Record Collector, November 1993: Difference between revisions
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<center><h3> Elvis Costello </h3> | <center><h3> Elvis Costello — The first 2½ years </h3></center> | ||
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<center> Peter Doggett </center> | <center> Peter Doggett </center> | ||
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'''Peter Doggett reviews Demon's new boxed set | |||
{{Bibliography text}} | {{Bibliography text}} | ||
At the [[Concert 1978-03-20 Canterbury| | At the Canterbury Odeon in the spring of [[Concert 1978-03-20 Canterbury|1978]], it was business as usual for Elvis Costello and the Attractions. The mayhem of the first Stiff packages behind them, they were touring the colleges and cinemas of England, supported by the workmanlike R&B of Mickey Jupp. No more than 45 minutes into a set that breathed new meaning into the word "intense," Costello stomped off stage, followed a moment or two later by his unquestioning band. | ||
We hadn't had our money's worth, so we brayed like sheep for an encore. A full ten minutes later, Costello marched back out again, his trusty crew in his wake. After a vicious glare at the audience, he snarled, "About time too" | We hadn't had our money's worth, so we brayed like sheep for an encore. A full ten minutes later, Costello marched back out again, his trusty crew in his wake. After a vicious glare at the audience, he snarled, "About time too," and gifted us with a two-song grand slam. Outside, it was cold; it had felt that way indoors as well. | ||
Three years later — scarcely time for Sting or Peter Gabriel to consider a new album — Costello and the boys were at London's [[Concert 1981-03-27 London| | Three years later — scarcely time for Sting or Peter Gabriel to consider a new album — Costello and the boys were at London's Hammersmith Odeon. In a [[Concert 1981-03-27 London|set]] that ranged from country ballads to driving R&B, Elvis smiled benevolently at the crowd, told jokes between songs, and offered a version of Randy Crawford's "One Day I'll Fly Away" so tender it broke your heart. | ||
What happened between those two shows was three albums, a Stateside scandal, a near-breakdown and a personality reversal. Gone (at least until he read the reviews of ''The Juliet Letters'' last year) was the raging, restless spirit of guilt and revenge: instead, Costello reinvented himself as a music man for all seasons, a traveller prepared to cross the vast deserts between rock's violently opposed genre factions, equally at home with George Jones, Aretha Franklin or the MC5. | What happened between those two shows was three albums, a Stateside scandal, a near-breakdown and a personality reversal. Gone (at least until he read the reviews of ''The Juliet Letters'' last year) was the raging, restless spirit of guilt and revenge: instead, Costello reinvented himself as a music man for all seasons, a traveller prepared to cross the vast deserts between rock's violently opposed genre factions, equally at home with George Jones, Aretha Franklin or the MC5. | ||
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After all that, the Elvis who confused love and hate on "Alison," "Red Shoes," "Watching The Detectives" and "Accidents Will Happen" seems like a man from the twilight zone. While boxed sets of magic moments from the 50s or 60s sound like yesterday, the four Costello albums revamped on Demon's retrospective, ''The First 2½ Years'' (Demon DPAM BOX 1), arrive as refugees from a foreign civilisation, where no-one has separated tge punks from the new wave. | After all that, the Elvis who confused love and hate on "Alison," "Red Shoes," "Watching The Detectives" and "Accidents Will Happen" seems like a man from the twilight zone. While boxed sets of magic moments from the 50s or 60s sound like yesterday, the four Costello albums revamped on Demon's retrospective, ''The First 2½ Years'' (Demon DPAM BOX 1), arrive as refugees from a foreign civilisation, where no-one has separated tge punks from the new wave. | ||
In that other lifetime, Elvis Costello stood for angst and accusation. Oppressed by the burden of personal relationships, paranoid about the political state, bored with nostalgia and joy and hope, his early albums chronicled "emotional fascism" | In that other lifetime, Elvis Costello stood for angst and accusation. Oppressed by the burden of personal relationships, paranoid about the political state, bored with nostalgia and joy and hope, his early albums chronicled "emotional fascism," as he almost called his third LP. | ||
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At the time, the promo-only album ''Live At The El Mocambo'', [[Concert 1978-03-06 Toronto|recorded]] within a few weeks of that Canterbury show in 1978, was seen as a fun collector's item, nothing more. Now it burns with the crazed passion of a fanatic, and captures the desperate heart of the man far more accurately than the studio efforts. The Attractions hit everything at full volume and speed, and Elvis reels from one poisoned love-letter to the next, careering towards a one-man apocalypse. Loud, ragged and thrilling, the ''El Mocambo'' album delivers every boast Costello made in that first flurry of press hype. | At the time, the promo-only album ''Live At The El Mocambo'', [[Concert 1978-03-06 Toronto|recorded]] within a few weeks of that Canterbury show in 1978, was seen as a fun collector's item, nothing more. Now it burns with the crazed passion of a fanatic, and captures the desperate heart of the man far more accurately than the studio efforts. The Attractions hit everything at full volume and speed, and Elvis reels from one poisoned love-letter to the next, careering towards a one-man apocalypse. Loud, ragged and thrilling, the ''El Mocambo'' album delivers every boast Costello made in that first flurry of press hype. | ||
Fittingly, that's the only one of the four albums delivered here untouched. The three studio offerings come with the welcome bonus of out-takes, demos and singles. Years after their first appearance on bootleg, here are the best of the "Honky Tonk" demos — one man and his guitar, already programmed for the heart of the sun. Besides hits and B-sides like "Watching The Detectives" and "Radio Sweetheart" | Fittingly, that's the only one of the four albums delivered here untouched. The three studio offerings come with the welcome bonus of out-takes, demos and singles. Years after their first appearance on bootleg, here are the best of the "Honky Tonk" demos — one man and his guitar, already programmed for the heart of the sun. Besides hits and B-sides like "Watching The Detectives" and "Radio Sweetheart," there's also a rare acknowledgement of the pre-Elvis past, via a mid-70s cut from country-rockers [[Flip City]]. | ||
''This Year's Model'' adds the expected "Radio, Radio" | ''This Year's Model'' adds the expected "Radio, Radio," the mighty "Big Tears," the throwaway "Crawling To The USA" and three demos for what came next. That proved to be the over-slick ''Armed Forces'', which I recall buying and then selling again within a fortnight — unenticed by the free ''Live At Hollywood High'' EP, included here alongside another batch of 45s. | ||
Betrayed by the third album, I was re-enlisted by the fourth, the stunning ''Get Happy'' — for which we'll have to wait until Demon prepare another box. ''The First 22½ Years'' is maybe the first prestigious retrospective not to receive the leather-bound, antique book treatment: with its cut-out cover and horrendously 1979 graphics, it's as ephemeral as pop records are supposed to be. Elvis Costello, though, wasn't quite that easy to throw away. | Betrayed by the third album, I was re-enlisted by the fourth, the stunning ''Get Happy'' — for which we'll have to wait until Demon prepare another box. ''The First 22½ Years'' is maybe the first prestigious retrospective not to receive the leather-bound, antique book treatment: with its cut-out cover and horrendously 1979 graphics, it's as ephemeral as pop records are supposed to be. Elvis Costello, though, wasn't quite that easy to throw away. | ||
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{{Bibliography images}} | {{Bibliography images}} | ||
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<br><small>Page scan.</small> | <br><small>Page scan.</small> | ||
[[image:1993-11-00 Record Collector cover.jpg|x120px]] | <small>Cover.</small><br> | ||
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{{Bibliography notes footer}} | {{Bibliography notes footer}} |
Revision as of 09:16, 12 September 2019
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