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Nearly four years ago in a Gaineville, Georgia thrift store we found a cache of one dollar CDs that beckoned. Among the delights to be had were a pair of Elvis Costello albums of late [for me] vintage. I have scant releases past the line in the sand for me that was “Blood + Chocolate.” I have long maintained that EC lost much of his luster for me following that release, though the two concerts that I have seen subsequently, were completely convincing, even as they were formed partially from this later body of work that had failed to make a dent in my attention. Last week, while picking something to hear on my long-sh commute to work, I opted for the two Elvis Costello albums that I probably gave a single listen to back at the time of purchase. What I discovered several years later was such a violently contrasting experience, that I decided quickly that it would become the basis for the most schizophrenic Steel Cage Match® ever.
First up: from 2003 – Elvis Costello’s “North.”
Elvis Costello: North US CD [2003]
You Left Me In The Dark
Someone Took The Words Away
When Did I Stop Dreaming?
You Turned To Me
Fallen
When It Sings
Still
Let Me Tell You About Her
Can You Be True?
When Green Eyes Turn Blue
I’m In The Mood Again
North [DL]
2003 is notable for being the year that Elvis Costello married his third wife, jazz pianist Diana Krall. It was also notable for being the year where Mr. Costello got the ill-starred idea in his head that he needed to prove himself to his new paramour that he could operate in jazz as well. It was not an idea I would have slapped down on the face of it. After all, in 1997 I thoroughly enjoyed Costello’s link up with Burt Bacharach; “God Give Me Strength” on the OST to the interesting roman à clef Carole King non-biopic “Grace of My Heart.” When they followed up the next year, the resulting album was a credit to each of their careers.
It was fascinating hearing Costello; a wordsmith nonpareil writing lyrics for Burt Bacharach; a brilliant songwriter whose output lived or died on the caliber of the words his chosen lyricists of the day provided. When it was Hal David, the result was brilliant, complex pop whose musical sophistication belied the ease with which their songs became part of the pop landscape and the standard by which MOR pop was measured. When Bacharach co-wrote with his wife, Carole Bayer Sager in the eighties the results were greeting-card homilies where Bacharach’s talent for making the complex sound easy were squandered on the facile platitudes that Sager proffered as lyrics.
What “North” indisputably proved was that the converse could also be true. The best lyricist in the world, attempting jazz but left to his own devices as writer/producer/arranger could easily craft a stultifyingly dull album of meandering non-melodies that lacked all forms of tension and release necessary for the best pop. Quite frankly, “North” was nearly impossible to listen to and maintain focus on it. The evasive melodies have all of the complexity of a young man showing off his technical ability without managing to deliver any transcendence. Just when your mind anticipates a hook about to occur naturally, Costello made double dog sure to twist 180 degrees in another direction entirely. Leaving his insubstantial and vaporous melodic attempts evaporating before the ink was dry on the score.
The album is diabolical for having no rhythmic impetus at all. Some might consider rhythm and repetition a crutch in popular music. I am not one of those people. Hearing the normally loquacious Costello pare his lyrics here down to besotted love paeans to the wonderful, I’m sure, Ms. Krall did nothing for me. So what we had delivered here was an album bereft of hooks or strong melodies, yet full of the simplest and most straightforward [albeit dull, if personal] lyrics Costello ever put to wax. In fairness, only “Still” manages to get up a smoky, late night head of steam and deliver the romantic, sophisticated goods he was aiming for. Also, the cover/booklet design was superb. At least some of that Deutsche Grammphon cash got put to good use.
But that does not excuse the other ten clinkers that make listening to this album a godawful chore with almost zero payback. Worse yet, the album had a “bonus track” that was a DL title track, left off of the proper release. I’d like to say that It was good or even bad, but since it was a WMA file incompatible with Macintosh computers, I’ll never had the “pleasure.” In a cross platform world with dozens of standards that reach the widest possible audience, this sort of 90s Windows-centric hubris boils my blood further on top of the shabby art on display here!
Next: …Night + Day [and we’re not talking Cole Porter]
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