Q, March 1993: Difference between revisions
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<center><h3> You hum it, son... </h3></center> | <center><h3> You hum it, son... </h3></center> | ||
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<center> Paul Du Noyer </center> | <center> Paul Du Noyer </center> | ||
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…and | '''…and we'll play it! "It's not pop," reckon The Brodsky Quartet, and "It's not classical," says Elvis Costello. So what the hell is this arranged (ha!) marriage between the bespectacled rock polymaestro and his slightly resiny new chums? And how, wonders a quill-toting Paul Du Noyer, did this Juliet bird get involved? On pages 52 to 54, Johnny Black conducts (ha again!) a lightning tour of the whole triumphant history of rock/classical collaborations. Batons at the ready… | ||
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For his new album, Elvis Costello has joined with classical string players The Brodsky Quartet, and together they've written a cycle of songs entitled ''The Juliet Letters'', after the fictional heroine of Shakespeare's famous play. Right. So the Quartet are slumming, and ''he's'' being pretentious. Next! | For his new album, Elvis Costello has joined with classical string players The Brodsky Quartet, and together they've written a cycle of songs entitled ''The Juliet Letters'', after the fictional heroine of Shakespeare's famous play. Right. So the Quartet are slumming, and ''he's'' being pretentious. Next! | ||
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It's not like. Oh, the singer's arrived. I think we get on great." | It's not like. Oh, the singer's arrived. I think we get on great." | ||
Their collaboration was made the easier by | Their collaboration was made the easier by Costello's decision to learn how to read and write music, as they do. He says he made up his mind to Jo it after working with Richard Harvey on the soundtrack to Alan Bleasdale's series ''G.B.H.'' He found a sympathetic young composer in Ireland (Elvis has kept a home in Dublin for a few years Row) and took a crash course. | ||
"He's learned musical notation incredibly quickly reports Cassidy. "When we met in November '91, he didn't know what a crotchet was. By the end of January he could write a foolscap four-part. It's no mean feat. People take years to do what he did in a month. Soon he was sending us his ideas on paper." | "He's learned musical notation incredibly quickly reports Cassidy. "When we met in November '91, he didn't know what a crotchet was. By the end of January he could write a foolscap four-part. It's no mean feat. People take years to do what he did in a month. Soon he was sending us his ideas on paper." | ||
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Elvis: "Now I look at the freedom its afforded me. And all that stuff about how it might inhibit the natural flow of things, for me that's proved to be a lot of hunk. I mean, I've written 50 songs in 1991, or had a share in them." | Elvis: "Now I look at the freedom its afforded me. And all that stuff about how it might inhibit the natural flow of things, for me that's proved to be a lot of hunk. I mean, I've written 50 songs in 1991, or had a share in them." | ||
A minor irony (or a sign of the times) in this partnership is that the pop guy, Elvis, is older than the classical people — the Brodskys and he are all thirtysomethings but at opposite ends of the decade. Maybe this blurring of generations helps dissolve the barriers between the two musics., rock is not just for kids any more, no more than the classics are for geriatrics. Elvis agrees, and argues that class barriers don't apply much nowadays either: "You look at the New Rich, the new | A minor irony (or a sign of the times) in this partnership is that the pop guy, Elvis, is older than the classical people — the Brodskys and he are all thirtysomethings but at opposite ends of the decade. Maybe this blurring of generations helps dissolve the barriers between the two musics., rock is not just for kids any more, no more than the classics are for geriatrics. Elvis agrees, and argues that class barriers don't apply much nowadays either: "You look at the New Rich, the new aristocracy, and they're rock 'n' roll people, the next generation up from me. I played the Chelsea Arts Ball last year so I could sing with the Count Basie Orchestra. I was just working there. just one of the minions, the entertainment. But the nobs there, the aristocracy, were Sting, Phil Collins, Eric Clapton ... They've probably got a lot more 'class' in their self-image than a lot of the people who were born to it." | ||
The Quartet, too, are optimistic, even if Jacky foresees a snob-problem in some buffs' view of ''The Juliet Letters'': "Some classical dedicatees may be upset that we're playing with someone who doesn't have a trained classical voice, who isn't an accepted tenor. Perhaps they'll look down their noses at that. But there are beautiful aspects to his voice which are way beyond what trained singers can get." | The Quartet, too, are optimistic, even if Jacky foresees a snob-problem in some buffs' view of ''The Juliet Letters'': "Some classical dedicatees may be upset that we're playing with someone who doesn't have a trained classical voice, who isn't an accepted tenor. Perhaps they'll look down their noses at that. But there are beautiful aspects to his voice which are way beyond what trained singers can get." | ||
At the early concerts they've given together, Their two audiences have apparently mingled without undue bloodshed. (In Dublin, "We literally had people in fur coats next to people in leather jackets," remembers Elvis.) Paul recalls the learnedly classical crowd at Dartington Hall, who gave an unprecedented display of laughter and cheering: "The piece is very human, it has truth | |||
to it. I think it reaches even those parts Heineken has failed to reach ... We're learning a lot from this. Our music (classical) is so full of rules, so it's important we don't make our lives full of rules as well. We've got to be open. I'm hoping people latch on to this and it opens avenues for everyone." | |||
At the early concerts they've given together, Their two audiences have apparently mingled without undue bloodshed. (In Dublin, "We literally had people in fur coats next to people in leather jackets," remembers Elvis.) Paul recalls the learnedly classical crowd at Dartington Hall, who gave an unprecedented display of laughter and | |||
