Rolling Stone, November 6, 1986: Difference between revisions
(+Billy Joel interview extract) |
(formatting) |
||
Line 10: | Line 10: | ||
---- | ---- | ||
{{Bibliography text}} | {{Bibliography text}} | ||
With the release of ''Blood & Chocolate'', Elvis Costello's credibility problem matches that of Neil Young. [[Musician, March 1986|Earlier this year]], Elvis announced that he was returning to his given name of Declan MacManus to "divorce myself" from the snarling reputation of Elvis Costello. He dismissed his previous album ''Goodbye Cruel World'', recorded with his perennial band, the Attractions, as "a waste" and "a load of wank" | With the release of ''Blood & Chocolate'', Elvis Costello's credibility problem matches that of Neil Young. [[Musician, March 1986|Earlier this year]], Elvis announced that he was returning to his given name of Declan MacManus to "divorce myself" from the snarling reputation of Elvis Costello. He dismissed his previous album ''Goodbye Cruel World'', recorded with his perennial band, the Attractions, as "a waste" and "a load of wank," and proclaimed an era of New Sincerity by recording the warmer, less inscrutable ''King of America'' with a pickup band of session veterans. This new guise lasted about as long as one of David Bowie's haircuts. On this album, his thirteenth in nine years, he reclaims the Costello name, and reunites with the Attractions and producer Nick Lowe, who guided Elvis's first six albums. The return isn't merely nominal: ''Blood & Chocolate'' recalls the venom of ''This Year's Model'' and the artiness of ''Imperial Bedroom'', but the result is as tentative as ''Trust''. | ||
Costello's earlier forays into country, soul and psychedelia were probably inevitable, given his and the Attractions' mastery of pop forms, and although some will see ''Blood & Chocolate'' as a return to basics, similar to Talking Heads' ''Little Creatures'', Costello is still exploring an alternative to pop. The spiteful bashing of "I Hope You're Happy Now" could be an outtake from 1978, but the Attractions don't match the hook-a-rama of their first efforts (keyboardist Steve Nieve and bassist Bruce Thomas sound almost harnessed). "Uncomplicated" is ruined by psychedelic clutter and punkish clatter, the latter in the form of Costello's awful guitar playing. Several songs have sudden, incidental sonic details, and the last part of side two is almost impenetrable. This is an odd turn, since Lowe used to be the most unaffected producer in pop. But it suggests that even though Costello has abandoned the stylistic experiments of recent years, he still doesn't have complete confidence in the songs. The annoyingly breathy oversinging that peaked on "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" from ''King of America'' also continues here, providing a redundant emphasis to the grim cityscape of "Battered Old Bird." Not since Phoebe Snow has a singer puffed so much breath into each syllable. | Costello's earlier forays into country, soul and psychedelia were probably inevitable, given his and the Attractions' mastery of pop forms, and although some will see ''Blood & Chocolate'' as a return to basics, similar to Talking Heads' ''Little Creatures'', Costello is still exploring an alternative to pop. The spiteful bashing of "I Hope You're Happy Now" could be an outtake from 1978, but the Attractions don't match the hook-a-rama of their first efforts (keyboardist Steve Nieve and bassist Bruce Thomas sound almost harnessed). "Uncomplicated" is ruined by psychedelic clutter and punkish clatter, the latter in the form of Costello's awful guitar playing. Several songs have sudden, incidental sonic details, and the last part of side two is almost impenetrable. This is an odd turn, since Lowe used to be the most unaffected producer in pop. But it suggests that even though Costello has abandoned the stylistic experiments of recent years, he still doesn't have complete confidence in the songs. The annoyingly breathy oversinging that peaked on "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" from ''King of America'' also continues here, providing a redundant emphasis to the grim cityscape of "Battered Old Bird." Not since Phoebe Snow has a singer puffed so much breath into each syllable. | ||
Line 20: | Line 20: | ||
{{cx}} | {{cx}} | ||
{{tags}}[[Blood & Chocolate]] {{-}} [[ | {{tags}}[[Blood & Chocolate]] {{-}} [[The Attractions]] {{-}} [[Steve Nieve]] {{-}} [[Bruce Thomas]] {{-}} [[Pete Thomas]] {{-}} [[Nick Lowe]] {{-}} [[Musician, March 1986]] {{-}} [[Declan MacManus]] {{-}} [[King Of America]] {{-}} [[Goodbye Cruel World]] {{-}} [[David Bowie]] {{-}} [[Neil Young]] {{-}} [[This Year's Model]] {{-}} [[Imperial Bedroom]] {{-}} [[Trust]] {{-}} [[Talking Heads]] {{-}} [[I Hope You're Happy Now]] {{-}} [[Uncomplicated]] {{-}} [[Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood]] {{-}} [[Battered Old Bird]] {{-}} [[Tokyo Storm Warning]] {{-}} [[Bob Dylan]] {{-}} [[George Jones]] {{-}} [[The Smiths]] {{-}} [[Home Is Anywhere You Hang Your Head]] {{-}} [[Blue Chair]] {{-}} [[I Want You]] | ||
{{cx}} | {{cx}} | ||
Revision as of 22:06, 24 January 2020
|