Record Mirror, January 9, 1982

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 Record Mirror   1974 March 16 1977 March 19 1977 March 26 1977 April 16 1977 May 28 1977 July 16 1977 July 23 1977 August 6 1977 August 13 1977 August 20 1977 August 27 1977 September 3 1977 September 17 1977 September 24 1977 October 8 1977 October 15 1977 October 22 1977 November 5 1977 November 26 1977 December 3 1977 December 17 1977 December 31 1978 January 14 1978 January 21 1978 February 25 1978 March 4 1978 March 11 1978 March 18 1978 March 25 1978 April 15  1978 April 22 1978 May 20 1978 June 24  1978 July 8  1978 September 16  1978 September 30 1978 October 21  1978 November 18 1978 November 25 1978 December 30 1979 January 6 1979 January 13  1979 February 3 1979 March 3 1979 May 12 1979 May 19 1979 June 2 1979 October 13 1979 October 27 1979 December 15 1980 January 12 1980 January 19 1980 January 26 1980 February 2 1980 February 16 1980 February 23 1980 March 1 1980 March 8 1980 March 22 1980 April 12 1980 May 10 1980 August 23 1980 September 6 1980 October 4 1980 October 18  1980 December 6 1980 December 27 1981 January 3  1981 January 10 1981 January 17 1981 January 24 1981 January 31 1981 February 28 1981 March 14 1981 April 4 1981 June 13 1981 July 4 1981 August 8 1981 September 12 1981 October 3 1981 October 24 1981 November 7 1981 December 26   1982 January 9 1982 January 16 1982 March 27 1982 May 1  1982 June 5  1982 June 12 1982 June 19 1982 June 26 1982 July 3 1982 July 10 1982 July 24  1982 September 4 1982 September 18  1982 October 9 1982 October 16 1982 November 27 1983 January 1   1983 June 4  1983 July 2 1983 July 16 1983 July 30 1983 August 13 1983 September 10  1983 November 19  1983 December 10  1984 January 7   1984 March 24 1984 March 31 1984 April 14 1984 April 21 1984 May 5 1984 May 12 1984 June 2 1984 June 9   1984 June 16  1984 June 30 1984 October 20  1985 May 11  1985 June 15  1985 July 20  1985 September 21 1985 November 9  1985 December 7  1985 December 21  1986 February 22 1986 March 8 1986 April 26 1986 May 17  1986 May 31 1986 June 28  1986 July 12  1986 August 2 1986 August 23  1986 September 20 1986 November 8  1986 November 29  1986 December 6 1987 December 12 1988 February 27  1988 November 12 1988 December 17 1989 January 7  1989 February 4  1989 February 11 1989 February 18   1989 March 4  1989 April 29 1989 May 6  1989 May 13  1989 June 17 1989 July 1 1989 July 29 — Costello keeps it up Mark Cooper Elvis Costello And The Attractions Rainbow, London A nervous Costello used to be a dangerous Costello. Elvis used to thrive on his temper and sense of discomfort. If the audience showed any signs of complacency, Elvis would be on them with his little finger, blowing them away. Elvis is a showman tonight, in keeping with his new Country singer / Tin Pan Alley songwriter image. The audience is full of couples who swoon and snog to the tearjerkers. "Sweet Dreams" is their field day. Unfortunately, Elvis' latest shape change has only led to confusion on the live front. He now has so many personas that they've become virtually irreconcilable. And the Attractions don't help. There's the early angry Elvis, now the least convincing in the pack. This one attempts to wind up the band to urgency after each ballad. He performs all the old rockers, from classic "Detectives" to recent "King Horse," in a perfunctory bleat that soon comes to seem more like whining than passion. In fact, the old angry Costello has been severely cramped by the new balladeer, both in his ability to convince and in his ability to sing the harsher material. A few months in Nashville has turned Elvis into a self-confident but self-conscious vocal stylist. As a result all the material from Almost Blue (and songs in a similar vein) succeed. The rest suffers. Meanwhile Elvis is up there whipping through Elvis, country singer, Elvis, punk hero, and Elvis, literate if wordy composer of Trust and the six or so new songs he debuts tonight. His pacing of these different styles is dreadful or demanding, depending on how you look at it. Most new fans wait for the hits, the old ones try to digest the new numbers. Each time either faction looks like they're succeeding, Elvis changes style. Meanwhile the Attractions, seemingly a bit rusty, decide to compensate by overstating everything, aided by an energetic lighting rig that's busy doing the same. Bruce Thomas makes his characteristic runs up and down the bass but soon seems to be doing little else while Steve Naive is all flourish and no soul. The mixture of classical flourish and country understatement is a triumph on Almost Blue. Understatement doesn't come into it tonight. So Elvis runs through it all, apologises for his nervousness, does three encores and leaves. Elvis' failures are far more easy than most anybody's successes. But he needs to reconcile his love of variety with a delivery that can give his music coherence within that variety. Roll on the Albert Hall. Tags: Rainbow Theatre  •  London  •  The Attractions  •  Sweet Dreams  •  Watching The Detectives  •  King Horse  •  Nashville  •  Almost Blue  •  Trust  •  Bruce Thomas  •  Steve Naive  •  Tin Pan Alley  •  Albert Hall << >> Record Mirror, January 9, 1982 Mark Cooper reviews Elvis Costello & The Attractions, Wednesday, December 23, 1981, Rainbow Theatre, London, England. Images Clipping. Photo by Paul Edmond. Cover and page scan.

External links

• Wikipedia: Record Mirror
• Flickr  Michael Kane
• worldradiohistory.com