to | Cassidy's quiet Irish brogue, in fact, takes on an evangelical edge when he rails against classical music elitism. "It's anti-social and it stinks. The awful thing is that people love clubs. If you find a good place to buy shoes, or a good hairdresser's, you don't go round telling everyone where it is. | ||
We all love that. People don't want to turn up to the Wigmore Hall and find queues of young yobs, they want them to keep going to the Hammersmith Odeon. And that's wrong. Classical music is for the masses." | We all love that. People don't want to turn up to the Wigmore Hall and find queues of young yobs, they want them to keep going to the Hammersmith Odeon. And that's wrong. Classical music is for the masses." | ||
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Elvis has put his chin up again. "I'm not on a little five-minute trip here. It's 16 years now. There's nothing to fear. Stupidity and misinformation are the only things that get in my way. And lack of integrity. When people change their opinions as the wind changes — that gets on my nerves, and is unforgivable. But you live on. You don't die. Somebody says some-thing mean about you, it doesn't kill you." | Elvis has put his chin up again. "I'm not on a little five-minute trip here. It's 16 years now. There's nothing to fear. Stupidity and misinformation are the only things that get in my way. And lack of integrity. When people change their opinions as the wind changes — that gets on my nerves, and is unforgivable. But you live on. You don't die. Somebody says some-thing mean about you, it doesn't kill you." | ||
Elvis Costello says of ''The Juliet Letters'' that "it has a couple of the best songs I've ever written. They're the best realisation | Elvis Costello says of ''The Juliet Letters'' that "it has a couple of the best songs I've ever written. They're the best realisation of what I started out to do with music and words. There's a lot of preconceived ideas out there, misshapen ideas. But who cares? I think this is a great record, I really do. But then," he relaxes a moment, "I think all my records are great, so what do I know?" | ||
Conversationally, Costello's pleasant enough in manner, despite the broadsides, and he talks 13 to the dozen when he's on a topic that's close to his heart or promotional agenda. But if an interview begins to drift he'll pull up the drawbridge pretty damn quickly. Sample: a couple of questions about his other projects, currently. What news, for example, of ''Idiophone'', which is the working title of his next album after this? He'll only say, "It's a record. Same as this is a record but it's different music." | |||
Well ... is it a rock record? | |||
"Don't know. Haven't made it yet." | |||
Who are you making it with? | |||
"Me." (He smirks at his own colossal unhelpfulness. Then grins apologetically.) "Me and some other people." | |||
The point, of course, is to keep our attention on the Brodsky project. But we press on. What about the promised LP of cover versions, ''Kojak Variety''? "That's a record that we made before ''Mighty Like A Rose''. It's just a bunch of songs I like. I had the opportunity to get this group of musicians I've worked with, we went in for two weeks and recorded an album. I'm going to make at least two of them if I'm still alive in 30 years. I've done from 1930 to 1970, 15 of my favourite songs, and I'll put it out when I feel like it," | |||
And a real curiosity: the songs you've written for Wendy James ... (She being the blonde songstrel of trash-glam popsters Transvision Vamp, now disintegrated; her solo album's entitled ''Now Ain't The Time For Your Tears'', it comes out in early March, and Elvis and his wife Cait have supplied songs written loosely around a theme of Ms James's life, partially based on a long letter she wrote him when she first requested some material.) | |||
"That's going to be funny. They were written Friday to Sunday, in between some of the Brodsky work. Literally. It was an exercise. Just a bunch of songs." | |||
Are they thematically linked? | |||
"Not really. Sort of. I can't really say. It's her record, I'm only the writer. They said, Do you want to do this? I said, Yeah. Me and Cait went to the park, took a piece of paper, and we'd written the songs by the time we got back. I always said I could write songs just like that. Certain kinds you can. I'm not demeaning them, there's some pretty good songs. I think they're funny." | |||
And then there's a "musical drama" he's hoping to do for late '93, although, he says, work on that has been delayed by his Brodsky/Juliet commitments. He's even knocked off a little something, again by request, for Zucchero: "It's getting like a business. But that's OK. One benefit of it is maybe it clears the way to what you want to write for yourself." | |||
And as to ''The Juliet Letters'', meanwhile ... | |||
"It's what it is. It's not what people think it is. Well, it is to them, I guess. But if they want to juggle it as part of their cocktail party patter, that's them wasting their lives. I don't want to have my life wasted by that shit. I'm having too much fun." | |||
Perhaps I look unconvinced. "I am! I'm having a great time! Fifty songs in one year! Ha!" | |||
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The Juliet Letters is reviewed on page 85. Wendy James is interviewed about her new, Costello-penned LP on page 24. | |||
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'''Q, No. 78, March 1993 | '''Q, No. 78, March 1993 | ||
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James did finally meet Costello. It was backstage after a U2 concert at Earl's Court last year. She is convinced it was just a coincidence. "But we were given an introduction, and obviously I said thank you and he wished me luck and said have a good time. And that was the conversation. There isn't any more to it than that. Strange. Strange but true. | James did finally meet Costello. It was backstage after a U2 concert at Earl's Court last year. She is convinced it was just a coincidence. "But we were given an introduction, and obviously I said thank you and he wished me luck and said have a good time. And that was the conversation. There isn't any more to it than that. Strange. Strange but true. | ||
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Latest revision as of 14:16, 22 October 2021
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