Radio Times, May 8, 2004

Bibliography   72 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 UK & Ireland weeklies UK & Ireland magazines UK & Ireland newspapers US newspapers US rock magazines US music magazines US magazines US alternative weeklies European magazines European newspapers Canada  •  Mexico  •  Asia Australia  •  New Zealand South America  •  Africa Blogs  •  Fanzines  •  Books Online publications Radio Times   1978 October 7 1979 September 15 2004 May 8 2013 November 2 2022 January 8 Magazines  Concerto Details Entertainment Weekly Esquire Forbes Il giornale della musica GQ Interview magazine Life Music Maker The Nation New Yorker Newsweek Nöjesguiden Opera News People Spy Time Total Guitar Uncut Vanity Fair Village Voice Vox The Word — The raging process Andrew Duncan meets Elvis Costello Andrew Duncan His music may have mellowed, but the singer — don't call him "rock legend," for pity's sake — certainly hasn't. As so often, the image is contradicted by reality. Admittedly Elvis Costello is prolix, agonising over three words when one will do, and there’s a justifiable smidgen of irritability at lazy questions. But the man with a soft voice, sitting in a London hotel wearing nerdish horn rims and a three-piece suit — even though its uncomfortably hot outside — is far removed from the angry rocker who (according to his song Tramp the Dirt Down) wanted to live long enough to dance on Margaret Thatcher’s grave. Costello’s reputation as a monosyllabic poseur makes him unnerving, and he can be truculent. He’s a 'bit of a workaholic, edgy, and lacking manufactured pop star charisma, but good for him. We need an antidote to the bland. But hang on… his latest incarnation is as a love balladeer much to the annoyance of some fans, bewildered by the twists and turns of his pleasingly eclectic career. To date Costello’s made more than 20 albums, collaborated with Burt Bacharach, mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter and The Brodsky Quartet, written an Italian ballet based on Midsummer Night’s Dream, and music for Alan Bleasdale's TV opuses Jake’s Progress and GRH. He even acted as a magician in Bleasdale’s film, No Surrender. "There’s talk about me doing more substantial acting. I enjoy working with Alan. I’m not sure television is worthy of him. It's run by morons, and those making creative decisions are mediocre, their aspirations constrained by the business environment. I watched The Great War on DVD. I’d seen it first as a child, and was shocked at how much more it assumes on the part of the audience than anything done today." Costello’s often angry lyrics were softened in last year’s album, North, which metamorphoses from his second divorce ("You Left Me in the Dark") to falling in love with his third wife, acclaimed Canadian singer Diana Krall ("I'm In The Mood Again"), whom he met when they co-presented the Song of the Year award at the 2002 Grammys. They married at Elton John’s Windsor home last Christmas. Predictably North has been on a seesaw of reviews — from brilliant to "pompous. Pretentious, soporific." The lyrics are clearly personal. "It doesn't matter if people become morbidly curious that it’s autobiographical. If you write something direct and open, you’re inviting listeners to say, 'Is that you?' I say, ‘No. I see you in it.’" Songwriters become identified with their words. Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell opened the way for a lot of boring lyricists to burden us with their less interesting lives. "People ask why I go in different directions. Why not? As far as I know we only get one life, and when opportunities come your way, the only reason not to do them is if you’re defending a brand, which is a wretched way to think about music. "But it’s not for me to judge singers who are more pragmatic — or cynical, depending on how generous you’re feeling. The record industry has given me a lot of money not to play the game. It’s been a huge con all these years, wasting vast amounts of their money," he jokes, but adds more seriously, "I've spent my time making records I like, and some they didn’t like at all. "Rock 'n' roll has become oddly conservative, although I’ve had a problem about how financially crooked the whole game is. A lot of it is falling apart through its own greed and stupidity." Some of his lyrics are hectoring, expressing deeply felt views, but he says, “I haven’t written any political songs. I’ve written as an emotional response to events, so they're called political because they’re not about love. Remaining text to come… Radio Times, May 8 - 14, 2004 Andrew Duncan interviews Elvis Costello. Images Cover.

External links

• RadioTimes.com
• Wikipedia: Radio Times
• Elvis Costello Fan Forum