wind of unquenchable greed that blows down the middle of Wall Street and Canary Wharf just the same.

Hammer them into new machines around the sinister beats of Questlove and the brittle riffs of Captain Kirk, and they may sound more contemporary, but they speak to the darkest corners of our past, present, and inevitable future. This is soul music as poison pill. The tools of inspiration, of the gospel dragged from the church to the roadhouse — horns, strings, that groove — are weaponized. As vicious as Costello is with his words, the Roots match his mood with their music, two musical chameleons disappearing into a common goal. Co-producer Steven Mandel enters the scene like a mad scientist, pouring spooky beakers filled with evil sounds into the cauldron, mixing the concoction just right for maximum devastation.

On his recent records, Costello has tempered his most cutting observations with the occasional softening moment. 2008's Momofuku opened with a blistering one-two punch, "No Hiding Place" and "American Gangster Time" ("It's a drag / Saluting that starry rag"), but later revealed "Flutter & Wow," a tender mid-tempo love song; and "My Three Sons," a downright sweet tune about the singer's young twins with wife Diana Krall and his adult son from his first marriage, as direct and autobiographical as Costello has ever been.

On Wise Up Ghost, beauty is just another distortion of fear. "Tripwire" takes a delicate glockenspiel opening from 1989's "Satellite" (off Costello's hit album Spike, which also featured "Veronica") and spins out an aching ballad of terror.

 "Don't open the door cause they're coming
 Don't open the door cause they're here
 Above there's an ominous humming
 Below there's a murmur of prayer"

Costello leans close into the mic and whispers the words straight into your ears, intimate and violating at the same time. If you're not afraid, you should be.

Even Mighty Like A Rose, the 1991 record from which "Invasion Hit Parade" and "Hurry Down Doomsday (The Bugs Are Taking Over)" originate, concluded with "Couldn't Call It Unexpected," in which Costello sings over a ticky-tack piano like a broken music box, "Please don't let me fear anything I cannot explain / I can't believe / I'll never believe / In anything again."

Fast-forward to 2013, and Wise Up Ghost concludes with "If I Could Believe," a piano-driven ballad of heartbreak that also sums up the bitter, enraged, resigned mood of a singer in trouble times — "Lost in my insolence and sneers / That might sound like prayers / If I could believe." Hope has flown the coop; the angry young man has only grown older and angrier, leaving nothing but beautiful noise in his wake. When you've given the world revenge and guilt, and nothing has changed for the better, what else is left but resignation and regret?


Tags: Wise Up Ghost  •  The Roots  •  Questlove  •  Steven Mandel  •  Captain Kirk Douglas  •  Come The Meantimes  •  If I Could Believe  •  Pills And Soap  •  Invasion Hit Parade  •  National Ransom  •  Momofuku  •  No Hiding Place  •  American Gangster Time  •  Flutter & Wow  •  My Three Sons  •  Diana Krall  •  Tripwire  •  Satellite  •  Spike  •  Veronica  •  Mighty Like A Rose  •  Hurry Down Doomsday (The Bugs Are Taking Over)  •  Couldn't Call It Unexpected No. 4

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Popdose, September 13, 2013

Matt Springer reviews Wise Up Ghost.

Images

Wise Up Ghost album cover.jpg

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