Listening to Elvis Costello's new album is like watching Janet Leigh climb into the shower in Hitchcock's Psycho just before she is murdered.
Sure, Costello's Armed Forces (Columbia) deals with traditional rock themes like unrequited love. But then stepping into the shower was also pretty routine until Hitchcock came along.
Although he looks as meek as Woody Allen, the bespectacled, crew cut Costello may be the first rock artist to make it big singing about terror.
After all, how many of today's songwriters would dare turn a lament about high school romance into something straight out of the Nazi genocide, as Costello does in "Chemistry Class"?
"You've got a chemistry class / I want a piece of your mind / You don't know what you started when you mixed it up with mine / Are you ready for the Final Solution?"
With lyrics like that, it's easy to see why the album was to have been titled Emotional Fascism, but promoters softened it a bit to avoid linking Costello too closely with punk rock.
Instead, Costello has been lumped with the New Wave of rock 'n' roll, and so far he has been one of its few successes. Both of his first two albums cracked the Billboard top 50 and Armed Forces entered the charts at No. 37.
Costello leads the New Wave pack because he writes irresistible melodies — straight from the Buddy Holly kick-your-shoes-off-and-dance era. Rather than relying strictly on a droning three-chord style, Costello lets his three-piece band, the "Attractions," rock out as a joyous counterpoint to his harsh lyrics.
An innovative keyboards player is the group's centerpiece, alternating between a "Palisades Park," bubble gum sound and a church organ rumble.
Costello's impassioned vocals cut through the organ melodies like a knife, literally fighting to be heard.
It's not a pretty voice, but it is tense and explosive — essential ingredients in great rock 'n' roll.
Like Psycho, this perverse brilliance doesn't wear out with constant playing. Armed Forces keeps you on the edge of your seat every time.
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